[TheForge] Making a Shovel

[Chris Worsley]

How important is this? Is the shovel going into a museum, or perhaps a 
historical site where someone will lecture on the making of Civil War 
shovels in detail?
One thing you could do is try to get the seller of the shovel on ebay to 
send you a picture of the back of the blade. He has no buyers as of now 
and might do it if you sound interested.
Otherwise I would just  forge weld a socket on the back and rivit the 
handle in place.
If forge welding thin stock is a problem, mig it, put it in the fire and 
hammer till it looks like the 1860's.
 
Chris

Bob Ehrenberger wrote:

>Chris,
>
>Thanks for the link.  The problem is that this picture, like most pictures
>I've located, doesn't show the critical part of the shovel, ie: how is the
>handle attached.   This one shows that there is some sort of a socket for
>the handle but was the socket forged from the same piece of steel that the
>blade was or was it welded on? Is there a support on the back side?  Most
>modern shovels seem to have a plate spot welded to the back to help support
>the handle.
>
>Robert Ehrenberger
>Shelbyville, Mo.
>eforge at centurytel.net
>
>----Original Message----
>Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 10:58:43 -0700
>From: Chris Worsley <cpworsley at cox.net>
>Subject: Re: [TheForge] Making a Shovel
>
>Here is one on ebay:
>http://cgi.ebay.com/Civil-War-Period-D-Handle-Shovel_W0QQitemZ130019996929QQcmdZViewItem
>
>If you are looking for a fireplace shovel, look in Sonn's book Early
>American Wrought Iron.
>
>Google 'civil war shovel'  under Images and get another picture.
>Instructions: Make it look just like the pictures.
>
>Chris
>
>  
>