Its Nice To Have a Little Pot Around the Shop...

When time becomes a commodity that is easy to come by, I hope to have everything I will ever need to while away the hours making little pieces of wood out of big ones. Hopefully, some of those little pieces will be usable as veneer.

There was a time when I thought only cheap furniture was made using veneer. Amazing what you learn when you read a book.

So now veneering is right up there on the top of my list and to facilitate it, I have been looking for vintage tools and toys of that trade. My first purchase was a disaster; the French saw that turned out to be a trim saw, but hopefully I have done right by this latest purchase.

I have no idea when this glue pot was produced, but I sure like the look of it. I have been looking for a glue pot for some time now, ever since receiving my copy of Stephen Shepherd's book, "Hide Glue, Historical and Practical Applications". I have seen a number of traditional styled pots come and go on the market, but I wanted something a bit unusual. Finally one came up on jimbodetools.com.

This was the first one I came across that was made of brass, all three pieces in fact. The outer pot reminds me of the bottom of an artillery shell, and weighs about as much. The inner pot is about half its weight with one small steam hole and the lid is just pressed sheet. Its only marking is "W. Pehrson", a producer whose name does not come up on the internet.

As we said back in the 60's - "Good stuff!" (ok, we didn't actually say "stuff", but you get the idea)

Peace,

Mitchell

Additional Comments added October 22 at 10:45 a.m.

Waking up this morning to PeteW's comment about this glue pot, I clicked on his link and checked out the very same item listed in one of MJD Tools' auctions. They had it listed with another brass item as... 

"Two Unusual Desktop Items including a brass inkwell holder by W. Pearson".

My God! Did I screw up AGAIN??????

Here is an enhanced photo of the mark...

I took this out of a shot I took of it through a loop...

The mark is definitely "W. Pehrson".

I'm no expert on inkwell holders, but I can think of no reason to manufacture an inkwell holder that has the inner pot much smaller than the outer...

Nor can I think of any reason why they would put a carrying handle on an inkwell holder or include a vent hole in the top of it...

Now I admit that logic has failed me before with calculating what a tool is or does, so I did a search of "Inkwell Holders" on Google. An "Inkwell" is "a small well holding writing ink into which a pen can be dipped". Trying to come up with an as clear definition for an "Inkwell Holder", however, was a different story. The best definition is "a hole to hold an inkwell", but there are many sales listings for these things that call the decorative base that has a hole in it to hold an inkwell an "inkwell holder", although I surmise by the very few articles on the subject that I found that this is an incorrect use of the term.

As a result of no factual information about this manufacturer or this item, I am only left with logic.

Arguments:

• There is a half inch of space all around the inner pot which would be perfect for holding heated water.
• There is the hole in the top of the inner pot aligned with that space that would be perfect for letting off steam.
• There is a handle attached to the inner pot which would make removing it easy to top-up the water bath when it runs dry and through its use, would make it unnecessary for the user to touch the heated base.
• Brass is the third most conductive metal for heat available.

Conclusion:

• If it isn't a glue pot, it sure as hell is one now!

I truly appreciate any and all comments on this blog. Sharing information and helping each other, to me, should be as natural as falling off a log. I don't understand those that see an area where a few typed words would help another individual but they don't bother for whatever reason.

Just don't scare the hell out of me first thing in the morning when you do :o)

(That was a joke, PeteW. I do appreciate you bringing that listing to my attention and please, keep commenting)

Peace,

Mitchell