SHAVING and LEGGING UP SATISFACTION

 

Stool making has been a most pleasurable job these last few months - re-turning the tops of legs, deciding if the drilled holes will come all the way through so my feature oak wedges will be seen and positioning my trade mark Laburnum dot are all most satisfying. It's simple axe work to get those legs looking right, going with the grain, just going by eye until they look right, then out with the trusty drawknife to get the facets looking purposeful and a neat finish with a spokeshave to give them that wonderful silky thrill when you run your hands down them. This one has an Elm top, the Elm coming from Yorkshire, the Leeds neck of the woods. Legs are also Elm this time from Essex, Magdalen Laver, and from a tree that I felled due to Dutch Elm disease. The satisfaction of getting out all those shapely legs and pairing them up with a smashing lump of wood is excellent.  I always prefer to use oak wedges it's a good contrast on the whole and so tough you can give it a good hefty wallop and it goes straight in to give that friction fit that means it's not going anywhere when the glue's dried.

  

Japanese saws are my go to tool for tidying up the top - great smooth cut on the pull cut and it really doesn't need any extra finishing - I loathe using sandpaper - if you're using the right tools and they're sharp it keeps everything simple clean and tidy.

 

My levelling up technique is the same as has probably been used since folks decided to have legs on their seats and works every time. I use the Japanese saw to cut the ends off - they make excellent kindling - I don't see the need to waste any of this wonderful commodity.

 

Colour Transformation

Some of my recently made and mostly sold stools....

 

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REBEK UPDATE

 

 Finished Rebek

Feeling pleased  with the overall appearance - was concerned my 'f' holes would impair the sound because of the positioning. According to most of the photos I've seen of new and genuine old ones they are positioned more parallel to the bridge but I'm not a slave to tradition and I did give the shapes and positioning a great deal of thought.  Laburnum neck and tailpiece are great colours, totally natural with just a light wipe of linseed oil. 

 

 

 

The bow is made from Silver Birch which I shaved and bent gently till it simply felt 'right' in my hand. It took a bit of time as I struggled to find the perfect piece of straight grained wood and it seemed to take a ridiculous length of time to get it flexible enough without going too thin. Success in the end and fitted with horsehair, I played the first notes in trepidation as all the recordings I listened to on YouTube had sounded like cats being tortured!  It sounded sweet and melodic - I was playing Irish jigs though!  I've since decided that the folks I've seen & heard playing it may well be great luthiers but they're not much cop as instrumentalists! The small gadget is a peg tuner, my fingers are too big to get round them comfortably so I made this handy little device using Box, Sycamore and Ash - works a treat and I use the GDA string tuning for the violin. Next musical project is the archtop guitar...
 

Green Woodwork Days Out

Learning Green Woodwork is an enjoyable, healthy, environmentally friendly way to work wood with simple hand tools and traditional devices, pole lathe and shavehorse.  Making fun and functional wood toys, stools, spoons and all sorts of interesting things I'm really glad to be starting my one and two day Courses on my favourite subjects, wood and hand tools,  after a long year of interesting times!  I'm a real fan of letting the tools do the work for you and working with the grain - learn using these skills and woodwork will never be the same again.  You'll think about it differently after using sharp tools and the innate strength of the wood to get the best from your labours!                                                                                                                                                        

              

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using a  Shavehorse is a pleasure - you sit down whilst working, listen to the sounds of nature or chat about this that or the other - a pure pleasure. I have tools for left or right handed folks in all types of sizes and styles of handles. Plenty of carving knives in different sized blades and hooks. There'll be many axes, chisels, gouges, saws, spokeshaves and drawerknives. If you decide it's for you and you want to continue further I can put together a starter kit for you to purchase with a good range of things that are essential and you'll be trying them all out anyway. You could be shaving billets for stool legs or carving spatulas and spoons - it's your course so you can make just about whatever you feel like...

Depending on how much energy and effort you put in reflects on the size of the goody bag you go home with - all the things you've made whilst learning and working with me. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Courses and Days Out are a most enjoyable way to spend a day or two relaxing whilst working and I've changed the way I'm running them - they are now all on a one to one basis so you'll get even more from your time with me.  I've always got plenty of logs to work with and obviously loads and loads of different razor sharp tools - so we'll definitely have a great day inside the workshop or outside in the open air. Treewright.co.uk