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Quite by chance a few minutes ago I stumbled upon vids for metal spinning. Takes me back to when I had to work it out myself without ever seeing a metal spinner in action. For Hardy 'Zane Grey' Big Game reels circa 1980 when we developed them I needed to spin three or four sizes of end cover in stainless sheet; I still have a couple at the workshop as parts trays thirty two years later. These parts as with all of the 'Zane Grey' componentry would be finished to our usual high standard, all exterior surfaces would be filed, papered and buffed to mirror finish 'Swansdown' mops and 'Radio Rouge'. The vids really do convey to me how the metal 'flows' when all is going well, I can actually feel the process as I see it on youtube. I would have a few rejects until I worked it out, in fact the feel is unmistakable and I can remember exactly how it felt once you have realised the trick. The largest was something like seven inches diameter with a one inch deep lip spun over a former in the lathe and held to a tolerance so as to match the turned flange in the skeletonised reel frame. The Big Game reels were all handmade by me and developed through many stages and re-thinks from whatever was in our heads guided by visits and discussion with my boss Raymond in his office, lots of sketching and practical workshop development; I was the right man in the right job, a young lad with a model engineering and high end home workshop background ie the ornamental lathe and the history of technology. There had been a man in a nearby factory on the same industrial estate that had lost his life in a fire in the 'Summerland' entertainments complex, he had been a metal spinner but without his guidance his dusty tools conveyed little to me; I remember going round to have a look but I was no further forward. Written sources were scant to say the least circa 1980, so it was really playing about and thinking hard to see how it might be done. The trick actually is quite a unique plastic flow of metal that until seen or felt cannot be appreciated. I could find nothing in print that hinted at this and until I had hit upon it all I was making was crumpled bits of scrap metal. Perhaps the little I did find written about it was by authors that didn't realise the 'trick', I've seen this before in connection with hand turning and 'brass finishing' where the vital element or feel for the job is not present, they are merely just writers never having done it or are trying to hide the secret. A fine example is by Gazeley, incredible book, incredible writer but following him you will not get to how to use the hand graver on metal; a vital indipensable part of my workshop technique. Best NOT try this at home until you have experience. http://youtu.be/Alb0Bae5E1c ....'Howie' at DMF, Birmingham. http://youtu.be/IkFdJwW_0GI ..... 'Metspin' large dia cowl. and below is some very clever sheet metalwork, replacement fenders for a Lagonda .... http://youtu.be/EOIcDYlT2moI think what characterises the work of these men is that with their experience and practical abilities the job arrives at how they want it, not by chance or fluke but by their own controlled effort. Nothing CNC ... just old fashioned hand, eye, brain. Postscript. I've always found good quality sheet metalwork as being not easy to get a good clean precise result unless I go slowly, perhaps its the machinists or the toolmakers eye, an example being the side tanks for my live steam 0-6-0 'Boxhill'. I'm more of a turning and milling man, or even handfiles before that and perhaps am looking for too perfect a result. It would perhaps seem bizarre to get the depth and breadth of experience that I have with nothing more than hand files these days; more's the pity. Its good character development as well as learning your trade, you learn all about things called hard slog, working to a standard and developing the skill to get there, hand-eye co-ordination and I remember wanting so much to hit a high standard with basic old fashioned methods. All this appears now lost in our race to be 'modern'. I remember as a kid really enjoying the process of flanging little boiler end plates from bits of copper sheet but everything at that age was always a struggle, getting my Dad to buy the right tackle for silver soldering was hell, in the end I had to wait till I got a working wage and bought it myself, rural remoteness did not help either. Sometimes I think the way my Dad parted with money it was like peeling off skin. A book on the shelves here I've not touched for many years once opened is immediately recognisable, I was looking at my Dads technical books long before I could read, in fact I was a late reader and from say seven years old onwards material like this would fascinate me, even if at that young age I couldn't follow it all, pictures and illustrations were my way into it. Theres a lot to be said for dipping into books that are beyond your present abilities, I'm sure it fetches you on. Thats why the strict linear progression we have in schools to me seems sometimes odd; you never get a chance to peep over the parapet to see what lies beyond. 'How to Work Sheet Metal' is written by Herbert J Dyer and is one of the Percival Marshall series of handbooks from sixty or seventy years ago written for the keen amateur and I've just wondered if originally the text was from the States. The copy here is dated 1950 but I'm thinking it goes back earlier than that. Its a good introduction and its a shame for the content to lie hidden on the shelves, the text as well as the illustrations is very worthwhile, heres some content below, click to enlarge for a clearer image.         The text of the above is very good, very much the mark of the seasoned practical man. I used to think some of the other titles I have here from my Dads collection of Percival Marshall Handbooks leave a little bit to be desired, for instance their 'Toolmaking Hints and Tips' another book I would be looking at before I could even read is a bit on the thin side and there is so much more that could be included. But then again they would have constraints of production costs and perhaps at the time there was still the rationing of paper. Tags: hardy zane grey, metal spinning, percival marshall handbooks, sheet metalwork, skilled craftsmen, the jenny, wired edges
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- I've just finished reading a fascinating article from the 'Cern Courier' on cyclotrons used in the making of medical radioisotopes. It is a very well crafted article in that thickies like me can read and understand it !! To be able to write such a technical article and carry both layman and educated readers forward is a skilled piece of work.
http://cerncourier.com/cws/article/cern/49056
Theres some interesting material in that periodical that even I can enjoy. I had got onto this from originally googling for Edward Teller and his heavy involvement as a main voice in the 'Star Wars' SDI fiasco. God knows how much money was pumped into that when there are lots of people around the world that all they would like for Christmas are some simple tools for agriculture and village level craft activity, simple things and if they are really lucky maybe even water de-salination plants.....
From the Edward Teller we find a link for the Cern Courier on George Placzek, Physicist ... http://cerncourier.com/cws/article/cern/29415 .... this poor man suffered so terribly, we forget nowadays the horrors of Nazi Europe, he lost his parents and sister in concentration camps (how that term sends fear into me) and his brother died soon after the Nazis got into Czechoslovakia. We read that he was the only Czeck involved in the Manhattan Project; he died in 1955 soon after his fiftieth birthday.
 ...... pic is pasted from Cern Courier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Placzek
Reading of Placzek we read and learn of the Raman Effect ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raman_scattering
But unfortunately the wiki entry for this is completely above my head, all i can do is skim and try and extract 'the English bits' ie a few names and words that will stay with me. Wiki can often if not always appear too dense on these more difficult subjects, there needs to be an 'idiot box' whereby ppl like me can gain a glimpse of why this matters and what it does, what are the benefits. Without looking i would think entries such as differential equations and anything wiki mathematical would benefit from this. ... a minute later, having looked wiki does in some way make it easy for me to get a glimpse of what differential equations are and why they can help us, theres a 3D CAD pic to impress the thickies like me, make it 'look' as if its understandable. These pics never impress me as I have full 3D internal visualisation in my own head, when I can be bothered ....probably something that is fading due to lack of demand/ use. I remember once years ago when down visiting a firm standing next to the whizz design kid, someone with utterly negligible warmth or personality and him showing me a design onscreen and me making the most utterly crass remark of .... "Looks like bloody modern art to me" ... while not the brightest remark in the world it was meant humorously and I wanted to giggle but Mr Serious was not inclined. What he probably didn't realise is 1950's modern art has fascinated me for many years and I've read quite a few books on it. Oh dear......
What wld be better is say three very outline sketched examples of how this mathematical (modelling?) helps keep a bridge up; makes a car go smoother over the bumpy road and makes your mobile phone sound better.
Tags: differential equations, george placzek, idiot boxes on wiki
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I've just uploaded a vid onto youtube, its the first for quite some time and looking back at some of the old ones of mine I think I need to re-make some of them, out of focus, hurried and poor quality; I had just got my first digital camera and went digi-crazy, a gem at twenty quid from e-bay. . Here is the text I added to accompany the most recent vid on parting off on the metalworking lathe and I decided to paste it here as it makes good sense; a shame to leave it buried over on youtube. I quote: Parting off is quick and easy on a decent sized machine and using the rear toolpost as is usual in capstan lathe practice also helps things; parting off from the rear is particularly beneficial (if not essential) in smaller, lighter lathes such as my Dads 1953 Myford ML7. The lathe I use here in the vid is my Ward 1A capstan lathe circa 1945, flat belt drive.
Generally the tool lasts for at least a thousand or two between re-grinds and is set to part off at eight to ten thou inch up on the width I want to face down to (ie faced to 0.112 inch minus zero, plus 0.002 inch) as a second op on the Myford bench lathe. Also when facing this particular component (ie honing guide bobbins) I loosen by half a turn the two right hand carriage gib screws and push the carriage over at the rear on the return facing cut; this is so as to increase the concavity of this clamping face in the finished product, all lathes are set to face slightly concave, I wanted more. Luckily the ML7 is a flat bed lathe, no raised 'V' shears that would hinder this trick. Because I have diamond lapped the jaws of the three jaw chuck in the ML7 I can grip small rod along the entire length of the jaw (ie eliminating any bell-mouth effect) therefore I can part off quickly on my Dads Myford ML7 and can easily work on 1/8 inch rod and even smaller if need be. All this, as on the Ward capstan is accomplished at something like 770/ 800 rpm. Another trick contrary to accepted lathe work and I suppose only applicable to small lathes is to turn down the chuck register on the backplate by say ten thou and set say a quarter inch rod (a common size in reel work ie the size of a spindle) to run true with a DTI and bingo! ..... its a poor mans collet.
end of quote.
There is only brass you can part off dry, anything like stainless, any steel, bronze or the dreaded copper you must use coolant, both for lubrication and to dissipate heat, I would never attempt it whatsover otherwise. The standard J&S style holders and Eclipse blades are bitches to use in the forward toolpost, the rear is really the only place for them and if you look at a man who has actually done this for a living his speed at accomplishing this task tells you so.
Its also vital you test for flatness of the parted surface, a ruler works well enough.
Another point to note is if you are tempted to modify the cutting tool geometry to part off the finished item with zero pip ie with bar work, its easier said than done and often this mod to the cutting edge can alter the flatness of the cut, ie can tend to be curved. As all things you learn how to do it by experience.
Its only on the Ward capstan that I use the dreaded J&S holder and Eclipse blade, on the Myford it is always a slitting saw reground to form a parting blade. I'm not familiar with modern day 'Model Engineer' mag so i've no idea if its common knowledge; probably not, but its a trick I've used here since I went self employed in 1983 and is invaluable. I wonder if anyone else has had the same idea?? I can part off one eighth rod held in a 3 jaw no problem at all and the same tool will cut thro five eigth EN1A (ie freecutting mild steel) very quickly. I use a scrap forty thou by two inch diameter HSS slitting saw mounted on a piece of three inch angle bolted to the rear of the Myford cross slide .... and there it is, a real trade secret !!
I have agonised about the telling of tricks I use in my own place, such as I have here, but looking at the metal turning youtubes and how far behind they are, men having obviously never done this as a living; ten minutes to part off a bit of metal !!! .... I think its only humaniterian to let go some of the working techniques I've developed over thirty years of self employed pricework and which built on a lot more before that when I started.
And another point with the circular slitting saw blade modified to a parting off tool is that if it does jam, the blade automatically falls away, no breakage; a very important point also applicable with all my hand turning and graver work as per oldtime 'brass finisher' a trade of its own; this 'falling away' should anything snag or catch. Perhaps we should coin a term, call it 'drop-away' as it was never mentioned when I was reading anything aimed at the homeworkshop reader thirty and forty years ago. Again probably something never put in print before, though others will be able to advise me no doubt. My using a modified slitting saw blade means the slitting saw parting blade is also immediately and simply adjusted to exact height with the angle iron rear toolpost as made for this trick. I can get really close to the chuck jaws, its all quickly made and costs near zilch; a bolt a blade a nut to tighten.
Interchangeable toolholders do not exist in my workshop, its all loose packing. In fact I never use tipped tools or inserts as ... a) I can't afford them, not applicable and .... b) I need a sharper keener edge for brass and small turned parts ... c) needless complication and hassle, yet more bits to order, to eat into your wage. My methods suit me, I even use homemade turning tools from high carbon steel hardened and tempered by me.
as with all my work I exercise copyright.
copyright richard kell 2012, all rights reserved.
Tags: engineers lathe practice, parting off, parting off in the lathe, rear toolpost, the amateurs lathe, turning tips
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This is one of the most fascinating wikis I have ever read, the photography is very good too, you can hardly help but be drawn into the subject of how solutions and innovations are developed, in this case as every schoolboy knows with the Chinese they were able to create very clever work thousands of years ago. I am a great believer in adding to your memory store ie learning of what clever people have done already, thats why I think so much of what is offered at design or art college falls down flat without plenty of background reading. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_inventionspostscript .... I have posted on this man before, William Willetts. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary--william-willetts-1572980.htmlI have his two volume 'Chinese Art' bought for very little money a decade ago and it is an incredible feat of knowledge and ability; pub. as Pelicans in 1958. His obituary above tells us he died in 1995. On the strength of the royalties from his two volume 'Chinese Art' he sailed to the East. He developed the study of lesser known ceramic traditions and from what we read in the obit the Brits were reluctant to give him his due acknowledgements. I quote from the obit .... "Willetts's pursuit of a somewhat rakish life style (which he later described as "reading, thinking and drinking") offended some sensibilities." ... unquote. Fascinating !! Click three times to get a good readable image.      Tags: chinese art, chinese inventions, chinese joinery, learning from others, roof building in china, william willetts
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I define it as 'a pleasing arrangement of parts'. From that we have to clarify as to what discipline we refer to and whether its a hard science backed activity such as design engineering in its many forms or the appearance of a thing more akin to product styling. In this post here its more the latter we are looking at. I've had a correspondence as sometimes occasionally happens from an enthusiatic young man that has a thirst to learn and wants to know if i can provide any directions for his reading and research as he will not be pursing this at any form of college, so all I can do is illustrate my own route at learning about these things. So what I've written to him in e-mails forms basically what is here in this post, its a shame not to share it. The problem is he doesn't as yet really have access to workshop facilities though is very keen and I would say the first requirement is to become a master of your craft and then work out why it looks the way it does as this was my entry into a more 'design' orientated viewpoint. Perhaps if I can fire him up he will go forwards and create some good work. At this stage in his 'workshop-less' existence he has plenty of time to read up on all that is possible, I assume later there will be a small home workshop to make whatever he wants for his own living space and I've a feeling it will be a very satisfying activity for him. Because I make my own branded products design to me must be something durable, worthwhile and bring something new to the marketplace, nothing offered must be in any way a retrograde step, as if so why bother! So though 'design' can lead the process of product development it must never take over from old fashioned virtues. I suppose its because I am so craft and workshop based that allows me to take this stance. In a sense I am an 'Arts and Crafts' type of designer, everything is in constant reference and connection to that type of approach, a craftsmans way with tools and materials. It is my modest (though well equipped) workshop that necessitates this approach, I have neither the advanced processes nor capital that big factories have, thank goodness. I was lucky in that all the jig and tool work I have done as a self employed craftsman (ie many thousands of hours) I was always given free rein to devise my own solutions, only on just a handful of occasions for other seldom seen customers was I given already prepared drawings to work from, this was more like component manufacture and generally the drawings would often be awkward and an obstacle to getting up speed; such things as needlessly odd/ awkward dimensions and no regard as to how a man can make things quickly on a Bridgeport milling machine... and this particularly was from an old geezer called Tom that had spent his lifetime 'designing' in his separate design office, probably highly regarded in his own company but no-one aware of how needlessly complicated were his designs. Oh dear ...... I wonder how much unneccesary effort he had racked up over the decades (and scrap too) that he'll never be aware of? It is this separating and disconnecting any feedback from the workman to the design man that has always bugged me. What also bugged me is that being development and toolmaker trained I couldn't help but want to see if it could be improved, I wanted changes; I found it very difficult to accept the cut and dried solution when it could be bettered and make my life easier, particularly as I was on fixed 'pricework', fannying on to his needless complexity was seeing my wage go down the pan. Its this concern at why something looks the way it does that intrigues me. What or why is decoration, what perhaps was in the mind of the maker or designer, does the design stand to scrutiny or is there so much that is mere whim and fancy. Its the ability of a design to stand to scrutiny that often produces the best and the more timeless solution. Form follows function and what can we bring to it? So many times you can read in the national press about product designers and how clever and gifted they are or have been, but very seldom do they seem to report on the hard end of technology, so often its more to do with technology that is handed to them to package; or even merely 'styling'. This perhaps is the fault of the journalists themselves and what they prefer or are routinely focused towards or perhaps the press releases they are bombarded with. I get a bit annoyed at this because the 'backroom boys' that do the hard stuff seem seldom honoured and it seems to be a blinkered view that is perpetuated in the newspapers that report on these things. *perhaps I should qualify the above paragraph in that any product review can only present the visible product, the styled product. I think what prompted this gripe was reading 'Design' mag from the late seventies into the eighties. It always seemed to miss so much out, presenting things like a traffic cone and the interior of an aircraft cockpit with equal weight, something of the Ladybird approach to it. Lots of people can give lots of different advice, part of mine would be to be like a sponge and soak up all you can in as many areas of activity that you can possibly cope with. I was lucky in that as well as a training in mechanical and production engineering as a day job, my own reading took me into books very few other people would ever encounter that though unknown to men in the envoronment of my paid work are still immensly valuable and pertinent to learning of a wider and high-end craft activity ie Holtzapffel, Bergeron, Diderot, Moxon, Saunier etc and for me this wld be around 1975-80. It started from a reading list I was given by a potential employer when I was fourteen in 1972 and being simple minded country folk we were amazed this man could write down from memory fifteen book titles and authors, we were easily impressed I think. But then again though the potential employer turned out to be bad news the reading list was a Godsend, titles we would never have encountered otherwise, the County Reference library soon worked its magic and got me most of the titles. Years later at the County Reference Library there was a sales table and there was a copy of Sauniers 'Modern Horology' of somewhere 1860's as a Foyles reprint .... incredibly with the only date stamps being when I took it out twenty years earlier. It didn't take long circa 1976 working at the paraphernalia of the ornamental turning lathe and a close study of Holtzapffel vol.V while looking at the usual results of this apparatus to see how the idea of good or worthwhile design has changed in a hundred years. There was no-one around me that could steer me on this, to indicate what was modernism or the influence of the Bauhaus, or how the questioning of needless ornament and the development of styles had continued throughout the last hundred and fifty years. There was no-one around that could provide me with the conversation I craved, it just wasn't available, neither really could I have formed the words, so thank goodness for the low cost printed book and public lending libraries. However what is fundamental to my own development in design and my products is that you have to want to change your ideas and feelings for it and realise the craft of the activity is only a part of what feeds into good work; to have a hunger for something better, to shed what cannot stand up to scrutiny. A chance visit with one of my wifes work colleagues circa 1978 that had trained as a silversmith proved very helpful, he had a pile of the incredibly interesting 'Crafts' magazine published by the Crafts Council and also 'Design' mag, that he could kindly loan me and this proved to be a very lucky encounter. From the ornamental turning work and reading an article on David Pye in 'Crafts' I started to develop my own series of small turned wooden containers (sort of mini design statements) which I pursued for a full ten years until 1988, I also developed some green turned elm vessels toward the end and then realising the need for better paid work to feed the expense of workshop premises, business overheads and a wage I luckily latched onto a factory nearby with tooling for electronics, so the speculative turned wood was put on hold. Nineteen eighty eight tended to be a watershed year after a decade of intense application, I stopped all magazine subscriptions inc 'Fine Wood Working', everything apart from the UK based 'Antique Collectors Club', a fund of wide and detailed knowledge. I also stopped making the plumb bob in its fitted brass case, a decision I now see as ludicrous as it was soon taken up by a bigger maufacturer and called their own; that is now remedied as it is now available again from me, see prev posts. I think something like my 'three tray hinged container' and the 'outrigger' series of small turned containers stand the scrutiny of time and can be rated as good work, not only craft but a lot of thought and development went into the exact appearance of it over successive batches, I have them here and they still please me. On the former, the three tray hinged I should write another post sometime and describe how the design developed, it is this practical hands on approach (making and doing) that characterised Development at Hardys and I think cannot be beaten. We/I worked from minds eye and sketches, discussion and constructive criticism from my boss, practical mockups and working mechanisms then with critical sessions feeding into more sketching and practical bench work, trying many avenues of possible solutions and exercising lots of sharp thinking to navigate a route to something special; finished drawings only occurred when the project was 'wrapped up' and was being prepared for production. It cannot be any other way when everything is so fluid at the design and development stage. Its furniture that the young man wants to get into, at present for his own satisfaction, not wanting to base a livelihood on it. I think that is a wise decision, I hope he sticks to it. To this end he could do a lot worse than look around a few high-end furniture auctions as well as his current magazine inputs, see what real craftsmanship and quality looks like and museums too, tho I never got much of the latter when young (or even now) location and travelling scotched that. Its this point of quality that the excellent 'Antique Collectors Club' would make in its monthly magazine articles. I subscribed for twenty years (1985-2005) and probably at first was astounded as to little points of detail would make such a difference in price ie desirability. Another useful step is to spend time in good bookshops (and reference libraries) as this is more useful than many realise because we can land on a book or subject we would possibly never have encountered by the nowadays normal web route, this randomness or serendipity is lost. Its a bit like looking thro the pages of an encyclopedia when a child, anything can be presented and this thereby widens your horizons. For instance this tunnel vision or funnelling of results that the web can engender might not occur in a good bookshop or reference library, I might easily find something decent on an architect or product design or archaeological artefacts then perhaps studio ceramics and then maybe an interesting scientific biography ...whatever, all in the space of twenty minutes. Its instances such as this that I always think of my paraphrase from Musashi 'learn the way of all trades', my substituting trade for professsion. Theres a lot of value in that dictum, spread your net wide. In my own case I am fascinated by lots of things, the design in nature at the microscopic level, typography and printing, as well as furniture and product design, architecture, ancient pottery etc and the history of it all and how as humans we developed these things and I cannot help but be interested in evolution and design in the natural world including how the landscape eveolved. The point of all this is to soak up as much as you can, developing a rich mental landscape to draw from. Something about 'design' that is less seldom mentioned is how very important the development of a thing is, something off the drawing board or the sketch pad will always benefit from a prototype and invariably incorporate subsequent modifications from what you have learnt on the way. A lot of people erroneously think that you scribble away and make finished drawings and voila .... thats it !! This successive prototype approach was very evident when I was in Development at Hardys with various reels and mechanisms including the Zane Grey Big Game Reels in stainless circa 1979-82, it certainly was excellent experience, unique and I see now I was being trained 'to think'. Few people will realise the work that went into them such as the brake/ clutch unit, there was some good original thinking. Point is, nothing should be 'set in stone' as good design is fluid and is often capable of being modelled for a better result. Interestingly, the MIT vids I found a year ago on the Shuttle and its development which I fully realise is vastly more complex had to have cut-off points where no further modifications could be made, otherwise the time and cost over-runs would be intolerable. In my experience most projects need about two and a half times more man hours that first envisaged to reach satisfactory completion. This figure has been proven time and time again in my own projects. Whatever it is you do, design simplicity is of the upmost. It is the cleverer man that can achieve the result with a lesser component count and this often takes hard work and inspiration to get to the apparently simpler result, experience being the big factor here and trial and development sometimes too. A mind full of previous work, things seen over the years and ones own experience is the best resource, but in my case up until the age of about twenty five there was still too much of the UK 'Model Engineer' magazine in my head, as a kid there was a big boxful for me to read and re-read and this tied in with my Dads home workshop, I even built up a collection of forty years worth to 1980 but by that year it had become an embarassment and I ceased subscription. There were some very good contributors on workshop matters George Gentry and Scotia spring to mind of the older ones, but some such as George Thomas though very impressive and first rate could sometimes put forward solutions and designs that were too elaborate, jigs and apparatus that obviously had never been influenced by how a toolmaker thinks or how problems are solved in industry; this will not go down well with ME afficianados but its true. And thats probably why the carbon fibre test rig I developed and made was so 'over the top'. It is also a fact that to achieve the lower cost and simpler solution can sometimes entail work that the non-specialist can have no idea of', solutions having to be worked at and sometimes comprising of a succession of near luck bright ideas like a light being switched on at a new realisation, its also mind-set, this comes or improves with age. Thats why it annoys me when very occasionally I will be asked to look at something as a self employed toolmaker which triggers my brain to grapple with the problem and as I am trained to tenaciously stay with it until I solve it .... and when nothing comes of it, I get bloody annoyed, that is one of the cruellest things you can do to me. Luckily most of the engineers I ever worked with that brought me in as the self employed man would always follow up with order numbers and payment. In all the practical workshop work I have ever done and in all the things I've made never have I picked up materials and not had the picture in my head of what it is that I was doing. The 'play' thing for me never did work, to my mind we left that at age seven along with the plasticine. In my case it is all minds eye visualisation. I once asked a younger man that thought of himself as an engineer (degree background) and unfortunately I got the wrong answer in that he told me when he picked the material up to do some practical work (which I can tell he hardly ever did to a satisfactory conclusion) ... he really didn't know what was going to turn out. I think this tells us more than he realises. And yet he thought of himself as my equal....... I developed and made a test rig for carbon fibre blanks in my early twenties as my Prod Eng T6 project at the end of my five years at Tech College and wow did I learn a hard lesson. I cringe at how the thing got more and more complicated and consumed time and materials. It certainly taught me a hard lesson, no-one ever criticised to any great extent, but as years pass it taught me a lot, the need to get a solution within a framework and particulary with mechanical test to try and work with the minimum of dedicated or custom made apparatus. As is said 'we live and learn' and in my defence I can only say I was young ..... in many senses it was time well spent for the lessons learnt. With hindsight I would say that after the initial work determining what dynamic tests we wanted to perform I should have spent more time visualising in my minds eye the quickest way to do this and not get bogged down in endless 'designing at the drawing board' the latter was fatal. Minds eye activity cannot be improved upon, I merely ask myself 'what is the best solution' and often its there, paper merely gets in the way or at best records what I can 'see'. Also, I think it originated in the States among homebrew electronics enthusiasts, but theres a useful anagram ie the KISS approach 'keep it simple .. stupid' !! Whether its mechanical, product styling or furniture design you can learn a lot by getting into the history of it, how men have thought about this before and particularly with mechanical how the technology of materials and method of manufacture shaped the end result and with furniture how the idea of 'good taste' and relevant architectural design shaped the resultant object. For furniture history there are plenty of good books, I would also tie it in with studying architecture, I don't think it can be separated. Kenneth Framptons 'Modern Architecture' in the low cost Thames and Hudson series is an utter gem, a real favourite of mine. Anything by Pevsner is also useful, a good starting point is his 'Pioneers of Modern Design'. Edward Lucie-Smith does a good 'Furniture: A Concise History ' and his 'The Story of Craft' is also a valuable read. I've strangely never read anything written by Prof David Pye, his 'Nature and Art of Workmanship' is very highly regarded but decades ago I decided they were so aligned with my interests that I would read them at the end of my life and see if we had reached the same conclusions! From 1980 to1988 I subscribed to several magazines, the Design Councils 'Design' mag as well as the Crafts Council 'Crafts' mag which aims high and did a lot to 'raise my game'. Looking at the shelves here, 'Mechanical Engineering Design' by Redford is excellent as is the broader 'Invention and Evolution' by French. All of the five volumes of the Holtzapffels 'Turning and Mechanical Manupulation' are monumental in their coverage and quality, much like their machines and written in a style that is way ahead of their time. Other earlier writers yield lots such as Diderot, Bergeron, Moxon, Nicholson, but I haven't read Plumier so can only suggest it; these are all 'craftmanship' and technology of previous centuries titles not to be confused with learning about the development of aesthetic design in the last one hundred years. The reading list also got me into horology ie watch and clockmaking, so at sixteen my head would be full of Saunier and his incredible 'Modern Horology' of around 1864 and for technique Britten but with Gazeley for me the master of the workshop. Its from Gazeley about thirty years ago I got more into handturning metal on the lathe taking as an example the techniques and approach of the old time watch and clock makers making parts from scratch, or more correctly the 'brass finisher' for larger work, a trade I doubt anyone has practiced since before the Second War or possibly even the First, which for my methods and quality is now utterly indispensible to me. Its quite interesting, the original reelmakers at Hardys more than a hundred years ago would be originally termed 'brass finishers' and by a circuitous route I am back round to that same approach. But I've seen time served men from the nineteen thirties and they had no idea of all it could be. postscript: What I have wondered lately with architectural design and particularly where ppl have to work or live is to what extent an architect thinks from the inside out; if I were designing I wld think and visualise primarilly on the internal spaces and layout and facilities, make it 'humanly enjoyable' and let the envelope wrap around what is internally of primary importance. My initial feeling is that minds eye and playing around with blocks of polystyrene and a hot wire cutter could make for interesting results. Most likely architects seldom have this luxury of total freedom and must balance a pursuit of the ideal with practicalities ie interior and exterior form.  A few days later I've managed to take a pic of my 'three tray hinged' ..... a design I developed and made 1980 thro to '88; it was a staple of the work I supplied to galleries, part of my 'range'. Larger later version is 4-1/2 inches tall, that is quite a lump of blackwood to get without shakes and remember its in two halves with a lip to cut for. To a certain extent its the musical instrument trade that will get first pickings and the hobbyist/ the small worker whatevers remaining. Be very careful when buying sight unseen, I was very badly let down once by what I had thought was a reliable supplier in Norwich, a big spend too. I think the three tray hinged above is a good example that a design (and craftsmanship) improves with time, that at each making there are tweaks and nudges to a better result. In this case it also perhaps reflects the increase in my abilities which now makes me very aware that everything we do can be in many senses a compromise. But at the time I was 'hungry' for this work and to improve as a craftsman and designer and the above pic illustrates this very well. That perhaps is why design and craftsmanship can be so very interesting, when its a project for ourselves we can 'push the boat out' and see how good we can make it, nothing to hold us back. Points I see in the above from the 'limited' to the better version are such things as developing confidence to make the bead raised instead of sunken therefore matching the hinge knuckle, the interior trays are better made too, a better hinge, both as a mechanical working item and as a piece of worthwhile design, better near invisible rivetting (heads of which fit into internal counterbores of which I made a special purpose tool) general proportions improved, needless corner rads eliminated and an improved surface finish. As with all my small containers it would be engraved 'R.Kell Maker' .. and a serial number. There are nine knuckles to the hinge, the lid closing with a positive snap to it, nothing overtight or sloppy. I think its somewhere UK 'Woodworker' magazine (Aug 1988?) that an article was published on this.  Tags: crafts magazine, craftsmanship, design, design evolution, design training, designing wooden containers, holtzapffel, learning to make things, learning to think, ornamental turning, richard kell small turned containers, the crafts council, three tray hinged, training craftsmen, what is design, workshop training
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I cannot believe what I have just seen !! Its a Sunday evening for me, I'm tootling around on youtube and unfortunately get drawn into workshop vids via semi-interesting large scale (big stuff) tho overlong live steam posts. The latter is a very able engineer, whatever we may first think he gets the job done. That is the crux, he gets the job done. But what bugged me was the utter garbage at so many metal workshop 'how to do it' vids, especially on lathework. And please ... some of the spelling !! You can tell the lathes have never done much work, I mean I can not see evidence of the experience of thousands or many tens of thousands of components produced to pricework. What pushed me to write this post was some geezer on his brand new expensive lathe telling us it'll take forty five minutes to knurl along three inches of three quarter diameter steel bar .. eh?? !! Theres others too, such as flycutting that takes forever to complete its traverse on the milling machine, agn what must be the tool condition once this traverse is completed?? Why are we watching these self taught amateurs when men from industry are hiding their skills?? ... I assume the industry men are not the ones with lathes at home and the desire to make youtubes. All I know from experience and contrary to several vids on knurling (and I aim for near perfect results) is that I have to get the tool in and out as quickly as possible. Any excessive 'dwell' and the knurl form breaks up; I'm talking three seconds say total knurl to component contact time. Any semi-skilled capstan operator from fifty years ago would tell you the likewise. The same goes with parting off metal bar in the lathe, some vids take so long with such bizarre slow feed that the tool will probably be blunt before it completes the cut. The one I'm thinking of looks to be in a well equipped college workshop, I'm guessing lots of expensive hardly used facilities. On my 1945 capstan lathe with flat belt drive I can part off (not 'can'.... 'do' every time) 15/16 inch round brass bar in about three seconds total, a hundred times a day, batches of five hundred a week when required. I mean no malice by all this, its merely all critical sense seems to be dispensed with, its a shame, they are letting themselves down. Tags: bad practice, knurling, lathework, turning
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 I bought this up at Robertsons Salerooms in Alnwick around 1978 for £60. I would think at the time the price was about right. Since then a decade ago a customer over the phone suggested it might be a little unusual. I didn't have digital till two years ago so all photography was a slow drawn out affair and therefore he never did get to see an image of it.  The gunmetal cap iron still has the original lacquer, say 60-70% (with some long dried linseed oil unfortunately) no big dents or scratches therefore I'm rating at G/G+. I am a great non-cleaner and that includes metal polish, great destruction has been wrought by over-cleaning, at its worst its the 'emery and buffing' brigade. Okay for a bit of shiney copper in a pub but God help us if they find anything of real value. Its the same with furniture. I have even seen a seventeenth century oak chest that would have the most incredible 'colour' acid stripped. An interesting point is never use spray wax on old furniture, it must always be beeswax. Aren't these the most incredible objects! When I first got into these things, I was incredibly impressed at the abilities and standards of the men that made these; still am impressed, its impossible not to be. We will never know the names of the individual workmen, yet it was their hands and their own hard effort that they produced such fascinating functional objects. And of course within the framework of a wage paying commercial enterprise called Norris. A valuable source for trying to gain an insight into work and working lives of a century or two ago is E.P Thompsons ' The Making of the English Working Class' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._P._Thompson He draws together a massive amount of information and writes in a most readable style. A similar book that allows us try to gain an insight is Peter Lasletts 'The World we have Lost' this book dealing with life and society before the industrial revolution. These two together provide a broad coverage and are well worth seeking out. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_LaslettUntil high quality tool auctions started (or as I became aware of them) in the late 1970's, I had probably no idea of things like a Spiers mitre plane, another worthwhile object and working tool. My only source till then would have been Holtzapffels five volumes and Goodman as serialised in 1963/4 UK 'Woodworker' magazine. Geographically we were located away from where it would have been easier to see such objects.   If anyone in webland can indicate how this might be anything other than a usual Norris coffin sided smoother I'd be most interested etc and an idea to its value. Sooner or later I suppose I will have to dispose of this and I'd wise to get a better idea of current prices.  This was in my Grandfathers (born 1870) tool chest that my Dad would clear out sometime in the mid 1960's from the old hut at 'Ugiebrae' where my Grandmother and Aunt lived. The chest itself was decrepit, a lot of worm. The plane itself has two holes. I've always assumed it was a sash fillister, yet it has two nicking irons. Its a Mathieson and condition I guess at G/G+ Thankfully the two little wedges are in super condition, the brass bound rail ends not bad either, not apparently battered. Again I need an idea of price. At the back of my website ie www.richardkell.co.uk is a contact page with info etc. if commenting here is not possible.   For forty five years the workmanship on this plane has been an inspiration, definitely better in the 'flesh'. I have no idea who James Lyal was, nowhere on this is my grandfathers stamp and none of his other tools have such a name stamped on them. This seems a very 'posh' piece of equipment.  Look how the front is worn down through use, hence the dovetailed and tapered strip to narrow down the mouth. This is my grandads smoother, I assume dating from 1882/4 when he would start work (born 1870) or perhaps we should stagger that back by a year as at fourteen he would be sweeping the floor and making tea. I'm thinking that if he didn't buy this to build his toolkit up as an apprentice, are we sensible in assuming he wore the first one out and this is a mid-career replacement? I don't know. He worked till 1940 when he was seventy years old. This item unlike the others is understandably not for sale.    We'll never know in what weather, conditions or what temperatures pleasant or unpleasant this plane was used, or in fact what locations. I know a place I pass through regularly, Powburn in Northumberland that housed his workshop and until recent decades the local authority houses had the window frames he made. He was active there in the 1920's and I remember my Grandmother telling me he employed a couple of men but found trading difficult as the farmers only settled their bills once a year. She said that when he was down to his last £20 after six or seven years it was time to be an employee again. One of his first business customers was at Alnwick Brewery, she said that set him on the business road; now the brewery is long since gone. I still have some old bill heads ie invoices that he used as scrap paper to copy down the poetry of Robbie Burns, that is why my Dad was called Robbie. I've some furniture here he made I assume at that period, in another post I'll show pics and the tools that made it and the book he copied the carving designs from. Above left is the smoother with his name stamp that created the marks in the first place all those years ago.     At right above, I like how we can see the detail of the two cross wedges set into the ends of the arms/ rails. I've probably used too much light on these shots, a lower light level would have allowed more depth of colour to appear. I have to limit 'fiddling-on' otherwise nothing else would get done ! I think that because these tools were sold to craftsmen with developed ability the makers made sure the craftsmanship of the tools themselves was good. I wonder to what extent a superior crafted product (which generally reflects accuracy but not always) was used as a sales tool, to gain sales. I would tend to think it was all of a general 'push' to keep the brand the marque at a particular level. Feeding into this is whether the product was made down to the price or whether they knew they had some leeway to maintain a higher standard. I doubt the latter. It would be obvious who was the man that got squeezed, the man that actually made them. I wonder how much of this was done by outworkers and if not, how much was in pricework at the employers premises. Pricework can be hellish if its not set at the right price (I full well know about this) difficult work needs an allowance made for downtime, problems and snags ie non contributory effort of various sorts. An interesting point re being employed as opposed to outworker is that anything invented as a paid employee at your masters factory belongs to him and his firm. It has always been this way and a good system too, imagine yourself as the owner and some sneaky whatever runs off and thinks he too can profit from it. I would be very upset if somebody ie an employee did that to me. If he wants to invent and profit by it he should have set up on his own in the first place. This goes to show, treat everyone on a strictly 'need to know' basis. There is nothing clever about innovation, it is happening continually, all the time. Its just that some people can do it and some can't. We must temper this enthusiasm for these curious old objects by realising all things were made in such a manner a hundred and more years ago. Hats, fishing reels, bicycles, guns, walking canes, jewellery, spectacles, gloves, lace, wagons and carts, clothing, carriages, hatboxes, suitcases, printers type, scientific instruments, fountain pens ...... an endless panoply of goods. And it was all manufactured by thousands of various trades each worker being an expert in his field. I recently saw the term mass production mis-applied to the making of fishing reels at a craft level a hundred years ago, it never was mass production. Apart from the cheapest goods (at centres such as Birmingham) it was merely an extension and intensification of what had gone on already but with more workers, doubling or twenty-fold the flow of materials thro the works. Up until specialist machinery was invented it was all handwork, a good example was nail and chain making. Even in the design and development and manufacture of the specialist machinery for mass production there was incredible ability and craftsmanship, thats why I think its silly and unfair to single out one man or one firm as if they were they only ones. Take an hour out and study printing machinery such as monotype and linotype, its incredible. In the industrial world high ability is everywhere, otherwise nothing would get done. The correct term mass production only applies when more advanced techniques, production engineering and specialist machines and tooling are developed and brought into play. I actually have a series of articles in a bound volume of 'American Machinist' that details to an incredible extent with lots of photographs the manufacture of the original Edison Phonograph and these are a very good example of how they were pushing toward volume manufacture yet to our eyes were so still involved at a craft level of making things. Tags: coffin sided smoother, e p thompson, edison phonograph, mass production, mathieson of glasgow, mathieson sash fillister, my grandad, norris smoother, outworkers, peter laslett, pricework
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