Hay Rake

[Muddypaws]

I know that this is not very bushcrafty, but it is quite traditional crafty, so I thought I would share some pics of one of my better efforts at rake making. (sorry if the picture quality is not up to much - I'm totally new to this digital photography lark)

The head, tines and hoop are made of willow, and the handle is hazel.

Any comments are appreciated.

 

[pwb]

Looks great , good work.

I picked one up at a farm sale a few years ago, use it quite a lot for clearing up after strimming rough areas of grass etc.
Loads better than modern rakes for that type of work.

Pete.

 

[Muncus]

Wow! That's a really nice piece of work. I hope you find your new tool useful.

How did you make the stails?

 

[launditch1]

Nice bit of work that.I love traditional crafts and another good thing is it was FREE!(wasnt it?)Ive also seen a type where the handle is split and put in the rake head and a collar put on the handle further up to stop it splitting.

 

[Muddypaws]

If I recall correctly, the stail is the handle of a rake, and in my case is just a peeled hazel coppice pole.
However, the tines, or teeth, are made by splitting down a section of log into square section blanks, seasoning them, and then whacking them through a tine cutter (a tube with a sharpened end) and what falls out is a round section rake tine.

And yes, all the materials were free (except the string and linseed oil).

 

[Mike Ameling]

Nice rake.

The teeth were generally made from some hardwood like Oak or Hickory - to resist wearing away too fast. Some were made round, some were left square. Leaving the one end a little square helps lock it into the hole through the head. And pointing them is a matter of personal preference - some were, some were left pretty dull.

John Seymour shows some good pics in his Forgotten Crafts book. And Roy Underhill also shows rake and fork making in one of his Woodwrights books.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

 

[Snufkin]

I really like that. Nice to see an old skill practiced.

 

[robin wood]

Great job and wonderful to see these old crafts kept alive.

I used to do shows with Trevor Austin the last full time hay rake maker. There is a film here that you might find interesting. Sadly he has MS and can not make rakes any more I am not sure if the workshop has been disbanded and machinery got rid of yet.

http://www.reading.ac.uk/merl/online_exhibitions/ruralcrafts/thefilms/hayrakemaker.html

 

[sam_acw]

Good work! Nice to see that.

 

[trail2]

On one of Jack Hargreaves DVDs (remember him) there is a good section on a rake maker. He was doing the split handle type of rakes.
Jon R.

 

[mr dazzler]

On one of Jack Hargreaves DVDs (remember him) there is a good section on a rake maker. He was doing the split handle type of rakes.
Jon R.

Its worth getting the entire box set of Out of town dvd's just to see that excellent film of Mr Sims at work in Pamber End.

I noticed on Mr Sims's rakes the tines are raked back slightly at an angle, not in square like in your picture muddypaw. Did you try to straighten up the stail? It can be done with 2 posts in the ground and put the hazel in between and bend it against them, like straightening arrows. How did you fix the stail and the hoop to the rake head? I made a few little rakes last year, one of them for my boy. When I drilled the tine holes I did the end one first, then stuck a long stick into it to act as a guide to drill all the others, so they would all be at the same angle. I am going to cut hazel next tuesday, although its mainly to be used for a commissioned rustic log bench. But I might use some of it to make stails as you have done. Nice job and thanks for posting the picture's

 

[British Red]

Thats lovely work - I can't imagine anyone not enjoying seeing that - would love to see a "step by step" of the process sometime (pretty please)

Red

 

[Ex Member - Sidney Bounty]

What a great project sure looks nice...

 

[Muddypaws]

Its worth getting the entire box set of Out of town dvd's just to see that excellent film of Mr Sims at work in Pamber End.

I noticed on Mr Sims's rakes the tines are raked back slightly at an angle, not in square like in your picture muddypaw. Did you try to straighten up the stail? It can be done with 2 posts in the ground and put the hazel in between and bend it against them, like straightening arrows. How did you fix the stail and the hoop to the rake head? I made a few little rakes last year, one of them for my boy. When I drilled the tine holes I did the end one first, then stuck a long stick into it to act as a guide to drill all the others, so they would all be at the same angle. I am going to cut hazel next tuesday, although its mainly to be used for a commissioned rustic log bench. But I might use some of it to make stails as you have done. Nice job and thanks for posting the picture's

Thanks to all of you for your positive comments, it is nice to have one's work admired.

Mr Dazzler - I try to use poles that are reasonably straight in the first place, and if they are a little crooked I just say that it is part of the "rustic charm".
The stail is fixed to the head with a hardwood wedge, and also as the head is made of green timber it shrinks somewhat onto the end of the stail. The hoop is also fixed using this shrinkage, but I cheat a little and use a blob of wood glue, as the original fit is not very tight, to enable me to push it in by hand (no effective way of using a mallet on the hoop).

When I have some more materials to hand I may post some pictures of the tools I use (tine cutter, bending jigs, etc) to illustrate the methods.