A Trip To Yandles

My little brother and I went down to Devon yesterday to visit the woodworking show at Yandles. We both had a really good day, although the tools were more aimed at the type of woodwork I do rather than the green woodwork my brother is into.

That said brother brought a gorgeous hand made travisher (I've no doubt it will be on his blog soon - David Alviti Rustic Creations), where as I brought some High Speed Steel to make some turning tools, ferrules for making new handles, a pair of folding trestles to go in the van, a small microplane so I can try barley twists at some point and a selection of turning blanks so I can practice making some more bowls.

There was a lot of people demonstrating, and it was interesting talking to different people, one that really interested me was a man hewing oak in the traditional way with an axe. I was impressed by how flat, straight and square he managed to get it, although it didn't look like easy work in yesterdays heat!

Back in my workshop I've just started to make a platter/shallow bowl out of a piece of alder burr I've had kicking round for years and considering how many knots are in it it seems to be turning quite easy at the moment. Now the evenings are getting lighter I need to spend more time down the shed, but sometimes its the last thing you want to do when you've been on site all day!

Adventures of a Bacon Curer

This is not a woodworking post but I read these books and fell in love with them. I read them both too fast (my wife is always moaning about my consumption of books!) and although technically not brilliantly written (more how you'd say it rather than write it) they are just lovely to read.

These books are about Maynard Davis, a man love who loves his trade and the right way of doing things. They are basically memoirs of his career and follow him from starting as an apprentice all the way to retirement. He is known as the last apprenticed bacon curer and he doesn't want his trade to die with him.

The book is made up of lots of little snippets of his life, all the stories are interesting, some funny others moving. I really felt an affinity with Maynard and I'm sure anyone who has studied (and loved) a trade will as well, although it does make me long to be a part of the past I know I never can be!

A Tale Of Two Hammers

Anyone who knows me knows I love my tools, almost to the point of obsession (I think its actually well past this point but never mind) but there has been a chink in my armour. When I first started on a building site I was told I could do a couple of little jobs if I brought in a hammer and a tape measure so I went off to a hardware shop and brought them (and so began my apprenticeship...), the hammer was a Stanley Steel Master and the foreman I was working with said it was the one he used. I was proud of my purchase and I even managed to ignore all the "advice" on how to break it in (cruel tricks to play on a youngster). Ever since then though I've had to justify my choice of hammer on site as it isn't an Estwing like every other carpenter uses. I've been told horror stories of the heads flying off Steel Masters as they're not one piece construction and doing serious damage on their way back down to earth.

(old Steel Master head, well used and looked after)

My Mate Dan, who I sometimes work with, was the worst (or is that best) at taking the piss. "Why don't you get yourself a real hammer?" He'd quip. "When you can do with yours what I can do with mine, then you can comment." Was my normal reply, or something a little ruder perhaps, but all in jest. But for all his piss taking I was taken aback when he came over this weekend for my birthday and said he'd got me a present - out of his bag he pulls a new Estwing hammer. I was very touched and not sure what to say. "It was getting embarrassing working with a man who got his hammer out of a cracker, so I thought I'd get you a real one" A lovely present I thought, and one I will use for many years to come. I've enjoyed nine years with my Stanley Steel Master hammer but now its time to retire it to the workshop and break in a new one, I'd love to know how many nails my old one has knocked in (and bent over!). I did text Dan Monday morning to say thanks again for the present and how my hammer had already done more work that morning than the total his had done!

New Axes

When my brother got his Gransfors Burks carving axe I decided there and then I wanted an axe made by this company, so when he and my sister asked what I wanted for my birthday I hinted towards this (as a present from them both as they are expensive). When I received it this weekend I wasn't disappointed. Not only had I got the Gransfor large forest axe but my brother had restored an old axe, making a handle the same shape as his carving axe and sharpening it up nicely. I need to put them both into use now and make something (or chop something down!), I quickly used the forest axe on Sunday to chop off a few branches from a tree in the garden and it's really well balanced and so so sharp - I just hope I can keep it that way!

Thanks Dave and Em!

Garage doors and nuts

I've had another varied week. From demolition in Birmingham, to changing kitchen hinges and putting up notice boards in an office, to hanging a pair of garage doors for a neighbour across the road. Still keeps me on my toes.

I was quite please with the garage doors, a pair of door is always more of a pain than hanging two doors separately. Getting an even gap down the middle whilst keeping the gap even round the outside is enough to make you swear (especially if its an old frame your fitting to, like the one today). Still he was happy and I enjoyed hanging them, although it would have been easier if he didn't want butt hinges and would have had T-hinges instead. I even applied the knotting for him (as I could tell he probably wouldn't have bothered) and filled the nail holes in the door stop.

At wood turning this week I turned a Banksia Nut, my wife popped it in my shopping basket when we were in Axminster last week as she thought it looked interesting.

Interesting it was, but I'm not a hundred percent convinced, I think I like symmetry too much for me to love it. It was also dusty and horrible to turn, still it's something different and I'll get one over on my brother when I ask him what it is (unless he reads this first!)

Worcestershire Woodin'

After our tree felling course I wanted to learn a little more about coppicing and the history of it. I was recommended to read Worcestershire Woodin' - Hazel woods in a nutshell, the recommendation was biased though as it was from the author!

The book isn't a how-to but more a way things were told by someone who had coppicing in their blood, seven generations had worked and coppiced the same woodlands and Geoff Osborne was to be the last. The book is transcripts of conversations with Mr Osborne about what his family used to do. Talking to Ron and Richard, (the two that put the book together) Mr Osborne had long ago decided that coppicing was a dieing trade and when they asked him questions he said "why do you want to know this? Nobody wants it anymore. It's not needed is it?". They thought it was and managed to record and write these peals of wisdom before they were lost forever.

The book isn't a long read (about an hour), but it's really interesting and has many nuggets of information about coppicing and the way the countryside was in the past. It's told mainly through colourful characters and stories; illustrated with hundreds of photos. This book will sit nicely on my shelf along with my other woodland and woodworking books, a worthwhile read.

From Coppicing to Birmingham

I do like the variety that my life seems to bring.

The week before last I spent with my brother coppicing close to where we grew up, on a beautiful river bank coppicing trees as part of a grant program. My brother's a tree surgeon and it's always enjoyable working with him, I always seem to learn lots and its interesting seeing timber from a different perspective.

I even fell my first tree all by myself (with a chainsaw, this was before the axe course - sorry the posts aren't in order).

Then skip forward a week and I'm just taking on a job in Birmingham that's been offered to me. Luckily it's in the middle of a park (the only reason I agreed to do it - I can pretend I'm not in the city!) gutting and then restoring a turn of the century park keepers cottage into offices and mess rooms. I'm going to be on site as a working Foreman and a carpenter so it should bring more variety my way as well as a full diary for a couple of months. The place needs a lot of work but it's always interesting working on old properties - you never know what you might find. Also on a clear frosty morning the park looks quite nice. You'd never guess we were working in a city!

Chainsaw Milling

This is a continuation from the last post.

The second day of the course was chainsaw milling, as my brother has just brought a chainsaw mill we were keen to learn a few tips.

It stated off fine, a short talk on fuel mixes and chains then fixing the guide frame and cutting the top piece like butter. Sliding it off revealed beautiful grain under it, I love that we're the first people to see the tree like that.

One thing we did learn was not to clamp the frame of the mill to near to the end of the bar on the chainsaw as this is what the instructor did and ceased up the chain, preventing us from milling anymore. It didn't matter though as we'd seen what we wanted to see and we even got to take some oak home in the process. My little van was unimpressed with the weight of three slabs of green oak on the way home though!

In all it was a lovely weekend where we learned loads and found muscles we didn't even know we had. I always think a much better way to learn about history is to go and do it. I think now though I want to learn more about coppicing and how to use the wood you gain from it, I've already got some more courses in mind!

I had to put this last picture in as it's like a painting of the past. I think its great that people are still practicing these crafts and for me this picture sums up the beauty of a coppiced woodland.

Tree Felling with an Axe and Chain Saw milling

My brother pointed this course out to me from the Green Wood Centre website and I thought it sounded like fun and as my brother had just brought a chainsaw mill he thought it might be a good place to get a few tips.
I went thinking that we wouldn't really get to fell a very big tree, just something to get a rough idea.

How wrong I was.

We started on a sliver birch about 12" in diameter and the other half the group (there were 6 on the course plus 3 instructors) tackled a tree of about the same size. This was so we could practice our axe skills learning what angle to cut at and how to place it safely without it slipping and cutting your boot (or worse). We did this whole tree with axes, no crosscut saw and it was a lovely feeling as it fell over, 180 degrees from where we had first wanted it to go!

The main tree we were to drop was a large oak, 30 inches in diameter at the base. The first cut was put in with a two man crosscut saw and then the "birds mouth" was put in with an axe, everyone taking their turn.

The final cut was then put in with the two man cross cut saw and although it sounds a little big headed my brother and I were the best on this. We could keep and even rhythm easily and at one point the rest of the class were going to place money on which brother would give in first! it took quite a while to drop the oak but it was a great feeling when it did fall, as it went it made that great sound you only get when a big tree falls over.

The hard work wasn't over though as we had to limb it up (sned it up) all with the axe and chop through the main trunk ready for milling on Sunday. Again my brother and me took great pleasure in pushing each other to cut through the trunk getting a big cheer when I made the final chop! I love the picture at the end and you can understand the pride the woodsmen in the past would have had when they fell a big tree by hand.

I will do the milling in another post as I've realised how big this one is!

I might give my tool box a wash...

The second half of this week I was back on the Gypsies site putting fascia and soffit on. This is a job that can take just as long as putting up the roof, all the rafters have to be cut and battens and noggins added to carry the UPVC.
On Thursday the sun was shinning (first day this year where I haven't worn a hat!) and things were looking good. That was until I got my toolbox out of the van, turned my back on it for a second, only to turn back round and see the bricklayer's dog piss on it!
I was unimpressed.
I was even more unimpressed when the Gypsies dog decided that he to needed to mark his territory as well and copied the first. The trouble was everyone else on site thought this was really rather funny, I told them I was laughing on the outside but crying inside! Never mind, I'll give it a scrub today and plot my revenge on the two devil dogs!

Back to the soffit - I'm not a fan of plastic, least of all when its trying to look like something else, but this oak effect UPVC looked quite like oak!
Fitting the soffit seemed like a never ending job, especially when we had to scribe it all round the corbeling above the windows, and each piece is only 300mm wide so the long sides of the house took a fair amount of time to nail up. By the end of Friday we had all the soffit complete and some of the longer lengths of fascia were up - John will have to finish on his own on Monday as I'm off working with my brother, felling trees, should be a bit different!

Up on the roof!

If I'm honest it's been a while since I've done any proper roofing (besides sheds and porches) so I was quite keen when I got offered a days work giving a mate a hand to finish putting a roof on. He'd put all of the large trusses on the previous two days, but due to there being a large open plan area in the middle of the house, the central section had to be "cut on" as the large attic trusses couldn't span across this as it would close it in. This would be really difficult on your own as holding and fixing these rafters is nearly impossible without a little help.
We also added a gable over the front door and used diminishing trusses to cut it back into the main roof, this goes on faster than you'd think. Lastly we added the gable ladders so the roof can stick out past the brick work. These were really awkward to fit as we had little to stand on and ended up like a couple of monkeys working across the roof. It was the first time I'd worked with this mate and I was quite impressed with him and the amount he'd managed to do on his own the days before (he's also working with a broken wrist!)
This weeks work has not been so glamours. doing some maintenance work on a school in Sutton Coldfield replacing two rotten "beams" for a company I've not worked for before (although one of my best mates now works there - hence getting the couple of days work). In the end the job wasn't as bad as we thought as the beams were just a 3x2 frame clad in ply, it was tricky not to do any more damage to the old perspex roof but we managed it in two days when the firm we were working for had allowed quite a bit more time than that.
I think the whole lean-to should come down as the rest of it wasn't in a much better state. I really felt for this school, all the buildings were wooden and everything was rotten, you could easily kick your was through a wall if you wanted to.

MDF Pantry Unit

Not the most exciting of project. MDF is not the nicest stuff to work with (as I've said before) but it's a cheap material and makes a custom unit affordable.

This unit was made out of just over one sheet of MDF, total material cost £12 plus paint and glue. All the components were rebated into each other with the router (trenched in) so that the 1/2" (12mm) thickness board was then strong enough to carry all the cans and bottles it needed to over its 30" width. To make sure all the groves align I rout the complete sheet first then cut the sides from it, no chance of any errors that way the sides and the back have to match up!

I then glued a complete frame around the front to make it stronger and to make it look a bit more substantial (also stops the tins falling off).

The down side to a project like this is that it ties my little workshop up during the finishing. It has to be sealed, undercoated twice and then glossed - that's over four days, with drying times, where I can't make a dust. Still it looks OK and its a practical unit that I'm sure will be used for many years

Ash Bowl and a Hobbit Door

I had a small job this week to make a pair of half sized doors for an outside shed, which houses a pressure washer. Nothing very fancy, just ledge and braced door made out of TG&V, the job was made a little bit harder by the left hand side block work being (very) out of plumb. They looked good when they were done and it was a nice job in the February sunshine.

A more fun project this week was turning my first bowl with the grain running across the piece. This has been a little project at wood turning classes for the last couple of weeks and I managed to finish it on Thursday night, it's made out of ash, sanded to 600 grit and finished with Liberon finishing oil. I quite like the shape but it's not a very practical bowl because of it!I also managed to obey the main rule that my wood turning teacher preaches which is to have no evidence of how the piece was held on the lathe.

A Heavy Project

Before Christmas I was asked to make a FLB gate (Framed, Ledged & Braced) for a customer who I'd been working for. With the snow and Christmas getting in the way I only managed to get the timber from the saw mill the other day (sapele).

The cost was quite high because they wanted it to match their existing gates which were 55mm thick.

The project took a little longer than I would have liked due to the fact that the stiles were 125mm wide - more than my little morticer could handle, they all had to be finished off by hand.

The gate looks nice sanded up, but it's so heavy and difficult to move - I'm not sure I'll be able to hang it by myself (or even get it to the job in my little van)!