Weekend at Chopwell spoon carving course
- Thread starter Eric_Methven
- Start date
I can just imagine the lunacy that you lot could come out with, I bet you all play on the rope swings you find, eh? You should be old enough to know better!
Anyway, I'm still waiting to grow up. Can't say I'm looking forward to the day when I do mature, I enjoy being a big kid! And carving stuff in the woods with The Woods is a fine way to spend a few days.
Anyway, I'm still waiting to grow up. Can't say I'm looking forward to the day when I do mature, I enjoy being a big kid! And carving stuff in the woods with The Woods is a fine way to spend a few days.
And carving stuff in the woods with The Woods is a fine way to spend a few days.
Amen, I have yet to do it but it sounds great. Its just a shame the courses are miles away!
rancid badger
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Well it's taken a while but here's the sharpening bit.
As I said earlier, I thought I had sharpening sussed, well I could certainly sharpen my tool's ok but Robin just made everything much simpler and straight forward.
We retired to the "Forest Classroom" a small wooden, Forestry Commission building, fitted out by the Friends of Chopwell Wood, mainly for primary school use but used by a huge variety of groups all year round. This is just one example of how F.o.C.W. spend the money raised by our bushcraft events etc.
anyway, Robin started by talking about the different types of grind you get on edged tools;
He's really very good at putting information across in a simple, no nonsense way. Our group had a fair range of experience; from nothing at all, to occasional knife use on to the likes of me and Eric who use the tools regularly.
he had a selection of equipment, including home made emery boards of varying grits and then proper DMT sharpeners and a fine Japanese water stone.
he went into quite a bit of detail on the advantages and disadvantages of the various grinds and how to keep them sharp.
Obviously;you start fairly course, in this case, and Robin; please correct me if my memory has failed me! I think we started with a 220 grit emery board?
then continued through the grits getting finer and finer
He explained the differences in sharpening technique,between for example;a Sloyd carver and a Mora or Clipper, with demonstrations and then he went on to cover crook knives and axes too:
Here; He's touching up a crook knife:
He had a pack of wet & dry emery cloth, of assorted grits, I think they went to something like 8000? He likes to finish his blades with a polish with Autosol, (at this point, Mick, very helpfully,pointed out the potential danger of confusing autosol with "anusol", just one of many useful hints and tips, passed back and forth, throughout the weekend )
When Robin finished the blades, they really were beautifully sharp!
not the best photo's unfortunately;
This is Robins personal carver, note the hand carved handle:
Then Ken had a go, He had a small chip in the blade of one of his knives and decided to try out his new found knowledge under robins watchful eye:
it took Ken about 10 minutes or so to bring his knife back to super sharp.
Then we all went back down to our outdoor classroom, for a bit more carving before endex.
all too soon it was time to say goodbye to Robin and family.
I've already asked Robin about coming back up next year and he's keen to return. I need to sort out details with our committee but hopefully, it'll go ahead.
This time it will be a course for the general public, as opposed to an "in house" training event.There will however, only be 8 places available!
As always any profits will go towards funding the education/conservation/recreation and maintenance activities of F.o.C.W.
For anyone interested; I'll post more details, as and when I can confirm anything
I can heartily recommend attending one of Robins courses, you don't have to be particularly interested in carving spoons to gain a vast amount from the course. Everything you do; is relevant to everyday use and care, of your bushcraft tools.
Safety, efficiency and practicality= brilliant!
The other bonus is you get to try out almost every available hook knife, as well as Gransfors, Cegga and even old Kent pattern axes, before you go off and spend money on something that might not suit you
Thanks again Robin and family, absolutely priceless
best wishes
Steve
As I said earlier, I thought I had sharpening sussed, well I could certainly sharpen my tool's ok but Robin just made everything much simpler and straight forward.
We retired to the "Forest Classroom" a small wooden, Forestry Commission building, fitted out by the Friends of Chopwell Wood, mainly for primary school use but used by a huge variety of groups all year round. This is just one example of how F.o.C.W. spend the money raised by our bushcraft events etc.
anyway, Robin started by talking about the different types of grind you get on edged tools;
He's really very good at putting information across in a simple, no nonsense way. Our group had a fair range of experience; from nothing at all, to occasional knife use on to the likes of me and Eric who use the tools regularly.
he had a selection of equipment, including home made emery boards of varying grits and then proper DMT sharpeners and a fine Japanese water stone.
he went into quite a bit of detail on the advantages and disadvantages of the various grinds and how to keep them sharp.
Obviously;you start fairly course, in this case, and Robin; please correct me if my memory has failed me! I think we started with a 220 grit emery board?
then continued through the grits getting finer and finer
He explained the differences in sharpening technique,between for example;a Sloyd carver and a Mora or Clipper, with demonstrations and then he went on to cover crook knives and axes too:
Here; He's touching up a crook knife:
He had a pack of wet & dry emery cloth, of assorted grits, I think they went to something like 8000? He likes to finish his blades with a polish with Autosol, (at this point, Mick, very helpfully,pointed out the potential danger of confusing autosol with "anusol", just one of many useful hints and tips, passed back and forth, throughout the weekend
)
When Robin finished the blades, they really were beautifully sharp!
not the best photo's unfortunately;
This is Robins personal carver, note the hand carved handle:
Then Ken had a go, He had a small chip in the blade of one of his knives and decided to try out his new found knowledge under robins watchful eye:
it took Ken about 10 minutes or so to bring his knife back to super sharp.
Then we all went back down to our outdoor classroom, for a bit more carving before endex.
all too soon it was time to say goodbye to Robin and family.
I've already asked Robin about coming back up next year and he's keen to return. I need to sort out details with our committee but hopefully, it'll go ahead.
This time it will be a course for the general public, as opposed to an "in house" training event.There will however, only be 8 places available!
As always any profits will go towards funding the education/conservation/recreation and maintenance activities of F.o.C.W.
For anyone interested; I'll post more details, as and when I can confirm anything
I can heartily recommend attending one of Robins courses, you don't have to be particularly interested in carving spoons to gain a vast amount from the course. Everything you do; is relevant to everyday use and care, of your bushcraft tools.
Safety, efficiency and practicality= brilliant!
The other bonus is you get to try out almost every available hook knife, as well as Gransfors, Cegga and even old Kent pattern axes, before you go off and spend money on something that might not suit you
Thanks again Robin and family, absolutely priceless
best wishes
Steve
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