Friday, 25 June 2021

Furniture And Cabinet Making Magazine

 I have written for a few magazines now, one with a monthly slot about smallholding machinery, but I've always wanted to write for a wood working magazine. When I was an apprentice I'd buy big stacks of second hand wood working magazines and take them to read at break time - fair to say I was a little obsessed! 

For me the one magazine that seems more like one you'd keep on the shelf was Furniture And Cabinet Making Magazine so I was really excited when they asked me to write a piece on my workbench with the carving on the front. It's in the current issue number 299

I had great fun writing a article for them and even ended up carving a fresh piece of strapwork for the photos (shows I should always take more. 


The article ran to 6 pages and it's been great to see my work in there. Hopefully this will lead to some more writing work and tie it to my trade, I've already had another accepted for a different woodworking magazine so watch this space! 

Monday, 21 June 2021

52 Weeks Of Carving - Week 23 - Toolbox

 This week I've managed to carve a tool box to sell on my Etsy store



I'd been looking to make a few carved items to add to my store, so I feel this is a good start. I'd also like to do seed boxes with carved fronts as well. 

Thursday, 17 June 2021

52 Weeks Of Carving - Week 22 - More flowers

 This post is for last week - I just didn't get chance to put it up (I was recovering from a busy day on Sunday). 

I've decided that some more repetitive carving would help cement some skills, so I'm making another tool box. This one is to sell once I've finished it and becomes perfect practice to help increase my speed. 



I've only made a start but carving both sides at the same time has huge time saving and it's been a nice job to do in the workshop in the morning before the heat of the afternoon makes it unbearable!

Finished piece to be on etsy soon then move on to something else. I have plans to maybe try again on another oil stone box like one I made 10 years ago

Sunday, 6 June 2021

52 Weeks Of Carving - Week 21 - Daughter's Scythe Peening Pony

 Had a random week this week, but managed to start to learn to a skill I'd always wanted to learn how to Scythe. 

I'm going to talk about that in my other blog, but it involved meeting a very interesting chap who teaches people how to use Austrian scythes and how to sharpen them. Part of the sharpening process is called peening, which is the cold treatment of the metal by hitting it on a small anvil. To do this well you need a rest for it and this little set up is sometimes referred to as a "peening pony".


My eldest daughter using her "new" wooden plane given to her by a friend.

As soon as I saw it I thought that the small stool like "pony" would be an ideal project to build with my daughter. It was a great little project using fallen branches from one of our old oak trees and some scraps out of the firewood pile. When it was nearly done she mentioned about carving something onto the front of it. 


So I suggested she sketch out a design and then we could see about putting it on the pony. She looked at the scythe resting outside and drew a simple design with it's shape. I asked her what tool she would like to use first - "V tool" was her reply, she's going to be better than me soon! 


This was her first time using the small (ish) carving mallet I made, as it was oak she was carving into. She went slow and steady, didn't rush and only made one little mistake. I loved how well she used the mallet for the rhythmic tapping needed to outline a picture. 


When she had lined in I gave her a gouge (14mm No6) to just lower the background around where she carved. The only thing I did was help keep it stable as she carved and trim two bits that were tricky to remove from the background. 


It's fair to say she was as pleased as punch with it! A lovely simple carving on a piece of oak. 



I love having something like this personalised in such a lovely way. She's always so keen on this little project and it was great to find the time this afternoon to make this with her. 

So not exactly my carving this week but I hope you'll forgive me for that! 
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