Woodworkers Old Timey Lube Pot

[Truefire]

recently made this replica of the Old Timey Woodworkers Lube Boxes that were once used by our predecessors.

Crafted out of Black Walnut and contains an inlay-ed hourglass shape in the end which serves as a lid retention. The dual swinging lid is designed to create a locking means, which is obtained by the top lid preventing the lower lid from sliding, when both are closed. Of course this would have been very useful when these ‘pots’ as they were called, found their way in a woodworkers pocket. I can just envision the pot inside a breast pocket on a pair of carpenter’s bib overalls adding to the whole nostalgia of the era.

The pot held lube that was oft times made of some composition of natural oils, beeswax, mineral oils and the like and was used to lube screws prior to insert, lube blades such as the 2 man crosscut saw, wood projects and even the cracked knuckles of a woodworker’s hand.

I keep bees so i made my lube out of bees wax and pharmaceutical grade mineral oil.

The finish on the piece? “YOU guessed it, the turner’s paste or lube itself”

by the way this crafty little piece makes a nice addition that i keep within arm’s reach of my lathe so i have readily accessible the waxy paste that i use on some of my wood turnings….as for the visible sanding scratches, i left them there for the overall old look.

Chris

this is a good excuse to piddle out in the shop for a few minutes and relax :wink_smil...doesn't take very long to make one

Chris

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Nice job on the lube pot, Chris. I've wanted to make one of those ever since seeing it on The Woodwrights Shop a few years ago. :icon_thum

Bill

 

[rcflyer23]

I keep thinking I'm going to build one of those I just never get around to it. Yours looks great..

 

[Truefire]

yeah, that is where i had seen this as well when Roy Underhill was crafting one.

As far as the lengthy description goes, well i had recently discovered earlier that there are many individuals such as myself that had never heard or seen one before. Thus the reasoning behind the lengthy description. sorry to bore you guys that are familiar with same.

You ought to move the project towards the top of the list. It takes about 20 minutes i would say to make one from start to finish. (laughing) however if you are like me at times, i started the project and then it laid on my countertop in my shop for months before i finally decided to complete it just recently..."Why do most woodworkers i know do this?":icon_scra

Chris

 

[Sealeveler]

Like it,great idea to keep one around.
Tony

 

[Gotcha6]

BITD when I first worked construction as a teenager the carpenters would keep beeswax in a hole drilled in the end of their wooden hammer handles. With the advent of fiberglass and steel handles the practice faded. Looks like this is an idea that should resurface - if you could find a carpenter that actually drove a nail with a hammer anymore.