We've been Screwed...

In building my new workshop lately I've been doing a fair amount of 'brown' woodwork involving chop saws, nail guns etc. These tools have now become industry standard and a carpenter can't compete unless they have th

em.
On it's second or third outing my new Makita drill/driver packed up so, having loads of screwdrivers, I decided to do it by hand and go and seek some 2 and 3 inch slotted steel screws. What a joke.  Everything is now crosshead - one guy actually laughed at me and called me a Dinosaur...
Eventually I phoned the local builder's merchant in the town and he said he thought he had some 'out the back somewhere' but nobody had asked for them for 10 years.
Screwdrivers are now officially obsolete - a thing of the past.

Colour causes Outrage

We had a drive into Suffolk on a lovely sunny Saturday.  We came across the old Savoy cinema (built 1916) on the way back through Halstead, which is on the Suffolk/Essex borders.  It's been given a rather colourful paint job by the previous owners which has caused outrage in the town.

The old Savoy Cinema, Halstead, Essex

Jackie Pell, Halstead Town councillor, said: “It’s as if they had a job lot of odd paint. It looks like Toytown. It’s absolutely awful!

“I have had a lady stop me in the street and ask me what I was going to do about it. It needs to be seen to be believed.”

It closed down as a cinema in 1963 and became a Chinese takeaway until recently becoming a kids playgroup which has moved away - now it's empty.

Personally I think it looks great and I'd love to have it as a shop and studio. 

We need more colour in our lives, people seem to be afraid of it.

Leaf Identification

Can anyone ID this leaf?

Green Man

Came across a real Green Man by a magical Elderberry bush today at Countryside Live - is that auspicious?

Pedal Powered Grinding

An interesting contraption with a lovely true stone that Ness came across at a French market that was only 30 Euros! The pedals moved a steel rod on either side of the Grindstone and worked beautifully. The gentleman selling it got quite excited when two English Ladies seemed keen to purchase and the possibility of dismantling it was discussed. Unfortunately after much humming and haughing in Breton it was decided that the screws, nuts and joints would need some time and gentle persuasion to come apart successfully. The boot of a dainty little Merc and time were not on their side so I have some good pics and will make one for myself sometime...    

Ancient Lode

We struck a seam of ancient, buried, terracotta plantpots.  Most are broken but there's about 50 whole ones, 4" - anyone interested? All hand thrown - you can even see finger prints on them!   We've been using the broken stuff to put on muddy places like here in front of our Pallet Composting Loo

The Beetles

When I spied the metal rings tied together by a bit of old string in the bottom of a trailerful of rusty old bits of tools and tat I immediately knew what they were.  I think I paid £1 for them - possibly 50p!  Fitted to an Elm log head with an Ash handle it's great for bashing metal wedges and gluts (wooden wedges) to split open large logs and also lessens the risk of a shard of metal flying off when used with a sledgehammer (I've heard some nightmare stories about this).
The one on the right is known as a Paviour's Beetle and was used for levelling flagstones.  It also has an Elm head and Ash handle but in this case the head is turned and the handle has been sawn and not riven which I suppose doesn't matter so much as it was only ever used for relatively gentle tamping.  Kindly gifted to me by Wocko the Woodsman.
Thomas Tusser (London, 1573) writes of a "Dovercourt Beetle".  This is taken to refer to the celebrated Elm trees of Dovercourt in Essex, which were considered extremely durable and suitable for making Beetle heads.