1870's Battledore

This is a find from a recent antiquing trip downstate; I really don't like to purchase images from unbound books, but I couldn't resist adding this one to my battledore and shuttlecock research.

It appears to be from an 1870's children's book, but unfortunately, it has no title or any identifying information.

Here's information on making your own battledore and shuttlecock set, here.

Moving With the Times - Battledore and Shuttlecock, Part 2

As promised, here's our experiences in creating a pair of battledores and shuttlecocks, following the instructions provided in The Boy's Own Toy-maker, published in 1854. I provided the full text in my previous post, available here.

The first step was to create the hooped top. 

The instructions called for lance-wood, a tough, heavy, elastic, straight-grained wood obtained from several different trees of the custard-apple family (Annonaceae). True lancewood, Oxandra lanceolata, of the West Indies and Guianas, furnishes most of the lancewood of commerce in the form of boat spars. Lancewood was formerly used by carriage builders for shafts. The smaller wood is used for whip handles, for the tops of fishing rods  and for various minor purposes where ever an even grained, elastic wood was desired.

We used pine, in the provided dimensions, and started by marking off the "nicks" to be cut, which allow the curve.

We discovered that it is necessary to leave an un-nicked section in the center, to prevent breakage.

First we soaked the pine strip in the tub, for about a half hour, to start the softening process:

Which then allowed us to bend it enough to fit in my largest stock pot. We allowed it to boil for 8-10 minutes.

Prior to starting, we had cut a form in our desired shape and size, again from pine. Working quickly, we removed the strip from the boiling water, lightly nailed to the form in the center and gently bent it to shape, clamping it in place.

This is what it looked like after it had dried overnight:

Next the handle was glued in place - no picture, sorry!

Then it was time to cover the hooped area in parchment - true parchment, not parchment paper.The term parchment refers to any animal skin, particularly goat, sheep, or cow, that has been scraped or dried under tension. Sourcing the parchment was the most difficult part of this whole project; I found it on eBay for $10 for a 7" x 10" sheet - the pair of battledores required for sheets.

Covering the hoops is much like covering the lid of a bandbox:

Except the the parchment should be dampened first.

I used a modern, artist product - Golden's Gel Medium to glue the parchment, but hide-glue would have been a more period adhesive.

I did one side at a time, allowing them to dry in between applying each side. Once dry, the parchment shrinks, providing a drum like tension. I then finished the edges with blue velvet ribbon and bound the handle top with black cord.

On to the shuttlecocks - a champagne cork is an excellent starting point, requiring only a bit of reshaping.

We did not have any grey goose feathers - we found a source, but they had a minimum purchase of one pound of feathers! Far more than we needed, so we substituted packaged feathers available from most craft stores. Try to pick feathers as close in size to each other as possibly for better aerodynamics.

The last step is to weight the shuttle-cock - we used a common tack, the instructions call for a short brass-headed nail. This step is very important, the shuttlecock will not fly properly without it.

One thing the period reference does not mention, is the sound produced by the shuttlecock hitting the battledore - the 2117 hits mentioned in the previous post would have driven me crazy!

Overall, these are really not at all difficult to create - the provided directions actually work, unlike some of the projects in Godey's and I anticipate them being a great deal of fun at events this summer, as well as a really good way to interact with the public.

Moving With the Times - Battledore and Shuttlecock, Part 1

"Would you recommend our delicate damsels and gossamer girls to ride, drive, walk, row, run, dance, play, sing, jump the rope, throw the ball, pitch the quoit, draw the bow, and play the shuttlecock and thus give their cheeks a natural roseate hue, instead of an artificial one...Twill spoil trade in drugs and paints and drive physicians to physical labor."

We've been discussing the mid-19th century "Exercise Craze", a craze that encouraged parents, especially mothers, to provide more physical activities for their children, as it was thought that they were becoming too sedentary - sound familiar?

Childhood games are, of course, important in teaching body movement. But most the activities listed in the above quote are not really realistic for an indoor workshop - except for Battledore and Shuttlecock, which was considered appropriate for the parlor and outdoors.

Battledore and shuttlecock was not a competitive sport. Probably the most intriguing aspect of the game was that it was a cooperative sport with the players trying to see how long they could keep the shuttlecock in the air. It did not pit player against player, a rather refreshing concept in the 21st century!

The game was usually played by children, families, and young adults during the 18th and 19th century. It is reported that the record for the number of hits made, before the shuttlecock succumbed to gravity, was 2117 hits accomplished by an exhausted family in Somerset, England in 1830.

The battledores were made of parchment or rows of gut stretched across wooden frames.

The shuttlecock was made of a light material, typically cork, topped with feathers.

The Boy's Own Toy-Maker, circa 1854, had the following instructions:

"Battledores, as the name implies, were formerly all made of wood; they may be easily cut out of a piece of flat deal, not thicker than a quarter of an inch—the spades about five inches in length, and the same in breadth; the handles about six or seven inches long; and they will serve every purpose for young beginners
to practice upon. 

The best kind are made as follows: procure a slip of lance-wood, about sixteen inches long, an inch and a half broad, and a quarter of an inch thick, the edges of the outside slightly rounded; to make it, bend to the shape of the spade of the battledore, cut a slight nick, about an inch apart, all along the inside, and not quite half way through the wood; boil or steam it with hot water, and it will curve to the shape, the two ends being bevelled off to fit to the handle; this must be previously prepared quite round, except at the end to which the spade is attached, which must be quite square at the sides, and tapering a little at the extreme end. The spade end must then be glued to the two sides of the handle, and afterwards firmly bound round the join with fine waxed string; it must then be allowed to dry; "

"in the meantime prepare your covering of parchment, cut round to the shape of the spade with a margin large enough to turn over the wood-work. "

"The ends, to turn over nicely, must be cut out in this form; the skin must then be soaked in water, the damp taken off, and the ends glued round the woodwork, and when dry you will have a superior battledore.

The handle may be finished off by binding a strip of coloured leather or velvet all round it.

To make a Shuttlecock. Cut a piece of' sound cork to this shape, in it fix a short brass-headed nail at the lower end. Procure five grey goose feathers, about four and a half inches long, not too full, and all the same size; fix the ends of these into the top of the cork in a circle— each one standing in an oblique direction to the other, and your shuttlecock with the battledore will be ready for play."

My next post will document our creation of a pair of battledores and shuttlecocks, using the above instructions - soon, I promise!