I have mentioned my chopping block several times recently and thought member's might be interested to see a few pics?
General view of shop. I love this rustic method. Wood that at one time I would of contempuously thrown aside as crap, suddenly is packed full of potential. The book matched pairs are split out of various branches, they could end up as chair legs, arms, chair comb's etc, its like drawing with wood.
The hawthorn crooks on the wall are blanks to be finished up as elbow adze's.
3/4 view. The block is about 40 inches long, a 13 inch or so ash log split in half, the legs are square tennons friction fit into square mortice's. It is just "light" enough to carry, but absorbs shock easily. Those 2 vertical pegs are extremely useful, not only to hold a board on edge fixed there with a wedge, but also they functio as useful stops to hold components against when side axeing so they dont slide across the surface (better accuracy)
Close up view. 2 billhook handle blanks just done with the axe up to now. I won a harrison one on ebay, the oak one (on the left) will go with that. Also the froe I bought last Friday? was it. The worm hole's have been treated, but I want to replace the handle anyway. It is the perfect size and weight for my purposes. Sandvik axe, little beauty it just goes and goes. I use it as a knife as much as an axe.
Suffolk billhook a new purchase. The steel is superb, I know that by how easy it was to get a wire edge on it Plus the sharpening system in use at the mo, thought I'd give the diamond cards a try, not too bad actually. The gerber pen type is what I use to finish. The handle blank's were split from out the firewood pile, from the base of the tree where the grain flares to the exact shape I want for a swell handle.
General view of shop. I love this rustic method. Wood that at one time I would of contempuously thrown aside as crap, suddenly is packed full of potential. The book matched pairs are split out of various branches, they could end up as chair legs, arms, chair comb's etc, its like drawing with wood.
The hawthorn crooks on the wall are blanks to be finished up as elbow adze's.
3/4 view. The block is about 40 inches long, a 13 inch or so ash log split in half, the legs are square tennons friction fit into square mortice's. It is just "light" enough to carry, but absorbs shock easily. Those 2 vertical pegs are extremely useful, not only to hold a board on edge fixed there with a wedge, but also they functio as useful stops to hold components against when side axeing so they dont slide across the surface (better accuracy)
Close up view. 2 billhook handle blanks just done with the axe up to now. I won a harrison one on ebay, the oak one (on the left) will go with that. Also the froe I bought last Friday? was it. The worm hole's have been treated, but I want to replace the handle anyway. It is the perfect size and weight for my purposes. Sandvik axe, little beauty it just goes and goes. I use it as a knife as much as an axe.
Suffolk billhook a new purchase. The steel is superb, I know that by how easy it was to get a wire edge on it
Plus the sharpening system in use at the mo, thought I'd give the diamond cards a try, not too bad actually. The gerber pen type is what I use to finish. The handle blank's were split from out the firewood pile, from the base of the tree where the grain flares to the exact shape I want for a swell handle.
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