Large Oak Frame

In what must have been a moment of weakness I agreed to make a green oak frame this week for someone that needed it asap. The frame was to measure 5m by 4.3m in a H frame with mullions on the top section.

Some big bits of wood. 5 of these were over 5m long and and so heavy that I couldn't even roll them over on my own

Looking at the plan it didn't seem too bad, just lots of mortise and tenons to cut, but the job was made much harder by the size of the timber. Some of it was 200mmx300mm section and I couldn't even roll it over.
Luckily I had a large work area as by father had cleaned out the grain shed ready for harvest but hadn't started combining yet. Also I had a forklift to help move the timbers around, but it was still tricky to move them round on my own and it turned out to be a really hard weeks work with some late nights chucked in to get it finished on time.

The A4 plan I had to work off

A homemade hook to roll the beams on my own

The chain mortiser didn't come with a clamp big enough so I had to improvise

Lifting one of the smaller timbers

Checking a mortice and tenon fit

The only way to move these beams

Chiseling up a tenon

Chain mortiser makes it a little faster but they still need a lot of cleaning out

My only worry with this frame was the fact that there are 4 mortise and tenons I couldn't check to see if they fitted. This was because they were far to big for me to handle with the forklift to get them to line up (you'd need a crane). I checked them load so times so there should be no problems.
I also drilled out for the pegs in the mortise side of the timbers only, leaving the hole in the tenons to be drilled on site. This means that if there is any discrepancy with the building it's being fitted to then it can be altered slightly before they are drilled (as the building it's for is a couple of hundred miles away there is no way I can check it myself).

I'm sure carpenters have sat like this for hundreds of years whilst cleaning out mortises

This was a hard week, back breaking week, and I can really feel it this morning. But the frames finished and ready to be shipped to it's new home. Hopefully they'll send me a picture once its been erected. Lighter work next week please!

Axe WorkShop

I've just come back from a great weekend away camping up in a wood in staffordshire learning how to use axes. It was snowing when we got there but that only added to the fun!

We also made charcoal over the weekend and you can read about that here.

A very snowy tent

 

First lesson - learning not to embed the axe in your leg - an important lesson!



Splitting wood safely



Chopping down some small trees that needed to be removed



Learning to tie faggots using a woodmans clamp



Base camp for the weekend



Jonny showing a method of sharpening an axe



A extra safe and precise way of splitting wood - good for blanks for tent pegs



Some rough tent pegs



Dan making a mallet



Some spoon carving lessons



A rough shaped mallet

The group stood with our measured "cord" of wood

It was a great weekend, I learnt some new skills and practised old one. I also got to spend quality time with my brother doing what we both love.

This was our second axe course (find a link to our first one here) run by different firms and they were for completely different things so it would be unfair to compare the two. This one was from a bush craft point of view where the other was more to practise the traditional skills of the men that used to fell trees with axes for a living. 

This was our third course with Survival school and we weren't disappointed. It was nice to be outside and dedicate yourself to learning bush craft skills for the weekend with no other distractions. Going back to basics is great fun and although some of the things you can make straight off the axe are a little rough round the edges its a great skill to develop and learn and one I hope I'll be using more in the future (even if it's just to split fire wood) and I'll use the knowledge I've picked up to help me. The instructor were great making the whole weekend fun as well as some good company from the other students. I love weekends like this!

Green Woodwork Stool

Every night I chuck my work clothes on a stool next to the chest-of-drawers, giving it little thought.

Humble little stool with some great memories

But I remember I had a great weekend making that stool.

For part of my 21st birthday present my mum and dad paid for me to go on a green woodworking course (in fact it's only a couple of miles from where I live now!), many of my friends were only interested in drinking at this age, but my obsession lied somewhere else completely!

Well used pole lathe

 I couldn't get enough of woodwork at the time (and still can't), I'd do it all day, read about it in my breaks and think about it on the drive home, so it was a great present to give me but mum was worried as it was "an introduction to grren woodwork".

But the course itself was brilliant as it was completely different to what I was doing in the week and taught me so much about the material I use. I got to use a pole lathe for the first time and a shave horse, as well as tools I'd never even picked up before.

Shave horse

 The stool I made was a fairly simple design, Ash legs split from a log then turned green on the pole lathe, which were then kiln dried overnight to fit into an air dried elm top that I cut using a large frame saw with an old bit of band saw blade in. I remember them saying they couldn't believe how fast I cut out the 2" thick elm, but I was used to spending most days sawing wood!

A happy group at the end of the weekend, some 8 years ago!

That weekend taught me a lot about a different aspect of woodwork from how I earn my living.

It's things like this that make me realise I'll never get bored of woodwork!