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  1. #1
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    Default Ever Wanted a Froe Away Line?

    Quite a while back I was in discussions with a Forum member on the subject of Froes. These are the "L" shaped tools traditionally used for splitting timber with the grain. The "hammer" is usually just a lump of timber from the bush, but I call it a maul.

    Froe in use.jpg

    The bodgers used them extensively for their chair making along with the likes of draw knives. In Australia one of the main uses was for splitting shakes, which are the short timber boards (about 600mm long) used for roofing: Shingles are the bandsawn equivalent, but often the terms are interchanged.

    To get back to the story, the quest was for a really heavy duty froe. I had previously made one from a car leaf spring, but we wanted to make a big brother. It had to wait until winter as the only means I have of annealing the steel is our slow combustion heater. The annealing process softens the steel relatively so it can be worked, but it is high carbon steel so it is still quite hard. There is no way I was running the heater during our Queensland summer. We lit the fire for a couple of days last week and I took the opportunity to cut up and heat soak four pieces of steel. Originally they looked a bit like this straight off some truck or other:

    P1000731.jpgP1000732.jpg

    There was quite a lot of curvature and they are about 12mm thick, which is at least double the thickness of the average froe.

    P1000734.jpg

    The leaf springs off cars and light commercial vehicles that I've used in the past have been around 6mm thick and after annealing the spring steel I was able to straighten them by striking them with a club hammer. I lost two hammers on the rebound before I twigged that wasn't going to work with these brutes. So I put them in a hydraulic press and bent them over centre to straighten as much as possible. This was quite a lengthy process gradually moving along the steel to take out the bend. The gauge was showing at times in excess of 40T, which was as much as I could get on the lever with all my weight off the floor.

    The next step was to put them under the surface grinder:

    P1000733.jpg

    Two partly down and two to go. The surface grinder works well but is very slow. I plan to use an angle grinder now to iron out the big bumps and then revert to the surface grinder again for final finishing.

    A socket (bit o' pipe) will be attached to accommodate the handle, the tapered edge will have to be ground and then heat treated and tempered before final sharpening. The plan is to make four froes: Two longish around 16" and two shorter around 12". Apologies for the imperial measurements as I find myself reverting to inches for traditional tools.

    We are on the way.

    Regards
    Paul
    Bushmiller;

    "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"

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  3. #2
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    Default

    Looks like a fun project Paul. I'm pullin' up a chair.
    Those were the droids I was looking for.
    https://autoblastgates.com.au

  4. #3
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    Default

    I'll Froe my hat in this ring
    Pat
    Work is a necessary evil to be avoided. Mark Twain

  5. #4
    Join Date
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    Default

    So you will be able to bash two and froe and do it twice over?
    Despite their relatively crude appearance, an essential tool in many wood shops.

    I had a blacksmith make a froe for me. It's 3/8" (10mm?), bevel only to one side for control.
    I decided that a 10"/250mm edge would be all I'd ever need. Correct. Maybe 12" but I don't miss it.
    I use it for splitting western red cedar shake blocks (24" x 12" x 8") into slabs for wood carving.
    Taking off 3mm at a time is magic.

    Thanks for the process pictures. Always most helpful to "see how others do it."

  6. #5
    Boringgeoff is offline Try not to be late, but never be early.
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    I used a car leaf spring to make a froe and thought I'd try flattening the curve without annealing it first. Surprisingly the 4lb gimpy and the anvil worked, but I did have to anneal the end to be able to drill the rivet holes.
    I bevelled both sides of the blade but I like Robson's idea of a single bevel.
    Cheers,
    Geoff.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  7. #6
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    Geoff

    Nicely done. I was planning to use the leaf spring that has the ring for the shackle incorporated at the end. However heavy truck springs do not seem to be made that way. I will just weld on a piece of thick walled pipe.

    RVs single bevel has raised an interesting point and I'm glad it has been mentioned at tis stage. I can see it may have a distinct advantage on a thicker blade and impart more control when used for trimming.

    Regards
    Paul
    Bushmiller;

    "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"

  8. #7
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    Paul, I admire your resourcefulness. I've been wanting a froe for years, but my imagination was stuck on having access to a forge, and since my farrier neighbor moved, I don't have that anymore. Now you've given me some ideas on how to do it. Thank you! One froe coming up (well, sometime over the next year or so, there are one or two projects ahead of it....)

    Cheers,
    IW

  9. #8
    Boringgeoff is offline Try not to be late, but never be early.
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    The old Louisville that I had, had a shackle pin hole at the leading end of the primary leaf but from memory it was probably only about 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 inches in diameter perhaps a bit small? Your welded piece of pipe sounds like the deal. A piece of scaffold tubing might give you the required wall thickness.
    Cheers,
    Geoff.

  10. #9
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    Very cool, Paul. Excited to see the finished product. A froe and drawknife have been on my list for a while, but I haven't found myself having an abundance of green wood on which to use them, so they're still down the list.

    Also, you have a surface grinder and a hydraulic press? Where have you got those tucked away? Have you commandeered the quilting shed now!?

  11. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Luke Maddux View Post
    Also, you have a surface grinder and a hydraulic press? Where have you got those tucked away?
    I was wondering that as well
    Those were the droids I was looking for.
    https://autoblastgates.com.au

  12. #11
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    I thought it was just saws.
    I'm watching with enthusiasm very impressed so far.

    Cheers Matt.



    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  13. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Luke Maddux View Post
    Also, you have a surface grinder and a hydraulic press? Where have you got those tucked away? Have you commandeered the quilting shed now!?
    Am I allowed to commandeer such things? A Coup d'etat perhaps?

    Did I say I had a surface grinder? Did I say I had a hydraulic press? Well what I meant was that I had access to such machines . In fact I do have a hydraulic press that utilises a 20t bottle jack. . This as you can imagine is a a device I fabricated many years ago, but unfortunately it is 600Km away in NSW .

    Quote Originally Posted by NCArcher View Post
    I was wondering that as well
    Tony. Same reply as to Luke .

    Regards
    Paul
    Bushmiller;

    "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"

  14. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by IanW View Post
    Paul, I admire your resourcefulness. I've been wanting a froe for years, but my imagination was stuck on having access to a forge, and since my farrier neighbor moved, I don't have that anymore. Now you've given me some ideas on how to do it. Thank you! One froe coming up (well, sometime over the next year or so, there are one or two projects ahead of it....)

    Cheers,
    Ian

    If you go down this track make sure the timing is right and the project is a winter job.

    I also have to confess that I only do the annealing in the combustion heater. I stoke it up as hard as it will go and then place the steel in it to be annealed. I leave the steel in to cool slowly overnight as the fire dies down. The piece is removed before the fire is re-lit the next night.

    Hardening and tempering I do with an oxy set (before Luke and Tony jump in there, no I don't have one but I do have access to one). For something the size of these froes I have to use a heating head and fairly blast away at it. I think you could go back to the combustion heater, but the issue is the environment of the house during the quenching process. Not an ideal situation, particularly if you use oil, which I do. You could of course quench in water instead. Probably safer inside the house. Tempering is easier in one way in that you only need gentle heat, but the difficulty now is seeing the colour change of steel while still in the fire. A way around the tempering is to use the kitchen oven set on about 150 degs ( I'd have to check the temperature for tempering because I go by colour.

    One other way of annealing I have used in the past is to utilise a bonfire. Back in NSW we used to have friends who celebrated the winter solstice and they used to drag a huge log into a nearby paddock and create a bonfire around it. I used to bring the leaf springs along and throw them into it. I would pick the springs up two or three days later when the fire was out. Of course you could do that on a smaller scale. It is not essential to burn a whole tree!

    It could certainly be done. There will also be two spare froes from this mini production run

    Regards
    Paul
    Bushmiller;

    "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"

  15. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Simplicity View Post
    I thought it was just saws.
    I'm watching with enthusiasm very impressed so far.

    Cheers Matt.



    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Matt

    If I wasn't in denial ( about almost everything) I would concede I may have an addictive nature.

    Regards
    Paul
    Bushmiller;

    "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"

  16. #15
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    I've never seen a froe with bevels on both sides of the blade.
    Beginning with a 60cm WRC shake block, they can weigh 18+kg fresh.
    Many of my carvings work OK in 5cm slabs so I might break up an entire shake block and let the slabs dry.
    I was taught to set the froe into the block with the bevel side to the slab which will be split off.
    That way, the flat side goes straight down while the wedging action increases against the slab.

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