Tailor's Clapper (what?)

[ChrisA Edwards]

Yes, I know, many of you, like me, probably have never heard of such a simple device.

My wife has informed me that I have to make a few of these for her and friends.

So simply, it's a piece of flat wood that is pressed on a steamed, ironed sewing seam. The wood holds the seam flat and absorbs the steam moisture from the fabric seam.

The wood does not have any finish applied, it basically needs to blot the moisture.

So my question to the experts here, what wood would you use for this.

I'll be doing a water droplet test, later today, on various woods to see which one is the most absorbent.

Thanks.

[glenn bradley]

Pine or fir would be my guess. Cedar can have oils and redwood could leave stains. Cherry or alder also seem to be absorbent and have tighter grain and are more resilient. I'm sure there are others so let's see what other folks have to say.

[ChrisA Edwards]

After a little bit more exploring, I found a place that sells them and they use red oak.

This will mostly be a scrap pile project.

[Bradley Gray]

red oak is an unusual choice given its tendency to stain when wet.

I vote for basswood.

[ChrisA Edwards]

I vote for basswood.

I'll definitely try that, I've got a lot of off cuts leftover from another project.

[Bill Dufour]

I think you want enough weight to press it down so not pine. I vote doug fir since it is probably the cheapest you can buy. Maybe a hardwood so no sap.

[Michelle Rich]

I use tongue depressors.. not fancy but work and wood does not stain

[Lee Schierer]

I would try yellow poplar (also known as Tulip Poplar)

[Brian Tymchak]

I was also thinking poplar, and also birch.

[Larry Frank]

I have made a couple for my wife who is a quilter. I made them from maple. They are exposed to heat and damp with a steam iron. A dense, closed life wood is best.

[ChrisA Edwards]

Made a Basswood and a Red Oak one yesterday. I've got lots of Maple scraps so I'll make another.

Then my friend can use and test them and educate me, not that I plan to really make any more.

[ChrisA Edwards]

Wife's friend is happy

https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/i452/cedwards874/CasClapper.JPG

[Jim Becker]

The personalization was a really nice touch!

[Bob Vavricka]

My wife has one she purchased. It looks to me to be made out of ash.

[Bill Space]

Got curious and found this:

Is the wood special?

Tailor’s clappers are made out of hardwood only. In order to do the job, the wood has to be heavy and close-grained. Maple and tulipwood are popular! If you use another, less dense wood, it can absorb the steam and pop the wood grain! And NOBODY wants a popped wood grain...

[ChrisA Edwards]

Got curious and found this:

Is the wood special?

Tailor’s clappers are made out of hardwood only. In order to do the job, the wood has to be heavy and close-grained. Maple and tulipwood are popular! If you use another, less dense wood, it can absorb the steam and pop the wood grain! And NOBODY wants a popped wood grain...

Thanks.

After hand delivering these yesterday, my wife's friend noted that she belonged to a local sewing and embroidery club and would I be interested in making a few more of these.

I have lots of scraps of Maple, plus it's one of the cheaper and readily available woods in this area.

So today, I'm going to make a router template, just in case.

In a past life, I made a little sun shade visor for the Honda Goldwing motorcycle's GPS, for myself, but ended up hand making selling over a 1000 of them worldwide, so who knows, maybe get a little return on the tools in the garage...:)

[Bill McNiel]

These are what I made for Linda and one of her sewing friends. They are reversible, the narrow pointed "top" is used for those tighter seams // corners areas. Maple is the material for both contact surfaces.

[fred woltersdorf]

This thread made me think of Jack Webb's "copper clapper caper".
https://www.metacafe.com/watch/266947/copper_clapper_caper/