Thought I'd write a mini review of a course I went on last week...
The course was a 5-day woodland crafts course, organized jointly by the Green Wood Centre, the Small Woods Association, and the Bill Hogarth Memorial Apprentice Trust. The course is to promote the use of traditional woodland crafts through demonstration and practical experience. It can also be used to obtain an OCN certificate, and is a pre-qualifier for applying for a 3-year apprenticeship in coppicing and associated crafts. The location of the course was at the wonderful and inspirational Westonbirt Arboretum.
The majority of people camped out, but I took the soft option and got B&B nearby
There were 32 people on the course, together with 4 tutors, and about 7 or 8 other helpers. One of the tutors was assisted by his current apprentice. Another apprentice ran one of the workshops. We were split into 4 groups, and each group attended each workshop on a round-robin basis.
Day 1 was making a cleft gate hurdle from freshly cut Ash. This workshop was run by James who was the first apprentice to go through the scheme, and now has his own coppicing and woodland crafts business. By the end of the day each of us had made an acceptable, albeit scaled down, gate hurdle. As this was my first day of trying woodland crafts seriously, I learnt loads of new skills; splitting and cleeving using axe and froe, use of side axe for roughing out, use of shave horse and draw knife, use of a Twybil for cutting the oval mortices, and generally how to put together a gate hurdle.
Day 2 was pole lathe turning with Paul Hayden who also runs chair making course at the Arboretum.Paul started off showing us the various stage involved in preparing a billet for mounting on the lathe, and then use of a gouge to round off and rough out the shape. Next we were shown how to use a flat chisel and a skew chisel to form various shapes. The morning session was supposed to be a practice session just experimenting with the techniques. However mine very quickly started to resemble a cosh, so after a bit of reshaping it ended up as a rounders bat. After lunch we were encouraged to work on a specific project, rather than just experimenting. A lot of people made chair/stool legs, but others made parts for a shave horse, and one guy turned a set of juggler's clubs. I'd gone with the intention of making a handle for my froe blade, and so this is what I did. Its been left oversize, and will be finally fitted in a few month's time once its seasoned. With about half an hour to spare I decided to just have a play with various techniques, and so ended up with a bizarrely shaped stick
Day 3 was spoon carving with Dave Jackson. I's already had one go at carving a spoon, see this thread. The techniques shown were a bit different, with much more use of the hatchet to remove the waste. We were also shown the correct use of a spoon knife - its much easier (and safer) when you know how The spoon I ended up with was much better than my first attempt, and has inspired me to have another go.
Day 4 we sub-divided into two groups of 4, and each group made a hazel wattle hurdle. This was easily the hardest day of the week, both physically and mentally. There is so much involved, and doing those double twists was damn hard work. But by the end of the day we had made a passable 6ft long, 3ft high hurdle which held itself together.
In the evening we were given a guided tour of the formal Arboretum by Simon Toomer, the curator.
Day 5, the final day was much more free format. A variety of shorter workshops was put on. Running in parallel with the workshops was a charcoal burn using an oil drum for the kiln. The workshops included; tool sharpening, blown bowls, whistles, gypsy flowers, walking sticks, and a talk on coppice management.
I came home with a car load of useful and decorative bits of wood. All of the tutors were incredibly skilled, and very patient, and managed to cope well with the varied skill levels with the group. The organisation was excellent, and the food marvelous.
Next year's week is likely to be construction of a timber-framed woodland workshop.
All I need now is enough time to have another go at all the things I learnt.
Hope you found this review interesting. I guess it can't have been too bad if you've made it this far
G
The course was a 5-day woodland crafts course, organized jointly by the Green Wood Centre, the Small Woods Association, and the Bill Hogarth Memorial Apprentice Trust. The course is to promote the use of traditional woodland crafts through demonstration and practical experience. It can also be used to obtain an OCN certificate, and is a pre-qualifier for applying for a 3-year apprenticeship in coppicing and associated crafts. The location of the course was at the wonderful and inspirational Westonbirt Arboretum.
The majority of people camped out, but I took the soft option and got B&B nearby
There were 32 people on the course, together with 4 tutors, and about 7 or 8 other helpers. One of the tutors was assisted by his current apprentice. Another apprentice ran one of the workshops. We were split into 4 groups, and each group attended each workshop on a round-robin basis.Day 1 was making a cleft gate hurdle from freshly cut Ash. This workshop was run by James who was the first apprentice to go through the scheme, and now has his own coppicing and woodland crafts business. By the end of the day each of us had made an acceptable, albeit scaled down, gate hurdle. As this was my first day of trying woodland crafts seriously, I learnt loads of new skills; splitting and cleeving using axe and froe, use of side axe for roughing out, use of shave horse and draw knife, use of a Twybil for cutting the oval mortices, and generally how to put together a gate hurdle.
Day 2 was pole lathe turning with Paul Hayden who also runs chair making course at the Arboretum.Paul started off showing us the various stage involved in preparing a billet for mounting on the lathe, and then use of a gouge to round off and rough out the shape. Next we were shown how to use a flat chisel and a skew chisel to form various shapes. The morning session was supposed to be a practice session just experimenting with the techniques. However mine very quickly started to resemble a cosh, so after a bit of reshaping it ended up as a rounders bat. After lunch we were encouraged to work on a specific project, rather than just experimenting. A lot of people made chair/stool legs, but others made parts for a shave horse, and one guy turned a set of juggler's clubs. I'd gone with the intention of making a handle for my froe blade, and so this is what I did. Its been left oversize, and will be finally fitted in a few month's time once its seasoned. With about half an hour to spare I decided to just have a play with various techniques, and so ended up with a bizarrely shaped stick
Day 3 was spoon carving with Dave Jackson. I's already had one go at carving a spoon, see this thread. The techniques shown were a bit different, with much more use of the hatchet to remove the waste. We were also shown the correct use of a spoon knife - its much easier (and safer) when you know how
The spoon I ended up with was much better than my first attempt, and has inspired me to have another go.Day 4 we sub-divided into two groups of 4, and each group made a hazel wattle hurdle. This was easily the hardest day of the week, both physically and mentally. There is so much involved, and doing those double twists was damn hard work. But by the end of the day we had made a passable 6ft long, 3ft high hurdle which held itself together.
In the evening we were given a guided tour of the formal Arboretum by Simon Toomer, the curator.
Day 5, the final day was much more free format. A variety of shorter workshops was put on. Running in parallel with the workshops was a charcoal burn using an oil drum for the kiln. The workshops included; tool sharpening, blown bowls, whistles, gypsy flowers, walking sticks, and a talk on coppice management.
I came home with a car load of useful and decorative bits of wood. All of the tutors were incredibly skilled, and very patient, and managed to cope well with the varied skill levels with the group. The organisation was excellent, and the food marvelous.
Next year's week is likely to be construction of a timber-framed woodland workshop.
All I need now is enough time to have another go at all the things I learnt.
Hope you found this review interesting. I guess it can't have been too bad if you've made it this far
G
