Caulking Mallet on EBAY

[Dave Thibodeau]

<img scr="http://cgi.ebay.com/Old-Boat-Builders-Caulking-Mallet-Good-Shape_W0QQitemZ230125977427QQihZ013QQcategoryZ3973 0QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting">

[Dave Thibodeau]

OK, I give up


Would someone be kind and tell me what I am doing wrong in trying to dislpay an image on this forum

Thanks

[Bob Smalser]

<img src="http://cgi.ebay.com/Old-Boat-Builders-Caulking-Mallet-Good-Shape_W0QQitemZ230125977427QQihZ013QQcategoryZ3973 0QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting">


You're using old html language in a newer BB program not set up for it. <img scr= rather than [img].

Instead of typing manually, just use the dialog box that looks like a yellow picture postcard, and insert a clean url for your online image. Those boxes will also provide the correct language for images, quotes and urls if you want to type them in manually.

[Robmill0605]

test

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g148/robmill54/houseboat-03.jpg

[Robmill0605]

THANKS BOB!!!!!!!!!


I finally got it.

[Bob Smalser]

When you bring up the "reply" screen, there are a line of buttons above the typing box allowing fonts, spacing, etc. The yellow post card button brings up a dialog box to insert the url address for your pic from a picture hosting service like Imagestation, Picturetrail or one of the auction listing services.

Problems may arise with the new Internet Explorer Edition 7 (?) that requires permission to use "scripted boxes", but my IE provides another dialog box to give such permission.

Otherwise just type the picture server url in manually using the newer BB language: ..url... for pics,
....text....[ /quote], etc., with no spaces.

Your other problem is what you show isn't a clean url for a pic...it lacks ".jpg" or ".gif":

[QUOTE]<img scr="http://cgi.ebay.com/Old-Boat-Builders-Caulking-Mallet-Good-Shape_W0QQitemZ230125977427QQihZ013QQcategoryZ3973 0QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting">

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Is this the item?

http://cgi.ebay.com/CAULKING-MALLET-SHIPWRIGHT-BOAT-BUILDING-HAMMER-TOOL_W0QQitemZ290112458952QQihZ019QQcategoryZ39730 QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD2VQQcmdZViewItem

http://i18.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/9c/e0/3aca_1.JPG

Right click the "properties" of the picture and you'll see its correct url address: http://i18.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/9c/e0/3aca_1.JPG

[Dave Fleming]

What is that thing?:eek:

[Bob Smalser]

What is that thing?:eek:

British.

[Lew Barrett]

British.

Is that why it looks like it drives the caulking on the wrong side of the plank?:D

[Dave Fleming]

I fuggered that O&O PacNoWest jes' funning' a bit.

Not to hijack the thread nor denigrate our British shipwright copatriots but, I have always found it interesting to see the differences between British shipwright tools and North American shipwright tools.

The British tools seem 'clubby' almost awkward vs: the North American versions that look clean and almost elegant.

Seems strange because their cabinetmaking tools are quite nice.

[Bob Smalser]

Seems strange because their cabinetmaking tools are quite nice.

That mallet head may have been 4" longer when new. And if it has slots, it may have even been comfortable. Or it may be a small boat mallet where none of that is very important.

As a kid we caulked my uncle's carvel work boats with any wood mallet we had handy. He and his partner kept the two slotted, tool-steel-hooped Drews the shop owned for themselves, as they both had bad elbows from a lifetime doing it.

So on a small boat, or even a 24', wide-planked Garvey with easy access, if that's all the caulking you're doing this year, then I don't think it matters at all what mallet you have. But all day-every day is another story entirely, as are old elbows after a lifetime of tool use, and all those hard-to-reach spots on larger vessels.

But OTOH, nothing rings like a mesquite Drew. Too bad they are unaffordable collector items today. I'm still looking for a reliable source of Prosopis juliflora to make proper reproductions. The wood is still out there, but it's not real common and is mixed in with other mesquite species, and I don't want to pay freight for pallets of turning squares where I have to reject 75% of them.

"The devil to pay and no pitch hot." ;)

[paladin]

what sizes etc Mesquite izz you looking for, Bob.....My grandmother ground the pods for a flour substitute and made wine with it....and I had mesquite tea for everything from measles to whooping cough.....I hated it but could tolerate it with a bit of honey.....it's a scrub bush at home....

[Bob Smalser]

There is mesquite and then there's mesquite. I'm looking to buy 3" X 17" green turning squares of Black Mesquite Prosobis juliflora by the pallet load. P. juliflora is also called White Mesquite in some locales.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/5313557/67908857.jpg

All the old Drew catalogs list their mesquite caulking mallets as heavier than their Live Oak caulking mallets made in the same size. Significantly heavier...by almost 10%.

Live Oak has a specific density of .88, and the only mesquite species having a heavier SG is P. juliflora at .94. That's slightly heavier than Ipe, BTW. Common Mesquite found along our border is P. glandulosa and isn't even close in weight to Live Oak at .81. P. nigra or Black Mesquite from further south is also lighter with an SG range of .80-.85.

Sawyers I've contacted along the border say P. juliflora , although more common further south, grows amid Common Mesquite along the border, but isn't common and when found it is harvested and sold with it all intermixed. My problem is finding a logger who can both ID it and willing to keep it separate. That may be impossible if it's not common.

Knowing where in Central America Drew bought their mesquite and what they called it would also help. Because when the Drew catalogs listed their best mallets is being of "Black Mesquite", they did not mean the obvious choice P. nigra....if their mesquite mallets were nearly 10% heavier than their oak mallets, they had to be using P. juliflora.

[MAGIC's Craig]

Bob:

Too many years ago, Joe Gazzano, a lively shipwright form San Francisco's Anderson and Christofani yard, kindly gifted me with a set of caulking irons and a caulking mallet like the one pictured. At the time, we had a carvel-planked fir schooner and periodically, she required a bit of work ;) -

As it happens, we are packing up and storing stuff before heading off to sea again and I came across both - regrettably dusty - in a corner of my "shop" area of this rental house. So, with memories freshly stirred, I cleaned the lot up with a slightly-oily rag and noticed the "C. Drew & Co." stamped on the narrower portion of the head of the mallet.

Lovely to then come across your post to spur a bit of further research.

Cheers,

Craig Johnsen
MAGIC (Who is cold molded :D)

[Bob Smalser]

Lovely to then come across your post to spur a bit of further research...

Here are some Drew resources, including old catalogs:

http://www.numismalink.com/drew.cat.36.thm.jpg


A Black Mesquite Caulking Mallet was considered the ultimate tool for that purpose in wooden boat building. I have ( 2 ) and they are hands down better than a Live Oak Mallet.

The density of the wood adds to the bounce or rebound of the mallet. Company that made them was C. Drew and Sons.

Long gone but there are fellows that occasionally make them to order. See the other big factor is the rings that fit onto the head. The better rings are/were made from tool steel hardened and tempered.

In the yard when caulking, pronounced 'corking', was going on you could tell a good mallet by the sound. Sorta a high pitched ring that echoed up the street. Head ring was set back from very end of mallet by about and 1/8 of an inch so that steel never met steel in use.

As wear reduced this wood the front ring would be set back either by use of a special tool and hammer or a set up for using an arbor press or bearing press was used.

Most 'corkers' were somewhat deaf by the time they were 40 or so.

No earmuffs in those days.


http://www.numismalink.com/drew1.html

http://www.davistownmuseum.org/bioDrew.htm

Dimensions are no problem. Tool-steel rings are no problem, as drawn tubing in that material is readily available. The right wood is the only issue. I thought I'd add kerosene-soaked hickory handles to increase the rebound in a trial run...and old gunsmith's trick worth trying. ;)

[Dave Fleming]

Craig, I spent a goodly portion of my apprenceship at A&C.

Joe was the half of a pair of corkers who worked the SF waterfront.

I too was gifted with an almost compete set of corking irons, 2 Black Mesquite mallets, a deck rollaround, and a superduper canvas sack to haul it in.

Dabber, the yard general worker in all things, he too showed me quite a bit about corking as well as other parts of shipwright work.
His brother Wesley was second in command of the yard crew under Alex Davidson.

Foreman was Eddie Banks, nice fellow too.


Gosh I miss those days!

Have gone by there almost every time we have been in the Bay Area.
Breaks my heart to see that yard all gone.

Rolando Lumber bought out Al and Mr. Anderson/Andersen.

Then within a year the yard mysteriously catches fire and all the buildings burn to the ground.

Al still had his tools in what had been the mould loft over the offices....poof up in smoke.
Along with drawers full of old plans and such.

Sad so Sad.:(

A&C like Bowes and Andrews are just memories now.

[Mrleft8]

Being more of a cabinet kinda guy..... I can't even imagine trying to steer one of those long nosed anteaters. What's the point? My turned mallets offer at least as much punch. and a good deal more control. Why would anyone want one of those? (I'm sure there's a good reason, I just can't see it right now....)

[Bob Smalser]

... Why would anyone want one of those? (I'm sure there's a good reason, I just can't see it right now....)



Because you can reach deep recesses with those snouts while perched in odd positions on a scaffold, and the combination of rebound and the slotted head apply efficient power at the business end without that same power echoing up your carpal tunnel to your elbow. You can pound substantially harder and longer than with a solid mallet without injury.

The design facilitates choking up on the handle to quickly tap material into an arms-breadth of seams at a time then beginning again with less choke on the handle and more power gradually to tighten the planks without straining fasteners....the amount of power available with the combination of choke and swing being almost infinite in a 16" mallet. Moreover, the length of the head combined with the height of the iron facilitate the impact occurring more centered on your torso than a common mallet allows. Also easier on the bod.

None of this makes for much caulking a few hours a year. 40 hours a week for 50 weeks a year is something else entirely.

[Mrleft8]

Hmmm. Thanks Bob. Just one more thing to cogitate over the coming months and years...

[RGM]

Nice looking Drew mallet Bob, do you still have it or did you sell it on eBay two or three years ago?

[Bob Smalser]

Nice looking Drew mallet Bob, do you still have it or did you sell it on eBay two or three years ago?


Not mine, Rodger. I just collect pics. Thought it was one of Dave's but it's not. His have maple handles and wooden pegs securing the heads.

[RGM]

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa141/RGM_bucket/Tools%20of%20The%20Trade/CIMG8232.jpg
When I saw that picture I knew it looked familiar.

[Bob Smalser]

... I was wondering if you had any knowledge as to how Drew attained the dark finish on his (mesquite) mallets. I have treating mine with Pine tar and Boiled Linseed oil but the wood does not reach the darkness of the Drew mallets.


There are a couple good possibilities. They don't include dye or stain because they would fade badly in the many decades the existing examples have been used outdoors. Plus I don't believe Drew was that concerned with cosmetics, or they would have stained or fumed their Live Oak mallets like I stain mine (otherwise fresh ones don't look right.

One possibility is darkening the wood through fuming with ammonia if the excrative content has sufficient tannic acid. Fuming is a much more permanent color change than dyes. But as I said, I don't think Drew cared much about color.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Prosopis_caldenia.jpg/603px-Prosopis_caldenia.jpg

Another is that Drew's source of P. juliflora came from big trees with dark heartwood. (If we only knew Drew's source of wood.) Look at Prosobis in South America - many of the trees are huge, look nothing like the trees that produce Texas fence posts, and would produce well over 1000bf of turning squares. Excrative color comes from the soil and varies considerably....it's entirely possible that temperate Arizona juliflora is uniformly lighter in color than say, tropical Panamanian juliflora.

Another possibility is the heads were soaked in raw linseed oil. Locust and oak trunnels were shipped packed in kegs of linseed to keep the wood supple for driving. Like the kerosene soak I mention above, it makes sense to treat caulking mallet heads in a similar manner. Linseed oil turns black usually within a year of outdoor use in UV light. Today we largely use boiled linseed that congeals on the wood surface like paint and the resulting black stain scrapes off easily. Raw linseed however, soaks in much deeper and the black becomes part of the wood. Look at a Civil War-vintage walnut rifle stock in a museum to see what I mean.

[Tom Robb]

For all you lurkers out there, this sort of thing is why we keep coming back. Roger, Bob, Dave, the Cleekster, et. al. Almost as good as settin' round the stove, winter wind howlin and swapping truth and lies.

[Ethan]

I just wanna know what Bob's gonna do with a pallet load of caulking mallets .....