What have I done in the workshop today?

Our posts crossed there. I am willing to take the risk of getting bored - do let us see some more of your creations !

Chilli-head wrote:Very nice. Lots of questions ! Is the wood carved green or seasoned (or somewhere inbetween !) ? The burr - is it an inlaid veneer, or a thicker solid inset piece going all way through ?

And can you tell us more about the decoration of the second - indeed more about yourself, is there a reason you use the traditional Sami pattern ?

the wood is carved when green ,it is so much easier ,i only use a knife and a crook knife for the bowl of the spoons,the burr is an inlaid thin piece of burr cut from a piece.
The decoration is a fave of mine,no lapish links ime wiltshire born and bred. I am a bushcrafter amongst other things and the bushcraft scene is heavily influenced by Scandinavian and boreal cultures especially the indigenous sami of Lapland.
I am blessed by the ability to visualise things i want to make and so spend no end of time making stuff from scrimshaw to wood carving ,flytying to cooking,ime not brilliant at them all by any means!

Really brill.

I was planning to be pole lathe turning at Wimpole on Sunday, but the weather suggested otherwise and I chickened out.  Instead I set up the lathe with the bungee indoors and did a bit of turning.

A bracelet in cherry wood, with a Celtic twist:


I cut a round of wood, about 1 1/4" thick,  from a ~6" diameter log using my new toy - a Thomas Flinn One man crosscut saw. Drilled a hole through the middle to fit it on a mandrel, then turned off a ring with the lathe.  I then drilled 10 holes spaced evenly round the ring, and cut notches top and bottom half way between the holes to rough out the shape.  I finished it off in the living room in front of the woodburner during the evening, with my Flexcut knife.

Well, not in the workshop exactly. The weather was beautiful last Sunday, and so we - Wimpole lathers - were outdoors, and had a very pleasant day woodworking - there are some pictures here on Simon's blog. (Simon is the one with the big axe )

All this sitting about like a useless thing waiting for my arm to heal finally got to me yesterday. I just had to make something. So, I went to the workshop and made - a large clipboard, so that I can draw up some designs for a Mk2 pole lathe, and the cabinet for the living room. Not exactly fine woodworking - a bit of left handed sawing and trimming with the block plane. But at least I can get on planning and get a timber cutting list drawn up.

Two weeks to go .. I feel like I should be chalking up a tally of the days on the wall ...

Ah! Not planing but planning...

Phew. Time to blow the dust off the bench and start making something. First job is to get the MK2 pole lathe together before the Bodger's ball. I'm working tentatively, and in short bursts at the moment because my wrist still gets rather sore if I overdo it. Hoping to be turning again next weekend, with a bit of luck.

Fixed my MK3 pole lathe treddle, which I broke making stool legs at the Bodger's ball. The metal hinges I used failed, so I've replaced them with some nylon webbing cloth hinges, hopefully they will last longer.

Following a lengthy chat with the cross cut sawyers at the BB, I resharpened my Thomas Flinn crosscut saw with a sensible fleam angle. Now the burning season is over, my mind is turning to burning wood supplies for next winter, so I spent some time fiddling with my log piles, and sawing up anything too big for the stove. And the tips I got last weekend made for sawing with a lot less sweat.

I've just taken the opportunity to have a clear up today while it's quiet, give the banker a clear down (stone masons bench from old French banc). And sharpen all my chisels ready for tomorrows marble carving.

What are you working on at the moment?

An Italian style fountain, a Bath stone fire surround with egg and dart detail and an Italian marble fire surround with archaic scene. Should keep me out of mischief.

..and what are you working on in the afternoon???

I'm working on an end-grain beech carving board for meat at the moment, the type with a groove carved around it, and a well to collect the juices.  I'm trying to do it entirely by hand tools, which is both challenging and laborious ... I'll post a photo if the result is any good !

I finished off building a shave horse last night. Mine is neither quite a Mike Abbot lumber horse, or entirely from hewn green wood.  I used what I had to hand, so there are turned green ash parts, sawn Turkey oak bits, and some pine for the larger pieces to keep it portable. As I was making it, C-H jnr was asking me what I was doing.  Interestingly, he has a D-K book "A farm through time", and in there, at about 1000AD, is a picture with a shave horse looking almost exactly like mine ! He always thought I was a bit behind the times, now he's sure of it  

Brilliant!!

Now that the busiest of the growing season is over, it's time to get back to the workshop jobs list.

Top of the list is a clock for the living room. I've drawn up my design, inspired by the wooden patterns used to form sand moulds for the casting of iron. Making these was quite a skilled trade that features in my familiy history, and means I need to learn some new skills. And acquire a few new tools. I've tidied up some old gouges from e-bay, and because there are so many curved parts, I need a wooden frame or bow saw. Now I could just buy one, but - I've a nice bit of quarter-sawn English Wych Elm looking for a use ....

I may get around to starting the actual clock some time.

Those frame saws are quite historic, aren't they? I seem to remember there is one in Holman's Hunt's painting of Jesus asa boy in the carpenter's workshop, but I have a feeling they go back way before that (Before Holman Hunt, not Jesus...)

Actually, I think that they predate either, in the sense that they were used in Hellenistic Greece. I guess because they are a good, simple but effective design. Unlike the modern garden centre bow saw, which relies on spring in the steel frame to tension the blade. Simple yes, effective no. I have yet to find one that can be made to cut in the direction you want it to ! They usually can't exert enough tension, and the tooth line of the blade is quite a way below the fixing holes, so that keeping the blade straight is like trying to balance a pencil on you finger - it wants to flop one way or the other, not stay straight !

Finished my saw last night:


I'm particularly pleased that I could make it with just junk box stuff, and entirely with hand tools, except for a pillar drill to make the holes for the pins that hold the blade.  The wood is from a wych elm which once stood by the hall at Wimpole estate.

It will take hacksaw blades, but the one you see I made by hand using steel fron an old worn out hardpoint saw, shaped with a hacksaw and saw file.  Lots of patience needed !

That is just beautiful - I hope it's as nice to use as it looks.

Yes, it's beautifully crafted. I can't quite work out how you use it. Does the string at the top tighten up to put more tension on the blade?

You've got it. The string at the top is a couple of turns - in this case, of ordinary cotton string from the kitchen drawer. I think hemp cord might be more traditional. The tightening stick or toggle is slid up a bit so that it can be turned without hitting the frame, twisting the string and tensioning the blade. To stop it unravelling. slide the toggle to one end so that it stops against the frame. The frame is all held together by the tension - there is no glue; a tenon on each end of the horizontal bar goes into a mortice in each vertical. The mortice is cut a bit long, and a curved shoulder allows some pivoting, so the saw can accomodate a bit of variability in blade length.

The two handles, and the blade, can be rotated in the frame to saw at any orientation. Because it is a narrow blade, you can saw gentle curves.

It's beautiful!

I've been kept out of the workshop by family togetherness () , then a cold for the past week, but hope to get back to work the coming weekend. I am still working on my clock.  Cutting the curvy bits out of 1 1/4" oak with the saw was quite easy !  Very pleased with it.  Lots more shaping and joining to do yet though.

I've got distracted from my clock on to making a christmas gift for another woodworker. I'm not going to let the cat out of the bag too much before christmas, but it needed a blade hardened and tempered ... now getting the thing to red heat and quenching in oil is a job for outdoors. But to temper it, the whole thing needs to be heated to a uniform ~210C. Tricky with a blowtorch or charcoal fire. But easy if you decamp to the kitchen, and into the oven with it ! Ten minutes in a hot oven - gas mark 6-7, then let cool.

I did mention that Mrs C-H is remarkably tolerant, didn't I ?