The return of dug out tinder box!

[tombear]

Since I got a shiny new Makita multi tool yesterday from the money elderly relatives still insist on sending me despite being 46 next week I decided to get used to it before I tried it on decent wood.

i still had the block of half seasoned oak that split and cracked before I could try making the copy of a 17/early 18th C. dug out tinder box so since it only came with a saw blade I thought I'd saw down the lines and then chisel out the waste in the middle. Chiseling out only with the size of material I had to use wasn't a runner, the thin sides do not handle the blows required well. I suspect the originals were chiseled out of a big section of log and when the holes were done the box was cut out .

anyroad the tool, also known as a plunge saw I believe, does the job well, the tinder hole is done and the storage section well on its way. Ill use paring chisels to clear up the sides and hide the machine marks!

Atb

Tom

 

[Zingmo]

Interesting tool.

Do you have any idea why our forbears would have gone to all that trouble just to make a box that surely would have been easier to knock together out of planks?

Z

 

[tombear]

No one really knows to be honest. I have to assume they were used by the very lowest rung of society that had a fixed home. In theory you can make one with just a knife, burning out most of the holes and scraping out , therefore made for zero cost. Certainly very few have survived and none that can be atributated to beyond the start of the 18th century, that I know of anyway. After I've finished it ill see how strong it is. Even the simplest nailed together version would require some skills, tools and bought materials. To make even small planks would take a saw or a lot of paring down with a knife from riven wood.

i can't think of anything else that was dug out apart from things like some dough troughs , bowls and cups would be spun on lathes, even the bowls on ladles were spun, one assumes in the centre of planks later cut down to have one handle. It's not as if there's a trade that would produce them as a side line.

Will try and finish it tomorrow, going to be away for a week after that.

atb

Tom

 

[Goatboy]

What sort of and how tight were the lids on those?
The reason I ask is that when you talked about it last time and the expence of saws and nails I also wondered if is was a fire prevention thing? Fewer joints = less ingress of air, so once lid was back on the chances of a smolder and flare up in the tinder were reduced. (Maybe I'm overthinking/engineering stuff in my noggin. )
Looking good though, glad to see you going back to it.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[tombear]

I've seen three variations of lid. A square of thin wood with a central knob. A square of what looked like old roofing lead with a knob and the one ill probably do, a big tapered square plug of the same wood as the dugout is made. The insides of the burning chamber ill call it also tapered. That one seamed to be a tight fit but the flat jobs you could rattle the lid in the bottom of the chamber, a 1/32 to 1/16 of a inch gap around the edge.

i was lucky enough to be allowed into the reserve collection at St Fagans a couple of years back and allowed to handle some of the wooden tinder boxes there ( I've made plans for the 3 or 4 I won't to replicate ) and allowing for age the nailed sort were pretty tight.

it will be good practice this one, it may even end up usable despite all the cracks and shakes! I must stop messing about an buy a few feet of quarter sawn oak, 1/4 to a 1/3 of a inch thick. The local museum has a lovely tavern pipe rack I'd like to copy and the wife has arranged for me to get access to it to measure it properly sometime.

ATB

Tom

 

[tombear]

I got this far today, got to go assemble a new single bed for the youngest who's insisted on growing out of the old one but afte that ill scrape and sand the insides and whip off a snuffing block for the burning chamber on the good old band saw.

Ive taken the procaution of squirting thin super glue into all the cracks.

any of you clever smith types got a 17th century style fire steel for sale?

atb

tom

 

[tombear]

Well here it is! Anybody else been daft enough to make one? A quick wipe with linseed oil and its looking a hell of a lot better than I expected, indeed unless it falls apart this one will do me!

After we've refuelled on corned beef hash ill let the lads break it in and when I get back a week after next ill make a shed load of sulphur matches the right size to fit.

It actually feels very strong despite the grain going in the wrong direction for max strength on most of the sides!

ATB

Tom

 

[Mesquite]

That's really good Tom, like you said the linseed oil has brought it up to a lovely finish

 

[Goatboy]

That's come out really nicely Tom. Looking at it and thinking back there was a smilar one by my Grandparents fire on the farm when I was a sprog. Sure it was mainly Lucifers they kept in it though and no flint & steel.
Top job sir I like it.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[Harvestman]

That is a thing of beauty. Very interesting work indeed.

 

[tombear]

Cheers folks! I must admit I had thought it a write off after the cut block split badly on starting to season. The new toy made it quite easy to do the cuts. If I had tried to chisel the vertical cuts round the edge I don't think the sides would have survived intact, not with my cack handedness.

When I've got some oak or elm boards ill inflict some more makes on you, several variations nailed and jointed hearth tinderboxes, candle box, salt box and a pipe rack.

ATB

Tom

 

[Monikieman]

That looks fantastic. Superb.

 

[richardhomer]

That looks ace

 

[bikebum1975]

Hmmm I dig it. May need to try making one with just hand tools. Might have a nice chunk of apple for it to.

 

[Johnny Canuck]

Can't wait Tom, could you share the dimensions of the tinder box?

Thanks

Cheers folks! I must admit I had thought it a write off after the cut block split badly on starting to season. The new toy made it quite easy to do the cuts. If I had tried to chisel the vertical cuts round the edge I don't think the sides would have survived intact, not with my cack handedness.

When I've got some oak or elm boards ill inflict some more makes on you, several variations nailed and jointed hearth tinderboxes, candle box, salt box and a pipe rack.

ATB

Tom

 

[Monikieman]

So, was there no lid on the main compartment? I take it they are a household item then and the lid is just for extinguishing the fire in the small box?

Thanks.

 

[paulnb57]

Came across this

http://www.oldandinteresting.com/tinderbox.aspx

Paul

 

[tombear]

Hi all
proper replies when I get home on Friday. Will sort out some info on boxes then .

ATB

Tom

 

[tombear]

Can't wait Tom, could you share the dimensions of the tinder box?

Thanks

Found a internet cafe near hospital.

will do, with photos of originals and dimensions.

atb

Tom

 

[tombear]

So, was there no lid on the main compartment? I take it they are a household item then and the lid is just for extinguishing the fire in the small box?

Thanks.

Yup, in catalogues they tend to list them as" hearth tinder boxes " often they are incorrectly listed as candle boxes as a lot of the sliding lid nailed ones were turned into those by the owners when flint and steels fell out of fashion. the nail holes give the game away. Aye the lids are small enough that they fit in all the way to the bottom of the burning / tinder chamber. A lot of survivors are missing this plate.

ATB

Tom

(from a internet cafe in Manchester's student quarter)