Calder handspike

[Detling]

I am thinking of venturing along the Calder and Hebble and know a few locks require one of these bits of kit. How many locks and if possible which ones they are would be appreciated.

[alan_fincher]

I seem to recall we only found one case where there was no other option at one end of a lock but to use the handspike.

 

Certainly at many places there is a mix of both at the same end of the lock.

 

 

Hopefully somebody ill be able to list lock(s) where it may be essential - I really can't remember now.

[Stewart Kirby]

36 minutes ago, Detling said:

I am thinking of venturing along the Calder and Hebble and know a few locks require one of these bits of kit. How many locks and if possible which ones they are would be appreciated.

Which direction are you coming from?

[Detling]

Castlford end towards Wakefield

[Stewart Kirby]

1 hour ago, Detling said:

Castlford end towards Wakefield

The first lock where there are handspike paddles is Broadcut Bottom Lock. You can get through without a handspike but if any of the other paddles are inoperable it will slow you down. You should be able to buy a handspike at Stanley Ferry, or you can make your own with a 3”x2” length of harwood with a slight taper at the business end. The first lock where you absolutely have to have a handspike is Kirklees Lock but there are plenty of others where it’s good to have one. IIRC there are quite a few locks where the ground paddles are windlass operated and the gate paddles handspike operated.

[Detling]

Thanks

[Mac of Cygnet]

There are five where you have to use a handspike - Kirklees Lower, Kirklees upper, Cromwell, Park Nook and Salterhebble Top.  But several others where you only have one paddle available if you don't have a handspike, and that can make things difficult on some C&H locks!    There are no ground paddles at the top of some locks, so you have to watch out for the deluge when going up.  There are also some unpredictable water flows in some locks, so a single boat will be all over the place - Greenwood springs to mind.   Don't let this put you off, though - just take things a bit more carefully if you're not familiar with these locks.  The C&H is my 'home' navigation, and I've singlehanded it many times, .but I still have one or two tricky moments.

[Detling]

Sounds a bit like the Avon then wide locks and only gate paddles 2 foot above the bow, gently does it and a bow rope to stop the swing.

[Nick D]

I bought a pick axe handle from a hardware shop for around £6 which did the job perfectly

[luggsy]

As above pick axe handle 

[Jim Riley]

You can have the nice hardwood one I left at Thornhill lock last week. 

[alan_fincher]

We paid quite a lot of money for a hardwood hand spike in a chandlery.

 

It's design was not the best.  A properly crafted one is a fairly snug fit into the sockets on the cog, and can't be pushed through too far.

 

Ours could and was more easily damaged as a result.

 

If you are charging well over £20 for a bit of hardwood crafted for a specific purpose, it would be nice to have it machined with a bit more accuracy.

 

 

[Ray T]

Back in 2006 we moored here and went off to a nearby pub. I left the spike on the roof and guess what? When we returned it had been nicked.

 

In the short term I used a length of 3 X 2 until I bought a proper one.

 

Needless to say I didn't leave it on the hire boat.

[PeterF]

11 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

We paid quite a lot of money for a hardwood hand spike in a chandlery.

 

It's design was not the best.  A properly crafted one is a fairly snug fit into the sockets on the cog, and can't be pushed through too far.

 

Ours could and was more easily damaged as a result.

 

If you are charging well over £20 for a bit of hardwood crafted for a specific purpose, it would be nice to have it machined with a bit more accuracy.

 

 

The trouble is that over the years the pinions that the handspike slots into have worn on the slots sizes are not uniform. Also some of the replacements being sand cast have slightly distorted holes. I have been based on the C&H for 12 years and the only way to ensure they go in to the right depth is to fit a stop block on your spike.

[PeterF]

17 hours ago, Stewart Kirby said:

The first lock where there are handspike paddles is Broadcut Bottom Lock. You can get through without a handspike but if any of the other paddles are inoperable it will slow you down. You should be able to buy a handspike at Stanley Ferry, or you can make your own with a 3”x2” length of harwood with a slight taper at the business end. The first lock where you absolutely have to have a handspike is Kirklees Lock but there are plenty of others where it’s good to have one. IIRC there are quite a few locks where the ground paddles are windlass operated and the gate paddles handspike operated.

Earlier in the year Stanley Ferry did not have any hand spikes. If travelling upstream, just above Fall Ings lock in Wakefield there is a Howarths timber merchant next to the petrol station.

[alan_fincher]

1 hour ago, PeterF said:

I have been based on the C&H for 12 years and the only way to ensure they go in to the right depth is to fit a stop block on your spike.

Accepted, and I realised that, but in the short while we were using it, didn't get around to it.

 

Ours went into every one too far if you let it - it didn't actually fit into any and sit at an ideal amount of insertion, so could have been cut a bit bigger and still be fine I think.

 

However I'm sure I have seen commercially sold ones cut with a shoulder that prevents them being inserted to far. Or am I just imagining I have, I wonder!

[Mac of Cygnet]

I've broken two lengths of timber and bent one iron bar, all at Cromwell lock before the top paddles were refurbished.  Now have a home-made very substantial oak handspike with just such a shoulder as has been described.  It should outlast me and even the boat.  Bloody heavy, though.

[Mike Todd]

5 hours ago, PeterF said:

Earlier in the year Stanley Ferry did not have any hand spikes. If travelling upstream, just above Fall Ings lock in Wakefield there is a Howarths timber merchant next to the petrol station.

They are quite familiar with the request . . . (at least if it is the same one that I used!)

[Jim Riley]

What's the depth of the spigot beyond the shoulder? About to make one or two - see my last post! At a guess, 5", maybe 6" at most. It's never bothered me that they slide through, the spare I'm using now, given to me in 2002, is a tapered hardwood one my mate found floating in the cut, but it's unvarnished now and needs sanding etc. I'd rather carry a spare. I have a lovely piece of hardwood, a bit of canalside bench found floating, it will make a couple of spikes.

[PeterF]

5" to 6" sounds right but I am not on the boat at the moment to give any better measurement.

[billS]

Would a baseball bat work?

[Jim Riley]

Possibly, but it would wobble sideways somewhat. An ali one would be nice and light, but would it bend on a stiff paddle, it might crinkle and fold where it meets the socket. 

[PeterF]

You would probably need to make two flats on it as a baseball bat is about 2.5 inches diameter, too large to fit into the nominal 2 x 3 slots. Also, as noted above it could wobble side to side so risking skinning knuckles on the gear rack when raised. It would be more of a stop gap rather than something I would use as a long term C&H boater.

[Stewart Kirby]

Oh! I just remembered something it might be worth mentioning to newcomers to the Calder and Hebble. Many of the bottom gates have a wide walkway on the inside of the gates. It’s very easy to have someone distract you and end up catching your tiller arm under the gate with serious results. It almost happened to me once.

[nebulae]

Some years ago,I called in at Stanley Ferry boatyard,to buy a handspike. They had no idea what I was talking aboat? The timber yard fixed me up with a serviceable piece of wood.