craft – Page 20 – Peachey Conservation

October 21, 2009January 28, 2013

The Proper Method of Using a Scissors

scissors Palmer, E.W. A Course in Bookbinding for Vocational Training. New York: Employing Bookbinders of America, 1927.

I’ve never thought too much about using a scissors, and can’t even recall ever being taught. I’d usually hold the sheet of paper on the left side, with my thumb on top of the paper. But after reading Palmer, I’m a convert the “proper method”. It seems to result in a straighter cut, since the paper ends up slightly curling parallel to the direction of cutting, as well as acting as a more stable counter point for the action of the blade. This right eye view, shows the exact perpendicularity of the scissors to the paper plane, as well as reminding us that often diagrams can show essential information much more clearly than a photograph can.

Of course, this is a small matter, and not using the “proper method of scissors cutting” will not hasten the end of civilization as we know it. But it does relate to the demise of technical education in general, and makes one worry about the hundreds (hundreds of thousands?) of other techniques that have disappeared, are almost forgotten or will become lost in the future.

July 28, 2009January 28, 2013

Turkish Cobblers Hammer

This French style cobblers hammer is interesting for two reasons- the very short handle, which actually gives a lot of control and I did observe an iterate street cobbler using an identical one, and the unusual method of head attachment. Earlier French cobblers hammers often has straps that extended down the handle. Salamon, in his Dictionary of Leatherworking tools pictures one. In this case, there is not a wedge that holds the handle in the eye, but a hole is drilled through the wood and the thick wire extending up through the sides of the eye are bent over to peen the metal to the wood. I haven’t been extremly rough with it, but it seems a fairly secure method. I purchased all of these in Istabul, Turkey in 2008.

June 23, 2009January 28, 2013

Dipteryx Panamensis

pipteryx-panamsis

A friend of mine gave me this piece of Dipteryx panamensis. It is an incredibly dense wood– it measures 29 x 7 x 4 cm and weighs 881 grams. (11.25 x 2.75 x 1.5 inches, 1lb, 15 oz.), and can have a specific gravity up to 1.09. I will most likely never get another example of this wood, I think it is now banned for export.

I considered making tool handles or something else out of this, then realized there was nothing I could do to improve– it is perfect the way it is. Any shaping or transformation would only diminish it.