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268316 Matthew Groves <grovesthegrey@g...> 2019‑04‑22 Are bark spuds made from tool steel?
Are bark spuds made from tool steel?

Matthew Groves
Springfield MO
268317 Anthony Seo 2019‑04‑22 Re: Are bark spuds made from tool steel?
On 4/22/2019 6:43 PM, Matthew Groves wrote:
> Are bark spuds made from tool steel?

The older ones had steel heads or bits with wrought iron bodies. But the 
later ones probably were made out of all steel.

Tony (just anudder day)

-- 

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268319 scott grandstaff <scottg@s...> 2019‑04‑22 Re: Are bark spuds made from tool steel?
The older ones had steel heads or bits with wrought iron bodies. But the 
later ones probably were made out of all steel.

   I once had a bark spud made from OTS, old truck spring.
It was not correct in any way, lol, and I ended up giving it way.
   There are certain conditions that make a classic bark spud desirable.

   But most of the time either a drawknife, which can be operated very 
quickly when you get it down.
Support the pole at about waist high between sawbucks and use it bevel down.

Or my latest favorite, a common square ended garden spade.
   The spades have sufficient hardness to take a pretty rugged edge, and 
when you get the right bevel on the blade and angle of attack with the 
handle?
   They can just fly down a pole, with the bark exploding into the air.
Its pretty fun and the fastest I have ever peeled a pole, that's for sure.
  And they are certainly no trouble at all to get.
    yours Scott

-- 
*******************************
    Scott Grandstaff
    Box 409 Happy Camp, Ca  96039
    scottg@s...
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/sgrandstaff/
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/hpages/index.html
268320 Mike Rock <mikerock@m...> 2019‑04‑22 Re: Are bark spuds made from tool steel?
The two I have both have welded steel working bits.  I had one in the 
early '70's that was an old spring, repurposed by a blacksmith named 
Einar Oin, from  Rapid City.  I later bought my first anvil, a Swedish 
steel one, swage block and a few tongs from him.  He taught me how to 
harden and temper mining picks.  The side of the anvil was the testing 
ground.  Little square holes all over from checking the hardness and 
toughness, by hitting the side.  There were a few of the holes that had 
mill pick tips still in them......those failed and were reground a tad, 
then tempered a little more.  Found a few hundred tongs at old mining 
sites in the Hills.  One, in the remains of the ghost town Spokane, had 
a hundred all by itself..  The calendar was on the wall, 1941......mine 
closed due to war and never reopened.
When they were building all the Minuteman silos around that part of the 
country Einar had the contract to sharpen all the air hammer chisels 
that they cleaned up the cast concrete silos with.  By the TON....  I 
sharpened my share of those for him when going to college at the School 
of Mines.


God bless.
268693 Ed Minch <ruby1638@a...> 2019‑06‑16 Re: Making Oars
What are the boats used for?  Looks like life guard work.  Lovely oars - is that
a traditional shape?  How does the oarlock work?  Is that green plane a custom
colored one?  A couple of makers have used that green - I think even Record had
a special bench plane for a time in that color.

Ed Minch
268700 "yorkshireman@y..." <yorkshireman@y...> 2019‑06‑17 Re: Making Oars
Ed asks… lots of questions...

used for enjoyment.  The St Ayles skiff is a very traditional shetland boat
design ‘re-imagined for the 21st century’  (my words)   It is a class boat, all
built from the same CNC prepared kits of 8x4 marine ply plus a few bits of real
timber for the hog, keel, stem and stern, gunwhales.   The Scottish Fisheries
Museum who started it wanted something traditional, that could be used to
encourage coastal communities to take to the sea in row boars again.  Of course,
there’s some competition - look up ‘skiffs Stranraer’  but to be honest, these
are not racing boats.  Put 10 men in a bar and someone is bound to say ‘We can
go faster than you’ and so they do.   The great thing is that anyone without
wood skills can make one, and can compete, if that’s their choice, with others,
else just go rowing on the sea for the pleasure of being out there.  Excellent
sea boat, as It’s double ended, so no transom to get pooped, and tall enough to
keep (most of) the sea out if it gets lumpy.

Oar shape - they are pretty traditional for sweeps at sea.  Wide modern blades -
shopper style - are not good for amateurs in a rough sea.  The class rules state
no curved (spoon) blades, and they must be symmetrical about the centre line.
Oar locks must not be metal, so a feathering oar is, well, difficult.  Most are
rowed with pins and plates, the original design called for kabes, but I think
most crews are not accustomed to rowing with an oar which can slide in and
outboard, so some sort of lock is usual.

That lock allows 4 gears.  The thole pin goes through one of the slots, and acts
as keeper for the oar, whilst allowing articulation up and down, back and forth.
The one I made for the ‘test’ oar had 3 gears.   Four may be overkill, but the
club primarily wants oars they can use for social rowing with beginners of any
height and weight.

Green plane? - My personal kit.  Workshop colours are green and something off
white I found in a tin.  Record did change from RAF roundel blue to a dark green
for their CS88 smoother, the last hoorah of quality when Martin Calvert and Mel
Stevens got together to produce something from the old days - heavy casting,
Norris mechanism.   I have a number of them….   Lovely plane in the hand.
268702 scott grandstaff <scottg@s...> 2019‑06‑17 Re: Making Oars
You thought you were going to get away without telling the story? heeheh

Its an ash shaft with an oak handle?  The shafts are drilled for handle 
tenons?
Why is this more desirable that one piece ash handles? How big are the 
tenons and is there a special way to drill out the holes for them?

  Where do you get >14 foot long ash blanks?
  Is warpage common?

What kind of glue makes the blade parts and what kind of cedar is strong 
enough for life and death service?
   Do you keep an extra oar aboard in case of disaster?

These seem like awfully long oars, to me. Of course I am more used to 
seeing oars on lake or river boats. This is an ocean thing that works 
better?

  yours Scott
If we have to pump the story out like an old farmhouse pump........ heehheh

-- 
*******************************
    Scott Grandstaff
    Box 409 Happy Camp, Ca  96039
    scottg@s...
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/sgrandstaff/
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/hpages/index.html
268722 Michael Suwczinsky <nicknaylo@g...> 2019‑06‑19 Re: Making Oars
Great looking boats!

Michael-currently on another armchair boatbuilding jaunt.

On Mon, Jun 17, 2019 at 11:28 AM scott grandstaff 
wrote:

>
> You thought you were going to get away without telling the story? heeheh
>
> --
Michael
268723 Bill Ghio 2019‑06‑19 Re: Making Oars, boat building hijack
> On Jun 18, 2019, at 8:45 PM, Michael Suwczinsky  wrote:
> 
> Great looking boats!
> 
> Michael-currently on another armchair boatbuilding jaunt.
> 

A few weeks ago I was in Dover in the UK. Out for a walk, I spotted a sign to
the Dover Bronze Age Boat Museum. How could I not explore? Twas amazing.

This was a C. 1500 B.C. boat held together not w/ nails or trunnels or other
fasteners. It is a plank built boat made from oak planks and held together with
wedges and yew withies.  Carved by bronze axes and adzes and sealed with moss
and wax it is a most amazing example of joinery.

Good pictures are hard to come by, but here is an eleven minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=310I8KBd3pI">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=310
I8KBd3pI

And this video gives much better detail, however, at 46 minutes only the
hardcore among you will see it through. But it does cover two replicas: one that
promptly sank and one that succeeded.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4OylAKusMw

Seeing it in person, seeing wood technology I had never heard of, was an amazing
experience.I was moved enough to buy the book:
https://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/the-dover-bronze-age-boat-in-context.html

Bill
268724 Ed Minch <ruby1638@a...> 2019‑06‑19 Re: Making Oars, boat building hijack
> On Jun 18, 2019, at 9:43 PM, Bill Ghio via OldTools  wrote:
> 
> And this video gives much better detail, however, at 46 minutes only the
hardcore among you will see it through. But it does cover two replicas: one that
promptly sank and one that succeeded.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=R4OylAKusMw ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4OylAKusMw>


Pretty cool video.  Makes me want a bronze adze.  The sight of the little boat
in the big lift dropped 15 below ground level into the water because the tide
was out was pretty striking.

Ed Minch

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