Recent content by Ian S

That's what it's all about. Come along, wander round, watch, join in - it's all good. Cheers

Definitely. Dunno who will be there, and Friday might be quiet, but there are bound to be people staying over. You can camp up by the log cabin, in the campsite or wherever else you get your tent pitched. Just remember drinking water, because Wooplaw doesn't have drinkable water. Cheers

Ooooooh, that's fighting talk, that is. Actually the first post on that thread is a dumb-head shavehorse, and the thread is split about 50/50 between English (aka Bodger's) pattern and dumb-head pattern. There are even a couple of fore-and-aft holding styles for bowl and spoon carving. Cheers

http://www.bodgers.org.uk/bb/phpBB2/ Tools section has a 10 page thread on shavehorses (they take their shavehorses seriously on that forum!).

The wood is usually fresh cut. It's softer and easier to work with hand tools. Cheers

No, it's a Wildlife head on an adze handle. I've had a quick try, and didn't like it. The short handle is too short for welly, and when you're choked up on the head, there's no counterbalance.

Whoops - I've not been 100% precise about my terminology. By woodworking, I really mean timbering, hewing, joinery ,carpentry etc rather that working in the woods, or for want of a better expression, forestry. Any of the THJC traditions above seem to use axes and hatchets as wood shaping...

Not a bushcraft tool? I wouldn't necessarily bet on that. You'll find that the extended and backswept cutting edge really helps when you want to shape bigger pieces. You can get the axe working with a wonderful slicing action which is a delight. A beautiful tool, and my favourite axe. Cheers

I think that you'd have to be careful that there is still some hardened steel left. I think it's quite common for makers to harden say only the first 50% of the blade is hardened. Cheers

That's a sore one.... I can't tell from the pics, but was the very centre pith of the wood in the kuksa? It's always a good idea to make sure you get rid of the very centre pith, because otherwise you run the risk of this sort of crack starting. (The reason is that the wood wants to shrink...

That's a beauty and I really like the tooled finish. Cheers

If it's a bought wooded wedge, they tend to be a bit thick....they also tend to be made out of a fragile wood.... I'd knock the head off, tidy up the handle, if necessary open up the slot a wee bit and re-wedge with a wedge which is about the right size (150 - 200% of the slot width works for...

And just to confuse matters, I have a symmetrical grind, symmetrical handled broad axe, and I'm right handed. I chose this one to be able to do 'everything' reasonably well, rather than some things brilliantly and other things badly. I just need to get a chance to use it.... Cheers

Wooplaw Community Woodland (where the February skill sharing meeting was held) is having a two day green woodworking weekend, info here: http://www.wooplaw.org.uk/?events=green-woodworking-weekend Spoon carving, bowl carving, furniture (ish) making, all sorts of stuff, and an opportunity for a...

Bodger's website: http://www.bodgers.org.uk/bb/phpBB2/index.php Loads of info on green woodworking (that's what we do). Cheers