Extant, Reproduction, Good Enough

Doing work at the Fort is wonderful. It is also an exercise in interpreting what you are seeing vs what you expect to see.

When you look at the different items in the Fort, it is often surprising to find that they are “modern” items. We laugh when people pick up the wooden cup because stamped on the bottom is “Pier One”.

It is good enough at a distance.

We use the tools at the Fort. We use the spinning wheels from the 1700s, we use the warping board from the same time. We use all these things. And occasionally, it isn’t really that old.

One of the ladies that volunteers is an excellent spinner. She has left her person spinning wheel at the Fort. On my first walk through, I was examining the wheels to see if they needed fixing.

Hers took me aback. It had metal bearing surfaces. Then I took a step back and realized that the entire wheel is no more than 20 years old.

Somebody brought me a sickle to sharpen. On of the volunteers was using it to cut some longer vegetation. This is the type of task that worries me. If this thing is 300 years old, I can ruin it by touching a stone to it. I was asked to proceed.

A few minutes of working on the blade with the stone showed that it was a modern blade. It was both a relief and a disappointment.

The Froe

One of the workhorses of an older shop is the Froe. It is a 12″ blade with the sharpened edge away from you. You hold it by the handle to position the froe against the end grain of a log. You then rap the back of the blade with a wooden mallet.

With a bit of work, you can split a long, straight piece off the log that can be turned into something else. Such as barrel staves.

I’ve known of them for years. I only got a chance to handle one a few months ago. I was surprised at how thick the blade was. I was expecting a knife thickness. Instead it was 3/8+ inches thick.

When I set the blade against the log, to split of a slap, hit it hard with the wood mallet, the damn blade bounced back at me.

The blade was so dull that it didn’t even pretend to enter the wood.

45 minutes later, it was sharp enough to use. And I was worried that I was modifying a piece of history.

Then two weeks ago, I received permission to take the froe home to properly sharpen it. Instead of taking it home, the blacksmith Sam sharpened it with a file.

As we worked on the blade, it became obvious that it wasn’t from the 1700s. It had a wield repair, the fold wasn’t forge wielded. It was a reproduction that really wasn’t a working tool. Close, but not really.

Sam has been tasked to make a reproduction froe that I can use at the Fort without worrying about breaking something 100s of years old.

He made a beautiful blade. It looks like a froe blade, it is not.

A froe is used by reefing on the handle to twist the blade in the wood. By twisting the blade, you can guide the split.

That is why it is so thick. That is why the handle is so long.

Sam made this blade from some scrap he had around. It is 3/32’s thick. This is not thick enough. The eye is not long enough. This does not qualify as a reproduction.

What it is, is a safety splitter for Ally. When you are starting a fire, you need kindling. She uses a splitting stand.

You put your stick of split firewood in the mouth of this thing, resting on the fixed blade. Then you wack the back side with another piece of wood, driving the wood onto the blade and splitting it.

This is much safer than holding the stick with one hand while swinging a blade at it with the other. Even people that are good at this will sometimes make mistakes. Mistakes that can be life-threatening.

This splitting gizmo is a very modern tool. It will pass, but it never existed in the 1700s.

The froe that Sam made will work perfectly at the task of splitting kindling from a firewood stick. With one hand, balance the stick on an end, hold it there. Use the other hand to position the froe blade where you want it. Your offhand is on the handle of the froe. The blade is on the stick of firewood. You can let go of the stick.

Pick up your wooden mallet and drive the froe into the stick of firewood, splitting it.

As long as you are driving it straight into the wood, this tool will work. And it looks great.

I do have to make a handle for it. Not difficult with the wood lathe.

Markings

When I or Sam make reproductions, we mark the reproductions with our marks. If they would not have had makers marks, we hide them. We’ve given our marks to the Fort. This means that they can look at one of our reproductions, 30 years from now, and know it was made as a reproduction.