Spammel, here's some pics!

[Eric_Methven]

Hi mate, you asked to see some pics of some of the stuff I made. Here ya go...

This is just what I've done these past few weeks since my operation (except the knives)

This is a Gransfors Bruks special edition. It'll pass for a viking axe or an early trade axe. It is shaving sharp and I've felled a 14" sycamore with it in 12 1/2 minutes.

My damascus knife and axe. I just like showing them off.

Leather water bottle with Native American tooled leatherwork.

This was an experiment. A wine bottle in waxed leather with celtic knotwork on the top of the handle.

A couple of pieces of antler. The one on the left is an arrow straightener and the one on the right is a bearing block for a bow drill (it still needs a lube insert).

The rest of the primitive stuff is still in the making.

Eric

 

[spamel]

That is impressive stuff. The arrow straightener I guessed at as it looks just like the description of one from the Earths' Children books by Jean M Auel. I love the axes, I'm not sure if I'd use the damascus one though, it looks too nice to be a user!! They really are good pics, thanks very much for putting them up! If you have any more good pics.....!

 

[spamel]

BTW, did you follow the magazine tutorial on the leather bottles or did you already know how to do it? I like the traditional native american bottle, it looks very nice, and I like the idea of having a stock of wine to take along!!

 

[leon-b]

lovely stuff you have made there mate, im so jelous i wish i could make something like that, mayby one day
leon

 

[jon r]

wow! wow! wow! nice stuff Eric! All looks amazing to me! :You_Rock_

 

[Cap'n Badger]

Nice work there matey.....spesh likens the leather wine bottle.....bin lookin' fer s'thing sim fer me rum transportation! ....Love the skins an' all ......good fer linin' the hammock an' wearin' on those cold nights around the fire...... :You_Rock_

 

[Eric_Methven]

I thank thee all most heartily. Capt Badger, the wine bottle is for sale mate. PM me if you're interested. In fact, all the bottles are for sale. I'm busy making five more up for the Loch Achray meet in case anyone up there takes a fancy to one or two.

I've been making stuff like this for a long time Spammel. I didn't know there wa an article on making them.

Here's a couple more pics I've just taken. My spoon which I finished this morning, and my new pipe which I finished yesterday. The baccy pouch is new as well. It takes a normal pouch of St Bruno flake, but it hangs on my belt kit so I can fill my pipe on the move.

The pipe is made from a white antler. That's one that was cast naturally and is sun bleached of its colour. It was found high on a Scottish hillside.

Eric

 

[demographic]

Very impressed.

What do you form the bottles around to get the shape?

 

[Graham_S]

i'm getting one of the bottles at achray i've been looking forward to it for ages.
just the thing for keeping mead in

 

[Stew]

The baccy pouch is new as well. It takes a normal pouch of St Bruno flake, but it hangs on my belt kit so I can fill my pipe on the move.

The pipe is made from a white antler. That's one that was cast naturally and is sun bleached of its colour. It was found high on a Scottish hillside.

....and this from Eric the non-smoker!

 

[Eric_Methven]

Very impressed.

What do you form the bottles around to get the shape?

I don't. The bottles are cut out from veg tanned leather, edge glued lightly to keep them registered then the double edge is run round on a belt sander to get perfect allignment. The leather is dampened slightly to soften it and a pricker wheel is run round to mark the stitch holes. The holes are then made with an awl and the whole thing is sewn flat with a saddle stitch. Once sewn, the flask is soaked in lukewarm water for about ten minutes or so until is is all soft and floppy. The neck is forced open with a bit of dowel and barley is poured in. When the barley reaches the top of the neck it is forced into the flask with the dowel. I keep doing this until I can get no more barley in. The force of the barley pushes the sides out giving the flask its shape.

It is then set away to dry. Mine dries in about an hour on top of the mantlepiece above the fire. Once the leather feels dry, I tip the barley out into my container and put a dozen ball bearings in. I then shake the flask vigourously to loosen off any stuck barley. This operation usually takes half a dozen goes. Anyway, repeat the ball bearings and shaking until only ball bearings come out.

Melt some beeswax in a double pan and pour the beeswax into the flask. Swill it around carefully for twenty seconds or so then pour the excess back into the pan. Take an old pastry brush or a paint brush and paint molten beeswax onto the outside of the flask. It will set straight away and go white and lumpy.

Put the flask upside down (over a piece of dowel stuck to a board) in the oven at 200 deg F for three or four minutes. Keep checking and you'll see the excess wax drip off (you need a tray underneath). Once the wax is all melted, remove the flask and wipe down with an old tea towel. Force a stopper into the neck while the flask is still hot. It doesn't have to be the final stopper, dowel will do, but you need to keep the opening round as it will set like iron once the wax sets in the leather.

When cold, test it for water tightness by filling it from the tap. Look for leaks round the stitching. Mine ususally leaks like a sieve at this stage.

Pour some more wax into the flask and rotate the flask side to side so the wax runs all the way round the stitch line. Pour any excess out and wipe the inside of the neck so it doesn't clog with setting wax. Test it again and it should be completely watertight.

Carve a nice stopper and fit it so it is snug but not too tight. Job done!

Eric

 

[Eric_Methven]

....and this from Eric the non-smoker!

Ex non smoker. I sucumbed to the evil weed. Actually it was to keep the midges off, but I quite enjoy a puff (Thats PUFF not Poof).

Eric

 

[spamel]

Excellent stuff, I really like the pipe! I was wondering how the longer pipes were made, like the ones described in Lord ofthe Rings for instance. I could imagine using a piece of hollowed out elder to make the stem of the pipe, this would have to fit into the bowl, but apart from that I can see no other way unless machinery starts to be used.

Your method with making the flasks is almost exactly the same as the one in the last magazine, although I think they mentioned using childrens play sand. I think this may be harder to get rid of than barley though, although I have yet to try it. Maybe I should get some leather in!!

 

[Eric_Methven]

Your method with making the flasks is almost exactly the same as the one in the last magazine, although I think they mentioned using childrens play sand. I think this may be harder to get rid of than barley though, although I have yet to try it. Maybe I should get some leather in!!

Play sand or any other kind of sand is a real pain to get rid of. Barley or rice works, but rice is harder to shift as the starch in the wet bottle tends to stick harder to the inside. I've tried dozens of methods and barley is best - you can still cook it up for broth afterward as well.

Eric

 

[Eric_Methven]

Excellent stuff, I really like the pipe! I was wondering how the longer pipes were made, like the ones described in Lord ofthe Rings for instance. I could imagine using a piece of hollowed out elder to make the stem of the pipe, this would have to fit into the bowl, but apart from that I can see no other way unless machinery starts to be used.

The longer stems can be made with a drill bit welded on to a length of rod with a handle. Traditionally they would have been made from a pithy wood and the middle burned out with a hot wire.

The really long clay pipes called churchwardens used to be three feet long. In those days you didn't buy a pipe, you went to a smoking room and hired one along with a fill of tobacco. Their version of hygiene was to snap an inch off the end each time someone used it, making it shorter and shorter until it was too short to use, or it broke.

I'm in the process of making a traditional native american peace pipe over the next week or so. I'll be boring the hole in the stem with a tool I got for boring out the middle of table lamps for the wire to go through. There's no hurry for it though so it's a project I'll take my time over.

Eric

 

[swyn]

Lovely stuff there Eric.
Just an aside on this thread.... Bicycle spokes make very good long thin drills. Look at a high-speed wood drill bit and then get your spoke, warm a small bit of one end up to red, hammer flat on an anvil.... grind or file to a shape as near as you can to resemble the tip of your high speed one and hey presto you have got a very fine and effective long drill bit. Just remember that it needs to be drawn often to clear the swarf or the hole goes off centre! It is also flexible so drill carefully. I hope this is of use.
Swyn.

 

[JohnC]

Lovely items Eric, I like the tip about the ball bearings for removing excess barley ,wish I'd know that when I was trying to get rice out my flasks. The rice does stick as you say!

 

[Eric_Methven]

Bicycle spokes make very good long thin drills.
Swyn.

Thanks for that Swyn, what an excellent idea. I have an old mountainbike wheel in the workshop. I'll do some experiments. Cheers.

Eric

 

[WhichDoctor]

Wow, grate stuff. That damascus knife and axe are beautiful, if I owned one I would show it off any chance I got . And those leather bottles are amassing. I've been thinking about making one for a few days, I was actually going to put a post up asking how to do it but you've preempted me , so I think ill have a go this week, thanks for such a detailed description of how you do it.

 

[janiepopps]

Glad to see you've been taking things nice & easy since the op Eric!!!

j

(PS Those bottle are beautiful, very nice work mate)