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harry strasil
05-18-2006, 5:32 PM
Just wondering if some of you use toys like these?

Hand forged bearded coachmakers axe.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/beardedcoachmakeraxe.jpg

Brad awls.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/bradawls.jpg

Auger bit guides.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/augerbitguides.jpg

Mullets.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/mullets.jpg

Depth gauge for setting fences on planes etc.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/planedepthgauge.jpg

Small dowel plate.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/smalldowelplate.jpg

Or maybe some of these are a little too early period wise for your WWing.

Deirdre Saoirse Moen
05-18-2006, 7:40 PM
I actually have the last two (though I haven't yet used the dowel plate), but I don't even get what the mullets are for.

Mark Stutz
05-18-2006, 7:44 PM
The Broad Ax looks too scary to me!:D

Iuse an awl a lot, and have used the dowel plate,....but what is a mullet? I have never heard of auger bit guides. Should be self explanatory, I know, but hoiw do you use them?:confused:

Mark

Deirdre Saoirse Moen
05-18-2006, 8:10 PM
I use an awl, but I didn't mention that because Harry specified brad awl, so that made me wonder if it were somehow different than the awl I have.

harry strasil
05-18-2006, 8:10 PM
Its not a broad axe, it's a little bearded axe, only has about a 5 or 6 inch cutting edge. The main body is of soft mild steel with a piece of car spring forge welded on as a hard tough cutting edge.

Mullet is a gauge used when thinning down an edge to a certain thickness, kind of a go / no go gauge also useful when planing boards to thickness or tapering the ends of bottom boards for a drawer etc.

The Brad Awls are not tapered down their length, they are full diameter all the way with a chisel point filed from both sides. Mainly used by old timers when nailing on easily split cedar siding, to make a hole for the nails on the ends. You only turn them a quarter turn back and forth while pushing down and they make a hole almost faster than you can drill one.

Drill guides are used with Auger Bits as a guide when enlarging a previously drilled hole. The have a depression in the center that is filled with lead or solder and are started on the spiral thread point to keep the larger bit centered in the hole.

That dowel plate has standard and 1/32 oversize holes in it. I don't normally glue my pegs and pins in, just a drive fit like the old timers. Floor boards and siding were originally pinned or pegged on with no glue and they didn't come up or loose, most people don't know how to nail flooring or siding as it will come up and makes a noise when you walk on it.

Mike Wenzloff
05-18-2006, 8:46 PM
Hey Harry,

All but the bearded axe and the auger bit guides. The bit guides are cool. Never seen them before. Of course, that's because all my holes are drilled acurate and the right size to begin with...if you believe that, I got a bridge...

I can't think of how many times when building the timber frame and log structures I've worked on those bit guides would have been handy. Probably a couple dozen.

So what function was the bearded axe used for?

Thanks, Mike

Mark Stutz
05-18-2006, 8:54 PM
Harry,
What is the difference between a broad ax and a Bearded ax?:o Just the size? Still looks scary to me.:eek:

Looks like "Make mullets" will need to go onto my todo list...now if I can just find the roundtuit marked mulletts.....;) :D

Thanks for posting these!

Mark

harry strasil
05-18-2006, 9:19 PM
Mike I have no idea what the axe was used for, probably some rough hewing on something, I saw it in an old book and liked the looks of it, so I made myself one, LOL

As far as the bit guides, you see them in old catalogues and in books about old tools, but I am not sure anyone living has actually seen an original set. I saw them and as I use auger bits a lot, I thought they would be handy so I made myself a set and then made a box to store them in. I also made a set for Jim Price as he had never seen a real set. They sure are handy.

Mark a Broad Axe and a Broad Hatchet are flat on one side and are sharpened on the other side like a chisel. A regular axe is sharpened like a knife from both sides. Also a Broad Axe and Hatchet flair in front and back of the poll. Broad Axes were used for hewing the sides of a log flat for squaring the timber.

A small broad Axe head.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/smallbroadax.jpg

A large broad axe head, 10 to 12 inch cutting edge.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/largebroadax.jpg

Jim Becker
05-18-2006, 9:23 PM
The Broad Ax looks too scary to me!

Yea...it seems like one must wear a full-face black mask while wielding that sucker!

harry strasil
05-18-2006, 10:18 PM
LOL, good one Jim, I think probably they might have done double duty so to say. It would actually be hard to miss a skinny neck.

When you first use a broad axe it is kinda scary, but like anything else once you are familiar with it. and you still have both legs it just comes kinda natural.

Can you imagine a modern person who has nothing but tailed tools, trying to build something with my set of tools. LOL

I hope you don't mind me putting pictures of old tools up on the forum, to me it is a means for me to familiarizing those who really care and want to know about old tools and their use.

Lars Thomas
05-18-2006, 11:04 PM
I hope you don't mind me putting pictures of old tools up on the forum, to me it is a means for me to familiarizing those who really care and want to know about old tools and their use.


Keep em coming!

Brad Schmid
05-18-2006, 11:24 PM
Keep em coming Harry! I love this stuff. I remember seeing some of these things in my grandfathers shop when I was a kid. I never bothered to ask what half of it was or how it was used at the time, but it sure is interesting now.

Mark Stutz
05-18-2006, 11:41 PM
[QUOTE=harry strasil]

...once you are familiar with it. and you still have both legs it just comes kinda natural.

QUOTE]

This part is definitely key!:D

Alan DuBoff
05-19-2006, 2:38 AM
Harry,

Axe question. On a broadaxe, is it typically sharpened with one side flat, and only a bevel on one side? I have a small broadaxe like that, and I have seen left and right used to describe broadaxes, so figure that must designate which side the bevel is on.

James Mittlefehldt
05-19-2006, 6:28 AM
Harry,

Axe question. On a broadaxe, is it typically sharpened with one side flat, and only a bevel on one side? I have a small broadaxe like that, and I have seen left and right used to describe broadaxes, so figure that must designate which side the bevel is on.

That is correct Alan. The broad axe is used for squaring a timber so you want one side flat, which would also explain why there are left and right axes I suuppose. I have a book, which is a reprint of an older one I believe, called 'Old Ways Of Working Wood' In it the author claims that some of those old guys could square up a timber with a broad axe and it would be almost as good as a planed surface. None of the timbers I have seen around here, in Southern Ontario looked that good. I recall seeing it done though on Roy Underhill's show.

harry strasil
05-19-2006, 7:49 AM
Alan actually it means which side the handle was put in from, some people are right handed and some are left. A Broad Axe or Hatchet only has one flat side.

I thought you would enjoy that comment Mark. LOL anyway it was aimed at you.

An Adze is a much more dangerous tool to use.

tod evans
05-19-2006, 7:53 AM
I hope you don't mind me putting pictures of old tools up on the forum, to me it is a means for me to familiarizing those who really care and want to know about old tools and their use.

keep `em commin` harry! most of us use a mix of hand and power, right now i`m chopping large mortises in oak beams taken from an old factory back east, the only tools i own capable of cutting a 2-1/2x6 through mortice in seasoned oak are a chisel and drill. .02 tod

harry strasil
05-19-2006, 8:15 AM
I use only Spofford Patent braces because the are quicker and easier to change bits and hold the bits more secure and I have several sizes. For those who don't know a brace size is the distance from the center of the bit chuck to the center of the handle used to turn it. Small bits take less effort to use than large bits.

My Basic Bit selection, Centre Bits, Spoon bits, counter sinks and screwdriver bits. I made the spoon bits. I also have a set of Auger bits and twist drill bits and a couple of Forstner bits, but they are hard to find.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/basicbracetools.jpg

harry strasil
05-19-2006, 8:28 AM
Tod, this is a picture of me set up and demoing timber framing a few years back. I have a small timber frame building of two bents with the different joints used in timber framing to show the different joints used, they are also labeled at the joint what they are. The timber I was using was cottonwood fresh from sawmill and when using my beam borer the water was coming out. LOL


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/timberframedemo.jpg

tod evans
05-19-2006, 8:35 AM
i`d love to be working green wood harry, especially oak! but the client wants the "old" look of these nail infested, weather checked beams. tod

harry strasil
05-19-2006, 8:38 AM
Dry wood is much easier to saw and drill than green wood, believe me.

harry strasil
05-19-2006, 8:43 AM
If anyone has specific questions about old tools and there uses, I will be glad to try to answer them with my limited knowledge of old tools and If I have pictures or can take pictures to show I will also try to accomadate you. And please call me Jr. I was forced to use my given name by the staff here, I don't use it and my friends would wonder who you were referring to if they heard you use Harry. LOL

tod evans
05-19-2006, 8:44 AM
i believe you harry, it`s the damn square shank nails that give me fits! my chisels will be 1/2" shorter by the time i`m done. tod

harry strasil
05-19-2006, 8:54 AM
A little tip Tod, start with an old chisel you don't really care for, grind it to a more blunt cutting edge and work a little ways away from the line, after you encounter nails, and have removed them, pare to the line with a good chisel, also if you have a police or sherriff dept friend, have them go over the areas you want to work with one of their metal detecting wands first to locate the metal.

I have found out that when paring to the line when timber framing if you put a camber to the cutting edge of your chisel like a slick has, they cut much better like a skew chisel.

Tyler Howell
05-19-2006, 9:55 AM
Sorry Harry,
Noobee here.
How are the Mullets used:confused: I scanned and didn't see an explanation.
Could you explain your brand /symbol
Love this thread. keep it coming:cool:

harry strasil
05-19-2006, 10:03 AM
Tyler, a mullett is basically a piece of hardwood with one or more slots in it of known widths, It lays on the bench or whatever and when you are planing a board to a specific edge thickness or raising a panel, you use the mullet as a go/nogo gauge, if the edge fits in the slot its the right size, if it doesn't it needs some more taken off.

harry strasil
05-19-2006, 11:24 AM
Maybe I should tell a bit about myself and how I slid down the slope.

I am a third generation Blacksmith and began my apprenticeship in my father and uncles shop when I was 7 in 1951. I was always big for my age so life in a Blacksmith shop was not all that hard. I started by replacing the spokes and fellows in high wheeled wooden wagon wheels and then advanced to grinding and polishing plow lays all day long. I learned to weld by using the short stubs from arc welding to build up the toe and heel caulks on horseshoes, as my father was also a farrier.

I was taught early how to use woodworking tools as I used them daily in the blacksmith shop in those days. I was always making my own toys etc out of wood and had my own tool tote with a saw, hammer a couple of old chisels, a rasp and a drawknife. I got into a few tailed tools for awhile and did a bit of carpentry helping other people, I helped build 3 new houses and helped remodel a couple of business places after hours. A small old Monkeyward table saw, a cheap skill type saw, an electric drill, a small router and a vibrator sander where all the power tools I had, along with my hand tools.

I obtained a small camel back drill press and rebuilt it and built the table saw I still have. Along the way I acquired the non neander old radial arm saw, a band saw and a 6 inch jointer.

About 1989 I embarked on a project to build a complete period correct portable blacksmith shop for display at the 100th National Blacksmiths Convention and found out real quick you can't do period work with a few power tools, so I have been using and collecting old hand woodworking tools ever since.

I happened on an Old Mentor who had started out using only hand tools working as a Carpenter on churches, courthouses and commercial construction jobs. He retired as the superintendant of a construction company, but still had his original tools plus a lot of antique ones. It was due to him and several old reprinted and original books on woodworking that I slid so easily down the slope. He gave me quite a few of his hand tools as his children had no interest in them and he was a constant critic of my work. He was also instrumental in showing me how to use a lot of my tools.

I used to demo blacksmithing at steam shows and living history weekends and after the resurgence of smithing brought on by ABANA, demo smiths were crawling out of the wood work. I noticed that no one was educating the public about old fashioned hand tool woodworking so I embarked on that venture and have been at it eversince.

I am no expert or so called "Master" of either blacksmithing or woodworking, I know just enough to be dangerous and get myself into trouble occasionally.

End of long winded story. LOL

harry strasil
05-19-2006, 11:40 AM
This is the shop I built all by hand with hand tools, set up in the second floor ball room of the Hilton in Sioux City, Iowa. This is what caused my slide down the slope.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/smithing/1800sshop.jpg

tod evans
05-19-2006, 11:45 AM
harry (jr.) i for one hope you stick around! it`s nice to have a brain more worn than mine to pick...02 tod

Dennis McDonaugh
05-19-2006, 11:58 AM
Harry, can you explain how those bit guides were used? They look like flat discs of metal.

harry strasil
05-19-2006, 12:04 PM
dennis, see post #5 of this threadd