Where did the golf tee come from and what's the history behind it?

™

Back in history people used to tee up the golf ball with little mounds of sand that were provided within the boxes. The first tee ever made was called the "Perfectum" which was created by Percy Ellis in 1892 back in England. The tee looked like a rubber peg with a circle of pins which is where the ball sat.

Most of the tees that came out shortly after this one never really caught on. Golfers keep using the little mounds of sand to tee off with. Tees didn't really catch on until the 1920's when Dr. William Lowell, Sr. decided to mass product them. This popular tee was made of wood with a flared out top and it was painted red so it would be easily visible in the grass. This new tee was called the Reddy type. Pro golfers Walter Hagen and Joe Kirkwood, Sr. promoted this new product and help it get off the ground and become the most well known and use tee.

What is a golf tee and what's it made of? Most standard ones are around 2.1" long. Some do come in shorter or longer sizes depending on the golfers preferences. Most types have the look of a nail with a cup on top which is where the golf ball rests. Most tees are made of wood or plastic and are cheap to purchase. Golf tees are using for the first shot on every hole mostly for drives but some will use them if for iron shots off the t box.

Some rules to note about golf tees. As mentioned above the golf tee is only allowed on the first stroke of every hole within the teebox. Using a t on any other shot is illegal unless there are seasonal rules Click here to find out more in place for example, "winter rules" which protect the golf turf from damage. Golf tees can be no longer than 4" and cannot have any design that indicates line to target or have any impact on movement of the ball. These rules were pretty much the same when everyone was using only the mound of sand for the tee shot. Some courses actually stick to this old tradition and only allow sand to be used. Some fear ground damage when the club strikes the t and broken tees also mean little on the ground.

Some woodworking machines are only meant for production work. This is because it takes too much time to set them up for just one cut. On the other hand, if you plan on making the same cut or joint over and over again, a production machine is the way to go. The advantage of using a production machine is repeatable accuracy with speed. Time is money and quality is everything.

In this article, we will take a look at the JDS Multi-Router, an expensive but fairly compact stationary woodworking machine that can make a variety of joints including mortise and tenon, angled mortise and tenon, box joints and dovetail joints. The Multi-Router incorporates a router and various router bits to make highly precise cuts in wood. The joints are made by a ball-bearing-tipped stylus tracking in aluminum templates that are easily mounted to Muilti-Router. The workpiece is clamped on an aluminum table which can move in and out, left and right and up and down, and which is controlled by 3 hand levers, one for each axis.

Movement along any axis can be stopped with clamping screws and collars incorporated into the Multi-Router. A particular cut may require that the machine be allowed to float freely in two directions while being restricted from any movement along the remaining axis.

As an example of how the Multi-Router operates, I will discuss how I have made production runs of dovetailed jewelry boxes. The motivation to use a production machine is pure and simple: If you can do accurate, detail work in a short period of time, you can produce high-quality items in volume and thus make more sales and therefore more money. You can also demand more money for fine details like dovetailed corners.

Before getting started with my jewelry boxes, I had to determine what dimensions would work best, considering that I would be using a machine to make equally-spaced dovetails of the same size. I found that I could make two dovetails in the corners of a jewelry box that measured 2 1/4" high. Three dovetails would have required increasing the height of the finished box and I decided that that dimension would not be as pleasing to the eye.

The next step involved stock preparation. The finished stock had to be of consistent thickness and width to work on the Multi-Router. The final thickness was to be 3/8" for the jewelry box sides and top. The jewelry box bottom was to be 1/8" plywood, covered by a velvet pad. The plywood bottom fitted into a 1/8" saw kerf, cut ¼" above the bottom of the inside wall of the jewelry box.

For economy's sake, I chose to resaw three pieces each out of each piece of 2" (8/4) lumber. Before resawing, I cut the 2" lumber into pieces a bit wider than the final dimension of 2 1/4" (about 2 1/2"). I set the resaw to cut three equal pieces out of each piece of raw lumber. I then used my SuperMax Drum Sander to thickness dimension these pieces down to 3/8" thick @ 220 grit. These pieces there then trimmed to final width (both edges) on the table saw. The final lengths of 12" (jewelry box fronts and backs) and 7" (sides) were then cut on the miter saw using a Forrest ChopMaster blade that leaves a mirror-like cut.

On the Multi-Router, one template is used to cut the tails with a dovetail cutter and the other template is used to cut the pins with a straight spiral cutter. Setup takes a while and wastes some wood so it is advisable to have some cheap wood available of the same dimensions and thickness as the final wood species. Table adjustments have to be made on the in/out axis to get the correct depth of cut which is then locked in position. A detailed manual is included with the Multi-Router, so I won't bother to duplicate that here. Suffice it to say that the work piece is clamped into a fixed position on the table and the left/right and up/down axes are left to float free while the stylus tracks each template. Trial and error will eventually give you a perfect fit in your scrap wood and, once that has been achieved, you can start production on the final work pieces. Tails can be cut on both ends of the jewelry box sides and pins on both ends of the front and back pieces or vice versa, if you prefer.

Now, it's back to the table saw to cut the grooves for the plywood floor. You must stop your cuts just short of going through the ends of the work pieces. Mark pencil lines on the table saw table to show you where to begin and where to stop. The idea is to lower the work piece into the saw blade which is set to 1/8" above the table. When the work piece hits the table, it should be just a bit ahead of the front stop line. Pull the work piece back to the stop line before pushing it forward to the rear stop line. Stop the saw before lifting each work piece off the blade for reasons of safety.

The finished, dovetailed jewelry box pieces are pushed together with a bit of Titebond glue while inserting the plywood bottom into 1/8" pre-cut groove. Clamp the box square for 45 minutes.

Box tops can be made oversize, sanded to 3/8" @ 220 grit and then trimmed to fit the jewelry boxes. The tops can be either overlay with hinges or inset with brass pins drilled into the back corners. Once you have determined the final dimensions of the top, you should be able to safely fit all of the boxes due to the accuracy of your Multi-Router-made boxes. I like to rout all corners of the box and top with a 1/8" round-over bit before sanding.

The jewelry boxes and tops should be sanded to at least 220 grit with a random orbital sander and by hand before finishing. I chose to spray on a gloss finish (catalyzed varnish). You may prefer something else. If you are going to spray, I'd like to suggest that you make yourself a lazy Susan (hardware parts available from Woodworker's Supply).

Take several pieces of 1/8" ply the same size as the box bottoms, drill a hole in each corner and insert bright flat head box nails into the holes. The holes should be drilled the same size or smaller than the shafts of the nails to keep the nails from slipping back out of the plywood. Place the ply, nail points up, on the lazy susan and place the box on top of the nail points. Once a box is sprayed, you can pick it up by the plywood and set it aside to dry. When spraying tops, the sharp nail points will not leave visible marks in the finish.

The final touch is the velvet lining. You will need poster board, 3M spray-on adhesive, 1/8" foam padding and velvet. The velvet can be found at any dry goods store and the other the other items at an arts and crafts store like Ben Franklin or Michael's. Cut the velvet to extend 1" in all directions beyond the pre-cut poster board. Cut out 1" x 1" squares from each corner of the velvet (you may have to adjust this to accommodate the foam padding.) Spray glue the padding onto the poster board. The padding should be cut a bit undersize with reference to the poster board. Wrap the velvet over the padding and glue the flaps onto the back of the poster board. The poster board should be pre-cut to exactly fit the box with the velvet wrapped around the edges. This may take some experimentation but the final dimension can be repeated over and over again.

You can also find velvet, compartmentalized jewelry box insert trays online. These usually come in standard sizes so if you are interested in using these instead of the simple wrapped bottom padding described above, you will have to design your boxes around the dimensions of the velvet trays that you will be using.

In closing, I assume that you can now see that in such a production run, there is a massive amount of set-up time which should be more