Oak dugout hearth tinder box

[tombear]

Having acquired a bit of oak at last I've finally started on a dug out tinder box. Unfortunately I'm still unable to use my right hand properly so all I've been able to do so far is feed it through our band saw and made a blank 10" x 4" x 2.5" and mark where it needs the wood removing to a depth of 2"

Now it may be another week and a half before i can hammer anything or grip hard ( this had been driving me potty now I have wood ) so I've asked the middle son to see if there's a hollow chisel mortiser in the tech rooms at school. The place is his second home and he thinks there's a old machine sitting in a corner so will ask if its functional.

I tried drilling out on spare piece of oak and my little clamp on drill press isn't heavy/robust enough to drill a large accurate hole, especially one handed. The drill just kept wandering about.

Although very, very few survive, ( a notable example is the one in the Pitt Rivers) it's thought that this sort of hearth tinder box was very common during the 17 th and early 18th centuries with either a wooden block or metal plate on a handle to act as a snuffer in the square section where the tinder was kept. The longer section would hold the flint, steel and sulphur matches. If the wood had been a bit bigger I'd have made the thing a inch longer so the longer section could take the 6 inch sulphur matches I already have made, it's no biggy, I'll just make a bunch of 5 inchers to fit!

If the school doesn't have a mortiser I may be looking for a kind soul with one to at least go around the edge of the holes.

ATB

Tom

 

[Robson Valley]

I like the mess that Forstner drill bits make. In my little drill press, I'd make a tight pattern of 3/4" or 5/8" holes no more than 1.75" deep to hog out the bulk of the waste wood.
Beyond the point of the Forstner bit, there's usually a dimple of crushed wood which is why I suggest stopping 1/4" short of the planned depth.
Of course, I could gnaw on the bulk with mallet and gouges but there's plenty to do all the same. I want to get on with the fun carving part.
Did I post a little thread regarding a Frog Dish (finished in bee's wax) that I carved from my kitchen?

 

[tombear]

Cheer! I'll have to pick up some of those bits, they turn up on boots but in the past I've only ever got traditional brace bits or those flat jobs with the big spikes for power drills. Hang on, I picked up something similar. Nuts! They are for brace use as well!

Yeah I'll be leaving a bit to clear out with the swan neck chisel and some around the edges so I can use pairing chisels and skews to finish it with a slight taper.

The lads had a word with his pet tech teacher and she says they will try and get the old mortiser up and running tomorrow.

Oh I killed my first band saw blade yesterday making thin small planks of oak for another variation of tinder box. Completely my fault not the machine. Herself has ordered me a 1/4" and a replacement 1/2 incher from TuffSaws but I've kept the old one as I know you can mend them. Ill pick up or make a suitable clamp when I can and get some silver solder etc for brazing. There's plenty of how to sites to show me how.

ATB

Tom

 

[Robson Valley]

All of mine have smooth cylindrical shanks for use in the drill press.
Quite frankly, they are a boon to rapid and uniform waster wood removal.
I don't ascribe to any laborious alternative.
See if I can post a pic to give you the idea. Carve the perimeter first, then the inside, then the bottom.

 

[Robson Valley]

The two dishes are somewhat different in service: the cedar dish was intended for foods of no redeeming nutritional value when watching same on TV.
The Frog Dish (birch)was waterproofed with oven-melted bees wax to hold some wet things from the washing up in my kitchen.

 

[Robson Valley]

Somehow, I missed seeing your set of drill bits. My only concern is that the threaded centerpoint is quite a wedge = possibly split the wood?
Forstner bits have a very short & small point but they leave some crushed wood ahead of themselves which will show if not carved away.
I leave myself 1/4" of handwork to clean those away.

 

[tombear]

No joy with the mortiser so it looks like ill be chiselling the two holes out when my hands better, with some drilling out of waste. I do have a router but I've never really liked using it.

ATB

Tom

 

[Robson Valley]

I would not risk using a router, I find that mine is a handful, no matter what the project it.
With the Forstner hole pattern first drilled no more than 3/4" deep, knocking out the webbing is easy work.
Then drill down again, the cedar dish is about 4" deep.

Just took another look at your pic in Post#1, I fear that you will be carving end grain all the way. Nothing could be tougher.
Carving-sharp edges will save the day.
In both of my posted dishes, the grain runs lengthwise so that the ends are the only end grain carving to be done.
That holds the best detail, in the case of the frog dish but the wood was like bone. At the same time, there was great risk
of the corn seeds popping off the cedar dish.

 

[tombear]

Yeah, I just don't like the things, routers that is. I'm seeing my second hand tool guy on Saturday so ill see about the bitts.

Yup the only way to get the size between the cracks, chain saw cuts and knots was by trimming it so I got a lot of end grain to go into. Sharp tools will see me right.

atb

tom

 

[mountainm]

So let me get this straight? You have wood, but you can't do anything about it because your right hand is out of action?


Matron.

 

[British Red]

You can chop really elegant mortises with conventional chisels Tom. Paul sellars has a great video on it.

 

[tombear]

So let me get this straight? You have wood, but you can't do anything about it because your right hand is out of action?


Matron.

I won't rise to that....

 

[tombear]

You can chop really elegant mortises with conventional chisels Tom. Paul sellars has a great video on it.

Oh aye, I've made plenty in the past, just even with the job in a vice I can't do 'em with just my left hand, I'm very right handed, the left is little more use than as a clamp. Ill just have to wait until its better.

ATB

Tom

 

[mountainm]

I won't rise to that....

LOL, then you don't have wood?

ahem... yes anyway, quite enough of that.

 

[British Red]

Don't rush at IIT, its no job for a sore paw!

 

[tombear]

Well it's all become a bit academic as overnight big radial cracks have appeared down the sides. I'll leave it to completely season now and maybe return to it if the cracks ain't too horrendous. It's not as if it needs to be water tight but I'm not putting anymore time into it if its going to fall apart.

So it looks like I'll have to score a section of a old oak beam or finally track down some green elm which if the books are right doesn't crack anywhere as much as other woods.

On a brighter note the two TuffSaws blades arrived and the 14 year old fitted the 1/2 incher under my supervision, we fiddled with the guides etc until its cutting as sweet as a nut.

Then herself took us to Colne and I picked up a few bits from the outside market tool guy before going into the covered market to my (tool) dealer for my monthly fix of rust and grease.

Ok, starting at the Top

Gilpin 1 1/2 lb ball pein, I started doing it up, machining the faces smooth then my right hand made its presence felt so I knocked that on the head. £2 and should clean up lovely.

Two handed saw, 27 inches of teeth. £5. Ok it is a little rough but the teeth are sharp and unworn and it should turn into a good user with TLC. The handles I'll knock out and I'll turn new ones from a 50p beech rolling pin I got. No visible markings but when it's derusted something may show. It will fill a specific need I have to harness child labour to the task of halving and quartering green logs to make turning blanks. They are too big for the power tools I have and my big old rip saw isn't particularly quick or easy to use. Anyway I was pleased to get it.

£10 got me a rather nice 11" drawknife. It's marked "MB MOULSON BROTHERS CAST STEEL". OK it needs some work, the edge needs tidying up etc but there's no pitting as such. From a bit of Googling it has to be pre 1912 and is probably pre 1860s when the firm became Moulson Brothers and Company. They started making edged tools in the 1830s starting off as saw makers the decade before. Anyway they were renowned for the excellence of their steel so I'm rather chuffed to get one. I'll try and keep the handles etc. It's razor sharp already but I'll clean it up anyway.

Below that are a bunch of steel dollies, something I've been looking for for a while. They should clean up a treat and the guy commented on the quality of the steel. Ones marked Vickers Armstrong and another DROP FORGED STEEL NUBO BRITISH MADE they cost us £10 the lot but I've been wanting some for a while. I've already picked up several sorts of panel beaters hammer.

Bottom left are some masonry chisels, two cost 75 p each and far right £2 as its pretty much unused, it's marked Made in England Niloc M, which if I remember right is a Shef' firm that makes really good stuff. The cross headed job is a rawlplug job, made in England and I'm tempted to file the end into a 4 way splinter for reeds etc. I could have got one or two more, they seem quite common. The other one is quite odd, it has a hole down the centre with a cut out slot on one side and the the working end is toothed as if when hammered into a rock the cut material comes through the hole and out the side? No visible markings

Anyway it cheered me up after the oak splitting debacle! Well the chip dinner followed with a bag of biscuits from the Kippax factory shop helped as well. Somedays its easy to put the "well" before the "kept man"

ATB

Tom

Ps, the turn screw was a freebie, a I & H Sorby cast steel that needs a new handle and some re shaping.

 

[Robson Valley]

I suggest that you look for a more forgiving wood (Linden, aka basswood) to carve a prototype.
Use that to solve the carving puzzles which are certain to arise.
How I would hope to find a used draw knife.

 

[tombear]

For some reason lime is ridiculous expensive over here, it's such a lovely wood to work I'd use it for tons of projects, if I had the stuff to use!

I've a decent amount of green sycamore when my hands fit to hold a chisel.

ATB

Tom

 

[Goatboy]

Bummer about the box Tom. Hope it's savable, was looking forward to seeing how it turned out.
Heal well and good luck with it.
GB.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[tombear]

Cheers, it was always I likely out come, way it goes. It will make a good chopping block for the work bench at worst.

me hands not getting any better so at 8 on Tuesday ill be in the phone queue trying to get a appointment to hear to do exactly what I'm already doing.

ATB

Tom