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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TOOLS IN THE GARDEN

 

Great hand tools - you can never have enough and these were given by a neighbour in a cracking good box. Clamps, a few more to have hanging around open at different intervals all ready to go is excellent.  Not sure when I'll use the Stilson but it's a magnificent specimen - Vanessa came up with a few suggestions for politicians but we'll go no further on those! There's a good Record convex sole spokeshave A151 and a Record scraper plane 080. I gave both these a workout and they needed very little work doing just a good sharpen.  If you haven't already got a curved sole spokeshave in your kit you should try one out - marvelous - perfect for shaving legs.

Really smooth sole - previous owner looked after his tools more than most folks do. I'd not used one of these before and I was actually quite pleased with the result
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Green Wood Work Experiments & Turning as Thin as You Can

I've been experimenting in the workshop using two different timbers on one product. 

So various experiments with left over pieces of wood that are too short to be useful on their own but used together have added a great dynamic to my range of utensils.  I have lots chunks left over from billets when I've been pole lathe turning, log ends when I've been getting rid of splits and bits that 'might just come in useful' all of which, in the past would have been burnt on the log burner.  The citrus juicers worked brilliantly, the one below is has an Apple handle and Sycamore head.   

This one is a re-claimed Walnut (shelf and the remains of a cupboard from a skip - how it ended up like that I just can't guess) handle and Sycamore head. 

The trickiest part is re-aligning the centres. so you get a good equal looking perfect join where one timber meets the other. I need all my products to look immaculate.

 

 I'm fed up with seeing photos constantly on other social media of things folks produce as Green Woodwork that look like something produced in the kindergarten hopeless class purporting to be 'hand made Traditional Craft'. These types of post bring the whole profession of a Craftsman into disrepute.  They seem to think because it's handmade it's a Traditional Craft and furthermore it can be sold as such when quite frankly the aberrations I've been seeing should be thrown on the fire without more ado. These 'armchair' crafts folks are mere amateurs who should be content to whittle and turn at home and not bombard the general public and true professionals with their crass creativity. It's a bit like opinions - make them, have them, but for goodness sake keep them to yourselves!  Right that's my rant for the day done...

Here's one of my new Rolling Pins.

 

 

 

This one is Ripple Sycamore from Yorkshire with some Apple found in a car park in Epping Forest dumped by some dodgy waste clearance vandals along with builders rubble, redundant bathroom fittings and other household crap. I've accentuated the join here with friction burn lines and it gives the traditional rolling pin a more contemporary look. 

I've found using different coloured wood most satisfying, makes everything look fresh and is eye catching when amongst a plentiful array of kitchen utensils. During the lock-up I've had 90% of my on-line sales for culinary wares and I'm hard pushed to keep my stock levels up. For a couple of weeks I thought I'd become a specialist Spurtle turner as they were selling like hot cakes and I couldn't make them quickly enough to meet demand. I know some turners have very set patterns and knock things out in a matter of minutes but every single thing I make is a new design in itself and takes time and thought.  I know I say 'I just go with the flow and make what the wood tells me' but it's much more than that - yes the wood does speak in it's own mysterious way and that meets somewhere half way with my artistic mind to produce that unique item that can be recognised at a glance as something special.

        

Selection of my turning and carving from recent weeks in the workshop.  The Butter Knife with the striking stripe is from some Damson branchwood from the Abbey Gardens in Waltham Abbey and absolutely outstanding, not just visually but from a carving point of view - a lovely wood to work with as long as your tools are superdooper sharp.  Same goes for carving the juicers, it's great when you get those lovely curls of wood coming from your gouge and I love the star that forms at the business end when you get them perfect - great for keeping the pips in the in the bottom of the skins...

Turning as thin as you dare - waste of time and wood - in my opinion!

This is something, as a turner and daily user,  I'm not terribly fond of - it's just not practical from a usage point of view.  I believe tableware should be robust, fit for use and beautiful. I want my products to last a lifetime if at all possible and not to be turned so thin that they become delicate fragile only to be looked at and certainly not really meant to be used! If I say it's suitable for everyday use I mean it - if a two year old takes it into their head to chuck it onto the tiled floor in disgust it should live to see another day - not crack at the first whack but live again with it's badges of honour, wear and tear, and be around for their child to use a generation later having gained a few dents and a wonderful patina of living a full and rewarding life as a bowl.

This doesn't mean that I can't turn a thin bowl but I am reluctant to do so for the above reasons. I often see turners showing their skills by holding a light bulb to the inside or outside so you can see the light.  Well I'm not making a blooming lampshade am I - I'm making a useful bowl that won't crack, chip, leak or fall over. The same can be said of hand carved spoons. There is a movement to make them so thin you could almost bite a mouthful of wood from the bowl with you broth - not my idea of a fully functioning spoon.  I'm all for great design, elegant appearance that should be strong, robust and last a lifetime brigade. 

So here's a Porringer or Bowl I did turn thin and how I wish I hadn't! It's so frustrating, I really enjoyed the main turning and then I thought right I'm going to mess around again with making the wood really thin which looks good and makes it very lightweight but not as practical as it could be.  I did leave the rim thicker and it has the handles which obviously means it has a greater inherent strength but I always think one rough fall to a marble floor and the bowl could crack or the wood is so thin the broth could soak through, so not ideal. However I do like it's lines and I've left the tooling marks where I've carved the rim - it looks purposeful and I'm marketing it as a snack or sweets bowl! This is Sycamore from the edge of the Abbey Gardens that came down when we had a big blow in early January and has the most amazing silvery sheen in the grain - very beautiful...

I ship all my wares world wide and you can find them here in my shop       

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

 

TURNING a SPINNING TOP - A Power Lathe or Pole Lathe

Power Lathe or Pole Lathe - That is the Question???

I've a power lathe with 10 foot bed in the workshop - it's an Apollo - hand built and a beautiful piece of engineering.  I spoke to the chap who made it and he was still in love with my model and could actually remember making it when I chatted with him on the phone.  So I've been making more treen using power and it's something that's taking me a long time to get used to.  I've also acquired a pillar drill and bandsaw - all very horrible, noisy and dusty!  So I've also had to invest in an industrial type hoover and a proper extractor and a ventilating head vizor mask thing to protect my lungs from dust. So I decided I'd still turn the wood green, one I like the ribbon shavings and two you don't get the dust.  Also I can turn as slowly or as fast as I do on the Pole Lathe.
So spinning top time and I did use my axe to start to rough out my billet but stopped myself and used the machinery!  This is all in aid of my back which I'm really careful of ever since I had an attack of sciatica which took months to recover from, so remember folks look after your back!

Billet prepared with Band Saw

  























Then for a bit of turning to get a good shape.

Power Lathe

Used the pillar drill to get the holes good and parallel - now I do really appreciate this power tool much less strenuous on the chest and shoulders!

Pillar Drill

Shaping is fun - plenty of beads & coves, decorate with black lines, think of the centre of gravity and you should be fine.

Spinning Top Components

Separate the components, carve your point and your just about set for a record breaking spinner.  I used a Hazel twig for my puller - looks good and does the job.

Spinning Top

And the movie of how well it balances and the speed it goes at - it's half time speed folks that's why the parakeets sound like a horror movie in the background!   And then have a look here at the movie Making a Spinning Top using a Pole Lathe for the same process - I know which one I prefer...

Spinning Top Movie

COUNTRY CRAFT BOOKS and HISTORY with HOW TO MAKE thrown in

CRAFTS from THE HISTORIC COUNTRYSIDE

For a long time I've kept a large collection of books in my workshop, Country Crafts, Traditional Building Methods at the same time I've got the same volumes inside in the bedroom, front room, kitchen, upstairs workroom, the loft and in the sitting room!  So I've at long last really been looking at them all again - re-reading and making notes but I've found Not only do I have second copies in the workshop but up to four copies of some and I'm letting them go here 

I've a mixed bunch going on sale at the moment and all are good to enjoy during these interesting times specially those about life in the 19th century and earlier.  Isolating was common - not particularly by choice but just the way life was!  Some trades were very lonely others required teamwork constantly and often deprivation, hunger and appalling living conditions the norm.  Life expectancy short and destitution looming.  So even in these days of uncertainty life for me really is perfectly satisfactory on the whole if not good most of the time and brilliant the rest of it.

I am missing the meet ups with folks but I'm enjoying my strolls with a lovely lurcher, working with wood, chatting non stop with my wonderful wife Vanessa and playing my guitars and mandolin amongst other things!

Also sorting out my tools.  I've decided that I can have too many so I'll going through loads of drawknives, axes, billhooks, planes and plenty of other stuff.  Keeping them down to say six full sets will keep me going for all my courses and demonstrations as well as all my workshop requirements.  So keep an eye out here for a heads up on all types of tools and simple woodworking devices.  They all work well - I've used them all at some time or other but feel I should get them circulating again just like the books need to be.  If you're on the lookout for a side axe of a particular pattern or a chisel by a specific old maker because you like the tool steel, an adze, or a simple axe for spoon carving with a nice comfy handle get in touch - I'll look specifically for one in my massive collection...