Fancy Screw Driver !

Re: Fancy Screw Driver !

John Truxell-Svenson (jvs)

>I fold. Nice.




/jvs

Re: Fancy Screw Driver !

Todd O. Cronkhite Native of Maine

>You are right Todd, I did enjoy seeing it. :~) 170 or so years old and the wood still looking so pristine is just unbelieveable.

$5 604C?! I hate you. ;~)

Todd O.

Re: Fancy Screw Driver !

William R. Duffield on the Cohansey

>A very elegantly shaped handle, and beautifully made. I understand why you like it so much. Thanks for sharing it with us. I filed the photo for future reference. I have a detail question. The wood appears to be octagonal in the photo. Does it have eight flat facets, or is it round with four flattened facets?

That sure is purdy

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>

Re: Fancy Screw Driver !

Todd Hughes

>Has eight sides. I wonder how they made something like that......Todd

Re: Fancy Screw Driver !

William R. Duffield on the Cohansey

>That's why I asked. I was wondering myself, how would I, or anyone else, make something like that? Did they use machines and jigs, or were they skillful enough to do it by hand and eye and have it turn out close enough to perfection to impress even Todd Hughes. Obviously, it was not injection molded, and the mold was not carved by a CNC mill :^) I'm not a gunsmith, so I have no idea what sort of tooling a gunsmith in that era would have had at his disposal, so I don't think I'm qualified to guess how it might have been done.

Re: Fancy Screw Driver !

Todd Hughes

>I don't think any of the tools in the case were made by gunsmiths per say but by workers that specialised in tool making.Also don't think they were made by hand but I believe they were turned on a lathe probably something like a Holtzapffel Rose engine lathe that used a cam to program the lathes movement back and forth as well as around so that different programed shapes could be made. Wouldn't be surprised if 3 or 4 different artisans had a hand in making the case and contents with the gunsmiths only making the actual pistols that went in it......Todd

Re: Fancy Screw Driver !

Bob Hackett

>I can tell you how Renie Palmelow from our turning club does it.(hint-it involves jigs,indexing and the sacrificing of many electrons)

MB

Re: Reasonable Facimile???

William R. Duffield on the Cohansey

>How'd I do? I made this one this evening, from a scrap of curly walnut.

It required a lathe. I also used a drill press, but I probably could have done it with a drill bit in the tailstock if I had wanted to minimize the number of electric motors. I did not use any fancy jigs or indexing, so if I make another one using the same techniques, I will be able to change the size, refine the shape, or even totally hose it up without retooling.

Note that it was just to prove the concept to myself. There's no threaded horn cover over a hidden compartment. The domed "lid" is just turned from the walnut block and ebonized with a felt tip marker. There's really no interchangable blade holder either. The Phillips bit is a joke. I'll use the handle for something else. It's quite a bit larger than Todd's find, but I wasn't really trying to make a reproduction. The curves aren't nearly as artistically executed as Todd's, and that bothers me a lot. The arises don't stand out as sharply, but that's mostly a problem with the photography. Oh well, it's my first attempt, and I did the shaping by eye and hand, no jigs, no fixtures, except some straight layout lines with a square, rule and marking gauge. No failures in the kindling bin, either. The finish also leaves a lot to be desired. I didn't stain it to look like it's been around for a century, and I didn't even fill the pores.

It's getting late. Maybe tomorrow, I'll show some more photos and a narative on construction techniques, so y'all can make some of your own.

Re: Reasonable Facimile???

Matti Kuikka

>How about making it with small planes?

First you make the whole piece octagonal measured at the widest followed with a small plane with suitably curved bottom curving each facet bit by bit. The narrowing should came naturally and the arrises should be sharp. Maybe then you could make the round bottom part by carving/rasps if you want to avoid electrons and don't have a lathe like me.

Matti Kuikka, hoping that I have the time (next week) and skills (sometime)

Re: Fancy Screw Driver !

paul womack

>Did they use machines and jigs, or were they skillful enough to do it by hand and eye and have it turn out close enough to perfection to impress even Todd Hughes.

There may be other ways, but that handle would be a beginner's project to an ornamental turner

BugBear

Nice!

Tony - Memphis

>I've been playing around making screwdrivers on the lathe using pen blanks and cheap screwdriver sets from Lowes - I hacksaw the plastic off. Got some nice mini screwdrivers now. I was toying with making some octagonal stock using a chamfer bit with the router table (sorry, you could plane it too). Of course these would not have a nice graceful curve.

Looking forward to your tutorial!

Tony

Re: Reasonable Facimile???

Ernie Miller Topeka

>So what did you use a spoke shave?

Re: Reasonable Facimile???

William R. Duffield on the Cohansey

>Hold your horses, Ernie, I'm working on it! There are a couple of subtleties before you get to that part, that help in the quest for a symetrical shape. I will explain them in the tutorial.

I could probably have used a very finely tuned convex bottom spokeshave. For this one, I chose to use a couple of half round files and a card scraper. I like them better, because I think I get better control, especially in highly figured wood like this. Even if it were not curly, all the grain direction changes on the curves would drive me nuts if I were using a shave.

Re: I thought something didn't look right

William R. Duffield on the Cohansey

>typo - it should be "facsimile"

some definitions