Spoon rack

I have been meaning to get round to making a spoon rack for ages, so I finaly got round to making one over Easter. One reason that I have never made one is because I wanted to look into the different designs, There is alot of different styles over the years but one that I really liked was from a picture on Robin Woods blog of a spoon rack from St Fagans folk life museum.

I really liked how simple it was in design, and using found materials from my garden, Willow from my tree and an off cut of Willow from some fire wood creates such a functional but simple piece.



I used the bit and brace on the low bench and using some pins it stops the wood from spinning round as you drill.





I was totally amazed when after seeing me use the bit and brace, Elizabeth picked it up and started to use it perfectly! No bit in of course, I reckon she's a natural!.



I cut a shoot from my Willow tree to use as the handle for the rack and shaped the ends to fit the holes in the base.



I used a couple of thorns from the garden to secure the handle to the base of the rack by making a small hole for the thorn to go through.



And here is the finished rack.

I cut out slots rather than drill holes for the spoons to sit in as most of my spoons handles are quite wide.



I love this style of rack and with the spoons hung on it its design looks stunning yet so simple!.

Sheath for the Viking axe.

I made a sheath for the Svante Djarv viking axe yesterday, like all of my tools I like them having a sheath and like the ones I made for my other axes and my adze I have used scrap leather that I had lying around. The scraps were bits of leather that I had experimented tooling on, so I used the back of the leather instead of the tooling side.



Its very rustic with the leather cord tie to keep the sheath in place but it will serve its purpose to protect the edge.

Plum spoon.

My mother asked me if I could make her a spoon the other day, so as if by chance one of our jobs this week was to prune some trees and one was a prunus simonii, I thought that it would be fitting to use some of its wood to make her spoon.















Its very nice wood to carve. Hope you like it Mum.

Viking axe by Svante Djarv

My new axe, its a hand forged viking axe by Svante Djarv, it's design is bassed on an actual Viking find, it weighs 1.5 kg, its Elm handle is 33 cm long and the bit length is 16 cm.



I have tried it out today and it certainly has some clout, the weight of the head is very good at removing the wood quickly, it also has a good slicing action due to the large sloping edge.







I found that the Viking axe is going to be a great axe for large bowls as it really removes the waste wood very well but also if held towards the head it has very good control for finer carving.







This is a quality tool indeed!. I think that I will enjoy using this axe for years to come, its very well made, its very sharp and holds an edge very well, its weight packs a serious punch but feels very good in the hand, very nicely balanced due to its handle shape and the service that Elsa and Svante provide are excellent!.

The woods at Middlewood

The woodland at Middlewood, at the north east corner of the site, is located on the site of Worsley New Hall, built by the 1st Earl of Ellesmere in 1840-45, and the terraced gardens which were constructed in conjunction with the Hall and laid out by William Nesfield. Under the care of some very well respected head gardeners the gardens became well established, were regularly the subject of press articles, and were widely visited by the aristocracy and Queen Victoria. The Hall was abandoned after the second world war, subsequently demolished, and the gardens fell into decline.



This is a Larch plantation that was planted in 1955 after the slip road from the M60 was built, it was originaly intended for comercial production but was later canceled, I love this part of the wood, its perfectly straight line planting and this huge Beech which stands out from the Larch, evokes a very carming reaction from me.

This is the lake which was the lower part of the garden, its a stunning lake which has a very nice ice house.






During the winter, ice and snow would be taken into the ice house and packed with insulation, often straw or sawdust. It would remain frozen for many months, often until the following winter, and could be used as a source of ice during summer months.

There are some fantastic trees in the wood which is mainly broadleaf appart from the Larch plantation and the overgrown gardens. But this Sweet Chestnut really stands out, I'm not too sure of its age or history but I'm sure it could tell a few storys from over the years.
Next to it for scale is my friend Wayland.



There is also this fantastic Beech, which has grown in an odd way.



Its twisted branches and stunted height make it very story book like.



I couldnt help myself and had to have a climb on its twisted fussed branches.

I really like this woodland which does have some age and history which date back to the 1770s and camping there is always a memorable experience.

New spoon Laburnum

Just thought that I'd show some pics of the finished spoon that I started over last weekend at Middlewood, its made from Laburnum. I am really liking carving from this wood at the moment, its stunning stuff, and flowing lines really suit it thanks to its figuring.

A weekend in the woods

I've just got back from a weekend in the woods with the BCUK crowd, it was a great weekend and the the company just the weather was fantastic.

I took my Teepee and stove as its not had much use of late,I got there friday evening and by the time I got set up it was dark.



Its a good site and the woodland has some very nice trees.
I had pitched in an open area of the wood as the ground was right for the tent.







A shot of one section of the wood.



I took some more photos of the woodland and some of its big trees but I'll put them in another post.

I managed to get a bit of carving done and started a spoon from Laburnum.



I'll get some more pics up when its finished.

Theres nothing like getting out into the woods for a few nights.

Adze work on the low bench

I've been trying out the new low bench today, I added a couple more holes for a Kuksa project.


I started by using the adze to see how it holds, I made 4 smaller pegs to hold the wood.



It holds well but a hand supporting the piece does help as the motion of the adze striking can tend to make the wood try to rise out of the hold, this is mainly because this piece of wood is light, larger pieces hold better because of their weight.





I also tried it out for gouge work.





I must say that again it works well and holds reasonable well even when the gouge is struck with the mallet.



I am thinking of adding a slot in the centre of the bench for a clamp or log dog to really hold the smaller pieces of wood in place.

The good thing about the low bench is you are able to move around the work, some other holding devices you have to move the work around, I suppose its just depends on personal preference, I dont mind moving the work around so I sometimes use a log that has been cut at angles so the work is on a slope, this is good for adze work, you can use pegs either side of the work to keep it from moving but really the pressure of you holding the work can be enough, also slight lips can be cut into the bottom slope cut to give grip stopping the work from moving.



There are many clever ways of holding the work in place and it is just down to personal preference and what works well for you, trial and error and practice.