Old School Woodworking

[George_N]

Just seen this on Fine Woodworking.com. Just shows what can be done with basic tools in skilled hands. I loved it.

 

[Henning]

There's a link to more in the comments, i spent an hour the other day...

http://svtplay.se/v/1371069/oppet_arkiv ... 1,f,103007

There's several crafts, i found two others which was woodworking:

The one in the link above making a water butt/bucket

And this one, where a wagon wheel is made:

http://svtplay.se/v/1371071/oppet_arkiv ... 1,f,103007

 

[George_N]

Thanks for the additional links Henning, these old films are real gems. We should look at them when we start to get excited about the latest gadgets and see what those old guys could do with pretty basic tools. I have never seen the two man planing technique either but I guess it makes sense, just like two man sawing.

 

[Henning]

Thanks for the additional links Henning, these old films are real gems. We should look at them when we start to get excited about the latest gadgets and see what those old guys could do with pretty basic tools. I have never seen the two man planing technique either but I guess it makes sense, just like two man sawing.

My pleasure. I enjoyed the films very much.

It's a sobering watch what they achieved with only the basic tools, although they did have a few rather specialist ones as well. Usually, on farms in both Sweden and Norway, there would be a forge in a separate shed which would be where they would make different tools, horseshoes etc. so they would have possibilities to make tools to specification.

 

[chingerspy]

love these, thanks

 

[Chris Knight]

Great, thanks for the links.

in the mid 60s, I watched a boat builder at work on a small island in the Carribean. He was cutting round holes in the hull to let in portholes made of brass. He did this entirely by eye with no marking out at all and they fit perfectly.

 

[Harbo]

I watched the one about the wheel as my Great Grandfather was a wheelwright.

Amazing stuff - I was surprised at how crudely, (skilfully) and quickly they were made.
The haphazard sawing and I am sure the hub stock had a great big split in it?

Thanks for the link

Rod

 

[jimi43]

Great, thanks for the links.

in the mid 60s, I watched a boat builder at work on a small island in the Carribean. He was cutting round holes in the hull to let in portholes made of brass. He did this entirely by eye with no marking out at all and they fit perfectly.

Which island was that Chris? I was lucky enough to live on Anguilla for three years and the boats there are famous for their speed and beauty. All handmade and just works of art!

Jim

 

[ondablade]

Thank you indeed George and Henning. Specialisation and hand/eye skills seem very much the way it was done everywhere back then. I have a nice book on traditional Japanese woodworking skills (will dig out the ref if anybody wants it) showing guys who spent a whole lifetime on their craft at work - different types of boxmakers, temple carpenters of various specialisations, comb makers, wedding cabinet makers, bridge builders etc etc.

I too can remember watching cart wheels being made very much that way at my Grandfather's sawmill as late as back in the late 1950s - they shrank on the steel hoops that passed as tyre too. Carts also. For that matter - there weren't many power tools about, even only back then.

It brings home what that thread of a few months ago about over reliance on tight tolerance machines was getting at. At how much of modern woodworking draws on repetitive manufacturing methods, and the de-skilling that (but only in some ways) implies too.

The freedom and different mindset that modern capability brings too, it'd be a different life if you spent most of your life making a single product, if you were say a wheelwright. No wonder these guys saw the factories as a threat, what do you do if your life skill is no longer (in your mind) needed?

Another dimension is the way it points up how the associated presumption of worker idiocy has come to inform approach to safety. Those guys relied entirely on a very deep learning of their skills to stay safe, used lead paints and so on in a time when a not so serious accident could easily leave you unable to work. They were entirely self responsible in this regard i suspect. They used to say in the grandfather's mill that a sawyer was no good until he'd lost a finger (to wake him up) ..

 

[WoodAddict]

Thanks for links guys. Very interesting to watch.

http://svtplay.se/v/1371069/oppet_arkiv ... 1,f,103007

I missed how the guy got the side pieces of the bucket to curve.... Did anyone catch it?

Thanks

 

[George_N]

Thanks for links guys. Very interesting to watch.

http://svtplay.se/v/1371069/oppet_arkiv ... 1,f,103007

I missed how the guy got the side pieces of the bucket to curve.... Did anyone catch it?

Thanks

The curve on the inside face of the staves was shaped with a scorp or similar curved draw knife. The younger guy did it by placing the stave on the low bench, put his foot on it and worked with the scorp behind his heel. The two men worked the outsideof the bucket with a two man plane first of all with the bucket over the end of the bench, then the old man refined it with a horned smoother.

 

[woodbloke]

I have a nice book on traditional Japanese woodworking skills (will dig out the ref if anybody wants it) showing guys who spent a whole lifetime on their craft at work - different types of boxmakers, temple carpenters of various specialisations, comb makers, wedding cabinet makers, bridge builders etc etc.

Yes please...can you dig out the ref?..PM sent - Rob

 

[WoodAddict]

Thanks for links guys. Very interesting to watch.

http://svtplay.se/v/1371069/oppet_arkiv ... 1,f,103007

I missed how the guy got the side pieces of the bucket to curve.... Did anyone catch it?

Thanks

The curve on the inside face of the staves was shaped with a scorp or similar curved draw knife. The younger guy did it by placing the stave on the low bench, put his foot on it and worked with the scorp behind his heel. The two men worked the outsideof the bucket with a two man plane first of all with the bucket over the end of the bench, then the old man refined it with a horned smoother.

Thanks!

I just watched it again and saw exactly what you explained!

 

[sdbranam]

Very cool! I loved the giant spoon bit auger he used on the shoes. I'll have to watch the rest of these! It's inspiring seeing what a skilled craftsman can do. And make it look as easy as walking.

 

[joetraff]

Great addition.
I would love to watch more of them.

 

[Chris Knight]

Great, thanks for the links.

in the mid 60s, I watched a boat builder at work on a small island in the Carribean. He was cutting round holes in the hull to let in portholes made of brass. He did this entirely by eye with no marking out at all and they fit perfectly.

Which island was that Chris? I was lucky enough to live on Anguilla for three years and the boats there are famous for their speed and beauty. All handmade and just works of art!

Jim

Jim,
It was Half-Moon Cay off Belize (British Honduras as it was then). It was a tiny island.

This is a pic of the place - although not the boat I saw being worked on, I lost that roll of film unfortunately.

 

[Mr T]

Hi

Thanks for pointing this out, truly stunning skills. And they all seemed to have a full set of fingers!

In fact I was so impressed it inspired a blog http://www.christribe.co.uk/blog/deskilling/00029.html.

Chris