The Lathe

I've been on a journey. Even when I'm not walking the path, I have been focused on it. It seems like nearly everything I have done over the last 9 months has been leading up to becoming a wood turner. At the beginning of the year I joined the APTGW - The Bodgers. I have started turning on other peoples spindle lathes and got to grips with chisels and gouges. There are allot of helpful people who have shared lots of their time and knowledge to help me. I attended the Bodgers Ball in May and began infiltrating the inner circles of turners... My man on the inside (my mate Owen) gave me some pointers on lathe construction and armed with a chainsaw I set out cutting up a Sycamore log into the bed of the lathe. A couple of ash logs for the headstocks and 2 pointy bits of steel and we're pretty much ready to go right? Almost... Of course any journey worth taking has a struggle or two... Making the tools (that you can't buy in the shops) was the easy bit, getting the tools to do their job properly was the major issue... So after a bit of forging and hardening and tempering there was repeat grinding and sharpening sessions... I have ended up with four that are all working fairly well... More on hooks in a post to follow...

Anyway, incredibly, on one fine Sunday morning in September, everything came together... The final results were a bit ropey but I learnt allot about the process and it showed me where I need to regrind my tools (sigh). Since then I have done a smidge more turning and been on a brilliant course with Sharif Adams (more to follow!)

I feel this could be something all consuming...

Bowl 1 - Cherry, about 4 inches across. Lots of tear out and a jagged rim. I'm still gonna keep it forever...

Bowl 2 - Rowan, a bit bigger but just as bad.

Bowl 3 - Beech, turned under Sharif's guidance and a massive improvement.

Bowls 3 and 4 - Alder, turned 2 weeks after Sharif's course and benefiting from his tuition. I really like the spalting in the Alder and it turns really nicely with a clean finish. The walls are a bit thick but they feel even.

Watch this space...

Blacksmithing with Dave Budd

A belated 21st birthday surprise for my brother (Jack) saw the Standens descending on rural Devon for a course in black smithing. Hosted by Dave Budd, the course was a three day axe making adventure. Starting with a piece of tool steel, we created a functioning hatchet with handle and sheath. All of this was done by hand on replica Iron-Age clay forges with hand powered air blowers or bellows. The outdoor workshop was really cool, set in the woods where we made camp. All food was carted in and cooked by yours truly for the hungry smiths. "Old Reliable" my dutch oven, did sterling service, even if I did over prepare. Personally I don't think its over the top to bring a cafetiere on a camping trip... We met our friend Will in the wood, he had managed to get from Preston to within about 5 miles of the wood before running out of diesel! On the last night we had a massive home made baked bean and jacket potato dinner with Will's lovely family and Jack kept everyone entertained with plenty of guitar playing.

The course was really interesting, covering all stages of tool making: forging, punching and drifting an eye, hardening, tempering, grinding and sharpening. We also made and fitted a handle of Ash and made a leather sheath to keep fingers safe! We even had a little time to make some ornaments which look great with a glistening coat of bees wax.

www.davebudd.com

The teacher at his forge.

Students listening diligently...

Some processes need an extra pair of hands. 

Forged and handled, grinding and sharpening left to do. 

First blood...

The finished articles. Left to right: Will's adze, Jack's axe, Dad's axe, my axe, Dave's axe.

Left to right: Will, Jack, Dave, me and Dad (Terry).

As if I need any more hobbies... This is a good one though, black smithing is so different from any craft I have done before. Its very natural and humble and earthy but it has a tantalising feel of industrialisation and a magic and alchemy of actively changing the material you work (on a molecular level), rather than just modifying it as you might do with wood. I'm looking forward to practicing when we can get a forge up and running...

Scoops

So after picking up a lovely scoop from Martin Hazell I made a few of my own. It's a different kettle of fish from carving a spoon; bigger here, shorter there.... Anyway, I'm not in a writing mood so here are some photos.

Birch salt spoons from Jan Harm's class at Spoonfest

Rowan coffee scoops

Update 10/11/14

Some Jan Harm inspired scoops from the side branches of a sapling birch.

Turned Spoons

So having joined the APTGW I decided to actually get on with some turning, what better project to practice on than spoons... The Birch is a little too shaky when it becomes thin but the Sycamore takes a nice finish, all little lessons along the path.

Although the overall effect offends some sensitive souls, I enjoy the process of turning and carving. I also like the contrast of the turned surfaces against the carved.

I have a few different plans in mind for turned treen projects so watch this space...

Update November 2014: A study in Rowan

Spoonfest 2013

I've written a brief overview of Spoonfest '14 here: Catch Up. Here are a few pics of the amazing spoons I came back with. And the ones I carved...

 An incredible turned sycamore ladle by Owen Thomas

owenthomaswoodcraft.com

   

Back and handle carved away

Turn marks visible within bowl

Elm cooking spoon by John Mullaney 

johns-woodnstuff.blogspot.co.uk

Almond serving spoon by Tom Bartlett. I badgered him into swapping with me as I loved the colours and the flowing lines. The flick of the handle and the prow of the stem are really interesting and I plan to imitate it.

carvedspoons.blogspot.co.uk

Elm burr scoop by Martin Hazell

Finally some of my efforts with lovely water-stained Rowan.

A Catch Up Part 2

Here is a reward for reading Part 1... Pictures of some of the spoons I have carved in the last 6 months.

Some big servers, top to bottom - Poplar, Alder, Birch and Birch. Below are some close ups.

A Birch Kasa/scoop

My favourite spoon design below in various variations and mediums...

Pickle spoon / tea spoon varients

A Catch Up

Its been a long time since I've been blogging proper, so I should have plenty to say... Life has been busy at work and at play but I have managed to shoehorn in plenty of woodworking over the past few months. Here is a breakdown...

Bodging

I have joined the APTGW - VERY exciting. I have been spooning and turning and making my own lathe, more on that in a post to follow. I also went to the Bodgers Ball in Herstmonceux, Sussex. I met some nice people and took sneaky photos of plenty of lathes for inspiration. The competition entries were very interesting too for inspiration and ideas. I have been doing lots of camping for various weekend meets at woodland around the county. The Kent group puts on lots of meets for locals where there are lots of like-minded people who have plenty of knowledge to share. www.bodgers.org.uk

Spoonfest

Spoons took a bit of a back seat as I struggled with time management but I got to Spoonfest this year in Edale, Derbyshire. This is always a great weekend where I made lots of new friends, caught up with old ones, spent too much money and carved and swapped some spoons. As you would suspect, lots of nerdy spoon-chat went on and plenty of spoons were carved. A surprise contender for favourite spoon wood was also found - Rowan - one to watch out for. The standard of carving this year was incredible with carvers from all over the world. Highlights for me included a Bark Craft demonstration by Keith Mathews and a chip carving workshop with Simon Hill - The King in the North (of chip carving). Lots and lots of ideas to try and some tips and tweaks of my designs from Spoon Doctor Jamie. Well done to Barn and Robin for organising the event for the third time. www.spoonfest.co.uk

Spoonclub

Unfortunately life has prevented me from visiting more than once, but I managed to get to one meet of the Herts Spoon Club. Nice people and nice soup. Bit of a jaunt up from Kent but I'll try to get up there again if possible. As with Spoonfest it's great to see other peoples work for a change.

Sweden

A pilgrimage of Slojd led us to Stockholm which had some amazing museums including the Vasa Museet, Nordisca Museet and Skansen, with forays out to the ancient Viking town of Birka. Unfortunately although the museums are incredible the light levels inside generally were not and as such the photos are poor... Select highlights below.

Skansen's resident Bison

Reindeer milking bowl

A collection of Sami antler and wooden spoons

Sami knives

A lovers bench by Jogge Sundquvist

Relics from the Vasa - 1628