Boat Pole

[Neil2]

 

Some people don't get it do they? It is about using the most appropriarte material for a purpose. There is a very good technical reason why Ash for has been used traditionally to make long poles, and which has been more than adequately explained above. Not understanding the technical reasoning is insufficient grounds for dismissing the practice as health and safety gone mad.

Cricket bats are made from Willow, longbows are made out of Yew, axe shafts are Hickory. The luthiers favourite wood is Mahogany, I believe Stradivari was very partial to Maple. Our ancestors discovered the best wood for the purpose by trial and error so we don't have to.

 

Boat poles are and should be Ash. There's maybe an argument for using Hickory which has similar qualities I believe but it isn't native to the UK which is presumably why we use Ash.

 

Mind you, up here in Scotland the locals play "Shinty" a "loose" variation of Hockey, and I'm told that Hickory is taking over from Ash as the weapon of choice, and I use the term "weapon" advisedly.

 

PS. - I'd still carry a bit of scaffolding.

Edited October 18, 2013 by Neil2

[DandGNWales]

Well glad my simple question has generated so mush response !. I will paint ours to match what will be our new colour (black.cream) but after 2 breakdowns in 2 days trying to get our baby from loughborough to Chirk, we may get the best value for money pushing our boat home punt style with our pole lol. If you see a rough looking green boat with 2 border collies on the stern give us a cheery wave and wish us luck, at Rugeley visitor moorings near Tesco at the mo fingers crossed will be back on our way in the morning.

 

It's also weird that never before buying our Davison Brothers boat had we ever seen another, there is a 1973 version about 2 boat lengths away with a broken gearbox plus we have seen another 2 others on our journey

[Ex- Member]

Cricket bats are made from Willow, longbows are made out of Yew, axe shafts are Hickory. The luthiers favourite wood is Mahogany, I believe Stradivari was very partial to Maple. Our ancestors discovered the best wood for the purpose by trial and error so we don't have to.

 

Boat poles are and should be Ash. There's maybe an argument for using Hickory which has similar qualities I believe but it isn't native to the UK which is presumably why we use Ash.

 

Mind you, up here in Scotland the locals play "Shinty" a "loose" variation of Hockey, and I'm told that Hickory is taking over from Ash as the weapon of choice, and I use the term "weapon" advisedly.

 

PS. - I'd still carry a bit of scaffolding.

 

Agreed

 

From our previous jaunt on the water with said cheapy pine Bannister I can assure anyone they're a waste of time money and highly dangerous in my experience. Having had one snap and having a lethal large splintered end shard of wood looming toward me is now why I have 2 Ash poles and happy to pay the price.

 

PS. - I'd still carry a bit of scaffolding.

 

 

You can almost guarantee a length of scaffolding will come in handy at some time or another

[sharpness]

 

 

 

You can almost guarantee a length of scaffolding will come in handy at some time or another

Round here we call them puttlocks, goodness knows why, a 4 or 5 ft long scaffold tube with a flattened end, makes a very good lever, very strong & a manageable length, every boat should have one!!!!! Never used it yet in anger but it sits in the bilge just in case.

 

Steve

[ditchcrawler]

Round here we call them puttlocks, goodness knows why, a 4 or 5 ft long scaffold tube with a flattened end, makes a very good lever, very strong & a manageable length, every boat should have one!!!!! Never used it yet in anger but it sits in the bilge just in case.

 

Steve

because that is their name.

[sharpness]

because that is their name.

Ok but why? what sort of word is that? where did that come from?

 

Steve

[Beaker]

It's spelt 'putlock', a variant of 'putlog'.

Edited October 18, 2013 by Beaker

[Neil2]

Ok but why? what sort of word is that? where did that come from?

 

Steve

Sir, sir, please sir, I know...!

 

When I was studying building construction in the early 1970's one of our lecturers was obsessed with scaffolding and putlogs are short lengths of scaffold pole one end of which is inserted in the building wall and supported by same. They usually provide the support for the scaffold platforms. Putlocks is a distortion of this word. Nothing to do with boats, just short lengths of scaffold pole solely used for this purpose came to be known by the name.

[rubblequeen]

I have always known them as Putlocks but Putlogs seems to make more sense if we project construction back in time. Look at some of the medieval buildings and holes at regular intervals for obviously timber beams but you can imagine that he same/similar holes were used for putting logs in to act as scaffolding. Just me guessing - maybe an historian can put me right.

[Neil2]

I have always known them as Putlocks but Putlogs seems to make more sense if we project construction back in time. Look at some of the medieval buildings and holes at regular intervals for obviously timber beams but you can imagine that he same/similar holes were used for putting logs in to act as scaffolding. Just me guessing - maybe an historian can put me right.

That's right I believe, but also I think the principle goes back as far as the Romans.

[MtB]

 

From our previous jaunt on the water with said cheapy pine Bannister I can assure anyone they're a waste of time money and highly dangerous in my experience. Having had one snap and having a lethal large splintered end shard of wood looming toward me is now why I have 2 Ash poles and happy to pay the price.

 

Not sure what you mean by that. A proper ash shaft from a chandler is no more expensive than length of pine bannister rail from B&Q.

 

Rose Narrowboats have 16ft ash shafts for £36. Or they did last year when I bought mne.

 

MtB

[carlt]

 

Not sure what you mean by that. A proper ash shaft from a chandler is no more expensive than length of pine bannister rail from B&Q.

 

Rose Narrowboats have 16ft ash shafts for £36. Or they did last year when I bought mne.

 

MtB

There is no chance of getting a 16' bannister rail without a joint in the middle, either.

 

Have a look at your pine rail and you will see at least one joint in it because affordable straight lengths of pine are simply not available in that length these days so shorter lengths are joined together.

 

As far as bannisters are concerned straightness is far more important than strength.

[Ex- Member]

 

Not sure what you mean by that. A proper ash shaft from a chandler is no more expensive than length of pine bannister rail from B&Q.

 

Rose Narrowboats have 16ft ash shafts for £36. Or they did last year when I bought mne.

 

MtB

 

Who would be stupid enough to buy from B&Q

 

We paid £37.50 for a 12 f/t pole delivered and £13 for a slimmer 8 f/t pole. I could buy same length pine Bannister from a local timber merchant for under £20 that's cheaper LOL

 

I

[MtB]

 

Who would be stupid enough to buy from B&Q

 

I dunno, but you never cease to surprise me...

 

 

MtB

[sharpness]

There is no chance of getting a 16' bannister rail without a joint in the middle, either.

 

Have a look at your pine rail and you will see at least one joint in it because affordable straight lengths of pine are simply not available in that length these days so shorter lengths are joined together.

 

As far as bannisters are concerned straightness is far more important than strength.

I have to disagree with that, Mopstick is supplied to us in 4.8m lengths, admittedly that is about 3" short of 16ft for the pedants but there are no joins.

Richard Burbidge who probably supply B&Q do "engineer" their mouldings & mopstick but not proper timber merchants.

 

Steve

[Speedwheel]

I thought that many of the long poles used in working days were some sort of spruce? When you think that some of the poles were much longer than 16ft, it just wouldn't have been possible to handle them if they were made of ash.

[FadeToScarlet]

I was using a 16 foot fibreglass long shaft earlier- it was VERY impressive, being light and strong.

 

I think I might try and get one for ourselves.

[MtB]

I was using a 16 foot fibreglass long shaft earlier- it was VERY impressive, being light and strong.

 

I think I might try and get one for ourselves.

 

There is a problem with a long and very light shaft. It floats quite aggressively so when you try to reach the bottom of the cut with it, you can't, it keeps on floating up despite your best attempts to push it underwater! You have to concentrate on keeping it pushed firmly downwards and this is an awkward action and takes quite a lot of effort.

 

I get this effect with my 16ft shaft when using it's whole length in deep water, even though mine's ash. Must be a much stronger effect with a hollow fibreglass shaft.

 

MtB

[Mike Tee]

Rather than pay in the £50 area, anybody have any thoughts on these?

http://www.tipipoles.co.uk/PioneerPoles.aspx

I reckon they would come out about half the price, and only need the bark stripping and a bit of sanding. And collecting of course.

[Ex- Member]

Rather than pay in the £50 area, anybody have any thoughts on these?

http://www.tipipoles.co.uk/PioneerPoles.aspx

I reckon they would come out about half the price, and only need the bark stripping and a bit of sanding. And collecting of course.

 

You know I was looking for something like that for ages although in pine. My plan was to find a pole that would fit inside some 50mm plastic waste pipe, even if it was pine. I was thinking of gluing it internally to the pipe and sealing the ends ending up with a neat looking pole. I just couldn't find some pine at around 45mm to fit inside, Ash would suffice nicely though