The Crispin Colloquy

Ed,

That's a "Star" welt knife. Basically it's a variation of the circular welt trimmer. Star welt knives are available both as antiques and perhaps some new or very recent manufacture. I've seen them with plastic handles. Of course the older ones are the best, both in terms of esthetics and quality--the casting and cleanup are so much better. I don't believe they come but one way-- "right handed."

Despite the name, the tool is used more often than not to trim the surface of the seat and perhaps the top edge of the shank (if pegged). I personally have never seen one of these used to level or trim the welt and I can't imagine a circumstance where I would want to level the welt much less use this tool to do it. But Al or one of our historians might have another take.

I hold the handle of the tool, palm upward, and push.

Anyway, hope this helps.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

Here's a new awl haft I just finished made from Texas mesquite. Pretty wood.


Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

Hey DW!
The word 'incorrigible' springs to mind for some reason.
They look to durn prurrty to use, those awls.

Lot of testosterone gone into it one too, I'll bet.
Even Tim 'The Toolman' Taylor would proud to get behind that sucker.
More power to y'awl
T.

Tom,

You always have a good word to say about my turnings...tools or otherwise. Thank you. Of course, I'm only incorriglble because my friends keep en-"corriging" me.

I'm doubly glad that you like this particular awl, Tom. I did put some special effort into it. I put a CA/boiled linseed oil finish on it and it turned out better than I expected. Should last years.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

An interesting old tool website. Now I'm thinking... usually a bad idea.

An HCC "virtual" shoemaking tool "museum" on-line? I'd bet, between all our members, if we produced a digitized photo gallery of tools like this, we'd really have something.

http://home.att.net/~saddle_tool_dude/tools.htm

Al,

What's to stop us? We have "Tools of the Trade" and all the photos contained therein. And there are some remarkable photos and some remarkable tools here and in the archives. Most people like yourself would be more than willing to allow the phots to be put into a collection on the HCC homepage and would probably contribute even more photos.

I'll look at putting together something and you...or anyone else...can contribute text/descriptions or editied/amended text and **more** photos. Once the web page is up it will be a cinch to update and/or add to.

Maybe contact me "back channel" for title and layout?

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

You willing to honcho this? We'll have to collect photos and captions from folks, decide on photo formats, as well as "cataloguing" format for consistency, and edit all before posting. Yes, contact me off-line....

Al,

Yes.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

It shouldn't matter too much, but you will probably want to get make sure you have explicit permission to use people's photographs as the images are copyrighted. Excellent idea though.

Marc

Marc,

Actually we contacted/contracted a lawyer about this and, if I understand it correctly, permission is already granted in all instances. From the Crispin Colloquy "Policy Statement":

By posting here, you grant to the The Honourable Cordwainers' Company a non-exclusive license to copy, distribute, display, perform or create derivative works from your post, by itself or in combination with other posts to the Forum, for the full term of any copyright in your post.

Always pays to read the fine print.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

Okie dokie. Although if I've missed it, I'll bet other folks have as well

Marc

Just to be clear...there is every intention of asking and crediting, but folks should be aware that when they post here they are, defacto, generously offering up content to the HCC for its non-profit, educational, 501 C-3 use.

There are other tidbits of useful advice and information in the Policy Statement that are worth looking at...as I have hammered and harped about in Sytem Announcements ad infinitum and probably ad nauseum.

Yr. Ob. Svt.

This is a leather masher I've turned from a New Zealand native called Black Maire.
The masher is more often found in a saddler's shop than a boot makers, but I thought it might be of interest.
Black Maire is seriously hard, and has been used for ships bearings when Lignum Vitae wasn't available.
The handle is about 5" long and the business end about 4" across.
The handle is fitted into a hole in the head. The head was turned first using a 'Jam' chuck to do the back, after the face side had been finished with a conventional chuck. The black grooves were made by first cutting the groove, then pulling a piece of copper wire down into the cut 'til it charred the wood.
Then the handle was turned to get a precise fit, and glued in using two part epoxy.

More power to y'awl
T.

Tom,

Beautiful! What did you finish it with? I have that piece of black maire but in its raw state it seems a bit "blonder" than your masher.

Now that you've "come out of the closet" as a turner...what lathe are you turning on and how large is it? Just curious...

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

Carpe Diem...carpe lignum...torne lignum...lignum vitae, that is.


Lignum vitae pegging haft.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

NICE!!
I'm glad you finally found your English...again! ;)

DW, sorry.
The lathe is a New Zealand made Technatool 3000. It's about 9" from the centre to the bed, which can be extended to what ever length. The beauty is that the head can swivel around for bowl turning.
The masher was finished with some acrylic lacquer.
That black Maire is the sweetest wood I've ever worked with (not that that's any great criteria!), I love it. It smells like honey when the chips fly.

Great awl. Looks like you turned the leather caps at the same time... a good trick. Nice form.
Better get back to work (lunch time)
More power to y'awl
T.

Tom,

That would be the Nova? Well, I'm jealous! All I have is a cheap-o Grizzly (China knock-off)...but I hope to upgrade to a Jet, at least, by spring.

I am saving my Black maire for something special but I'm also looking forward to turning it. Mediterranean Olive is also a sweet smelling wood and looks spectacular if you like light wood with a lot of figure.

I put the leather on after the haft is turned.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

Jake,

Shall I save folks having to run it through Babelfish?

"Seize the day...seize the wood...turn the wood."

Good advice for anyone.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

Years ago, in the first flush of tool craziness, I bought a set of Barnsley scrapers. I never really knew what they were or how they were used. My old master didn't use them. I put them aside as a curious artifact from the "old days." Time went by, and partly out of boredom and partly out of curiosity (it's not like I had any spare time to kill) I got to reading the old texts, and many and sundry other sources. Somewhere in amongst it all, I came across references to using pieces of broken glass to scrape and refine the edges of heels lifts and soles, etc.. And, of course knowing that traditionally Windsor chairs and other fine furniture was often scraped rather than sanded, it slowly dawned on me that the scrapers could be used in place of sandpaper in certain circumstances just as the broken glass was being used.

But try as I might I couldn't get the scrapers to work worth squat. So, I fiddled with the glass for a couple of years--never really satisfied with the longevity of the edge nor the consistency of the glass--either in the edge or the shape. I tried expensive (relatively) glass cutters and rocks dropped from high over head. But It was always hit or miss.

Recently, through my adventures in woodturning I have been introduced to scrapers ( these look like a regular wood turning chisel and are often as heavy or heavier...but essentially blunt) and the technique of "shear scraping." Learning how to sharpen them led me back to the old Barnsley scrapers. The result is an edge that is actually better than glass and lasts longer, too.

I don't know if I've got the approved technique or even if it can be improved, but here's how I do it...Barnsley scrapers are thin pieces of metal shaped in various ways but usually something like a trapezoid with rounded ends. These ends are sharpened, with a wheel or a file at about a 45 degree angle to the flat of the scraper...and from one side only. the idea, as with any sharpening procedure is to raise a burr on the edge--on the flat side in this instance. Then a diamond hone is used to carefully remove that burr--working from the flat side of the scraper. The edge that is left must be sharp and clean....under a microscope there should be few f any "jaggies" on this edge. this is important and even though none of us is gonna get out the microscope or even a magnifying glass to confirm it, the concept alone, and the visualization of it, is key to getting this to work.

One that edge is sharpened and de-burred, it is a simple process to use the smooth section of a chainsaw file (that's what I use) or a piece of hardened tool steel, or even a commercially available burnishing tool, to turn an edge. I hold the chainsaw file at a 90 degree angel tot he flat of the scraper and firmly (even hard) run it along that carefully prepared edge. It's almost like deliberately trying to dull the edge. But the idea is to turn that edge over and create another harder, stouter, and cleaner burr. That's your scraping and cutting edge. And you use the scraper on tempered leather, holding it perpendicular or at a slight angle to the surface of the leather, just like you would use the glass.

Barnsley is long gone, of course, but I notice in my woodworking catalogues that scrapers such as these are readily available for fine woodworking. I don't see why they wouldn't work on leather, as well, and it sure beats breaking up a bunch of wine bottles hoping for that one magic fragment.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

DW,
we were taught/shown how to make those scrapers by our woodwork teacher in primary school (- I'm not taking the mick out of ya here BTW.) but we use to use discarded wood saws because they were easy to get and the steel was good.The steel (saw) was cut with an angle grinder into pieces about...4"x 4" and of course the teeth were ground off as well.
I can see how they'd work on leather (heels). I've tried using glass in the past for finishing the edges on some harness I was making, and I hated handling the stuff.
More power to y'awl.
T.

Dee-Dubb,

This is quite a coincidence. I too have been working/experimenting with glass and scrapers for the last couple of years. Only recently have I come close to what I call a successful discovery (actually, I didn't discover this....people have been using glass and scrapers for YEARS).

I started with glass. Bought an expensive glasscutter, etc., but never found any dependable way of producing reliable results.

Then one day while watching a woodworking show, I notice a feller (that's an individual, in Arkansas terms) using a wood scraper. A light bulb lit up! I started experimenting with scrapers I had on hand, and believe I might have a fairly reliable method of sharpening a scraper, and putting it to good use in our trade.

Hand scrapers are available in many different profiles, but the most commonly encountered are rectangular (normally about 10cm x 6cm) and gooseneck (shaped like a draftsman's French curve). These two shapes will handle 99% of scraping tasks, and are a good starting set for beginners. Since scrapers are quite inexpensive and last forever, it usually makes sense to buy the best available.

Scrapers are available in various thicknesses. Thicker scrapers are for heavy stock removal, and are analogous to the 60 or 80 grit type sandpaper. Thinner scrapers flex easier and are better for preparing a surface for a finish. Very thin scrapers are for fine finishing and for leveling the finish. These very thin scrapers can be used to cleanly level between finish applications without the clogging or scratch patterns that often results with a 400 or 600 grit sandpaper.

A scraper works by virtue of a tiny sharp burr on its edge, formed by the burnishing process. This burr will slice the fibers of the wood like a tiny plane, with the face of the scraper acting as a chip breaker to eliminate tearout. The result will be ultra-fine shavings, even on pieces with difficult grain. Without the proper burr, the scraper will not have the desired cutting action -- it will just drag over the surface. Thus, an improperly burnished or dull scraper will produce dust instead of shavings, with a resulting decrease in surface quality. When this happens, it is time to reburnish or sharpen the scraper.

When using a rectangular scraper it is normal practice to prepare the front and back edges of the two long sides (4 edges total). With a curved scraper, only the section that matches the profile you are scraping needs to be prepared. Hold the scraper up to the piece and move it around until you find the matching bit of curve, then mark the area of contact on the scraper with a pencil. This will show the portion of the edge that needs to be prepared, and aid in aligning the scraper when used.

With any scraper, the preparation is a three-part process:

* Squaring - removing any existing burr and making the edge square
* Honing - putting a sharp edge on the scraper
* Burnishing - creating the burr

These steps are always done in order, but many times it is not necessary to square or hone. A scraper can normally be burnished 5-6 times before it completely loses its edge and needs to be re-squared.

More to come..........

One more thing....

GROSSLY simplified, sandpaper works by grinding down high spots on a surface, using its grits to scratch and break the wood fibers. If the scratches left by the sandpaper are small enough, the surface looks to be perfectly smooth. If one were to look at the resulting surface under a microscope, however, it would tell a different story. The fibers of the wood would be ragged and torn, and the pores would be filled with dust and grit from the sandpaper.

A scraper works by cutting action, much like a plane. This means that the wood fibers are cut, and not torn like they would be by sanding. The resulting surface will still look good at magnification, which translates to a beautiful finish.

In addition to the superior surface which results from the scraper there are other beneficial reasons to use this tool:

* Airborne dust particles are minimized
* The price of a set of scraper blades is less then a sleeve of sandpaper or any of the electric power type sanding machines
* The noise level produced by a scraper blade cutting through hardwood does not require ear protection
* A scraper may be more efficient then sanding since, in many cases, a scraper produces the finished surface without the need to progress through various grits.

Ok....back to the three steps:

SQUARING
The first step in the preparation of any scraper is to make the edge perfectly flat and square. Any existing burr needs to be removed to allow a razor sharp edge to be put on. Squaring is done with a mill bastard file held perfectly perpendicular to the scraper face. The scraper should be held in a vice, and the file drawn along the edge 3 or 4 times-only a very little amount of material needs to be removed.

When squaring a rectangular scraper, it is very important that the edge be kept straight as well as square. For this reason, one will normally run the file lengthwise along the scraper. Keeping the file square is very difficult in this configuration, so some sort if jig is normally used. Fancy commercial jigs are available which work quite well.

Squaring a curved scraper follows the same basic procedure, but can get a bit more complicated if the curve is concave. If the curve is convex, the same procedure can be used as for the rectangular scraper. The only difference is that you need to follow the curvature of the edge as you file. If the curve is concave, however, the square file will not be able to make contact-a half-round file must be used. The file should be held across the edge of the scraper with one hand on each side, and run along the edge for 3 or 4 strokes. It is easier to hold the file level in this configuration, so a jig is normally not necessary.

HONING

After the scraper edge is perfectly square and without burr, the next step is to put a razor-sharp corners on each prepared edge. The honing is done just as you would for any cutting edge, only in the case of a scraper there is no bevel -- the edge is honed to a perfect 90 degree angle.

To obtain a sharp corner, both the edge and face of the scraper must be honed through a series of progressively finer grits. For each grit of stone, the faces are honed first, and then the edge. After honing the edge at the finest grit, you may opt to strop the sides to get a perfect edge.

Honing the faces of a scraper is quite simple. All that is required is to hold the scraper face flat on the stone while moving it in a circular motion. Care should be taken (especially on the soft waterstones) to use all areas of the stone, so as not to wear the face unevenly.

Honing the edge is trickier, since the scraper needs to be held perfectly perpendicular to the stone to keep the edge from being rounded over. Again, there are commercial jigs to solve this problem.

It is very important to run the scraper edge at a skew across the stone. If the edge is run parallel to the stone, it will very quickly form a rut in the stone's surface. This will not only produce a rounded edge on the scraper, but it will ruin the stone for normal sharpening as well. For best results, the scraper should be skewed as much as possible while still keeping the entire length of the edge on the stone.

The edges of curved scrapers can be honed in the same fashion as rectangular scrapers if the curve is convex. The only difference is that multiple passes will be necessary to hone all parts of the curve. Concave curves are more difficult (as usual) -- they must be honed "freehand" with a slipstone.

As a final touch, I like to use a rigid leather strop with jeweler's rouge. Place the face of the scraper on the strop and pull (don't push) to the edge. One or two passes like this on each edge will remove any honing burr and leave the edge incredibly sharp.

(Message edited by jake on October 29, 2004)

BURNISHING

The final stage of scraper edge preparation is burnishing, where the tiny cutting hook is applied to the edge. This is the most critical part of the process, as even the sharpest scrapers will not work if they are not properly burnished.

Successful burnishing begins with the selection of a burnishing tool. Many things can be used as burnishers, and everyone has their own favorite, but they all should have similar characteristics. The burnisher should be a hardened high-carbon steel rod of some sort, and be long enough to allow significant pressure to be applied with it. The type of steel in the burnishing tool is critical-it must be harder than the steel in the scraper or it will not work. Since scrapers are normally made of a hardened tool steel (so they keep an edge longer), this means that the shaft of your favorite screwdriver or chisel will not make a good burnisher.

Commercial burnishers are usually made with carburized steel rod -- the same steel as used in bearings. These are a wide variety of burnishers sold, ranging from a simple rod with a handle all the way up to special gadgets that allow you to dial in the desired hook angle. The simple models are quite inexpensive, and work very well. Your favorite auto repair shop is another good place to find a burnisher-wrist pins and lifters both work very well, and used ones are often free for the asking.

Another crucial consideration for burnishers is the surface. The burnisher must be perfectly smooth -- if there are any irregularities in the surface of the burnisher, these will be transferred to the scraper, and thus to the scraped surface. The surface quality of the commercial burnishers vary. Veritas and Hock offer highly polished ones ready to use. Kunz requires honing and buffing to produce an acceptable surface. Steel from autos will normally require a similar preparation.

Burnishing a scraper is a two part process -- you first need to draw a burr from the edge, and then turn that burr back to make the hook.

To draw the burr, hold the scraper flat on the workbench with the edge about 1/4" from the end of the bench. Put a bead of light machine oil along the edge to keep the burnisher from galling. With the burnisher held slightly off level, make several passes with the burnisher along the face of the scraper at the edge. Even pressure (and lots of it) should be applied to the burnisher throughout the process.

This process should be repeated on all edges of the scraper. The end result of this phase will be a tiny burr on the edge of the scraper, as such:


Drawing a burr on the scraper edge has several effects. It makes a sharper point on the edge to aid the cutting action, and make it easier to turn back a hook. It also hardens the steel in the edge, making it cut longer.

This final step in the burnishing process is to turn the burr back to make the hook. To create the hook, hold the scraper in a vise with about 1" extended at the top (be sure to use wood blocks in the vise to prevent ruining any prepared edges). Again, run a bead of light machine oil along the edge to prevent galling. Holding the burnisher about 15 degrees off level, make several passes along the edge of the scraper. Once again, use heavy even pressure all along the stroke. Repeat this process with the burnisher tilted 15 degrees in the other direction to form the hook on the other side.

The end result of this phase will be a microscopic hook on both sides of the edge, as such: