algale wrote:I had to look up what this "froe" thing does. Pretty neat. Makes me want one.
There is a whole other world of woodworking out there that dates back for many centuries that does not include power cords...
Many of those methods blend in with modern machine woodworking very well at a low cost and a great deal of satisfaction if you learn the skills. Even more so if you learn without bleeding.
One of the huge advantages of "riving" a piece of wood out of a straight grained block with a froe is that you are then working with a piece of wood that is the maximum strength for its size since the faces follow the grain almost exactly. Wooden muzzle-loader ram-rods are rived out of a log for that reason. It is also a super great way to make slender wood parts for toymaking that are much safer than sawed out stuff. A riven piece will normally break with a more blunt end where a sawed out piece might break at a long angle leaving a spear point... On toys and ram-rods both you do not want a piece that will break with a sharp spear point.
One of the first such tools a woodworker should learn to use is a hatchet. A common old name for small time home repairmen was "Saw and hatchet man". Today they all call themselves "contractors".
I learned as a youth how to scribe a long line (or make a chalk-line) down a long board and then hew to that line with a hatchet. Just last weekend I decided that I need to cut a section of about 16" log about 2' long to sit on end in the shop for hatchet and adze work. For years I used a stump but there are no stumps in the basement. I have a "foot adze" and a "cooper's adze" but I want to add about 3 others as soon as I can. I also have a good "broad axe" and a nice "broad hatchet".
I have about 6 to 8 "draw-knives" that I sometimes use at the vise or a bench hold-fast but one of my very next projects for the shop is going to be a "shave-horse". I'll start a new thread for the shave-horse project and take pictures as I go. As you might expect my shave-horse will be a little "non standard".
I also have a number of inexpensive carving tool, tiny planes and small scorps.
If I don't find my froe soon I will just make a new one, they are pretty easy to make. I have some large old dull files that I have saved back just for such projects. I can fire up the forge while it is still cool and hammer one out. Even a piece of mild steel will work especially if you hammer out the thin edge while red hot instead of grinding it away. The hammering it down will slightly harden it as it compresses the steel a bit.
Now I don't want to imply here that I am highly skilled at everything that I own the tools for... In some cases I'm pretty good and in some cases I'm pretty much of a hack.
But I still enjoy it and I get by.
Take two episodes of "The Woodright's Shop" and call me in the morning.
