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Since the last blog entry I have finally gotten around to finishing off the shaving horse. Ladies and gentlemen, fabricated completely from scavenged scrapwood, I present to you Dobbin the shave horse!
Dobbin's legs started off lame, but a couple of lengths of M10 studding managed to sort them out. As you can see from the image, it's all the colours of the rainbow, but I'm not too worried about that as long as it functions well enough.
In putting together tooling for my woodworking project I had spent a long time looking through eBay for a decent second hand froe. What's a froe I hear you ask? Well, in short a froe is a wood cleaving tool that allows the user to split logs with some degree of precision so that they can be used in chair making, fencing, or for whatever purpose you desire. Normally a decent one will fetch upwards of £40. However, given the simplicity of the design I realised I could fabricate one for much less than that. A quick google search for home-made froes confirmed my idea and literally half an hour later I had secured a fair of van leaf springs to convert into a froe.
This is one of a pair of Vauxhall combi van leaf springs I managed to secure for just a tenner! As you can see they're quite heavy duty, but that won't be a problem once they're cut down to size.
The first step was to cut the useful part from the end of the spring, and with the angle grinder, one can put a edge on the blade to make splitting easier. There's no need for it to be super sharp as, like a splitting axe, the tool is for driving, not shaving. I ground both sides so that the finished edge formed a 'v' shape so that when it was driven through a log it would go straight through, whereas a bevel on one edge only would cause it push unequally through the wood and cleave in a non uniform fashion.
...which after a clean up and fitting with a handle looks thus:
The handle shown in the picture is part of a Eucalyptus tree I felled a few weeks ago. I used it partly as it's the only timber I have lying around at the moment, and partly because it's tough as old boots and hard as nails! I turned the handle on my electric lathe. I know this is supposed to be a pole lathe project. However, the pole lathe is still yet to be assembled!
One step at a time shall be my motto from here on... 
In putting together tooling for my woodworking project I had spent a long time looking through eBay for a decent second hand froe. What's a froe I hear you ask? Well, in short a froe is a wood cleaving tool that allows the user to split logs with some degree of precision so that they can be used in chair making, fencing, or for whatever purpose you desire. Normally a decent one will fetch upwards of £40. However, given the simplicity of the design I realised I could fabricate one for much less than that. A quick google search for home-made froes confirmed my idea and literally half an hour later I had secured a fair of van leaf springs to convert into a froe.
This is one of a pair of Vauxhall combi van leaf springs I managed to secure for just a tenner! As you can see they're quite heavy duty, but that won't be a problem once they're cut down to size.The first step was to cut the useful part from the end of the spring, and with the angle grinder, one can put a edge on the blade to make splitting easier. There's no need for it to be super sharp as, like a splitting axe, the tool is for driving, not shaving. I ground both sides so that the finished edge formed a 'v' shape so that when it was driven through a log it would go straight through, whereas a bevel on one edge only would cause it push unequally through the wood and cleave in a non uniform fashion.
As can be seen, the springs have a rubber bushing located in each end. This needs to be removed as this is where the handle will be fitted. The best way to remove it is by placing the whole thing in a fire for a few hours. Luckily for me, last night was Guy Fawkes night so the air was full of acrid smoke, so a bit of burning rubber from my wood burner wasn't going to be noticed by the neighbours.
Next morning, I removed the ashes and cooled blade from the fire and was left with this...
...which after a clean up and fitting with a handle looks thus:
The handle shown in the picture is part of a Eucalyptus tree I felled a few weeks ago. I used it partly as it's the only timber I have lying around at the moment, and partly because it's tough as old boots and hard as nails! I turned the handle on my electric lathe. I know this is supposed to be a pole lathe project. However, the pole lathe is still yet to be assembled!One step at a time shall be my motto from here on... One more thing is the garden. Throwing down a bag of grass seed did the trick after all, as a few days later we have a luscious lawn. Compare this picture with the one taken just a few weeks ago in a previous entry to see the difference.
That's it for now, I'm off to cut the timbers for the pole lathe. Until the next time...
Testis; one, two...three?
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