standing on end...

Yesterday I made a simple device to hold a cube on point so that it can be drilled from one end to the other. This was my third concept. Anyone with experience in the real world knows that drill bits wander off course as they pass through wood. And those who have experience in making things will know that it is hard to start a drill on a point, or to start a drill on an angled surface. In making Froebel's gift number two, craftsmen had managed a difficult task. At first I visualized an assembled device, then imagined one in which recesses to secure the edges of the cube would be held just so. I started making that one but then I realized that a cube could fit in a hollow cone. As often happens, that was the concept that I woke up to after a long night of contemplation. So I had two false starts before coming up with this design concept.

Aron had asked how to do it. Scott assured it could be done, and that if Froebel could do it, surely we could too. We will find out later in the day whether it works. Froebel would not likely have had access to a drill press, but holes could be drilled using a lathe. When Froebel was a young man he was apprenticed to a forester and would have been well familiar with the lathe, shaving horse and draw knife that common woodsmen used at the time.

So while there is no clear evidence available concerning how the first gifts were made, we know that they were made using the simple tools of the time. A lathe would have allowed a cube to be held against a hollow cone like I have made as a drill held in the lathe at the drive end could have been used to pass through.

As you can see in the photo immediately above, it is possible to drill through from one corner to the other. In this case, I used the drill press to drill in from opposite corners utilizing the jig shown above to hole the cube on the table of the drill press,  then used a hand held drill to join the two holes with a longer bit. The brass rod is merely inserted for demonstration purposes.

Barbara has been making good progress on the translation of N. Christian Jacobsen's book, I Sløjdsagen Et Inlæg. The book shows as much value as I anticipated, as is shown by the following:

The knife is that tool which a child most naturally and easily grasps: it is simple to have at hand and can be used for both this and that. It is a tool with which much work can completely be done, and without help from another. Yes, nothing more on this need be said; the knife is above all else the tool of ordinary dexterity, that is to say, sloyd’s tool.

I can see why Christian Jacobsen was one of Salomon's favorite authors. And as I explained to Barbara, Jacobsen puts the knife in the heart of the matter.

Make, fix and create...