A Quote From The Pote Journal and Experimental Archaeology.

Bushcraft forums abound with people making wooden spoons, but this craft has never interested me. Then whilst doing some research, I came across the following quote in "The Pote Journal":

“my master told me to

Try if I Could make me a Spoon, and Gave me a hatchet

and told me he would assist me in it for he Said there

was nothing more Necessary for me to be furnished

with in my march, his orders I quickly obeyed, and

finished my Spoon with So much Dixterity, yt my

master was Verey well pleased with me, and told

me he hoped I Should make as Good a heron, as

one John Honewell an English man that had Lived

with ym Near thirty years, and was maried amongst

them and had Severel Children, this Night they

placed me between two Indians, with a String Round

my middle, and Each End made fast to my Companions,”.

The Pote Journal 1745

I have made horn spoons, but never made a wooden spoon before, but thought this quote might be an interesting project. So I decided to make a wooden spoon using just a hatchet. Below is the result.

This is of course only my interpretation, I have no way of knowing what the Pote spoon looked like. The cup of the spoon was the hardest part to shape with just a hatchet, though I dare say that I could make a better job of it given time.

My Tin Cup Project.

You will recall that I posted some information on the 18th century tin cup, and that the remains of original tin cups had been found. The handles had been soldered on, yet the cups were found without their handles. It was thought reasonable that the owners had probably put the cups on the fire to boil water or cook food, and the solder had melted and the handles had fallen off. A wire bale handle was found with these cups, so the owner had obviously made a new wire handle for his cup.
Based on this information I set about making a tin cup out of a modern food can. Modern tin cups do not have soldered handles, they are crimped into the top and bottom edges of the cup. I did the first circle and twist fine, but when I came to complete the bail handle on the bottom of the cup, the wire broke! Rather than scrap it and start again, I decided that it could have happend to anyone and cut my losses and finished with what I had. No matter what I did I was going to finish up with two ends of the wire having sharp edges, so I bound the bail handle with leather. If I ever use it on the fire, the leather will burn, but I can do that if I have to. Actually if I only place it on a rock on the edge of the fire it will still work and the leather will not burn.

The Box Seated Chair.

I do not make this post with the intention of demonstrating my furniture making skills, far from it, I am sure my skills in this field are none existant! However, this was an interesting and very enjoyable project for me, because I like making practicle things with my hands, and I have enjoyed using it ever since.
Many years ago I saw what I think was called a box chair, or a box seated chair. Then some years later again I came in posession of an antique table chair that was very unstable, and I decided to convert it into a box chair. I use this chair in my study for storing all my tools that I use for sewing and leatherwork.