My new froe arrived the other day and I was excited to use it right away. Unfortunately, it requires a mallet which I needed to make. So I picked out the smallest log from my stash and began cutting it in half with my crosscut carpenter's saw. In the first photo you can see my new froe in the foreground, and the log being cut into its partner mallet.
In the past I have always had a difficult time cutting a log such as this without the saw kerf meandering. By the time I finish the cut, the kerf being cut does not line up with the kerf at the beginning. But now, thanks to my hero Roy Underhill, I know how to do this: "Rotate the work frequently, and keep one's mind clear of impure thoughts." It worked very well, as can be seen in the second photo.
The next step was to cut a handle out of one end of the stump of log. I followed the same process of keeping "one's mind clear of impure thoughts" and sawed partially through the log, splitting off the excess wood with a chisel.
When it came time to clean up the new handle with a drawknife, I discovered that my shaving horse was woefully inadequate. The jaws of the shaving horse were not large enough to accomodate a full sized log. So I tied the log to the shaving horse and braced it against my knees with a piece of scrap wood.
Here's what the handle looked like when I quit working on it. I could clean it up a little with a spokeshave, but it's just a froe mallet.
I'd like to show the froe and mallet in action, but that takes two hands, leaving nothing for holding a camera. I used it to split the other half of the log I used for the mallet. It will be a nice piece for making a hammer handle, and I have enough left over for making several more handles, or spinning tops. Now I have lots of indoor projects that will keep me through the rainy winter.
3 comments:
So why didn't you take your bicycle video cam, put it on your helmet, put the helmet on your head, and aim the camera at your work ... ?
But over all, I'd have to say that you showed a lot of ingenuity in the fact that you improvised to create a mallet out of a piece of existing "junk", and secondly in the way you improvised to attach and hold the soon-to-be mallet to your shaving horse with the rope and your knees.
I'm proud to call you my Son!
That's a serious mallet!
Is it made of Box Elder wood?
I meant to give you some vine-maple to play with, but can't remember if I ever did.
Now that you have your froe and mallet, you may have even more use for some of the specialty wood that I have in abundance. If you want to play with a decent-sized chunk of vine maple or Cascara (smooth, tight-grained, yellow wood...would be great for a decorative touch), Alder or Douglas Fir....just say the word.
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