Thompson and Ritchie quick-boil kettle

I like that. Excellent work as usual John.

 

@presscall I've got a travel kettle that need the caning replaced on the handle. Where did you learn how to do that? Is there a book?

Ben

 

@z1ulike
I must have consulted a long-gone book from a library originally Ben. Plenty of information on the web though, such as THIS.

John

 

@z1ulike
Sorry Ben, my reply was incomplete. What I should have said was that I’ve never found any specific instruction on caning kettle handles but have adapted the techniques described in chair caning instructions such as that.

The raw material of the split cane is the same and is available from chair cane suppliers.

A crucial technique is to make the dry cane pliable by soaking it in water before use. Not a massive soak for hours, a few minutes is ample.

That makes all the difference and what was a springy, brittle material when dry becomes easily bendable and twistable into all sorts of contortions, including the tight bends around a kettle handle.

Another technique is borrowed from fishing rod guide silk thread ‘whippings’ - that of trapping on end of the cane under subsequent turns and at the end of the caning project, to tuck the loose end beneath the turns before. If one length of cane isn’t long enough to do the whole handle (it rarely is) then one length is terminated by that ‘tucking’ technique and the second or subsequent lengths are begun and finished in the same way.

I usually use a yacht varnish to provide an attractive, durable finish and it serves to bond the cane turns and prevent them or the tucked ends from moving.

Hope that helps.

John

 

Thanks @presscall I bought a book on caning but it didn't have instructions for caning handles. I'll have to order up some split cane and start experimenting. I haven't used the kettle because I'm sure the bare metal will be too hot to handle. Besides the kettle will look so much better with caning in place. You efforts came out beautifully.

Ben

 

I found this.

 

@shagratork that is very helpful. Thanks.

Ben

 

Yes, thanks Trevor.

There’s no weaving of the cane going on in that particular example so much as a continuous wrapping of a circular section handle, but it usefully illustrates the flexibility of the cane once soaked (I’ve not found the boiling water mentioned necessary) and the technique of tucking loose ends in wrapped sections of the caning/wickering.

John

 

Sir - magnificent kettles and workmanship. A few questions, if I may, please:
How do you start the first few wraps of the single wicker wrap, i.e. to hold it in place ?
How do you finish the last few wraps, at the other end ?
Could we possibly have a photo of the underside of the kettle ?
The breather in the lid - does it have some restriction, with small holes, to limit splash ?
Where the spout joins the body - does it too have some similar 'filter' as most metal teapots used to have ?

Interesting to speculate on how the ends of the copper tubes were turned / rolled over.
Power press with tooling ? No, might crush the tube inside.
A double-ended tool with a through bolt - tighten, turn the dies on the ends to roll the copper over. Tighten, turn, tighten, turn, etc. Much like the tool and die that roll the inside edges of large eyelets as used in tents and tarpaulins.

I'm surprised that those kettles were not for export only - we could use a few out here.
Our swaggies used to boast of how quickly their billies would boil. The ultimate billy was the one which boiled as soon as you took the box of matches from your pocket.

 

There’s a photo of the base of another variation of that brand of kettle in THIS post.

The breather on the lid is shrouded by that domed protrusion on the lid, seen from the underside here.




The spout has no strainer.




The ends of the cane are trapped under wrapped turns. To begin, a loose end is taped to the underside (or back) of the component and wrapped turns trap it securely. Towards the end of the process, around six turns back from the end, a loop of strong string is laid lengthwise along the handle, loop projecting beyond the end and with an ample length of string in the two loose ends to get a good grip on subsequently. The string loop is overlaid with the final turns of the cane and the remaining loose end of cane is pushed through the string loop. The two loose ends of string are gripped and pulled and the cane loose end is pulled underneath the last half-dozen wraps and is pulled out from beneath them along with the string loop. Excess cane is trimmed off and when the cane has dried out (it’s soaked in water to remain supple during the process) the cane is varnished, which effectively bonds the wraps to each other and to the component, preventing movement or slippage.

 

Very good. Thank you.
Paul.

 

@presscall I've finally scored a Thompson Richie Quick Boil. Once it arrives I'm going try my hand at caning the handle.



Ben

 

Very good Ben.

John

 

I think I've finally discovered how they made the raised cane wrapping on the handle. Check out this YouTube video. I'm going to give it a go once my kettle arrives.




Ben

 

Ben, that is very cool! On the hunt for one but so far no luck. The hunt continues...

Alex