Mop Head ?

[stumpy]

Just saying but Seamark Nunn have a chamois leather mophead for 40 - odd quid on their website.

[grendel]

28 minutes ago, stumpy said:

Just saying but Seamark Nunn have a chamois leather mophead for 40 - odd quid on their website.

you do remember Griff is from Yorkshire dont you, he will want at least another 40 years out of that mop handle.

[BroadAmbition]

Result!

Along with you forumites, Richo's and Herbert Woods helped in the search - but failed as did Brian Wards they offered alternative, a modern mop head with a plastic fitting that I could adopt to fit our traditional teak handle, I was just about to pull the trigger when . . . . . 

'Eureka' on Ebay a canal boat lady popped up with the genuine woollen mop head item up for sale.  However the cost was eye watering and I just knew I was getting my leg lifted.  However she only had three left and no chance of getting anymore as the makers have - simply put - Stopped producing them, in fact I never did find out just who originally made them.  Anyroadup £25 (Inc P+P) and it has arrived along with a 'free' hand painted scrubbing brush - These canal boat owners seem to paint and decorate everything.

£25 for a mop head? - Yes but seeing as there are four of us paying for it that works out at £6:25 each and the last one made its thirteenth birthday, so £25 for thirteen years of service seems acceptable.  (The previous one only made its first birthday before some pond life knicked it but that's another story   )

Griff

 

[Smoggy]

Watch out for BA next season chaps, there's a challenge to kidnap and ransom a mop....

[Bikertov]

Did you get some lucky heather thrown in with it at that price ?

[Smoggy]

1 hour ago, Bikertov said:

Did you get some lucky heather thrown in with it at that price ?

Heather was the woman selling, and she certainly hit it lucky.

[floydraser]

£25 wouldn't cover the cost of painting the brush, unless it was done by a 10 year old Vietnamese girl in between making Nike trainers..

[Bikertov]

Griff - you could always try selling the brush on, to recoup some of the cost.

[BroadAmbition]

Help!

Years ago now John Williams (Next to the museum of the Broads) showed me a trick of how to extract the long copper nail from the bottom of a traditional wooden mop handle and I can't for the life of me remember how to do it.  Is there some experienced Broadsman on here can remind me please? -Its not like I can ask John anymore 

Griff

[Vaughan]

I fear that the reason why the bits fell out of your old mop head is because the copper nail was not driven in far enough, to clamp the two thick leather washers together and hold the mop head in place..

The risk is that if you drive the nail in too hard, you will split the mop handle.  Which is why you often see them with a Jubillee Clip tightened around the top of the handle, to contain the split in the wood!

It probably means you will have to buy a new handle and drill it out first, so that the copper nail is a tight fit, but not too tight to split the handle.  If you don't get the two leather washers clamped up tight against the mop head then the cotton tails will all fall out of your new one.

Sorry if this all sounds a bit like Trigger's broom!

[annv]

Try smearing candle wax on nail before driving it in. John

[annv]

Also blunting the tip can also prevent splitting or both can only help. John

[BroadAmbition]

Hi, thanks for your replies / advice

I fear that the reason why the bits fell out of your old mop head is because the copper nail was not driven in far enough, to clamp the two thick leather washers together and hold the mop head in place.

The mop was indeed held firmly in place with both leather washers squashed tight, basically it wore out!

Hardly any danger of our handle splitting as the copper nail was driven tightly home up to the leather washers (See above) with no issues

Also as per the photo with the first post in this thread our mop handle has a polished s/steel end tube in place

What I really want to know is how to get the copper pin out 

Thanks,

Griff

 

[grendel]

Griff, first you need a robber pin, this is placed adjacent to the mop head, then you blow a whistle and shout, I have been robbed, throwing the robber nail away from you, ata this point the copper nail will extract itself from the handle, chasing the robber nail.

[annv]

Hi have you tried pincers. John

[Graham47]

34 minutes ago, BroadAmbition said:

Hi, thanks for your replies / advice

I fear that the reason why the bits fell out of your old mop head is because the copper nail was not driven in far enough, to clamp the two thick leather washers together and hold the mop head in place.

The mop was indeed held firmly in place with both leather washers squashed tight, basically it wore out!

Hardly any danger of our handle splitting as the copper nail was driven tightly home up to the leather washers (See above) with no issues

Also as per the photo with the first post in this thread our mop handle has a polished s/steel end tube in place

What I really want to know is how to get the copper pin out 

Thanks,

Griff

 

Probably a special extractor required. (More expense) 😂

[BroadAmbition]

Grendel - Sigh - You're not helping tha knows 

Annv - Not tried owt yet till I get onboard, I doubt pincers will do it as it's leverage / pulling power I need, I wish I could remember the trick that John used

Griff

[annv]

Soaking/steaming will expand the wood but if your handle end at mop end has a feral this will need removing first,   pincers or if a vice is available to hold end of shaft then a forked chisel (that upholsters use) driven under the head should give results if not drill it out in centra then screw a self tapping screw in the hole then hold head in vice then tap handle end with a hammer to pull it out,  or a combination of all suggestions. and as a last result cut end of handle off and start again using a stainless screw,  thread dipped in candle wax first instead of a nail. this will be easier next time you need to replace the head,   providing pond life dont remove it to save you the trouble. John

[Smoggy]

1 hour ago, grendel said:

Griff, first you need a robber pin, this is placed adjacent to the mop head, then you blow a whistle and shout, I have been robbed, throwing the robber nail away from you, ata this point the copper nail will extract itself from the handle, chasing the robber nail.

All wrong I'm afraid, apply the robber pin, phone the hotline to be stuck in a menu system for 30 minutes, wait 3 days for a call back, get given a crime number, and then work out how to get the copper pin out, by then someone will have nicked the handle and used it on ebay as part of a scam.

That's more realistic.

Or... shout loudly that the pin looks to be copper, wait for 3 blokes to arrive in a transit van with a dubious accent, get a new copper pin as the old one will have been weighed in, any other type of copper won't be interested (but you might get given a crime number).

[OldBerkshireBoy]

Griff, suggest you sleep with pencil and paper beside the bed ready for that light bulb moment.

In the meantime is there nothing you can remember? Rope, string, chain,wire, mudweight, heating and water, shrinkage or expansion.

[BrundallNavy]

Any chance of a picture.  

[JanetAnne]

25 minutes ago, BrundallNavy said:

Any chance of a picture.  

If you think it will help....

Griff is on the left

[ZimbiIV]

We had a perfectly servicable mop on Zimbi, was just short of a servicable operator!

paul

[PCL023]

Did our mop head replacement a few years back, had the same issue getting the old one out. Found the only way I could this, with the limited tools on the boat, was a pair of side cutters. Use these to dig in to the copper nail and rock the side cutters up while holding them tight, takes a while but seems the only way to get a straight enough pull. 

Good luck 👍🏻😊

[Vaughan]

I have just remembered how to do it, at about 3 o'clock this morning.  You'd think I would have better to things to think about at that time of night . . . 

You need a woodworker's bench vice with wooden jaws, to get a good grip on the handle.  Hold it almost horizontal with the head just a bit raised off the bench.  Cut away all of the old mop head as well as the leather washers.

This will leave room to get the flat, forked end of a crow bar in behind the head of the nail.  Holding it steady with one hand, hit the crowbar with a lump hammer.

Or as the site foreman once said : "When I nod my 'ead, you 'it it!"