My previous post got me somewhat interested in gardening gear. I showed my son the finished tool that I'd made, and the book that the plan for it came from, and he suggested that this seeding tool from the book might be useful to him.
As with the seed row compactor from my previous post, the book's instructions look pretty nonsensical to me -- the attachment of the handle is flimsy, and the directions for making the tool's 'tines' are rubbish. I thought it might be interesting to work out a better handle attachment, and a scheme for making five 'tines', so I embarked on construction of the seeding tool in the book. Before getting to that, though, permit me a brief lexiconical digression that will explain the alternative title of this post.
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A crossword puzzle recently introduced me to the word 'dibble'. A dibble is a tool for poking holes in earth to receive bulbs or seedlings or, I suppose, even just seeds. Here's a view of a large dibble that my wife has for bulb planting.
Beyond solving the crossword puzzle, I didn't expect to ever have use for the word 'dibble'. But when I saw the seeding tool plan in the book, I immediately thought of the word 'dibble'. It may be a bit of a stretch, but it seems to me that what we have here could properly be called a 'five-point dibble'. And with that out of the way, we can get back to making the tool.
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Two aspects of the tool as presented in the book's article were particularly problematic:
a) The handle attachment to the body. The single No. 6 screw for attaching the handle is not on; there's no way that such an attachment would stand up to actual use of the tool.
b) Fabrication and attachment of the tines. What the book's article offers on this is hogwash. A doable, sturdy tine design is called for.
The Handle
I added a receiver block to the tool that accepts the handle solidly in a socket. And that brings up the difficulty of working with dowel stock that's undersize and/or out-of-round. Much dowel stock is flawed that way, and that was certainly the case with my 7/8" dowel.
The 7/8" dowel stock that I had on hand was badly undersize and out-of-round. I got around that by turning one end of my handle blank down to 3/4" diameter on the wood lathe, and sizing the receiver block's socket to suit. Here's a view of the handle blank mounted on the wood lathe, having just been turned at one end.
I made that handle blank over-long, so I could saw away the spur centre grooves and centre hole after I was done with the turning. That worked out fine, and gave me a handle attachment that could stand up to hard use of the tool.
The Tines
I wanted round, one inch long tines that would seat in half inch deep holes in the tool's body. Turning short little items like that is a bit awkward. Here's how I did it.
I started with 2 1/2" long blanks of 3/4" dowel. Those were long enough to be chucked and turned to a taper at one end. They were also long enough (barely) to be cut to finished length (1") on the table saw. It was reasonably easy to make five tines with that method.
And with all the components assembled, here's the end result.
A sturdy five-point dibble that can take hard use, and ought to last forever.
Following are dimensioned sketches, and a bill of materials in case you'd like to make one of these. I should make note here of a couple of points.
- Use a weather-resistant glue like Gorilla glue throughout..
- If your 3/4" dowel stock for the tines is undersize, that's ok. The tines needn't be a snug fit in their holes. Just use plenty of glue when installing them.
Bill of Materials
- Qty 1: 3/4" x 1 1/2" x 10" SPF for body.
- Qty 1: 3/4" x 1 1/2" x 3" SPF for handle receiver.
- Qty 1: 7/8" diameter dowel handle blank, sufficient length for 5 3/4" long handle.
- Qty 1: 3/4" diameter dowel, sufficient length for five 2 1/2" long tine blanks.
- Qty 1: 1/4" diameter dowel pin blank, sufficient to pin handle in its receiver.
- Qty 2: No. 10 x 1 1/2" pan head screw.
- Qty 2: 3/16" flat washer.
- Qty A/R: Gorilla glue.
No finish is needed, really, but I gave the tool an application of tung oil, to afford it some minimal protection from being left out in the rain.
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Very interesting to follow your reasoning behind the design changes. Nice!
ReplyDeleteThank you, JAL.
DeleteAnother design change has come to mind -- a horizontal, D-shaped handle instead of a vertical post for a handle. That would facilitate the action of pressing the tool down onto the soil.