George Washington's Froe?

George Washington's FroeShow more

This froe is ancient. I picked it and several other items up at an estate sale many years ago. I could tell that thing was really old and grabbed it. The correct spelling is Fro, but I noticed many add an e these days. I used the last handle to split the ;piece for the new one. Pecan is a type of hickory and has nice clean wood. Unfortunately that particular tree is suffering from some kind of mushroom growing on it. I’ll check it regularly for a flush and if it’s a good one I’ll get even by frying it up or boiling it and eating it.

My method when fitting a metal head on a piece of wood is to get it close to fitting and then tap it on and then off. If it’s rusty like this ancient thing it leaves rust so you know where to remove a bit more wood. Another way to do it is rub a piece of chalk or charcoal on it and use that as your indicator. Once I had he head fitting properly I shaped the handle. This is a tool that should have a pretty stout handle because it can get a bit stuck if you screw up. You don’t want to make a snowflake handle that isn’t up to the task. Once I finished it I gave it a few coats of linseed oil.