wooden bowl carving with FGYTs crook knives

[robin wood]

Spooncarving has become very popular and many folk progress to carving a kuksa. In Scandinavia bowl carving is a very popular next step although the tools become a bit more specialised and it is less of a bushcraft, round the campfire activity and more a specialised craft. Anyway I thought some might enjoy seeing some pics from a course we ran earlier this week to introduce folk to bowlcarving, the basic process is split log in half, rough hollow with adze, smooth a little with gouge, smooth completely with FGYT crook knife mounted with long handle (they worked a treat) axe away exterior waste wood to match interior then refine with push knife.

And you end up with one of these

Crook knife action

few more bowls

more pics of the different stages here

http://greenwood-carving.blogspot.com/2010/02/wooden-bowl-carving-course.html

 

[Muddypaws]

Stunning work! Normally I would carve a bowl with the rim being towards the centre of the log, but I really love the ones carved the opposite way, it's something about the grain pattern flowing around the bowl that just oozes elegance.

 

[FGYT]

Great to see some of my stuff working

guess i better finish my Adze heads and see if i can make a bowl

metal is so much easier to work than wood

ATB

Duncan

 

[redandshane]

Nice work Robin I see someone on your blog has asked about the handle on the crook knife I am also interested could you be so kind as to give us some details about it
Cheers

 

[heath]

They look brilliant, I can't wait to have a go at this.

 

[andythecelt]

I have one of these blades from FGYT, lovely bit of kit. In a completely different league to anything made by Frosts, it's a quality bit of kit. Looks like I need to pull my finger out and get it handled! Gorgeous work there Robin.

 

[robin wood]

Nice work Robin I see someone on your blog has asked about the handle on the crook knife I am also interested could you be so kind as to give us some details about it
Cheers

I put a straight and fairly long handle on these which makes them perfect for two handed bowl carving but you can still use them as a one handed draw knife and they are very nicely balanced. It's just a bit of cleft ash shaved down to about the size of a broom handle. The handle design is more like the NW coast knives than the woodlands peoples mocataugan which bushcraft folk are more familiar with. The blade was designed to work with a short mocataugan style handle and used that way it makes a great tool for planing flat areas such as making a canoe paddle.

 

[xavierdoc]

Lovely work, as always, Robin. Seeing your previous bowls inspired me to move "up" from kuksa and spoons to larger work. I have an adze and a couple of crooked knives (Woodlore, Jojo and FGYTs) but not used them for bowl-carving yet.

Yesterday I felled a large hornbeam which had a lot of lean, so the pith is a long way from the compression side of the trunk. Do you think this might suit a large (handcarved) bowl?

I have kept a longer length of trunk to make a stand and a horse to mount the work on and a thicker piece for the bowl.

I haven't tried carving hornbeam green -it often has a twist on it with black bits (inclusions of bark?) but this one is clean. The wood is heavy with sap so might split when drying, too. Before I devote a lot of time to this wood, is it unsuitable in your experience?

I'd love to come on one of your bowl-carving courses, but in the short term, any advice much appreciated!

 

[robin wood]

Lovely work, as always, Robin. Seeing your previous bowls inspired me to move "up" from kuksa and spoons to larger work. I have an adze and a couple of crooked knives (Woodlore, Jojo and FGYTs) but not used them for bowl-carving yet.

Yesterday I felled a large hornbeam which had a lot of lean, so the pith is a long way from the compression side of the trunk. Do you think this might suit a large (handcarved) bowl?

I have kept a longer length of trunk to make a stand to mount the work on and a thicker piece for the bowl.

I haven't tried carving hornbeam green -it often has a twist on it with black bits (inclusions of bark?) but this one is clean. The wood is heavy with sap so might split when drying, too. Before I devote a lot of time to this wood, is it unsuitable in your experience?

I'd love to come on one of your bowl-carving courses, but in the short term, any advice much appreciated!

Personally I would not use hornbeam unless you have already carved a good number of bowls. It is really quite hard even green, better to churn a good few bowls out of willow, poplar, alder, birch or lime first. I have some nice willow left over from the course if you want to pop over you are welcome to a bit.

 

[xavierdoc]

Personally I would not use hornbeam unless you have already carved a good number of bowls. It is really quite hard even green, better to churn a good few bowls out of willow, poplar, alder, birch or lime first. I have some nice willow left over from the course if you want to pop over you are welcome to a bit.

That's very kind of you. Ironically I've been on leave this week and spent two days walking around the "Dark Peak"; I could have popped in. Holiday now over and going to Cardiff at the w/e but I'm sure I'll be able to drop in at some point. I'll let you know. (I'm trying to work out how to persuade SWMBO that I should go on the May bowl course!)

Hope to see you soon. Keep posting on your inspirational blog!

 

[littlebiglane]

Yesterday I felled a large hornbeam which had a lot of lean, so the pith is a long way from the compression side of the trunk. Do you think this might suit a large (handcarved) bowl?

I tried hornbeam the other day.....like iron even when green. Gave up within 5 mins of trying to carve it. Didn't they make windmill winding-gear cogs out of the stuff?

 

[Stew]

Wasn't Hornbeam used for cog teeth or something like that because of it's hardness?

 

[Tjurved]

Hello have you tried crook knifes with long handles and a sling for increased leverage? The sapmi people i Sweden use them sometimes.

 

[xavierdoc]

Hello have you tried crook knifes with long handles and a sling for increased leverage? The sapmi people i Sweden use them sometimes.

What an interesting technique. Looks like a sort of baldric. Any idea how it was secured to the handle and what it was made of?

 

[xavierdoc]

I tried hornbeam the other day.....like iron even when green. Gave up within 5 mins of trying to carve it. Didn't they make windmill winding-gear cogs out of the stuff?

Great ! I lugged some large pieces halfway across Sussex to get to my car and drive it back to Derby yesterday

Anyone know of any windmill restorers in the Midlands?

 

[wattsy]

Wasn't Hornbeam used for cog teeth or something like that because of it's hardness?

yeah i read somewhere that its the only wood you can make screws out of as well

 

[robin wood]

Great ! I lugged some large pieces halfway across Sussex to get to my car and drive it back to Derby yesterday

Anyone know of any windmill restorers in the Midlands?

Don't despair, when I started turning I was at Hatfield Forest and used lots of hornbeam. If it is a big enough piece it becomes nicely spalted without going soft like beech can and works much more easily when 12 months old.

 

[Stew]

Hello have you tried crook knifes with long handles and a sling for increased leverage? The sapmi people i Sweden use them sometimes.

Google for ahardsloydlife he uses one in his video. I've thought about trying it out.

 

[forestwalker]

I put a straight and fairly long handle on these which makes them perfect for two handed bowl carving but you can still use them as a one handed draw knife and they are very nicely balanced. It's just a bit of cleft ash shaved down to about the size of a broom handle. The handle design is more like the NW coast knives than the woodlands peoples mocataugan which bushcraft folk are more familiar with. The blade was designed to work with a short mocataugan style handle and used that way it makes a great tool for planing flat areas such as making a canoe paddle.

Right, so now you are going to make me buy another blade from Duncan, right? The one I got is on a traditional handle, and works very nice indeed, but your special bowl version is so tempting. Horrid man, I can't really afford to buy another tool right now

 

[mr dazzler]

Wasn't Hornbeam used for cog teeth or something like that because of it's hardness?

That and apple wood.
ECE (the german plane makers) use it on the soles of some of their woodworking planes, because it dosnt wear out as fast as beech or oak. Mind one of their planes can set you back £200+. I own an ECE primus smoother which is fantastic (didnt pay £200 for it though....)
Would it make a good maul head or wedges for splitting? Does it resist splitting very well?