Scotch Eye Auger
I recently became aware of two pioneering techniques that are used by Scouts in other countries. The first is froissartage from France. This method uses wood joinery techniques, like dovetails, mortises, wood pegs, etc., rather than lashings. It gets its name from Michel Froissart, a French Scouter who came up with the technique in the 1930's. The second is a method from Italy called CatDrill. I'm not sure of the etymology of this word, so if anyone knows, please fill me in. This one uses saplings with holes drilled in them with small amounts of cord and toggles to hold them together.
Both techniques have something in common that is foreign to the pioneering methods we are used to in the US: drilling holes. After a little internet research, I discovered that the preferred tool for backwoods hole drilling is something called a Scotch eye auger. It is basically a wood auger bit with an eye on the end that allows for insertion of a T handle. The Froissartage FaceBook page even uses a Scotch eye auger in its logo.
This is not a tool that is easy to find for purchase. I did find one made by a company called Black Raven Bushcraft for sale on Amazon, but it only comes in 1" diameter. This will work for some of the round mortise and tenon joinery in Froissartage, but is too big for dowel joinery or CatDrill work. So I decided to make my own. After watching a few YouTube videos on the subject, I settled on the method from a YouTube channel called Corporal's Corner. This involves buying a piece of hardware called a rail support, modifying it and welding on a socket that fits the diameter of your auger. You could just weld a piece of pipe to the end of an auger bit, but this method allows you to use one handle for a variety of bits. You could also weld a socket to a piece of pipe, but the rail support has a nice protrusion where the set screw sits that lines up neatly with socket.
First I bought a set of wood auger bits from Harbor Freight for $16.99. It includes 1/4", 3/8", 1/2", 5/8", 3/4", 7/8", and 1" bits. The 1/4" has a 1/4" shank and the rest have 3/8" shanks.
The shanks were slightly undersized, so I ended up using a 6 mm socket for the 1/4" and an 11/32" for the 3/8".
I used a 3/4" rail support for the larger eye, and a 3/8" for the smaller one. I'm not sure what these dimensions refer to, because the 3/4" has a opening that is almost 1-1/8", and the 3/8" has a nearly 3/4" opening. These two pieces were about $5 each.
I used an angle grinder with a cutting wheel to modify these. I took out the set screw also. Then I cleaned them up with a file and a belt sander.
I clamped the rail support and socket together in a vise with the socket lined up over the protrusion that housed the set screw.
Then I welded them together, cleaned up the weld with a bench grinder and belt sander, and painted in black. I fitted 1-1/8" and 3/4" oak dowels into the eyes, but you could use a hardwood tree limb for this.
Both techniques have something in common that is foreign to the pioneering methods we are used to in the US: drilling holes. After a little internet research, I discovered that the preferred tool for backwoods hole drilling is something called a Scotch eye auger. It is basically a wood auger bit with an eye on the end that allows for insertion of a T handle. The Froissartage FaceBook page even uses a Scotch eye auger in its logo.
This is not a tool that is easy to find for purchase. I did find one made by a company called Black Raven Bushcraft for sale on Amazon, but it only comes in 1" diameter. This will work for some of the round mortise and tenon joinery in Froissartage, but is too big for dowel joinery or CatDrill work. So I decided to make my own. After watching a few YouTube videos on the subject, I settled on the method from a YouTube channel called Corporal's Corner. This involves buying a piece of hardware called a rail support, modifying it and welding on a socket that fits the diameter of your auger. You could just weld a piece of pipe to the end of an auger bit, but this method allows you to use one handle for a variety of bits. You could also weld a socket to a piece of pipe, but the rail support has a nice protrusion where the set screw sits that lines up neatly with socket.
First I bought a set of wood auger bits from Harbor Freight for $16.99. It includes 1/4", 3/8", 1/2", 5/8", 3/4", 7/8", and 1" bits. The 1/4" has a 1/4" shank and the rest have 3/8" shanks.
The shanks were slightly undersized, so I ended up using a 6 mm socket for the 1/4" and an 11/32" for the 3/8".
I used a 3/4" rail support for the larger eye, and a 3/8" for the smaller one. I'm not sure what these dimensions refer to, because the 3/4" has a opening that is almost 1-1/8", and the 3/8" has a nearly 3/4" opening. These two pieces were about $5 each.
I used an angle grinder with a cutting wheel to modify these. I took out the set screw also. Then I cleaned them up with a file and a belt sander.
I clamped the rail support and socket together in a vise with the socket lined up over the protrusion that housed the set screw.
Then I welded them together, cleaned up the weld with a bench grinder and belt sander, and painted in black. I fitted 1-1/8" and 3/4" oak dowels into the eyes, but you could use a hardwood tree limb for this.
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