Factory made chair devil?

[bugbear]

I've sort of been meaning to make one of these, but never got round to it.

Yesterday, I bought what I suspect is a factory made one - and I had thought that Veritas were the first people to offer such a thing.

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.a ... 10&p=54883

The tool is nicely made, and very small and fine, at least compared to all the versions I've ever seen before.

The blade is 46 mm wide (1 13/16"); the tool is only 11mm thick (juts under half an inch),
and the overall length is 227mm (9"), weighing in at 198g (7 Oz).

The design is straight out of Salaman, with a 45 degree wear, "shoulders" either side of the shaving aperture to fix the blade, and through-screws both holding the tool together, and thereby holding the blade.

This tool is very finely made; in particular the robust metal has scales of wood held in place with screws (whose heads can be seen on the "inner-face" sub-shot, and the scales even have mitres where they butt up against the larger section of metal in the centre of the tool.

I thought at first this was a craftsman made tool, since I've never heard of a factory made devil, but I don't think this was made from stock with saw-and-file, due to the rough texture of the wear slope; I think it's a nicely finished forging, which implies factory.

However, having looked very carefully, I can find no trace of a maker's (nor owner's) mark.

So - does anyone know more about this tool?

Is it a chair maker's devil, or a scraper used in some other trade?

Who made it?

(montage of various angles)

For those new to this type of tool:

http://www.cornishworkshop.co.uk/scraper.html
http://www.primitiveways.com/pt-bow-scraper.html

BugBear (who could have sworn Alf had an article in a LV newsletter on these)

 

[Richard T]

Castings rather than forgings?

 

[bugbear]

Castings rather than forgings?

I don't think cast iron would be the material of choice for such thin sections.

BugBear

 

[Richard T]

I was thinking cast bronze.

 

[bugbear]

I was thinking cast bronze.

Oh, sorry. I see.

No, it had rust on it when I bought it.

BugBear

 

[Richard T]

Aha - interesting. If those parts were forged, there would be an awful lot of bench work afterwards. It's perfectly possible of course. It's the sort of thing I attempt ... :roll:
What puzzles me still is the texture of the mouth opening - maybe it's how the photo makes it look too but it sure looks like un-filed cast there ... could we possibly have another photo of that bit?

I was thinking it could be bronze merely on the strength of the colour of the shiny corners in the lower photo - I guess this is the reflection of the colour of the mat.

 

[bugbear]

Anyone know a (non destructive ) test for cast iron?

BugBear

 

[jimi43]

I too would like to know what it's made of but whatever it is...it is simply gorgeous!!!

Richard...if you ever attempt to make one...please make two!!! 8)

Jim

 

[Racers]

Hi, BB

I would sperate the metal from the wood, drill a small hole on the inside surface and examine the swarf.

Pete

 

[condeesteso]

Make that three.

 

[bugbear]

Anyone know a (non destructive ) test for cast iron?

I do!

Speaking as someone who's done a little engineer's scraping, I recalled that different metals scrape (very) differently.

So I grabbed a scraper (from the "few" I have), and picked up:

* piece of angle iron (from my metal stock pile) which is mild steel
* pair of Gilbow tin shears (labelled drop forged)
* a parts donor plane with a cracked casting (cast iron)

Each was place in the vise, and scraped. I noted both the sensation of the scraping action, and the texture, size etc of the removed scrapings.

The calibration stage over, I put one half of the mystery object in the vice (inner face up), and made a couple of small scrapes.

Without doubt, despite the thickness of the thinner half being 3.2mm (1/8") the things is cast iron. It's a casting.

Which (of course) sits very nicely with the observed texture of the wear.

While I was messing with it, and had the screws out, some quick measuring (micrometer, thread gauges, thread table) shows that the large screws are 2 BA, and the small ones 4 BA.

BugBear

 

[Richard T]

BA thread - so it's British 1903+ . Maybe it was one of the first non - wooden spoke shaves before Stanley got hold of it?
Also, being cast iron in such thin pieces maybe it is a rare survivor. Pity there is no mark on it, especially as the castings point to it being a factory job.
Lovely thing BB. Any ideas about an iron?

 

[bugbear]

BA thread - so it's British 1903+ . Maybe it was one of the first non - wooden spoke shaves before Stanley got hold of it?
Also, being cast iron in such thin pieces maybe it is a rare survivor. Pity there is no mark on it, especially as the castings point to it being a factory job.
Lovely thing BB. Any ideas about an iron?

Oh, that's easy - just do what the chair makers did, and sling a decent piece of saw steel in it. I'm sure I can find a donor saw somewhere...

Old saws are the classic source for home brew scraping blades of all kinds.

BugBear

 

[jimi43]

Now Richard...that we have established the composition as cast iron..I think it is your duty as the melting expert amongst us to cast some of these for us to purchase....

I would actually prefer bronze my friend...so get out yer crucible and stop faffing about! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Jim

 

[condeesteso]

I think I've seen these made in hardwoods (daves shaves in the states make them nicely), but a bronze one would be great, I'd prefer that to cast steel and it would have ample stiffness and strength for purpose I think. Noting the LN Boggs shave is bronze also. If someone could cast the core, like BBs but bronze... more than half way there maybe?
There is also the potential for a really nice bronze-cored traditional spokeshave? Lee Valley do a Veritas kit http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=49710&cat=1,50230&ap=1 intended for wood, but bronze would be great!

 

[bugbear]

I think I've seen these made in hardwoods (daves shaves in the states make them nicely), but a bronze one would be great, I'd prefer that to cast steel and it would have ample stiffness and strength for purpose I think.

I really wouldn't like to lean too hard on the separated halves, but the strength in use is quite high, since the halves form a composite object.

BugBear

 

[Richard T]

Yes BB and the wood probably helps too. I notice a bolt and a pin - is the pin just for anchoring?

Jim and Douglas - I think if I were to make a spokeshave I would rather copy? no... steal? no... Emulate! That's the word, emulate Brian Boggs' jobbie as demonstrated in The Woodwright's shop. Er.. link appears to have gone
Anyway it was a BU curved spokeshave.

Edit: Link's back - http://video.unctv.org/video/1427698750

 

[Alf]

Finally my brain came back from holiday and I thought to look in Lamond's book on Spokeshaves and Similar Tools - and came up with nadda amongst the scrapers. Not even anything that appears to be made in the two body-halves style from any manufacturer. So no joy there, I fear.

 

[bugbear]

Finally my brain came back from holiday and I thought to look in Lamond's book on Spokeshaves and Similar Tools - and came up with nadda amongst the scrapers. Not even anything that appears to be made in the two body-halves style from any manufacturer. So no joy there, I fear.

Thanks for that.

I asked a "mutual friend" in Canada about this, and he emailed Tom Lamond, and I have a reply from Mr Lamond (*)

Which is very good, very thoughtful, and he's never seen anything like it!

Although (oddly) he's not really familiar with the "it's in Salaman" two part design of chair devil at all.

BugBear

(*) shameless, eh !

 

[Alf]

Name dropper! :lol: Very odd about the two-part style - I thought that was a pretty well-known design. A British style that never made it over the pond, perhaps?