Woodwork chapter one

My education continues. I went up to Essex recently to learn the basics of green woodworking and wood carving. My teacher was a great guy called Robin. He's been working with wood for quite a while in a variety of capacities and there is nothing better than learning from someone who is genuinely experienced! I spent two days with him in his wonderful workshop and learnt a hell of a lot. I started off learning how to split logs with a froe, chop them into a rough cylinder with an axe (a lovely Gransfors of which I am quite envious), shave them into a cleaner cylinder on a horse with a draw knife and spokeshave then turn them on a pole lathe. Man, I have to build one of those. A beautifully traditional method of turning wood - driven by a treadle connected to a pole (or bungee or anything else flexible) with a connecting line that is wrapped around the item to be turned. Here's me making my first turned item, a dibber, on the lathe:

Robin offered just the right balance of leaving me to make mistakes, from which I learnt a bucket load, correcting me and offering to put the finishing touches to my pieces in order to take them from just OK to perfect. I've done a lot of teaching/training in my days and recognise when I come across someone who genuinely enjoys imparting knowledge upon people. And he and Vanessa provide exactly my sort of lunch! If you are interested in learning how to use a pole lathe, how to work green wood, how to carve, how to sharpen tools or any other wood related skills, I'd highly recommend looking up Robin at www.treewright.co.uk

My pot scraper, rounders bat, dibber and spatula:


I've since started my own tool collection. Thus far I have inherited a couple of gouges and a skew chisel from my dad, picked up a cheap spokeshave and bought a couple of new carving knives from an excellent shop on Southampton Row in London called Buck and Ryan. They have a small concession in Selfridges but the main store is really where you want to go!

Next step is to build a shave horse and a pole lathe...