WHEELBARROWS

Part 1 

History and Types of Wheelbarrow

Festival is coming. For many years I have thought about making a barrow to move gear around, to carry goods to the market, to loan to fighters and quite possibly so that I can use one after dinner each night just like this :

This Barrow is a flatbed type with a box built above the bed/handles. It also fits the rustic stereotype of a  wooden wheelbarow : A glutton, a book of hours (PML M.1175, fol. 191r), c. 1525-1530 Bruges, Belgium

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  But mainly I want one because Wheelbarrows are cool.  So here is part one of the research process, finding images and background information on the wheelbarrows of medieval Europe.

Wheelbarrows are known from at least the 1st century BC in China (Lewis 1994). however our first solid piece of evidence for the wheelbarrow in Medieval Europe comes from the  building accounts of King Henry III around 1222 A.d and concerns the purchase of eight wheel barrows to be used in the Kings works at Dover (Matthies 1991). Handbarrows which are essentially a stretcher appear to have remained popular for some time, despite an increase in the pictorial and financial evidence for the Use of wheelbarrows in Europe (Matthies 1991). Wheelbarrows in England were around 6 times the price of handbarrows, possibly a disincentive for their use.

This image from around 1250 A.d shows both a "handbarrow" or stretcher and a Wheelbarrow. (Vitae Offarum, Trinity College Library, Dublin MS 177

Wheelbarrows while varying widely in design can be split into 2 main types.

A crippled child on a flat wheelbarrow, the barrow pusher has a strap around his neck to help support the weight the Luttrell Psalter (British Library Add. 42130, fol. 186v), c. 1325-1340 Also Giant duck!!

•   Flat bed wheelbarrows resembling the original handbarrows in that a flat surface created by the two handles create the basis of the barrow and support the load.

Detail from  the Berner Chronik 15th Century (MS Hist Helv I 16, fol. 35r, Stadtbibliothek, Bern), showing a wagon or box style wheelbarrow with a solid rather than spoked wheel.

• Wagon/box bodied wheel barrows which have a box built into the barrow as a load holder. Some of these Barrows have solid wheels.

More of a  2 wheeled cart than a wheel barrow..... But check out those boots !!  Salvaging from the ashes, Konzil von Konstanz (ÖNB 3044, fol. 82r), c. 1465-1475

Dutch Market Scene C1550 Pieter Aertsen. Note the strap over the Barrow pushers shoulders.

What next?....

I intend to make a couple of Wheelbarrows, providing I can find someone to take them to festival for me. Hopefully I will have a post detailing my decisions regarding style, material and design and then another showing  construction. Hopefully! 

I will also be consulting this site quite a bit Building a 16th Century wheelbarrow

References

•  Lewis M 1994 "The Origins of the Wheelbarrow " (pp. 453-475)Technology and Culture Vol. 35, No. 3, Jul., 1994 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press

• Larsdatter, K webpage Medieval and Renaissance material culture Linkspages

•   Matthies A. 1991 "The Medieval Wheelbarrow" Technology and Culture Vol. 32, No. 2, Part 1  pp. 356-364    Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press: Available through JSTOR database which is available to Australian National library card holders online at no cost.

Stools and Bowls

 I will have all of the tools I need for upcoming projects within the next week, so It's time to get busy! 

I wish it wasn't raining, I would be able to split some timber for bowls and maybe stools. Half of the Billets I brought back for legs developed splits.

My 1st attempt at a an English horse

In other news, I think it is time to revisit the English Horse.

Shaving horse Canberra wood show

Together with my Dumb-head Horse, I think this will give me a versatile workspace and allow me to have helpers, coworkers and students.

And Just because I can here is the sequence of work in making the stools!

Raising Capital

 Kick-starting

 Bowls and stools. I want to do a couple of things to earn a bit of extra cash. More importantly I want to improve my skills and practice techniques. To do this I need Some new tools. I have been largely unsuccessful in making these myself.  I have managed to create tools which work to some degree, but have been unable to fine tune them enough that they work consistantly. Essentially I now  understand the theory and application of these tools and would eventually like to make my own. Right now though I'm not achieving this and without the tools I require I am not happy with the safety and quality of the items I am creating.

So I need to purchase three items.  I could potentially buy only

this $47 Scorp and this Reamer for $50 . But it would make sense to buy this set of Tenon Taperers for $35 .
 Currently I do not have the money to spare. I was wondering about a Kick starter style capital raising experiment to see if people were interested in helping me out! This is an odd feeling, it's not really like begging or is it? However it may just make this possible.

Options could range from a short term no interest loan, or an advance payment for a bowl.
  These are just ideas of course!

Scorp or curved Adze for bowl making.

 

Which to buy when I can only afford one?  Kind of afford!

Curved Adze
So my it appears the question I need to ask myself is which one? Both are suitable, the thing is, I can't afford all of them, which would be ideal, the adze for roughing out, the scorps for finishing and giving a surface which can be used. I am going to say Scorp here, because I can probably rough out with a hatchet and then use the scorp, But which scorp? the small onehander, the 65mm one hander or the two hander.

My current thinking is a one hander scorp, and price is seriously making me consider the smaller 33mm blade. I would certainly be able to make improved versions of what I have made so far and it is wider tha any gouges I own. The stool tops also need a "seat" shape which this could be used to achieve.