Spot the Difference?

At first glance it may appear that there isn't any but believe me I spent nearly a day tidying up the workshop and having a Spring clean.

I love the Forsythia which grows behind - it's like having my own private patch of sunshine on these dull days.  The Japanese call this "borrowed landscape"

Stool Making

Mark's been here today putting together the stool that he made the parts for way back last July. 

Ash

Also having a lesson in seat weaving with seagrass from Vanessa.

Raising the Roof

The cover finally went on the workshop/shelter that we built at our Greenwood Camp last summer.  The first courses are going to be held there on 26/27th March.

We put tyres round the A frame legs, stood them on brick bases and filled the tyres with crushed terra cotta plant pots and dressed with pebbles.

Hopefully that will keep them well drained and stop them from rotting - just got to think of a way of pinning them to the ground and hope we don't get any high winds before then!

I installed cable bracing to tension the structure using turnbuckles and tacked strips of carpet along the ridge pole to stop abrasion.

Gary and Jon and me hoisted the cover with barely a hitch...

The only problem we had was attaching the bungees with the system supplied.  It killed our hands trying to fix it with those hooky things so we took it all off, got rid of them and laced it with just the bungee.

Then we had a beer to celebrate.

Book of Old-Time Trades and Tools

First published as The Boy’s Book of Trades and the Tools Used in Them by George Routledge & Sons, London, 1866.  This book was originally intended as an aid for boys seeking information about prospective trades and occupations available to them as adults.  This is a Dover edition published in 2005 and is an unabridged reproduction of the original work.  The author is Anonymous.

It is profusely illustrated with over 700 beautiful engravings and has 320 pages covering many trades.  Such as...

The Sugar Refiner's Tools

She doesn't look like a boy!

 It says "Pointing these wires is the most unhealthy part of the manufacture; the fine dust is carried into the lungs of the workmen, and destroys them in a few years, very few living beyond the age of forty"  not exactly an appealing career move!

A Hat Lathe

Also included are such things as...

The Plasterer & Whitewasher
The Gilder
The Brassfounder
The Cutler & File Cutter
The Calenderer  & Hotpresser
The Paper Stainer
The Manufacture of Gas
The Gas Fitter
The Gun Manufacturer
The Coppersmith
The Dyer & Scourer

and many more.

Unfortunately there is no index so it's a good book for dipping into revealing many facets of working life in Victorian England.

Leather Tool Bag

Just taken delivery of this rather nice leather tool bag which I won on eBay after some heated last-minute bidding.

I've been slathering on some Oakwood Leather Conditioner as it was dry and hard. The conditioner is an Australian product and contains Tea Tree and Eucalyptus oils, Emu oil, Beeswax and Lanolin.
It has large EDF letters stamped into it and I think it's a French electrician's bag as this stands for Électricité de France.  Should be able to adapt it to hold some Bodger's tools, spoon knives, drills etc.

A Bodger's Bog

Built yesterday from pallets by Jon and me at my Greenwood Camp.

Be very careful when cutting up pallets with a chainsaw.

Just got to finish the roof and install the sanitary ware!

Facebook

I've finally been convinced by my webmaster Oliver to have a go at Facebook.  I'd be grateful if you could go to my Treewright page...

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Treewright/127526407320173

and give it a "like" - I need 25 likes to be able to use the Treewright name as a small business.

Probably won't have any time left for woodwork now!