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Robin started this as a demonstration piece on our last 'developers' course when everybody decided they wanted to make one. It has sat in a half finished state for well over a month but thankfully as it's some sort of willow it was still workable when I finally got around to whittling it. As the...

I want to get Ollie (age 11) a hammock and a bivi bag for Christmas. Does anyone have any recommendations about what to get and where to get them from? Personally, I like my campervan so am clueless about such things :D If anyone has anything surplus in good condition they want to sell or trade...

A Scandinavian-style serving spoon with a hook on the back so you can hook it on the edge of your pan: You do the hook by leaving a lump on the back of the handle and drilling a hole through it (cordless drill - very trad craft :rolleyes: ) Before you ask, no, I didn't axe that one out...

I've become very lazy. With Robin being so efficient with the axe and so prolific I usually have a stack of spoons waiting to be finished and rarely find time to pick up an axe myself. However, having spent so much time teaching carving this year I decided it was time to start making spoons from...

Robin and I just made this little beauty - I love the way the rim went all wobbly as it dried ... It is made from burr alder - it's the first time I've worked really burry wood and it was surprisingly easy as you can cut it in any direction. It does tend to be a bit chippy at the edges...

I've been meaning to make a long handled ladle to use with my big soup pan I feed people from when we run courses. After our last course, John - Rosco on here - gave me one he had made a while back (well we swapped it for a knife). By his own admission it needed a bit more work, but in reality...

For the last 18 or so months I have been working with Grace Horne (from British Blades) and various Sheffield knife makers studying how folding knives are made and now we have a folding knives web site which some of you might be interested in. I'll be honest and say its main purpose is to...

We have just had two German craftsmen staying with us for a fortnight and they built us a beautiful timber frame 'shed' next to the house for us to use as a log store come bicycle store come somewhere for smokers to lurk when it's raining. (This photo was taken before the roof beams were put on...

It was our daughter's turn to cook tonight so she followed Bodge's oatcake tutorial. (Although ours of course are the Derbyshire rather than the Staffordshire variety.) The outcome was ... The mixture was initially a bit thick and needed more liquid. This was probably because we have...

Some video for you from our spoon carving weekend at Chopwell Wood here (There's also some images in another thread) It was a lot of fun and the whole family had a great time. If you're up in the North East I can highly recommend Chopwell as a bushcraft location, it's a beautiful place and...

We made him quite a few years ago and he returns this time of year every year ... "The Great Kinder Beer Barrel Challenge" was thought up by a couple of local guys when they were down the pub one evening and the beer went off. They discussed how far it would be to get another barrel from...

Ollie went up to Robin's workshop and firstly did a bit of metal bashing ... then some grinding looking good Robin found a bit of yew for the handle and stuck it on, then Ollie whittled it to shape and the finished knife Pretty cool for an eleven year old, don't you think? Nicola

Robin's latest toy ... an American broad axe. I can only just lift it... Robin's made of sterner stuff (he just had to out-do me with the shirt as well :rolleyes: ) A fine addition to the axe collection I think! Nicola

Before CNC routers were invented a very simple bit of technology did the job - a parser. I was filming a folding knife maker at Taylor's Eye Witness in Sheffield yesterday and Grace who I work with had a go. Here's the bits; a breast plate, a bow, a couple of parsers and the template - this...

Spam made this, not me but I liked it so much he said I could post some pictures. I think he said he first saw a picture of one in a Ray Mears book ... When you first see it you can't imagine how it stays together, but it's like one of those kids wooden puzzles. The one little wedge holds...

Robin and I made this at a British Blades bushcrafty do last weekend. Just oiled it up and I'm rather pleased with it :D and it fits nicely in the hand too I'd like to make these to sell, but took rather a lot of time even though we're both quite fast carvers. Next step is to try with...

My ducklings are only a few days old, but they are already capable of making a huge mess. They mix their food with their water, spread it over the floor, poop in it, roll around in it, then bake themselves under their heat lamp. The result is very crusty ducklings or, as a friend described it...

I have a dozen duck eggs in an incubator and they just started to pip: I've never played mum before. The hens I used to keep were such good broodies I never needed to, but my new ducks are young and very mad. Last night I thought I'd have a little peek with the egg candling lamp to see...

I found this image on Del Stubb's web site here. We have two chaps with knives, one with an axe, but what is the one on the left doing sat at the big wheel like thing? It comes from a set of images for an exhibition about spoons in Hungary organised by a lovely spoon carver called Péter...

A quick heads up if you're looking for a special scandi knife. Robin has posted pictures of knives he's bough from Mik (Pennillion on BB) before. He's a little erratic in his sales so I thought I'd mention he's got a few for sale at the moment. They aren't cheap, but they are stunning. At the...