Beetle

DAPNET Forums Archive › Forums › Equipment Category › Equipment Fabrication › Beetle

Viewing 3 posts - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • December 31, 2011 at 4:08 pm #43346
    LongViewFarm
    Participant

    So, my friend is a blacksmith, and pretty good at this trade. I like to pretend I’m a carpenter. I’ve always wanted a beetle after seeing them in Eric Sloan’s books and elsewhere, so yesterday I went up to visit and brought along a piece of seasoned cherry and some various handles.

    Here’s what we got made by then end of the day, after mucking about on a few other projects too:

    I figure we’ll put this to good use with the barn raising next memorial day.

    A shameless plug for Med’s business. Help a small, local business man out:
    Ship’s Coy Forge

    December 31, 2011 at 5:34 pm #71230
    Jean
    Participant

    Ok, I will prove that I am a girl. What is a beetle and what do you do with it? It looks like a mallet with forged metal on the ends.

    December 31, 2011 at 6:54 pm #71231
    LongViewFarm
    Participant

    @Jean 31367 wrote:

    Ok, I will prove that I am a girl. What is a beetle and what do you do with it? It looks like a mallet with forged metal on the ends.

    You’re basically right. It is an oversized mallet used for encouraging timbers to go where you’d like during construction. The metal rings are there to prevent splitting from traveling the length of the head and rendering the things useless. They are actually set back on the head a bit, so that the contact surface is wood. As it’s used, any splits will curl bac over the rings.

  • Author
    Posts
Viewing 3 posts - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.