Travellers….
Tag: craftsmanship
New Travellers
Ah, it was great to be home with family again!
Musical family
Rolling home from 1929
From the Flying Tortoise:
Chevy Home on Wheels
Everything old is new again..
Banjo redo
Last winter I had an important epiphany about myself as a musician. I am under nor delusion that I will ever be more than a closet or campfire player. For me, for now, that’s going to have to be good enough. Although I love the fiddle more than any other instrument, I went back to my roots and picked up a Deering Good Time five string banjo a couple years back to see if I couldn’t revive my banjo playing. I hadn’t really played much in over a decade but discovered that not only did the brain still remember some old tunes, but my big, beat-up fingers were actually still suited to it. Ham-hands I’ve heard them called!
After playing the “Good Time” for a couple years, I felt I outgrew it as a player. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great instrument for the price (ca. $650), American-made, and travels well but I just wanted a little more substance and a thumpier traditional sound. Not being able to afford anything fancy, and my playing not really being up to any professional par, spending a load of money I don’t have was out of the question. It became apparent to me that it was time to make something better myself. This isn’t quite as outlandish as it may seem as in my woodworking days in my early twenties, I made a couple banjos, a handful of mountain dulcimers, and some mandolin parts that were fair to partly decent instruments. Anybody who knows me knows I hoard parts and hardware so fortunately I had a set of tuners, some fret wire, a tension ring, and a bracket set for a banjo (obviously the universe conspired for this to happen). For the rest, a quick trip through the Stewart-MacDonald catalog located the missing elements (e.g., a White Lady Vega-style tone ring, brass arm rest, bridge, and tailpiece, as well as a maple neck blank and rosewood fingerboard, and a calf-skin for the head).
Unfortunately, time and energy were against me when I made the initial build last summer. I was traveling and teaching for the university while working on this so I didn’t document the process. So, I essentially built this one twice. Once, to have something to play while traveling over the summer, then a rebuild in the fall to tweak the set-up and put a better finish on it (tung oil). The photos don’t really do it justice here but hopefully, it gets the idea across. Making an instrument is a doable thing.
I won’t even attempt to describe the process and there are many better instrument makers who have done this before me (see the Foxfire books, Irving Sloane, Earl Scruggs and plenty of others).
To make a banjo, you essentially need a few, more-or-less mechanical parts, then find a way to attach them together in a fairly precise and meaningful way; that is to say a neck, complete with a fretted fingerboard and tuners, and a drum-headed hoop of some type. Having some experience with steam bending, this part was not as intimidating as it might seem the first time around. My choice for the body was a hickory core with walnut laminates for the outside.
These pictures already show the six months of use and she already needs a good cleaning. As can be seen though, there’s little ornamentation on the instrument; no inlay or bindings, just an octave marker on the side of the fingerboard. I did steal the peghead design from Earl Scruggs’ book where he stole and printed the Mastertone design himself. It was just too classic.
I had intended to veneer over the back but after completion, I liked the raw look that shows the construction. Maybe I’ll change my mind about this later but for now, this is it. The calfskin head can be a finicky when traveling as it is affected by humidity. Some players remedy this with a thin layer of spray-on silicone. I may try this in the future just to see how it works.
I rarely see a reason to hide a beautiful wood grain.
The components that make up the pot of the banjo are illustrated above. From right to left: brass tension hoop, edge of the rawhide over wire, nickel-plated tone ring, tension brackets, and wood hoop. the armrest is just visible in the lower right.
It’s remarkable how fast the weight adds up. 24 brackets, brass screws, tone ring, tension ring, tuners, and armrest make for some significant weight. I think it’s a good idea for any artisan to sign their work, even if it’s never intended to sell. This separates the hand-crafted from the mass-produced and show the care and the soul that goes into a hand-made work.
Now, time to practice.
Kitchen Box
This is one of those “in progress” posts.
The little home is never done. I don’t expect it ever will be and I think that’s great. Trying to approach a balance that will be perfect enough to live in yet stay within the reality of time, money, and general laziness. Since the beginning, I have wanted an exterior kitchen on the vardo but, at first, I was obsessed with size and weight (or lack thereof). Over the last few months I decided to jump in on the project but, being determined to spend as little money as possible, I awaited materials to appear.
Still determined to keep the weight as low as possible, I piled up the kitchen basics on my floor and figured out an approximate volume. Two small stoves, a kettle, coffee pot, cafetiere, a couple of cooking pots, tea tins, coffee cans, and some miscellaneous space. A few essential cooking utensils for good measure. Not much really. I decided I can store the less frequently used implements inside the truck or in the tool boxes of the wagon. With that examination made, the final design was almost infinitely more simple than my initial thoughts (which contained shelves, niches, and little drawers that only add weight but some real coolness, to the overall box). These may be added later though. So here’s what I’ve come up with so far.
Upcycling some old pine 1 x 12″ shelving boards, I decided to use these as the basic building unit and the building began. Essentially, I created a box about 33″ tall by 21″ wide with two morticed-in shelves. I wanted a fold down shelf to cook on when on the roadside or at a temporary campground and for this, I found a couple hinges off an old secretary desk (I save lots of hardware) and old steel drawer pull that came in a box of junk from some auction years ago. To attach the door, an old piano hinge that needed a little scraping a brushing to remove some ancient enamel paint was located and brushed up.
I should mention here that I did buy star-drive, stainless steel screws for the construction so I’m now into the project for about $6.00 of real money. More to follow soon I hope!
Knife Sheath
Maybe not the most exciting project to document but a vital one. My F-S knife needed a sheath and I’ve been too busy lazy to make one. Well, I finally got down to business and got it done.
Part of the reason to procrastinate this was that I wasn’t sure what style sheath to make. This is a historical knife that was made with a very specific sheath but wanted one that reflected me and my “style”.
After sketching out the blade and handle onto Bristol board, I decided to meld the basic outline of the original sheath (ca. A.D. 1942) with that of a traditional western sheath knife. That is to say, flat seamed with a welt. Knife sheaths do not require much leather so a quick trip to the scrap bin provided plenty of choices. I decided to go with a very heavy oak-tanned leather I have normally used for shoe soles for the body of the sheath, and a lighter 8 oz. for the collar and strap. The only hardware would be the button for the retaining strap.
After cutting the pieces, the edges were smoothed and beveled where necessary. The heavy welt is shown above being glued down prior to sewing.
I didn’t photograph it, but the outer piece of the sheath was skived down very thin along the stitch lines to give a more rounded appearance to the finished product. Double needle saddle stitching was run up the sides and around the top to provide some support against stretching and to give a more finished look. The sheath was then wetted and the knife left inside for a couple hours to help form the shape of the diamond cross-section blade.
Note: This knife is high carbon steel and therefore prone to rust like any other so the blade was heavily waxed prior to being shoved into the wet sheath.
After burnishing the edges, the leather collar was added with the retaining strap and button and the whole thing was then waxed.
I’ll give it about 50 years before it needs to be replaced and I suspect that it won’t be my problem by then!
Author’s Note: The Fairbairn-Sykes knife is about the coolest mass-produced military knife I know. These were churned out by the 100s of thousands during the Second World War in Sheffield, England and have been in use, with very little variation through the present day. Although these were designed specifically for fighting, these make excellent bushcraft knives. They have an appealing aesthetic and are very similar to daggers carried throughout medieval and early historic Europe.
Crazy Cool Camper Build?
I couldn’t help but post this… Found on TheRoadToGlamperland Facebook site. Built on a Morris Minor of all platforms. As they say, “why not?”
Preindustrial Craftsmanship 