A beetle is a large mallet used by a chair bodger. Along with a "froe" it was used to split billets from green logs..... and to rough-out chair parts starting with a spring-pole lathe.. "This video is A beetle is a large mallet used by a chair bodger. Along with a "froe" it was used to split billets from green logs..... and to rough-out chair parts starting with a spring-pole lathe..
"This video is my homage to the bodger of old and to those crafts-men and women around the world laboring without the aid of electricity or modern technology." Sam Angelo
Here is a video link dated 1935 which covers, in part, the work of the Chair Bodger:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP5_OJxNccY