Boat
JukoFF (CC BY-SA 3.0)
This boat, called ‘Fortuna’, is the only boat still intact from the first fleet of Peter the Great that was based on Lake Pleshcheyevo in Russia when the tsar was young and exercised his Toy Army.
The boat has five pairs of oars and a place to hold a mast. The conditions it was kept in and looked after suggest it was created by Peter, who, early in his life, learned the basics of shipbuilding.
Central Naval Museum
In a museum in St. Petersburg, an unfinished model of a warship created by Peter is also preserved, which shows his skills.
Pieces of iron
State Hermitage
In 1720, while visiting the metal-processing plants in Petrozavodsk, Peter did some work as a blacksmith. He cut this piece of iron from raw material and a stamp was put on it.
State Hermitage
Two years later in Istye, Ryazan Region, the tsar again worked in a foundry. Peter Miller, his contemporary, remembers: “He was melting and forging with his own hands and pulling iron into strips. Having learned this work, on one of the last days of his stay, he pulled out fifteen pounds of iron and marked each strip with his stamp. His posh retinue and boyars carried coal, lit a fire, fanned it with bellows and did other work.” Here’s one of such strips forged by Peter the Great, stored at the State Hermitage in St. Petersburg.
Chandelier
State Hermitage
The Lathe machine was among the first foreign machines young Peter ordered from abroad, learning different crafts as a boy in Moscow. Later, in St. Petersburg, Peter organized a turnery right beside his own apartments in the palace. Peter was very often seen spending time in the workshop, making things.
One of them was a chandelier for 27 candles, which Peter himself worked on. It was recently restored in the State Hermitage.
Boots
Oleg Ignatovich / Sputnik
The Moscow Kremlin museums store boots (Facebook link) that were allegedly made by tsar Peter himself.
Chair
Russian Museum, restoration department.
As an experienced turner, Peter could also make simple furniture. This chair, on display in Moscow’s Kolomenskoye State Museum Reserve, was made by the Emperor.
Wooden cup
State Hermitage
In his turnery, Peter and his disciples created classic “schooling” objects, like this wooden cup made out of curly birch tree, with ivory decoration.