Showing posts with label Flax. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flax. Show all posts

Sunday 21 March 2021

Refurbishment of a customers 140 year old Chest Beckets

How Do All,
I was recently sent a pair of around about 140 year old antique sailors sea chest beckets for refurbishment.
This is something I have not done before, and had both beckets been in better condition I would have opted to preserve them rather than refurbish them.

The owners of the beckets also have the original chest and cleats which they have now refurbished themselves.
Both the chest and beckets still belong to descendants of the original owner. and they actually have lots of original paperwork giving the name and dates of the sailors birth, his travels, and also his passing; I think this is absolutely amazing that these have survived for over 140 years, are still together, and in the same family.
The Able-Bodied Seaman John Lewis was born in 1866. 
You can see some pictures of the finished chest, and also some of the documentation shown at the end of this post, with kind permission of the owners. Thank you.
 
The chest and beckets had been covered in white gloss and other modern type paints over the years, and about thirty years ago the current owners had a go at removing the paint from one of the beckets, hence why the two look very different in the before pictures.
 
The chest, cleats and beckets.
Photo with kind permission of the owners. 

The beckets as I received them.

Lovely white gloss over everything.

The other becket stripped bare.

Upon examining the beckets for myself, I discovered that the remaining bolt rope had been chafed through to the iron core, and the rope and tarred marline under the fragile and chafed leather had all but rotted to dust.
The pinked leather washers on one side had been stretched and the holes enlarged, cracking and splitting the dry leather in the process. 

Chafed to the bone so to speak, from use and the harsh marine environment no doubt.

After the leather had been removed the end knots pretty much fell away of their own accord.


The six surviving pinked leather washers, the ones on the right had been enlarged by the becket legs pushing them outward and over the end knot of the bolt rope.

The perished remains of the surviving bolt rope, and one of the leather washers in the background.

On the still painted becket I carefully removed the outer layers of paint (I actually spent several days with paint stripper, white spirit, and methylated spirit baths and an a tooth brush or two) revealing what remained of possibly the original finish. 
The original finish appeared to be a dark red ochre/oxide colour over the tarred marline bails (central handle part), the legs and eyes where in white, and the Turk's-Head knots in a vaguely greenish blue, the manrope knots on the ends of the bolt rope appeared to be the same blue but with a possibly later added red central part.

This was as far as I was willing to strip the good becket, and I wanted to save as much of the remaining finish as possible, had both been like this, then a clear coat to preserve this state would have been my preference.

On the left you can see the original red ochre/oxide colour over the tarred cord.

One of the end knots of the bolt rope showing the later? red centre, it looks as if the blue was painted over with white and then the red centre, but only the original owner/s would know for sure.

After soaking the misshaped becket for several hours I reshaped it as best as possible, but was not able to remove the lumps and bumps under the coving of the bail (handle part), and remaking the becket from scratch was not a viable or cost effective solution.

The reshaped becket on the left. 
Also the makings of the new bolt ropes and a start on the pinked leather washers.

I made up two new bolt ropes from hemp rope over a rust-less steel core and, and made up twelve new pinked washers in 3 different sizes based closely on the originals.

Mocking up the new bolt ropes for size and looks.

After several coats of shellac and primer paint I opted to paint the beckets in colours I thought complimentary to the originals though not an exact match. and the deep teal colour used on the knots was a request from the customer, and I think a good call as the blue colour I was looking at would not have looked half as good in my honest opinion. (the teal knots are actually more green in real life, they appear more blue in the pictures)

Freshly finished with optional cleat fixing hardware.

I was not able to make the pair physically match, as they started out in very different states of repair, also when originally made by the sailor they may have not been made simultaneously so have different thicknesses of material as well as physical proportions, I am however very happy with how they turned out.

The chest  and beckets back together again.
Photo with kind permission of the owners. 

The chest belonged to able-bodied seaman John Lewis
Photo with kind permission of the owners. 

The opposite end of the chest.
Photo with kind permission of the owners. 

Certification of service aboard the Barque "Lota" from the vessels Master
Photo with kind permission of the owners. 

A telegram to Ann Lewis (wife) from the Barque "Lota"
I can only half read it at best.
Photo with kind permission of the owners. 

Certification of service aboard the vessel "Indian Empire" from the vessels Master.
Photo with kind permission of the owners. 

Thank you for looking,
Take care,
Barry / The Knotty Bear

Tuesday 15 January 2013

Cotton Seine Twine and Ditty Bag, For Sale!


How Do All ;-)

I have just added some more items to my Etsy Shop
All Sold Now, Thank you for looking ;-)

This is about 3mm diameter, with a firm lay and very easy to work with. 
900 gram spool (2 lb) , 286 meters (878 feet)
dimension, length, and weights are approximate.


This is about 2mm diameter, with a very firm lay and very easy to work with. 
900 gram spool (2 lb) , 460 meters (1512 feet)
Note: dimension, length, and weights are approximate




The body of the bag is made from 15oz cotton Duck, and is 300mm x 175mm. the canvas is fully hand seamed and the base has a double seam for durability. the body features twisted, drawn thread work, made by removing the weft from the canvas and bunching the remaining warp strands together and then twisting them into several small cords, these are further split and twisted into other cords, and some nice hard wood beads finish of the design.

The grip is of Cotton, and contains; Double Crowning, Pineapple knots in Hemp and Mathew Walker knots. The hanging loop is covered in Cotton Solomon bar. the grip has a coat of my own mixed natural bleached shellac to stiffen and help protect the grip from every day grime.

The slider (bag closure knot) is a Pineapple knot, and the toggle on the base is a Star Knot.
There are 6 beautiful Star Knots around the top of the bag, to which the lanyard legs are buttoned the splices on the lanyard legs are further covered with Turk's-Head knots.
The legs of the lanyard are Flax.
The bag can be converted to a shoulder bag by buttoning Star Knot toggle on the base of the bag through one of the two differently sized hanging loops on the end of the lanyard.



Please contact me if you have any questions: knotty (dot) bear (at) gmail (dot) com

Please check out my Etsy Shop for more items.

Thank you for looking.
Take care,
Barry ;-)

Friday 26 October 2012

Cotton Chest Beckets. For Sale!

How Do All ;-)

I am selling what is probably one of the most beautiful pairs of Sea Chest Beckets you may have ever laid eyes on!
The price of these Beckets is in no way a true reflection of the many hours of work involved to create such a work, they are for me, priceless!



The core of the beckets are a selvagee strop, marled, parcelled, and a puddening of canvas applied, this is then served with Tarred Marline before being covered. 
The Eyes are ringbolt hitched in cotton, the legs are of needle hitching in cotton and the bails are 8 strand x 5 ply coach whipping in cotton.

 The bolt is of 3 strand hemp, wormed, parcelled and served , this is covered with a leather chafing piece and 4 pinked leather washers, the ends of the bolt are finished of with painted, canvas covered manrope knots.

 The finish is hand mixed, natural, Bleached Shellac.

Approx size of each Becket: 
height 260mm x width 155mm.

 Small and large Turk’s-Head knots in flax finish the covering.

These Beckets were featured in the pages of Knotting Matters #80 & #100 (the magazine of the International Guild of Knot Tyers)

The wood cleats are of Lignum Vitae, they have pilot holes drilled and also come with screws for fixing, but if you wish you could fix the cleats in the traditional way using copper rivets, (the cleats would need drilling through to do this.

Now the business end of the deal!

For this unique, one off and completely unrepeatable work of art I am asking a kings ransom of £1,750.00

Postage is (contact me for a quote) Royal Mail Special Delivery in the mainland UK.
All other destinations will be sent by "airsure" or "international signed for" if the service is available for your location, please contact me for an accurate shipping quote if outside the UK, as shipping costs may vary considerably depending on location.

Contact Me: knotty (dot) bear (at) gmail (dot) com

You can see more of my Chest Beckets here:

Thanks for looking.
Take care,
Barry ;-)


Friday 12 October 2012

Fluo Ditty Bag, For Sale!

SOLD!
How Do All ;-)
Yup' you heard right! I am selling my pride and joy Ditty Bag.
My Very Own Fluo Ditty Bag is now up for grabs!

The bag is in excellent condition and has never been used in anger, this bag has only ever come out of storage for display purposes!

Please see below for all the details of the bag, and pictures:

 The body of the bag is made from 12oz cotton Duck, and is 300mm x 175mm. the canvas is fully hand seamed and the base has a double seam for durability.

The grip is of Flax and UV reactive cord, and contains; overhand Spanish hitching, wide single strand Gaucho knots and single strand Mathew Walker knots. The hanging loop is 6 strand round braid.



 The slider is a Pineapple knot, and the toggle on the base is covered with Pineapple knots.


 There are 6 hand stitched grommet eyelets around the top of the bag, through which the spliced lanyard legs are buttoned with small Pineapple knot buttons.
The bag can be converted to a shoulder bag by buttoning the double ball toggle on the base of the bag through the hanging loop on the end of the lanyard. 


This bag was featured on the cover and in the pages of Knotting Matters 104.

I was the first person to be presented the Ditty Bag Trophy, in memory of the late Gary Sessions at the joint IGKT & IGKT-NAB meeting at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, Massachusetts in 2009, pictured here with the Ditty Bag Trophy and my Fluo Ditty Bag. An article appeared in KM 105 with pictures.

Below you can see the effect that Ultra Violet light has on the UV reactive cord and also the twine used for seaming the bag and putting in the  eyelets.

 The effect of the black light on the UV reactive cord and seaming twine is mind blowing when seen in the flesh.

The single strand Gaucho Knots ane braided directly to the lanyard,

 Close up of the  Pineapple knot used to close the bag.

Now the business end of the deal!

For this unique, one off and completely unrepeatable work of art I am asking a kings ransom of £395.00

Postage is £7.55 Royal Mail Special Delivery in the mainland UK.
& £23.00 USA. for a custom postage quote for other countries please contact me.

Contact Me: knotty (dot) bear (at) gmail (dot) com

I will not be making any more Ditty Bags ever again, so this is the last chance to own one of these much sought after hand crafted items!

You can see more of my Canvas Work here:

Thanks for looking.
Take care,
Barry ;-)





Monday 27 August 2012

Ply-Split Braided Cotton & Flax Vessel.

A Ply-Split Braided Cotton & Flax Vessel.

Created using my own hand laid Cotton and Flax cords.
The body of the vessel is braided in a SCOT (single course oblique twining) design in Cotton.
The rim is made using a Ply-Split Darned section using my own hand made Flax cord.
The ends of the cords are seized and then finished in a very short fringe 
Total height: 205mm.
Body Diameter: 75mm.
Internal Diameter: 54mm
 Overall Rim Diameter: 150mm.