Honda-SOHC
Other Stuff => Misc / Open => Topic started by: Orcade-Ian on February 12, 2023, 08:53:27 AM
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I've recently rebuilt a couple of wheels for a good friend here in Orkney - actually for a bike his Brother bought new (CD 175) but sadly Colin passed away just before Christmas. Knowing I did a bit of wood butchery now and then he had mentioned that their Father had made Bride's Cogs many years ago and would bring one to show me when he collected the wheels.
Johnny will know all about the Cogs - an Orkney tradition, which are made specially for a couple for their Wedding and filled with a hot concoction of all kinds of strong 'falling down' liquid and each family has their own secret recipe. This is passed around the guests as a toast to the happy couple and we have been to quite a few weddings where this tradition has been carried on.
This is what Stevie brought along!
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The wood is a combination of ebony and maple and no machines were used - everything done by hand, mostly sitting by the fireside with hand tools with one eye on the telly! Each stave has contrasting blocks dovetailed into the outer face and the decorations on the handles are hand carved pieces let into the main piece.
I take my hat off Sir!
Ian
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They are stunning - what a work of art and level of skill to make those. Makes mechanical engineering seem easy in comparison - just 'bolting' things togeteher ;D
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Stunning woodwork it's an art form that completely evades me.
Never managed a half decent dovetail joint at school.
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Ian, that is some lovely craftsmanship there! I didn’t know about father Ross’s skills. Never seen tumblers done to match cog before. Mugs as well, lot of work there.
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Hi Johnny,
You know better than anyone that there is a tremendous amount of skill in these Islands. As a footnote to the Cog story, there was a piece many years ago in our Vintage Club magazine with a story about the visit of the Queen Mother to Orkney, where She expressed an interest in the Cog She had seen. The late and very talented Harold Esson made one for her! He may have made it specially for the visit, I'm not sure.
Many years later Christine and I had a trip to Caithness with the Vintage Club and visited the Castle of Mey and during our guided tour I noticed a Cog on a shelf in the Equerry's room and remembered the magazine article, so asked the guide if she knew anything about it. She kindly lifted it down and when she turned it over, there was the stamp 'H.Esson'
Ian
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having turned wood for years, no so much the last 10), I could have sworn that was a turned set.
If he's done that by hand that is simply incredible work, especially as a hobby in front of the idiot lantern!
Stunning stuff :)
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Interesting story Ian! Never knew, although that’s bound to have made the local rag!
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That is amazing craftmanship, a real master has been at work there.
Cheers
Dennis
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Just stunning, I really hope this craft is getting passed on and some youngsters are taking this up as it would be a real shame if this craft was to die out.
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Yes,
It seems that many of these skills are slowly dying out but there are a few young ones here interested - although the rewards take a long time to materialise and most folk go for instant gratification these days. I spent 20 years teaching practical engineering skills to first year 'off the job' apprentices and a few of those took up the same challenge. Not sure who is carrying that on now. A certain politician and PM dismantled that system in an effort to weaken unions and the baby went out with the bathwater. Then it was all about driving people to Uni to study Underwater Origami and other very useful subjects likely to put the Country back on its feet.
Well that's my first rant of the day - sorry Steve D.
Ian
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Then it was all about driving people to Uni to study Underwater Origami and other very useful subjects likely to put the Country back on its feet.
Well that's my first rant of the day - sorry Steve D.
Ian
That made I laugh 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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Not sure we can blame her totally for the decline in our manufacturing industry though she was a catalyst in it's final decline.
I believe it was primarily a lack of new product investment by existing factory owners who had ready markets in the UK & Commonwealth, Red Robo, plus after WW2 countries like Germany started from scratch so foreign firms had state of the art machinery whereas ours was virtually obsolete.
I still remember almost every place I worked at from 1966-71 would have what seemed like multiple visits by clip board carrying Japanese visitors.
Strange how quickly the initial resistance in post war England to buy German & Japanese products melted away when they could buy cheaper and more reliable goods from former enemies.
This seemed to come to a head when Harold Wilson told us the pound in our pocket would be worth the same after devaluing the pound.
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English industry just didnt adapt quickly enough, two stories i remember
Triumph motorcycles went metric and asked for metric main bearings almost the same size as imperial ones insteas of seeing what size was most common, hence they cost 3 or 4 times the price.
Calor gas inherited the BP small ally caravan bottled gas buisiness which were very expensive to refill as they had to be washed every time so wanted a steel equivalent, UK suppliers quoted 24-36 months for design and supply, far east delivered hundreds of thousands in 3 months
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those tankards are stunning .... and I see no unsightly gaps or misaligned blocks.
Love seeing traditional skills practiced to a high degree. Just a shame it's such a rarity.
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Quite frankly I don't have the words to express my appreciation of how fantastically skilled such people are.
I love woodwork but would not know where to start, nor have the skill set required.
Respect.
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Words fail me Ian, those are really beautiful, the contrast between the ebony and maple is an inspired choice.
Is dovetailing the correct description? I can’t see any dovetails at all, inside and out, it looks like marquetry where one piece of work is inserted into a gap carved into the surface of the other. The small animals on the handle are exquisite, some real skill on show there.
You could make a living carving them for tourists I’d imagine, wouldn’t even know where to start with a value but I’d imagine quite a lot.
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What is even more interesting (amazing) is that the ebony detail is different on the inside to that on the outside. Fabulous work!
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Ken and Matt,
The ebony was dovetailed sideways across the vertical sections but not to full thickness, so the inside is still just one wood on each stave. Not sure if any of it was glued - traditionally they never are! Even the base is just let in to an annular groove near the bottom and the liquid swells the staves and base. Orcadians are not known for wasting a drop of drink, so they never leak!
I made a simple tin man's Jenny to put the angles on the brass hoops for a Cog maker in Sanday (one of the North Isles) he sadly passed away recently. I think there is a piece about it on my web site somewhere.
We're still trying to track down a Cog made by Stevie's Dad Alec which he made from Greenheart and was a stunner. Some kind of marriage split has made the whereabouts shrouded in mystery but folk in Orkney usually find out - there's nowhere to hide!
Ian
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Ken and Matt,
The ebony was dovetailed sideways across the vertical sections but not to full thickness, so the inside is still just one wood on each stave. Not sure if any of it was glued - traditionally they never are! Even the base is just let in to an annular groove near the bottom and the liquid swells the staves and base. Orcadians are not known for wasting a drop of drink, so they never leak!
I made a simple tin man's Jenny to put the angles on the brass hoops for a Cog maker in Sanday (one of the North Isles) he sadly passed away recently. I think there is a piece about it on my web site somewhere.
We're still trying to track down a Cog made by Stevie's Dad Alec which he made from Greenheart and was a stunner. Some kind of marriage split has made the whereabouts shrouded in mystery but folk in Orkney usually find out - there's nowhere to hide!
Ian
Good grief, that is even more impressive!
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https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/15110/lot/649/
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Thanks for that Ted,
I heard that the stuff from Graemshall had been sold - considering the amount of work involved I don't think many can make much of a living from making Cogs - they are usually a labour of love from a family member or great friend for the forthcoming wedding - that's Orkney in a nutshell!
Found that piece on the hoop making machine I made:
http://www.stallard-engineering.co.uk/Engineering/Tinmans%20Jenny.htm
Ian