What Journey?

So, at Pennsic this year, I created a cooking table for the cooks of Grimmsfield and beyond to try period cooking on. The table was a success, although I was not happy with the way it came out. Sevweral cooks used it with great success. From them I received quite a bit of feedback on what worked and what did not as far as both the table and the associated fire pit. This made me decide that I needed to rebuild the whole thing and create more and better tools for using on it. In order to create all that I want for the table, I am going to start now on the creation of the tools and new table. I hope to have a kitchen I can be proud of by next Pennsic.

Where to begin?

On looking over the notes from the various cooks and the notes I made, there are several tools and pieces of equipment needed for the kitchen. In order to keep track of all of this, a storage device of some kind was needed. In fitting with the period of the table, i decided to make a chest based on the Mastermyr Find and other chests found in Scandinavia. This would be the place to store all of the tools and hardware when not at Pennsic, plus I wanted to add a rack attachment to hang the tools during use.

Start of the Chest, The Hardware

The first steps in making the chest would be to forge the hardware. This would include the hinges and the lock plate. This started with a 48 inch piece of 1 x 1/8 inch piece of cold rolled steel. This was cut into 6 8 inch pieces.

Each hinge would be made of 2 pieces of this stock and the clasp would also take 2 pieces. These were then marked for all the work that would be done to them. 3 would be made with an open loop on the end that would receive the other half. Two would have a hole drifted in the end a would complete the hinge and 1 would have a hole drifted on one side and a hole for the clasp on the other.