Please forgive the lack of continuity in these posts, gentle reader. True to my changeable Gemini nature, I grew tired of the idea of scrimshaw before I had completed the final act of my three part post on various ivories which was meant to culminate in a treatise on "the gentle art of scrimshaw." My attention thus diverted from the "gentle art", I pursue in it's stead an art of a decidedly less gentle nature which I will relate presently. I proclaim without hesitation that no artifact so powerfully evokes a sense of New England's colorful maritime past as that ubiquitous whalecraft, the harpoon. So numerous are the ladies and gentlemen who actively pursue relics of the old whaling days for their collections that to purchase a true harpoon original to the period, especially considering how few have survived intact, requires no small investment of disposable income, a luxury not enjoyed by most, and certainly not by myself. Fret not all of you who, like myself, would endeavor to imbue den or office with a jaunty nautical aspect, for a fine harpoon may be easily fashioned from common materials, to most remarkable effect! First, allow me to direct you to the
website of a gentleman who is an authority on the subject, Mr. Thomas G. Lytle, that you might suitably educate yourself in the anatomy and various styles of harpoons. For our purposes, I focus here upon one of the earliest styles of harpoon, the hand darted type bearing the old double-flue tip which you will have read about on Mr. Lytle's website. Here I would be remiss if I did not make some mention of a very talented couple in Alaska who produce, from start to finish, harpoon reproductions of a stunning accuracy and beauty. I beg you take a moment to peruse their offerings
here. He is a blacksmith, and produces the harpoon irons exactly as they were produced in the 1800's, by hammer and forge. These fine replicas are considerably less costly to purchase than an authentic artifact, but are still beyond my monetary means; if they prove beyond yours as well, then let us embark on our voyage together...
The hunt for a perfect harpoon pole takes us into the woods, or anywhere one might happen upon a good straight-ish piece of tree some 5-6 feet in length and with a diameter of 2 1/2 to 3 inches. There is an old grove of tightly planted Eastern Red Cedars ( Juniperus virginiana) in my vicinity which I think work very well.
Notice that there are an abundance of these trees that have fallen by natural means; I consider these preferable, as they will generally have dried well, or "seasoned" by the time I find them, and I tend to feel better about not having depleted any living trees in my pursuits. Below is an excellent specimen; I cut it to length in the field. Notice that fine, red heartwood; it has a most bracing cedar fragrance!
And now... back to the workshop!
Here are the 3 poles I returned from the woods with; They are ready to be trimmed down a bit more before I strip the bark and shape the tip.
The bark is stripped by means of an electric sander initially outfitted with a coarse paper, which also aids in the shaping of the cone-shaped tip of the pole. Finer grades of sandpaper are substituted until a desired degree of finish is achieved. Originally harpoon irons were fitted onto poles which retained their rough bark so that the harpooneer might achieve a better grip while being drenched by sea spray in the pursuit of his prey; I eschew authenticity in this detail, as I happen to enjoy the look of the sanded cedar.
This pole has been stripped, sanded, and shaped to accept the "iron".
At this point, leave us retire to the crafts room and begin fashioning the harpoon "iron" (whaling lingo for the metal shaft and harpoon tip; the "business end" of the harpoon). Since we are fashioning our decorative harpoons out of common materials, let it be revealed now, if it had not been earlier inferred, that there will be no further mention of hammer or forge, as our challenge is to fool the eye into believing it sees forged metal where in fact there is none. For our "iron" we will use common "sculpey" or "fimo" plastic clays available from the local crafts emporium. These, of course, are the colorful little malleable blocks that, when formed to ones liking and baked in the oven, harden and retain that form indefinitely. In the photo below, I have kneaded the clay sculpey to make it more pliable, and have begun to fashion part of the shaft around a piece of threaded rod-- available from any hardware store-- to add stability and provide a point of attachment to the longer portion of the shaft.
And here the harpoon tip is taking shape nicely. The harpoon tip need not appear perfect at this point; after it is baked it will be further refined using sandpaper.
And here it is going into the oven... it will be quite hard and ready for the next steps after 30 minutes or so.
Now that the harpoon head has been baked hard, the shaping and "sharpening" can commence using various grits of sandpaper.
The harpoon head has been refined using sandpaper, and I am now ready to drill a hole in the longer portion of the shaft, a 2 foot long 3/8 inch diameter wooden dowel.
The hole is the same size as the piece of threaded rod protruding from the harpoon head. Some epoxy adhesive is smeared on the rod and in the hole, and the two pieces are joined and left undisturbed until the epoxy has set.
Now, a little final sanding will probably be necessary to make the seam between the head and shaft as smooth as possible. Also, before we commence with the painting, I would like to mention that our 3/8" dowel is entirely too perfect looking in its store-bought state. The shaft on a real harpoon is made of malleable, hammered iron that was almost always bent completely out of shape after being fastened to a startled and thereafter furious whale. The shaft was intended to bend, and not break under the strain, and if the whale was caught, the harpoon iron would be removed and simply hammered straight again by the ship's blacksmith and then re-used. So, it behooves us, for the sake of our clever reproduction, to take some sandpaper to the wooden dowel shaft and rub in some flat spots and irregularities all around that give the impression of the shaft having been pounded with a hammer. Thusly prepared, then, we can begin painting. I found some nice "antique silver" acrylic paint that, when toned down a bit with a daub of black, and applied in several thin layers, produced the effect of dull metal with a certain aged patina.
Once our iron is painted to our liking, it is time to fasten the shaft onto the pointed end of the harpoon pole we had prepared earlier. This fastening is achieved by drilling a hole into the pointed end of the pole in a size which corresponds to the diameter of the harpoon iron shaft, in this case, 3/8 inch. Epoxy is smeared in the hole and onto the end of the iron shaft, and the shaft is inserted in the hole and left for some time to set up. While we are waiting, I beg you direct your attention to the image below:
On the right is an original, old harpoon iron. You will know, having memorized all of the details of Mr. Lytles informative website, that the shaft of a true harpoon iron is welded onto a split metal cone; the iron thus fashioned is then pulled down tightly over the pointed end of the wooden pole. Since our harpoon is but a clever replica, so must the appearance of this metal cone be replicated cleverly, and that is achieved thusly: a small "skirt" of ragboard has been painted our antique silver color, and is nailed onto the wooden pole in the appropriate position. Once the pointed portion has been wound in marline or cording of some sort, all but the very edge of the "skirt" will be visible, and the eye assumes that the skirt edge is but a smaller part of the whole cone, and the illusion is complete. Below I have begun to wind the pointed portion of the pole in Genuine Stockholm Tarred Hemp Marline style 6/3, which is available from
American Rope and Tar.
The tarred marline is really wonderful stuff that feels and smells great, but it is not particularly cheap. I simply had to try the marline for myself, but on a previous harpoon, I had used raffia-wound wire that had been varnished a rust color found in the floral arrangement section of my local craft emporium; It cost maybe $1.20 a roll, and a roll was enough to complete at least 2 harpoons. Below is an image of the harpoon wrapped with the craft-store raffia wrap (notice I hadn't employed the "painted sleeve" cone trick on this harpoon). It actually looks very authentic when compared to the old harpoon iron wrapping on the comparison image used previously.
And below is the most recent harpoon wrapped with the Tarred Marline:
And a side by side comparison:
Finally, I acquired from the local hardware store, 8 feet of 1" manilla rope (at 50 cents a foot), wrapped it twice around the shaft and tied that off in an eye splice, which is a sort of braided knot used to splice together 2 pieces of rope. Learn how to do it
here. The rope then continues down the pole, attached at 2 points with lengths of the marline or raffia cord as illustrated, and ends with a loop formed by braiding another eye splice.
Finally... our completed harpoon! The one on the right is the model I had crafted earlier bearing the "temple toggle" style harpoon head.
I Thank You sincerely for joining me in creating this fine "old" relic, and do hope you will contact me with any comments or questions, should any arise!
