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Thread: Ever Wanted a Froe Away Line?
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13th August 2017, 09:46 PM #61
A journey, Not a destination!
I have learnt a lot from this little venture. The main lesson is that I don't know nearly as much as I thought did.
I was going to show the replacement handle I made. I was going to tell you that the house we live in, which is on a slightly larger than normal house block, had been used to keep Arab horses. The previous owners ran, and still do run, an Arabian stud. They used to keep their favourite animals here and the rest of their animals on a property just out of town. In fact I recall one night, when we lived about 200m further up the road, saying I think I can hear a horse out in the front yard. Sure enough there was a horse in the front yard and it turned out to be the favourite stallion from the horse stud where we now live. We chased that damned horse around the town for about two hours before we caught it.
Anyhow the point of the story is that most of our backyard when we bought the house was stockyards for horses. I pulled them all down and salvaged some timber from the gates. These were ironbark and have been just sitting around for the last nine or so years. They had holes drilled in them but I salvaged the timber in between the holes and although it looked weathered I thought there would be some good strong stuff in the middle. They had been 100 x 50s and I only needed 50 x 50 for the handle (a little less than that really).
Froe handle Ironbark.jpg
It trimmed up as expected and of course had dramatic colour:
Froe handle Ironbark trimmed.jpg
but unfortunately it didn't work. It was an unmitigated disaster. I split off one Bull Oak billet (note: not firewood ) and then the b!@#$%^ &*()_+! broke
P1000850.jpg
Clearly the wood was not as good as I first thought. Some of you may recall that I am a big advocate of Spotted Gum for tool handles ( some might say "bespotted" ), although in this instance I was trying to shed that mantle. I was searching the handsaw container for something else and I noticed sticking up out of the drum for handle material a piece of spotty entirely the wrong shape for any sort of handle other than a Gents saw. It was just poking out saying "Take me, take me." So I did what any red blooded saw collector would do: I took it and this is the result.
Froe spotty wedge (2).jpg
and with some BLO applied
Froe spotty wedge (3).jpg
Sorry about the mood lighting. My primitive shed at night time is even more primitive. I rely heavily on the moon. AND I don't know why the pictures are on their side. I did not take them that way.
Just on the subject of wedges, and this is for those people who are the recipients of the other three froes, it seems better to make the wedge the width of the bottom section of pipe otherwise it floats around uncontrollably like this:
Froe Ironbar wedge.jpg
It means that in addition to the taper in the thickness a slight taper in the width will be needed also:
Froe spotty wedge (1).jpg
On a good note, which is how I would like to finish up after the initial tale of woe, the wedge on the Ironbark handle held really well and after cutting off the handle above the collar I had to drill out the stub to dislodge the wedge. So although it looked ordinary, it was doing it's job very well.
One last comment is that I very slightly bevelled the inside edge on the top of the collar. I did this with all of the froes. This enables the handle to be tapered at this point rather than meeting a solid piece of timber and "butting" against the collar. I believe this works better as there is a compressive action on the timber instead of pushing. I used a piece of off-cut pipe the same diameter as the lower part of the collar to forcibly hammer the collar onto the handle. Then the wedge was positioned in the usual way: With extreme force!
A little bit of a protracted talk just to keep you folks salivating until the experts post pix of their froes .
Regards
PaulBushmiller;
"Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"
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13th August 2017 09:46 PM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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17th August 2017, 09:10 AM #62
I probably did not explain well the tapering of the handle and the small collar the same size as the lower section of pipe that I used to hammer on the froe to the handle. The collar does not remain on the handle. The diagram below may help. It also may not load up well I will revisit tonight if that happens:
On a separate tack there is a ABC TV programme called Dirty Jobs. If you care to go through Iview, look for Series 3 Episode3, which is on a Shingles and Shake operation in the US utilising reject Westen Red Cedar logs. Automated, but still primitive, it is interesting.
Regards
PaulBushmiller;
"Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"
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17th August 2017, 09:38 AM #63Senior Member
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vid
Found this as well, interesting how the sawn shingles bleed more than the ones made with the Froe, "cleaved" perhaps?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZA1J8RHltY
That would have taken a fair while to nail the little fekkers onto that roof
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17th August 2017, 10:47 AM #64GOLD MEMBER
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I use western red cedar shake blocks as the wood source for most of my carvings.
By definition, they are 24" long by whatever, say, 12" x 8" or so. Fresh might be 40 lbs each.
I make the wood shapes that I want with a log mallet and a froe. Very pleasant wood-bashing.
In terms of control, +/- 2mm is not at all hard to accomplish.
True: WRC split follows the grain and as such, the resin ducts in the wood are not opened.
Sawn shingles, on the other hand, have everything cut open to "leak".
Even with your eyes shut, the aromatic difference is obvious.
Just after I bought some bigger split pieces ( 64" x 5" x 5"), my shop had a wonderful smell but it lasts only a few days.
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17th August 2017, 10:04 PM #65
Hopefully this pic of the method I used to attach the handle will show up. There seems to be a problem when I scan an image. This time I took a photo.
Froe handle attachment.jpg
Regards
PaulBushmiller;
"Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"
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18th August 2017, 09:19 AM #66Senior Member
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After installing "said wedge" would one then soak "said froe" - wedge end in water, to swell the said wedge and handle, remembering to apply some rust inhibitor after the said soaking?
Just asking, thought it might help?
Nice drawing by the way Paul.
Stevo
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18th August 2017, 09:25 AM #67
maybe soak in BLO
regards
Nick
veni, vidi, tornavi
Without wood it's just ...
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18th August 2017, 07:42 PM #68
The swelling of the timber theoretically will make the handle tighter, but I don't think you should rely on this as in time it will dry out agin so you will back to the normal moisture content.
I think the froe and handle will work well if it is made as tight as possible in the first place, particularly with the addition of the wedge coupled with the wider lower portion of the collar.
My version seems to be rock solid, although I have not been able to give it a workout since the Spotty handle was fitted.
Thanks Stevo for the compliments on my drawing, but it is not a skill for which I am renowned.
Regards
PaulBushmiller;
"Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"
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6th September 2017, 08:52 PM #69
two pieces of steel arrived the other day (after a somewhat interesting journey!)
so today I turned a couple of handles
they were a snug fit (deliberately so), I ended up tapping (driving) the handles in with a small sledge hammer. The ring provided by Bushy was a godsend, thanks. I've yet to wedge the handles, this will probably happen tomorrow. I've also yet to turn my bludgeon
I've no idea what the timber is - it was donated to the local mens shed by a builder - I've suspicions that it might be some Indonesian rainforest timber. Anyway the handles have a coat of danish oil and will get a couple more over the next day or so.
froe handles 5D4_0160.jpgregards
Nick
veni, vidi, tornavi
Without wood it's just ...
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7th September 2017, 12:22 AM #70
Very nice handles Nick.
I sorta knew that with your turning skills, you'd show me up .
Seriously, they look good. How do you do that corkscrew effect?
Regards
PaulBushmiller;
"Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"
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7th September 2017, 04:24 PM #71
Thanks for the compliment.
One of these Sorby spiralling tools - am still learning how to use it properly so these handles a perfect opportunity to drag it outregards
Nick
veni, vidi, tornavi
Without wood it's just ...
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