April 14, 20224 yr Popular Post 3 minutes ago, aaronc said: found a pic of Bill staining them Wow, nice! I thought they were ebony at first. I've got about 400 used ebony violin pegs and a peg shaver to give them a more svelte taper. Although as-is they'd work on larger construction. Plus some new pegs, rejected for imperfections, which have a decently-narrow end. The best aging technique I've found, on a maple violin bridge of freshly shaped radius and thinned as much as I dare (80 lbs of string force collapsing a bridge on a 450 gram fiddle can crack the top), is the real "hand-rubbed" finish. Sweat & body oils. A quick swipe across the forehead when no one is looking.
April 14, 20224 yr 58 minutes ago, aaronc said: I fitted the existing holes from the screws to fit the dowels and drilled a couple of extra. I picked this up from my powder horn buddy..it's how we secure base plugs to horns. The guy has been doing it for over 3 decades and many of those horns have been in heavy use...I like the way it looks but it's quality build also imo All very interesting Aaron. Not a hobby I would pursue, but with the pictures, techniques, history and certainly the painstaking detail, your lessons have been very informative. It's given me an appreciation for other aspects of history and the associated crafts of the era. Thanks; enjoy following.
April 14, 20224 yr Author Popular Post Our old axe is ready for some sand paper next week. Note the couple of holes that I didn't go ahead and drill out because the screws had broke off down in it. I used a smaller dowel that didn't completely fill the void especially where the screw head was at. Doesn't matter here but it wouldn't pass on guns..powderhorns or fiddle refurbs This is a refinish I did about 10 years ago..probably posted here who knows...someone told me it was a hammer used in welding another said automotive industry..I don't know..but I could see the curl in it and snatched it up for a little project. When I got it didn't look much better than this axe.
April 15, 20224 yr Popular Post 3 hours ago, aaronc said: This is a refinish I did about 10 years ago..probably posted here who knows...someone told me it was a hammer used in welding another said automotive industry..I don't know..but I could see the curl in it and snatched it up for a little project. When I got it didn't look much better than this axe Beautiful restore. Sure wish I had a few hundred bd/ft of that figured wood for projects. As for the head, IDK, but would tend to agree with the welding use, maybe to join round stock??? Perhaps some type of forging hammer too based on how mushroomed the "striking face" versus the curved face?? Very cool. Glad you rescued it from a death of scrap.
May 3, 20224 yr Author Popular Post Well,... she ain't pretty but she ain't half bad for an Ol' Lady. I left her a little age on the ends,...I lost most of the curl I was after but she cleaned up alright. Back to the shelf she goes...on to something else. Pardon the shine off of my bench light. It's really more of a matt finish.
May 4, 20224 yr Author Popular Post Just now, Grandpadave52 said: MOST EXCELLENT Aaron! You did it upright and proud.
May 4, 20224 yr Popular Post On 4/2/2022 at 5:26 AM, jthornton said: This is what I had to start with... what a mess. JT Looks like the relay logic controls that were still in use when we built the Jeep 4.0L engines. Just add loads of oily coolant.
May 4, 20224 yr Author 56 minutes ago, Cal said: I'll X2 what Dave said. What did you use for a finish on it? It's a mix of pure refined linseed oil, not the straight boiled stuff, and true oil. It's not 50/50 though I'd have to look at my mix notes. Several coats of that and after it dries I give it a coat of renaissance wax. It knocks out what little shine is there to a smooth matt which is my preference. When the finish is dried it's fairly matt anyway but I can tell a little difference. Edited May 4, 20224 yr by aaronc
May 15, 20223 yr On 4/14/2022 at 8:47 AM, aaronc said: On the dowels I use enough taper to get it started. I tried that out today, set four 1/8" birch dowels. One was over-sanded but the others hammered in nicely. In the next few days I HAVE to make a wooden hammer. I'm thinking of cutting a piece of 5/4 into the shape of a hammer.
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