A Bolting iron

**auscab** · 9th March 2013, 07:57 PM

Last year Peter [ Lightwood ] and myself got together and had a go at making some Bolting irons ,as they are called in the book The Toolchest of Benjamin Seaton .

There is a picture of a very sweet 18th century one in the book and a description of how the design changed from this style that we copied, not long after his one was made because of the difficulty of making them. Well they didn't have a MIG welder did they

It's a special chisel used for making the small rectangular hole for the lock bolt in a chest or cabinet .It is always one of the last things needed to be done before polishing and what else cuts in a space 3 to 4 inches high.

We used old chisels for the shaft, heated and forged them out a bit. and welded pieces of high speed steel in the right spots and ground back close with the angle grinder ,then the bench grinder then one of those hand cranked wheels we have been talking about here.
Pete might like to show his as well ?

We had a good time making them and along the way discovered some of the tools secrets sort of. We were discussing it's use and had just assumed to use this chisel you turned your chest of drawers upside down after marking where the bolt holes need to be, held the chisel in your hand out the front of the chest and tapped away with a hammer on it's side.

The confusing part of that was the bevel on the flat cutting edge that cuts the front edge of your hole would be on the wrong side. you need the front edge of the bolt hole plumb on a chest. turn the chisel around so the handle sits on the inside of the chest and it starts to cut well for you and then we realized why the handle is shaped that way, the chisel sits upright resting on the handle flat, and is an aide to lining it up. we were quite exited

cheers Rob

**auscab** · 9th March 2013, 08:02 PM

In use it sits this way for the long cut , twist side ways for the side cuts.
Rob

**RayG** · 10th March 2013, 01:35 PM

Hi Rob,

Thanks for posting that, and the explanation of how to use it...

I can imagine how it must have felt when the penny dropped and all the pieces of the design came together. Very clever little gizmo!

Regards
Ray

**woodie one** · 10th March 2013, 04:19 PM

Well done - especially the flats on the handle to enable the cutting edge to be oriented properly

. Here's the LN interpretation, with a short demo video.

Cheerio

**lightwood** · 11th March 2013, 06:19 PM

Originally Posted by woodie one

Well done - especially the flats on the handle to enable the cutting edge to be oriented properly

. Here's the LN interpretation, with a short demo video.

Cheerio

Just watched the guy juggling tools in the video....you need two of them??????
Gotta love these modern tool sellers!

The old design from Benjamin Seaton tool chest, as seen in the book seems to me to be a solution to that hassle.
Handle inside for the front edge, handle outside for the back edge, doesn't really matter which way the handle is for the side cuts.
Having a system like that avoids all of the that rotating, flipping and twisting seen in the video, and keeps the anvil and hammer in the same orientation for more of the cuts.

Here is my pair from that day. It was a treat to make tools with Rob. Since I have worked alone for about 12 years I remembered the benefits of working with a like-minded person on this type of tool, and it can be very rewarding.
I had been looking at the catalogue of tools from the Nessi collection, and just loved some of the edge treatments.

Regards,
Peter

**pmcgee** · 18th March 2013, 05:28 PM

I love that detailing of the shaft Peter ... and you made me follow your link to this ...

Very Rare 1816 Vernier Caliper is now in my collection! - Page 2

**lightwood** · 18th March 2013, 06:50 PM

Originally Posted by pmcgee

I love that detailing of the shaft Peter ... and you made me follow your link to this ...

Very Rare 1816 Vernier Caliper is now in my collection! - Page 2

Paul.
Thanks.
Those calipers are pretty nice.
The bloke behind me at the HTPAA tool sale over the weekend had a hack saw from the 1400s....beautiful!!

I found some nice steel and brass calipers a few years ago...not as early, but still very pretty.
Peter

**Berlin** · 20th March 2013, 03:32 PM

I have a brass and steel set of callipers I picked up in Strasbourg recently, the stamp (and the numbers unfortunately) are very feint but the they're by 'Probo', about whom I know nothing.

I love your set Peter. Very nice.

Matt
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1363753948.798164.jpg ImageUploadedByTapatalk1363753967.813215.jpg

**Denim** · 21st March 2013, 04:36 PM

Rob & Peter,

A great idea and I like your design much better than the alternative. Holding the sharpened chisel blade in the palm of the user's hand is asking for trouble. Yours is much safer and far simpler in execution. Well done.

Regards,

Denim.

**auscab** · 28th June 2013, 07:06 PM

Here is the bolting iron being used.

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