first efforts

[Rosco]

These are some of my first attempts at carving. I've tried to experiment with different species of wood to gain experience.

from L-R Cherry,Alder,Birch & Sycamore

Hazel

Coat Hook made from natural Birch crook

some kind of hard Maple I think?

Unfortunately my camera isn't the best and my IT skills certainly ain't so I don't know what thses will look like
John

 

[John Fenna]

First attempts?
Hard to think that you are this good so soon!

 

[Rosco]

wouldn't say I was any good yet John, most of these aren't quite ergonomically correct and sandpaper hides a multitude of sins! Still I'm really enjoying the learning process and improving. The Alder piece I made on a axe & knife course I did in November the rest I've tried to copy from books and other resources , such as here. Must say it's been great finding something I can get stuck into whilst layed up post Knee op
John

 

[John Fenna]

I have made many a spoon that was less "perfect" than any of these - I still use them.
In my book sandpaper is not a cheat, just another wood removing tool!
If you want primitive use little lumps of sandstone or a palm-full of beach sand (use a glove!) instead of sandpaper.....

 

[DoctorSpoon]

Hi John
Glad to see you found your way onto here and it's brilliant to see how your spoons have come on after the course. I really like your coat hook too.
See you soon,
Nicola

 

[Rosco]

Thanks Nicola, they cut down a Birch tree in the carpark of my local club and I hate to see anything go to waste so I took the opportunity to get a bit of practise in:-

 

[Mirius]

I love those hooks. Now that I've produced my first errr spoon shaped thingy, hooks are what I want to do next. I reckon that they will be just perfect for hanging tools in the shed.

 

[Rosco]

You're right Mirius the natural crook is extremely strong. This design is copied from a book by Swedish craftsman Wille Sundqvist, but there is plenty of scope for design possibilities.

 

[UKHaiku]

*jealous*!!

Nice looking work.. Embarrassed to show my first attempt - and that's just a butter knife.. hehe

 

[brancho]

A fine selection of spoons an things.

Alf

 

[DoctorSpoon]

This design is copied from a book by Swedish craftsman Wille Sundqvist

That's such a good book isn't it? Have you managed to find a copy? It's so frustrating it's out of print.

 

[Rosco]

I have managed to get hold of both of these books from amazon america market place. Ok I had to pay a premium (about £30 I think) but the Sundqvist was particularly worth the effort as I've found it an invaluable reference tool and inspiration source.

John

 

[DoctorSpoon]

Yes, we got ourselves a spare Sundqvist the same way (our original is signed by the great man himself so is no longer a working copy) - handy with the dollar being low at the moment! What's the book on the right?

 

[Arth]

love the coat hook

 

[mr dazzler]

I like the coat hook and your spoons rosco. They look confident and assured The hook remids me of the thole pins the viking men used on there boats to act as rollocks; again making use of natural lanimated structure presented by a natural crook. I heard someone once describe a mortice and tennon as mans best attempt to re create a junction of branch and trunk. Nice work. Each hook is the same but different How do they get fastened to the wall?

 

[Rosco]

Thanks for positive comments I find them very encouraging. The hooks are just bored through top and bottom to take a fixing. They are really quick and easy to make as you don't have the problems when carving e.g spoons with symmetry and form etc. For anyone wanting to have a go at these for the first time the advice I would give based on my own observations are;
1.select a crook where the main branch is pretty straight and the peg comes out at a desirable angle rather than a Y shaped crook due to grain difficulties
2.make sure the main branch is split at least through the pith if not towards the crook to avoid radial cracks
3.get the back roughly flat with axe or other means(I was surprised how accurate you can be with the axe) and rough out your piece. Leave it to dry for a few days before finishing and flattening the back. I flattened mine by pushing them over an inverted hand plane- flattening before this stage can leave a warped hook.

Hope this is of some use to new carvers like myself, all the best John

 

[mr dazzler]

Leave it to dry for a few days before finishing and flattening the back. I flattened mine by pushing them over an inverted hand plane- flattening before this stage can leave a warped hook.

Tell me about it, I have been trimming and shaping a hawthorn crook to make an elbowe adze. I thought it was dry (clever s#d me ) but it wasnt , after I cut a bed for the iron with a fine japanese saw it soon went wonky on me (warping). So its a case of bring it next to the stove for a few days to finalise and then fettle with my new little mora knife (or a file). Raw hide rope is ready, iron ready handle nearly ready, should be a laugh and educational fun as well hoppefully A thought ocured to me, you could fix the hook's to a horizontal rail with slotted dovetails (same way as legs are attached to triopod table's?) Or put a taper on the bottom section of the part that is against the wall and drop them into matching vertical taper'd holes again on a horizontal rail

 

[mr dazzler]

I have made many a spoon that was less "perfect" than any of these - I still use them.
In my book sandpaper is not a cheat, just another wood removing tool!
If you want primitive use little lumps of sandstone or a palm-full of beach sand (use a glove!) instead of sandpaper.....

As I said before I dont use sand paper much because of the dust (it makes me bleed in my throat) BUT I do experiment with other (wet) abrasive's sometimes. EG I use a mixture of caustic soda and clay/mud to do chairs prior to paint or stain, it makes a nicely toothed absorbont surface. Wood ash and water does the same and stops the caustic working as well. Others I use include saw dust (or rizla thin plane shavings) mixed with white spirit and/or danish oil, smooth blocks of oak with wax lube to rub the surfaces (burnished surface, very classy) ash shavings from the spoke shave to rub down spindles. I heard about a medaieval dutch method where they used lengths of wheat straw tied in a bundle like a large crayon, they were dipped in a mixture of tallow and brick dust. They just rubbed it all oveer the wood. At one time that was THE finish on oak joynerie They used to use shark skin/tope skin/dog fish skin as abrasives at one time. Theres all sorts you can use

 

[Rosco]

That's a coincidence MrD I've just been cutting into some Hawthorne myself for my next project- a Kasa. I've spotted one I like the look of in the book above on the right by Gert Ljungberg. The Hawthorne looks really nice but it seems really prone to cracking to me, i'll see how I get on. Look forward to seeing your completed adze because I'm going to have a go at a carved bowl in the spring; to that end I'd be interested in any tips in using this tool (bought one with my Christmas money).See what tou mean about the hooks I've got something similar in my workshop with a french cleat system, thanks for sharing your knowledge John

 

[mr dazzler]

Hi John
At least one other member as uses planes What do you have? I got mostly all wooden one's, 3 marples technical jack's set to cut coarse medium and fine, another set up as a scrub plane, I have an ece reform smoother (beauty) couple of block's, rebate and shoulder's, a few moulding ones, metal stanley jack, and record smoother, plus a modified beading plane I use for spindle's sometimes.
Your right about hawthorn being prone to cracking. I made a coaster for my Dad about 30 odd years ago, I cut a disc of it and it went like a dart board in no time You might need to cut your blank then put it in a plastic sack or box with damp saw dust and shavings in it. The wood will dry out but much slower and less likely to radially crack, it will adjust and aclimatise more gently that way. Obviously for a drinking vessell cracks are critical but on my adze not so much so, kiln (woodburner) drying might open a few small ones but nothing drastic as its been air drying a while now (1 inch diameter). The hawthorn wood is very fine and smooth (buttery) nice to carve and will come up to a fine finish quite easily, especially if you get a section that is knot and branch node free.
cheers Jonathan