Baggy

Hi all

A friend of a friend heard that I was after green wood and dropped a log off while I was out, so could anyone tell me what wood this is please?

It has reddish bark and is sitting on a wheelir bin for scale.

Hi all

Anyone here built a timber work area? if yes any pics?

I want to build a pole lathe, which means that I need to do something about my working space.

I have an area about 10ft by 12ft which I could build some kind of shelter, it needs to be cheap but robust, I am thinking of a frame covered by tarp. Any woood (maybe fence posts) will have to be purchased as I do not anything here.

I wondered if anyone here has built something similar and has pics that I can use for inspiration?

Where I currently work...

where I can build a shelter

ATB

Hiya

Hey baggy where do you get your sweet chestnut? How did you cut the top?

The Chestnut log came from a friend and split easily into leg size bits, the top was "chainsaw milled" as you see it from an Oak trunk.

Hiya

Knew that but figured the smaller shingle sized bits might be trimmable?

Sorry, eggs, sucking and granny come to mind :-(

I have only found bark locally that is suitable for combustion or making small knife sheaths

Any others?

There are probably plenty but experience is only with chestnut, used for bench and stool legs.

All the best

Mark

Hiya

 

It was when I found some of the Ray Meers youtube stuff on building birch bark canoes that I realised how tough and leathery the stuff can be. Cut up into manageable pieces and tacked down it should be good.

Sadly the birch bark here is not up to canoe building :-(

The Canadian (and maybe the scandanavian) is thicker, more flexible than ours (UK) with less faults.

Heck, I can't even remember which trees split straight!

Chestnut?

Hiya

I was reading something the other day about how good Birch bark is as waterproofing ........and is rich in tars?

The oils in birch bark burn well, scrape some birch bark with the back of a knife until you have a pile of powder/scrapings them throw a spark at it from a fire steel and it flares up beautifully, even if wet.

I would guess that the same oils in the bark be a good waterproofer for it.

I friend of mine is building a garden shed with wood (looks like a minature tudor building) and using oak shingles from oak.

Mark

Hiya

Shame that you are the wrong end of the country to me,

A shame indeed :-(

as i have some nicely coloured green ash and sycamore at the moment

Nice, could you roll it down to me, it is down hill

Best wishes

Mark

Hi all

I have a business that has pretty much slid down the toilet, customers going bust, customers not paying, customers not spending. So I am trying t see this as an opprtunity to do what I really want to do which is working with green wood.

I have joined the Association of polelathe turners and greenwood workers and I am already carving wood.

Hand carved from wood

My real problem is finding greenwood, I am looking for wood from approx eight inches in diameter up to what I can lift and transport in an estate car. I am happy to collect. The wood I am using most is silver birch but I would love to have some cherry, sycamore, maple, fruitwoods, lime, eucalyptus, holly, beech, ash

Can anyone help please?

All the best

Mark

Double post

Hi

I'm still not clear as to whether you finish them green, oil them and allow that to slow the seasoning or whether there's steps in between..bagging between sessions, part carve and leave etc..?

Sorry,

When I start carving it is with very green wood, I get the carving to as near finished shape as I can, as soon as I can, to stop splitting.

A Kuksa I will rough out including the bowl within a day. I then pop it in a carrier bag full of the chipings and leave it in my shed for a few days.

Next I start the finishing, which takes me ages, in short sessions over up to a week. I then oil it and when dry I keep it on my desk. A week or two later I sand it with a 400grit paper and re oil.

This has worked for me so far

Have I missed anything?

Hi

Very impressive, Baggy. What sort of oil do you use and how do you apply it? .

If a carving is for me I use walnut oil as it really works with the wood, I also use sunflower oil. I heat the oil and then immerse the carving in it until the oil cools

Someone of my acquaintance immersed his totally in molten beeswax and found he'd overdone it slightly.

Ouch

Thanks for the advice Baggy. I will try and look up that guy and purchase some good quality knives and give the kuksa another go.

 

Cheers again and here's hoping i'm more successful this time, Ha

Just a thought I found that I tended to get cuts when nearing the end of a carving as I was speeding up, keen to see the finished item. Also take breaks tired hands = cut hands.

Mark

Hiya

here is a pic of a kuksa that I made

Mark

Hiya

So a simple shaped kuksa, as rustic as this or with a smoother finish?

Hiya

Lovely piece of carving. Last time I tried to carve a kuksa, i severed the tendon on the back of my thumb. Have been too scared to try again. You may have inspired me to give it another go. Nice work.

Ouch, nasty.

I think that the key to safety is to be afraid of pain!

use a green wood like birch and use very sharp tools :-)

I get my blades fron FGYT (Duncan) at Dorset woodland blades, he can be found on the British Blades forum.

I know a guy that wears a kevlar carving glove but as a lot of my carving around camp fires the glove seems not to fit the mood.

I would suggest patience, go slow, plan each cut and look for the line thatf the blade will take if you overshoot, as you would with the axe.

ATB

Mark

Thanks Ray

they are 7" long. I get as close as I can then sand. I am working towards achieving a smooth tooled finish in the future

atb

Mark

Nothing 'baggy' with your work !

Ta muchly

Hiya

beautifull, did you carve them straight off the tree then, or was it seasoned first?

Thanks, the wood was about a week old, I usually carve green wood.

Mark

Hand carved from wood

I have been looking at kuksa's, Swedish traditional drinking cups, many of these hand made kuksa's are very beautiful, inspired I carved my first Kuksa from Cherry wood.The Kusa is quite small the bowl being only four inches on the long side, the whole Kuksa is seven inches long. Holds a good amount of brandy :-)

The wood was a joy to carve with the colours suited to the Kuksa, the lines of the Kuksa were easily found in the wood. Here is the Kusa before being oiled.

The wood was first reduced and rough shaped by hand axe, then I worked with two wonderful carving tools from Dorset Woodland Blades, the blades are easy to sharpen to very, very sharp allowing me to concentrate on the carving.

Mark

Walking in my local nature reserve I noticed a silver birch being taken down so I had a chat with the warden and he kindly allowed me to take a branch away.

A week or so later I gathered some tools, froe, axe, large knife and a spoon knife and started work on two bowls.

The first step is to split the log into two halves and then start carving with the axe, the axe is used to quickly remove wood and rough out the intended shape. The shape is then refined with the large knife and the spoon knife is used to hollow the bowl.

Although the wood was split into two very similar halves the carving produced two very different bowls, the shape, thickness and curvature comes from working with the wood and not against it.

Mark

The bloody things are bad new for thatched cottage owners !

Hiya

I can relate to that!

 

Wife once thawed the sunday joint to find it was a very large Monitor Lizard I'd been keeping for the zoo:biggrin:

Fantastic, I can use you as a "worse than me" example

Some of my favourite trees, part 2

Mark

Hi All

Some of my favourite trees, part 1

Mark

Sympathies mate, losing a dog is losing a real friend :-(