Cache Lake Country

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When I first came up to this country I worked for a while in a mine and I still have my miner's candlestick and a very handy thing it is. One end is sharpened so that I can stick it into a wall, and there is also a little hook to hang it on my hatband leaving my hands free to work. They are not used much since the gas lamps came in, but I find it useful and it keeps the memories of my mining days green.

For a long time I had been wanting a bellows to quicken up my fire once in a while. It is a very handy thing to have around for various purposes. So during a stormy spell I got to work and made one. Mine has extra long handles so that I don't have to stoop when I use it.

The main part of the bellows forming the air chamber is eight inches wide by twelve inches long and the handles are two feet long. I had saved a nice piece of pine board which I planed down to half an inch thick so the bellows would be light to handle. For the nozzle I used an old .38-55 rifle cartridge with the head filed off. It is just about the right size, the wide end being fitted into the block at the point of the bellows.

In the lower board I bored an inch and a quarter hole for the intake valve. The valve flap is made of a small block of wood faced with a piece of soft leather about a quarter of an inch larger than the hole with room enough left on one side to tack it to the inside of the board. Across the block is tacked loosely another little strip of leather, so that the flap can rise about a quarter of an inch. The idea is that when the boards are pulled apart, air is sucked in, but when they are pushed together the air forces the leather flap tight against the intake hole.

On the bottom board is nailed a little block about two inches long with a hole bored through it to hold the nozzle. Now, before you hinge the top board to the block with a strong piece of leather, you have to put springs between the boards to keep them separated. I used two slender pieces of willow, curving them around and tacking the ends down to the lower board near the point of the bellows. With that done you are ready to hinge the top board and fit the leather sides. For this you will need some soft pliable leather. I used soft smoked deerskin, but the sheepskin chamois that you can buy would work very well. To get the shape of your leather the best thing to do is to prop the two boards apart where you figure they would be as wide open as you would want them, ant! then fit a paper pattern around them and trim it until it is just right, leaving plenty of room at the pointed end for tacking around the block.

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