Tinkertoys, medieval style
While the three of us have been sewing away, it was always aparent that we also had wood working to do as well. We turned to Garin, who made our bed, to enlist his help. Dave and Garin went a couple of weeks ago to buy the hardwood - we're using ash, and then he, Garin, and Kevin spent a day and a half in the workshop. The pavillion has one pole in the center that holds up the peak of the cone. Then about half way down the pole sits a rather tinker toy like hub, from which spokes extend to hold out the eves.
Our cone will peak out at about 12 feet tall, Rossilins at 14, so doing the center pole as a single unit is neither feasible nor convenient. So there has to be a joint in it. We're copying Friedrich's joint design:
The joint is reinforced with steel square tubing, like this:
Next is the hub. One hub has to hold 22 spokes, the other 28. They managed to make ours out of a single board, but the bigger one had to be laminated together. They cut the circles out, then used the scrap from the cutout to hold the hub for drilling.
I think these pictures are so cool - there is something so satisfying in seeing that nice fit between the hub and it's holder. Ingenious!
Hubby and hub. *snerk*
If you look at the left end of the center pole above, you'll see that it's been 'rounded' down to an octagonal shape. This allows the hub to slide over, and then sit on the narrow shoulders in the pole as it goes back to square.
Finally come the spokes. Far as I know, they ripped these out of planks, and then had to hand shave the interior ends to be round to fit into the hub.
We are looking forward to having mostly square spokes, since bundling them will be easier than a bunch of dowels.
Dave brought all the wood home, and oiled it, while Garin continued on and made a whole bunch of toggles for us.
So - the wood is done. Once we finish the critical sewing, we will set the tents up for the first time -- which promises to be a lengthy process of trying to fit in the spokes, which are deliberately oversized at the moment, then slowly shaving off every one until we can put all the spokes in place. I'm hopeful that the weekend after next will be when we get to try this!
Our cone will peak out at about 12 feet tall, Rossilins at 14, so doing the center pole as a single unit is neither feasible nor convenient. So there has to be a joint in it. We're copying Friedrich's joint design:
The joint is reinforced with steel square tubing, like this:
Next is the hub. One hub has to hold 22 spokes, the other 28. They managed to make ours out of a single board, but the bigger one had to be laminated together. They cut the circles out, then used the scrap from the cutout to hold the hub for drilling.
I think these pictures are so cool - there is something so satisfying in seeing that nice fit between the hub and it's holder. Ingenious!
Hubby and hub. *snerk*
If you look at the left end of the center pole above, you'll see that it's been 'rounded' down to an octagonal shape. This allows the hub to slide over, and then sit on the narrow shoulders in the pole as it goes back to square.
Finally come the spokes. Far as I know, they ripped these out of planks, and then had to hand shave the interior ends to be round to fit into the hub.
We are looking forward to having mostly square spokes, since bundling them will be easier than a bunch of dowels.
Dave brought all the wood home, and oiled it, while Garin continued on and made a whole bunch of toggles for us.
So - the wood is done. Once we finish the critical sewing, we will set the tents up for the first time -- which promises to be a lengthy process of trying to fit in the spokes, which are deliberately oversized at the moment, then slowly shaving off every one until we can put all the spokes in place. I'm hopeful that the weekend after next will be when we get to try this!
Labels: SCA
posted by Monica |
9:22 AM
2 Comments:
I'm exhausted reading about all of your work. I need to sit back and have a drink. Maitai, please. (BTW: "tinkertoy" nails it; that's exactly what I thought when I saw your hub.)
Well, yeah -- we need to pull everyone down with us, you know. Haha.
And here's the Maitai for ya!
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