[Regia-NA] Re: [RANA-Members] The provenance of wood

[rmhowe]

Smithr wrote:

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jim [mailto:jim.smith@batnet.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2003 6:01 AM
> To: list-regia-na@lig.net
> Subject: RE: [Regia-NA] Re: [RANA-Members] The provenance of wood
> 
> Douglas Sunlin wrote:
> 
> > [....] has anyone made a business of coppicing ash poles for
> > re-enactors? Surely a growth industry! ;)
> 
> I've been selling ash poles that I've carved down from square stock.
> I start with rough cut 6/4 ash, which comes in 12ft lengths and range
> from 5 to 12 inches in width.  I cut the boards in half (6 foot) and
> then square off the edges on a table saw.  Then I cut 1-1/4" rips
> out of each board and turn each rip a quarter turn and run it through
> the saw again so that they are perfectly square.  Next I change the
> angle of the tablesaw blade to 45 deg and cut off each of the four
> edges, turning the board from being square to being octagonal. I then
> use a block plane to knock off the edges and shape the board until it
> is perfectly round.  To finish the poles I fine sand them and coat them
> in linseed oil.

Not to be rude in any way - but having done the same thing myself for 
years in terms of making literally miles of hardwood moldings - but 
why don't you eliminate all the octagonal cutting, hand planing and
sanding
and just use a 5/8" radiused round-over bit in a homemade router table?
They sell the bit quite commonly for $30 or less.
http://www.routerbits.com/
The more expensive bits generally have more carbide and will stand up
to more sharpenings - cheaper if you do a lot. Steel bits burn after 
the edges dull much sooner.

I know the square to octagonal cutting trick. It's best set up by
taking your squarely cut piece and setting it with one side to the
side of the 45 degree'd blade with the square edge on the table top
and moving the fence over to touch it and clamping it down. 
[This assumes you are using a blade that tilts away from the fence.
If not move the fence to the non-customary side.]
[This is easier than figuring it out by more complicated methods to
determine where the octagon is like using a compass.]

You don't say if you are running them through a jointer or planer.
Running something over a jointer first before planing usually makes it
straighter than simply planing by machine alone. 
If you are then the following advice may make the process quicker and 
cheaper.

You could also request your material S2S or Surfaced 2 Sides to 1 1/4".
This is how furniture wood is commonly bought - pre-planed to a degree.
It used to cost us an extra $40 per thousand feet of wood. I imagine
your supplier has a planer and might charge you less for less. Our
local hardwoods suppliers commonly will do this for you.

If you have trouble with the router bit burning the wood when you
move your hands to feed it simply buy a router speed control. A
slower speed [and a clean, sharp bit] will burn the wood less. 

If you have problems with tear-out reverse the direction of the feed 
and hang onto the wood. This is common with oak for the grain to 
splinter and tear out so it is often routed in reverse as it's a 
down cut/climbing cut and is more difficult but produces better 
surfaces. It wants to pull the work into the blade, so make sure 
you have a good hold on it.

You could do a preliminary routing cut and a slight finish cut. 
This might be easier for you. Under these circumstances you might 
be able to feed it in a normal direction. 

I suggested using a router table for the simple fact that the 
ball bearing will cut too deep on your second and subsequent
cuts if you don't use a fence with the ball bearing directly in
line with the fence front. If you do you -should- get a good
round surface quickly -assuming- your poles are straight. 

One way to get even -less straight- poles round would be to use
clamped feather boards on your router table top and fence to
make sure they press into the corner. These are made by cutting
a series of slots in a board that has a skewed or curved end on it. 
_________
   ______\
  |________
   ________\
  |__________
   __________\
  |____________
_______________\

As for finishing them boiled linseed oil is a good method.
You might speed it up by making a box long and wide enough from
wood and lining it with plastic stapled on the rim. Then simply
dip the pieces and stand them against a wall over a pan
to drip-dry. We used to finish oak ship's deck furniture over
a large dip tank that way. Linseed oil is an oxidant and in
rags can burn your shop down by spontaneous combustion. You
also don't want it on your tools as it will rust them.

> I've been selling my poles at SCA events, along with my period ash
> bows.  $30 for round ones that are sanded and oiled and for ones that
> I've left octagonal, saned and oiled.

I've done architectural fittings, awards and picture frames, cabinets 
and furniture. Quite a lot actually, most of it from rough stock. 
I did so much I quite literally disabled myself years earlier from it. 
1994 on D-Day.  My last eight years I was the main cabinetmaker for
NCSU.
I was also a furniture shop foreman. I have a muscular/nervous system/
pain disorder.

When I make a tapered end on a spear pole I take a half inch wide
six inch ruler and stick it as far as it will go into the spear
head socket. Then I note how long it is in there. This is where I
make a line around the end of the spear pole. A straight line
can be marked simply by rolling a piece of paper around it with
the edge all in line. Then I mark the center of the end of the pole
and make a half inch circle with a compass. This is how much wood
you want to remove via a variety of methods depending on what tools
you have available. If you are accurate it should fit like a glove.

The Anglo-Saxon spears I have usually seen in archaeological books
generally have a socket with a split up the side so they could be
jambed and pinned onto anything with a hacked taper. They don't appear
to me to have preferred welded sockets. The Viking spears I have
pictures of seem to have welded sockets generally. I'm sure Kim
knows a bit more about this than I as the Brits have them in their
museums and we Americans generally don't. 

For some of the spear pole rear end cap tenons that fit straight 
holes I have reverted to 19th C. techniques and used a spoke pointer
and a hollow auger on a brace but most people won't have those
available.
Those are two tools that aren't reproduced now that we don't generally
have wooden wheels and wagons anymore. I have two spoke pointers
and four different varieties of hollow augers - two of which are
adjustable. If you find adjustable ones for less than $40 these days 
it's a deal. 

An alternate method - if you have a tablesaw is to set the fence
the distance you want to go away from the outside edge of the
tablesaw blade, move up the miter-slide (best used with a fence
screwed to it) and gradually raise the blade as you rotate the
pole end and cut it, moving it a bit side to side once you have
cut the right diameter on the end. It helps to have a wood fence
on your tablesaw's main fence when you do such things. To keep
the miter-slide in place you can simply clamp a little piece of
wood into it's slot behind it. This produces a reduced surface
compared to the outside diameter - if it's round you get round
in a straight manner. May be a little bit rough.

Hmmm. A heavy rain just started, and her littlest excellency Short 
Stuff is out to one of her usual Thursday night meetings. That's 
going to be one wet chipmunk when it comes home. ;) Hope it ain't mad.

Master Magnus

> $10 for ones that are rough cut octagonal, unoiled and have saw marks.
> The round poles don't sell, and the finished octagonal ones sell once
> in a while, but the rough ones.
> I live in the San francisco area of California, but I might be able to
> ship to other parts of N.A. Most of the poles I have in stock are 6ft
> long and 1-1/4" in diameter, but I can make longer ones.
> 
> Smithr