Easter chicks

These hatched out on our Stall overnight on Saturday at the Bexleyheath Country Show . . .




This is Albert Smith who was my apprentice for the weekend.

He managed to make a rounders bat. He said he wants "to do this sort of thing" as a job when he gets older . . .


Went to see my dad in Ashford Hospital last night. He looks better and has his appetite back - said he'd love some food that tasted of something !

Heritage Crafts Association

At the bottom of the links list you'll see a new button. This is the link to the new organisation formed by Rob Wood and Co to :-

" Support and promote heritage crafts as a fundamental part of our living heritage.

It is unique as an organisation in believing that craft skills should be protected, promoted and recorded as part of our living heritage in their own right, not merely in terms of the objects they produce or their conservation value to old buildings."

What is it ?

In answer to David's question on the last post - it's a breast bib.

I had been carving spoons for quite a while until I realised that when making certain cuts I was bracing the spoon against my breast bone - and it was sore and tender. So I cut the shape from ash, drilled two holes to hang it from a piece of string round my neck and carved a depression in the middle to stop the spoon slipping off.
I have it on good authority that lady spoon makers can get away with a strongly underwired bra !

Framers in the High Wycombe chair factories also used a similar device to bear on the top of a brace when drilling leg holes - and for a similar reason. This eventually became a "badge of office".

Dad update -
Had a phone call from Velma at 6am yesterday to say that he'd been taken to Ashford Hospital in the middle of the night in a lot of pain. We drove down and spent the day with him - he's had fluid drained from his lungs and antibiotics to clear up an infection in the drain from the bile duct. He looked a lot better when we left than when we had arrived.

Spoon carving lesson

Roger Chapman with the result of his days labour. A double-ended spoon/scoop from Elder and an Art Deco fork from Apple.

I let people design and make whatever they want and show them the necessary techniques to achieve their goal.

I must say I was very impressed that he turned up with a full set of virgin Frost knives including a crooked knife and a drawknife. Nice & Sharp!
Roger is, as he said, an 'armchair' member of the APT and is aiming for a creative lifestyle as he looks forward to retiring from the day job.

Birdsong Radio

Check this out for a very relaxing sound.
Blackbirds abound here.

Kent Bodgers

Went down to Capstone Farm Country Park yesterday to attend a meeting of the Kent branch of the Association of Pole Lathe Turners & Green Woodworkers. The Country Park is in Gillingham where I was born and brought up - so returning to my old stamping ground.


This is Kristian who organised the event and who has also arranged for me to run a Weekend Workshop there on 18th & 19th April. There may be a couple of places still available - contact Kristian directly :- mob 07941805820 email kristian2002@blueyonder.co.uk

Some interesting drilling techniques emerged . . . this looks like a good one. I'm really sick of drilling 1 3/4" holes for stool legs through 2" thick Ash, Beech, Elm etc with a brace and bit. Unfortunately I didn't get the make of this bit of kit - anyone else have experience of them ??

John Burbage showing some lateral thinking here. He uses long augers with hexagonal shanks and turns them with a socket and bar.

Drove up to Moira on the Leicestershire/Derbyshire borders on Saturday to look at a litter of puppies. This is the little chap we've chosen and we'll be collecting him in a couple of weeks.

I think I'm going to call him Jed.

*

Nice juicy young cock pheasant.

Someone said there's no such thing as a free lunch but I'm not sure. We spotted this beautiful roadkill as we were driving down a rural Essex lane this morning. Obviously he just chose the wrong time to cross the road and was still warm.
Anyway his life was not in vain - Vanessa's plucked and gutted him and we'll enjoy our free lunch with a chocolate gravy.



ERROR
On another matter.
The email I gave for Graham Cole, supplier of Kamba for seating has changed. It is now :-

giec199-kamba@yahoo.co.uk

Also as Graham says . . .
"I do claim to sell kamba on fair trade terms but the single word Fairtrade is like a trade mark and should only be used by people who have bought into the organisation. I can't do that as it's too expensive!"