Boat Pole??

[Broughton 2]

Only problem with this is that it is pine so, if you put any real leverage on it, it will snap with the grain and become very sharp indeed.

 

A friend of mine had this happen to him and it went through the flappy bit of skin between thumb and forefinger.

 

A decent 14' ash pole is less than £40 and well worth it.

 

 

No substitute for an ash pole when serious work is in hand but I additionally have a couple aluminium telescopic poles that are light in weight and the ladies may use use for occassional fending-off. They can be very conveniently stored inside the boat.

[magnetman]

Spruce used to be commonly used for boat SHAFTS

 

Made from individual 'tree trunks' rather than machined from a big slab, much stronger that way.

 

Haven't we been here before?

 

Tim

 

PS how about putting in a bid for that soon-to-be-redundant municipal Christmas Tree, and whittling it down

 

When you say boat 'Shafts' do you mean those with an iron implement attached or plain or is it a universal word?

 

/anorak/

[Timleech]

When you say boat 'Shafts' do you mean those with an iron implement attached or plain or is it a universal word?

 

/anorak/

 

It was a universal word (long shaft, cabin shaft, etc) among boatmen and others of my acquaintance 30+ years ago, though there's been some suggestion that there might have been a bit of regional variation.

Though in woodwork terminology, I suppose the 'shaft' made from the stem of a tree is also a 'pole'

 

Tim

[AMModels]

Im with Tim on this one I was always told it was a shaft no matter what was on the end of it...unless it was the rakey one then it was called a rake

 

As a kid my grandparents yard was full of shafts and big big batteries and all sorts of old boating tranklements, in the shed was a full set of horse boating harness including the bobbins.

[owen]

Im with Tim on this one I was always told it was a shaft no matter what was on the end of it...unless it was the rakey one then it was called a rake

 

As a kid my grandparents yard was full of shafts and big big batteries and all sorts of old boating tranklements, in the shed was a full set of horse boating harness including the bobbins.

hi if you are concerned about either ash or pine breaking and splintering you could wrap the middle three feet with natural string impregnated with epoxy resin this would control deflection and amount of break out by slowing down the break as it is in progress incidentally you could also bind in a rare earth magnet to stop it rolling off the roof i would be willing to make these in either ash or pine if required

[David Schweizer]

Im with Tim on this one I was always told it was a shaft no matter what was on the end of it...unless it was the rakey one then it was called a rake

 

As a kid my grandparents yard was full of shafts and big big batteries and all sorts of old boating tranklements, in the shed was a full set of horse boating harness including the bobbins.

All the boatmen I knew called The "rakey thing" a Keb

 

I was taught how to use one by a Willow Wren Captain when we moored next to them at Wellingborough Mills in the 1960's

Edited December 23, 2007 by David Schweizer

[magnetman]

All the boatmen I knew called The "rakey thing" a Keb

 

I was taught how to use one by a Willow Wren Captain when we moored next to them at Wellingborough Mills in the 1960's

BW staff near me call it a 'drag' and in the fens they call it a 'crome' but 'keb' is the word I use. I have many kebs, including a flat tine hand forged one I got out on the magnet and was well pleased with.

So how do you use a keb? Does it involve resting the shaft against your shoulder while you lever the 'rake' part along the bed of the canal?

[Timleech]

All the boatmen I knew called The "rakey thing" a Keb

 

I was taught how to use one by a Willow Wren Captain when we moored next to them at Wellingborough Mills in the 1960's

 

Always a Keb to me, though of course a Rake would be understood.

I wonder where the name came from?

 

Tim

[AMModels]

I think it may be a regional thing again...or the fact Id have recognised if someone called it a rake but not a keb lol but the people who talked to me while boating called it a rake.

 

As to how to use it when Ive seen it used the handle is vertical and the tines being bent 90 degs are moved along the bottom flat, Iveseen keys wallets and glasses rescued in this manner......although a beloved 1973 police mini must have been too small for the tines as it is still on the bottom in Chester basin 35 years on.

 

Lock keppers always seemed to have a long handled one for feeling around behind lock gates and pulling the wood and stuff out of the locks.

Edited December 23, 2007 by AMModels

[magnetman]

Always a Keb to me, though of course a Rake would be understood.

I wonder where the name came from?

 

Tim

In my old dictionary a 'keb' is a stillborn sheep. Maybe they were used to get dead lambs out of the canal?

 

I've had all sorts of things out with the keb, including a nice big wine glass, unbroken, I'm just intrigued how you could be 'taught' to use one.

[AMModels]

probably the same as all things boating, you watch soeone else do it and became more proficient with practice. For instance I learnt to steer a motor standing on a box in the back hatches and gradually was left alone to carry on. It was the same with all tasks as I recall mooring, locking it was all a case of starting under supervision and then being left to practice myself.

[David Schweizer]

In my old dictionary a 'keb' is a stillborn sheep. Maybe they were used to get dead lambs out of the canal?

 

I've had all sorts of things out with the keb, including a nice big wine glass, unbroken, I'm just intrigued how you could be 'taught' to use one.

One of the main usages of a keb by the working boatmen was to retrieve coal from the canal bed next to loading wharves. As coal is heavy it sinks into the mud at the bottom of the canal. The trick was to manouvre the tines of the keb into the mud so that it was underneath the coal when the keb was drawn forwards.

 

Not very technical realy but you would not get much coal if you just let the keb drag along the canal bed. I srtill use the same method to retrive heavy items which the magnet cannot lift because they are burried in the canal bed.

 

Only trouble is that the keb handle broke earlier this year trying to remove weed from Marston Doles lock, and the two Farmer's Wholesalers in my area no longer stock handles longer than 52"

 

Oh and the handle was made of Ash, Perhaps I should get a pine one. (I'll get my coat!)

[bottle]

A pine one would be OK as it would be under tension and not compression, so the problem of snapping/splintering should not occur.

 

 

Is that my coat you've got there.

[magnetman]

A pine one would be OK as it would be under tension and not compression, so the problem of snapping/splintering should not occur.

Is that my coat you've got there.

Most of the iron implements I drag out on the magnet (some pictures in my gallery), had a short bit of wood in them where the shaft broke, usually softwood, probably spruce but they were tools rather than plain shafts. weight is quite important with a shaft with a tool attached whereas a long plain shaft requires interlaminar and ????? shear strengths as mentioned so Ash may be better for a plain shaft where you don't have to hold it out horizontally so it does matter if its heavy I've got a nice colourfulanoraktoo.

.

[saltysplash]

Most of the iron implements I drag out on the magnet (some pictures in my gallery), had a short bit of wood in them where the shaft broke, usually softwood, probably spruce but they were tools rather than plain shafts. weight is quite important with a shaft with a tool attached whereas a long plain shaft requires interlaminar and ????? shear strengths as mentioned so Ash may be better for a plain shaft where you don't have to hold it out horizontally so it does matter if its heavy I've got a nice colourfulanoraktoo.

.

 

 

ill keep me eye open for those lovely pastal anorak/kagool colours

[magnetman]

Only trouble is that the keb handle broke earlier this year trying to remove weed from Marston Doles lock, and the two Farmer's Wholesalers in my area no longer stock handles longer than 52"

 

Oh and the handle was made of Ash, Perhaps I should get a pine one. (I'll get my coat!)

 

I was told where to get really good spruce shafts from, by a bloke on the BCN tug 'Enterprise' but I can't remember where it was. I would like to know. I've seen a keb (Bulbourne dry dock) with a shaft which must be well over 15ft long, and BW have a long one on Whilton locks. I need to get a 15ft shaft for one of mine so I am not outdone by these people.

[Timleech]

I was told where to get really good spruce shafts from, by a bloke on the BCN tug 'Enterprise' but I can't remember where it was. I would like to know. I've seen a keb (Bulbourne dry dock) with a shaft which must be well over 15ft long, and BW have a long one on Whilton locks. I need to get a 15ft shaft for one of mine so I am not outdone by these people.

 

If you want to get into 'mine's bigger than yours' , I used to have a 25' spruce shaft which had come from the Dukers barges, ash would have been far too heavy in that length. Unfortunately some pi**ock used it for levering rather than pushing or pulling, the result was inevitable. I kept the short end as a cabin shaft for a long time, though.

 

Tim

[magnetman]

If you want to get into 'mine's bigger than yours' , I used to have a 25' spruce shaft which had come from the Dukers barges, ash would have been far too heavy in that length. Unfortunately some pi**ock used it for levering rather than pushing or pulling, the result was inevitable. I kept the short end as a cabin shaft for a long time, though.

 

Tim

That sounds like a nice bit of timber - I'm just wondering about sailing dinghy masts...

[moggyjo]

I additionally have a couple aluminium telescopic poles that are light in weight and the ladies may use use for occassional fending-off.

Not fending off of a boat I hope

[Broughton 2]

Not fending off of a boat I hope

 

In my experience the ladies mainly use them to fend-off the men! However, when fitted with a soft head, so as not to mark paintwork, is there any reason why not a boat?

[David Schweizer]

In my experience the ladies mainly use them to fend-off the men! However, when fitted with a soft head, so as not to mark paintwork, is there any reason why not a boat?

Yes, even a soft head can cause damage to a boats paintwork, especialy if it is quite newly Painted, because it rarely stays in one place but tends to slide across the steelwork. I have seen a "soft headed" pole slide across tha paintwork and crack a window.

 

If you must fend off another boat use the hull side.

[DHutch]

For many years I have used aluminium poles as barge poles. Block either end with a wooden bung so they float if dropped and away you go.

Provided you use them in the correct manner i.e. to push with and not as a lever (after all that is what the gangplank is for) they work really well, are very light and can be cut to the length desired.

 

They are however not cheap, about £7 a metre for 2.5" thinwall

We have a alimunum pole (shaft), as i mentioned before.

- Its 50mm OD (2") and about 14ft long, maybe 1.5mm wall. Ive actaully always ment to mesure it properbly, incase its ever lost becuase its just right.

- Its done maybe 10 years on emilyanne, after a whole range of wooden incarnations. It works well and can transmit a very good push without feeling weak, but its also light enough to lift about, punt with, support over-canal cables, float. And although i may fail fairly catastrophicaly if it did kink or whatever, it will never splinter or create a sharp point.

 

 

 

Daniel

[RLWP]

Resurrecting this thread to endorse the importance of an ash pole.

 

We were bow-hauling Tawny Owl on Sunday (black jacket around the prop) and as we were getting close to the bank one of our crew got the pole out to fend off. Unfortunately he got the boat end hooked up under the roof overhang at the front of the cabin with the other end on the bank.

 

I looked back to see the pole bent into an impressive arc just as the boat was starting to accelerate sideways. The pole bent but didn't break. I'm not sure that a bit of B&Q handrail would have done the same without breaking and spearing either of the crew in the front cockpit.

 

Richard

[Naughty Cal]

Resurrecting this thread to endorse the importance of an ash pole.

 

We were bow-hauling Tawny Owl on Sunday (black jacket around the prop) and as we were getting close to the bank one of our crew got the pole out to fend off. Unfortunately he got the boat end hooked up under the roof overhang at the front of the cabin with the other end on the bank.

 

I looked back to see the pole bent into an impressive arc just as the boat was starting to accelerate sideways. The pole bent but didn't break. I'm not sure that a bit of B&Q handrail would have done the same without breaking and spearing either of the crew in the front cockpit.

 

Richard

 

Should have had a bow thruster

[Pretty Funked Up]

I broke my ash pole this winter. The resulting two pieces are both deadly sharp.