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Hello!
Yep, been a while hasn't it?! Alas, I have returned to work and can no longer dedicate all my working hours to wood and garden stuff but, as I stupidly didn't take out one of those self-paying mortgages, the money is rather welcome.
The latest edition of Living Woods magazine arrived today and would you believe it... my frankenstein's monster of a shaving horse is featured on pages 18/19. I haven't had time to read the issue cover to cover just yet as I have been inundated with literally one email about my new found fame, but it looks great!
So what have I been up to since my last post? Driving to work, working and driving home from work mostly. But in the spare time I've been trying to work on some small pieces. I picked up a really beautiful piece of yew and have been trying to turn it into interesting little pieces of jewellery. Going quite well as it holds a shine amazingly! I also worked some freshly felled sweet chestnut. Man, what a pain that was. Stained my draw knife and scorp due to it's acidity and then promptly split terribly as it dried. Am I annoyed by this?? Not at all. It is yet another wood that I now have a little experience working and there is simply no substitute for experience. I picked up a few ash and oak logs recently which I am very excited about working. The old man is also going to provide me with some more yew and a bit of holly soon too. Who needs Christmas eh...?
Well, back to the real world in a few days. Both good and bad. Good that I get paid again. Bad that I'll have less time to nurture my new skills. Good that I'll, once again, have a short term purpose. Bad (and good) that I have identified an alternative purpose that is hard to penetrate. Whatever. We all have to pay our mortgages, that much is inevitable. We just have to enjoy ourselves as much as possible while doing it. And hopefully be able to plan for the future too. The best thing is that I have not one single regret. My brief time away from work has enabled me to learn skills that, had I been working full time, would have taken me two years of weekly evening classes to gather. Much more than that though. I got to:- spend quality time with the important people in my life (Mo, Si, Tom, Mr & Mrs P senior, Stew and most of all Mrs P).- develop all sort of recipes, most notably my hand made bread recipe. Best organic ingredients sourced from France and UK.- make great new friends, mentors and future colleagues- perform some vital renovations to my flat- learn a s##t load about meSome pics:
Some of my tools
Wood pieces (some unfinished!)
My breadThis is, however, just the beginning!A new beginning...
Well this, my final free week, took me to the wonderful Hampton Court Palace to attend an intensive week of garden design training. KLC are a design (both interior and exterior) training company who operate out of premises in Chelsea Harbour and Hampton Court. Without any disrespect to any training course I have previously attended, I can honestly say that this week has been the single most educational and fulfilling week of my life. None of the pretensions of other superficially prestigious colleges, just a great teacher in Juliet Sargeant, excellently facilitated by Ruth Ellis, resulting in a friendly, happy learning environment. Yet another Plutus recommendation - unless you are going to be competing for business, of course, in which case I can assure you that there is no future in garden design so you best give up now! So, I've completed my first site survey, made my first master and planting plans, created my first mood board, designed my first garden (aside from the space behind my flat that I lovingly refer to as my garden, of course) and made a bunch of new friends. What more can one ask for? The answer... due to the fact that KLC operate out of Hampton Court Palace, it was necessary for all students to apply to the Historic Royal Palaces organisation for security clearance. This security clearance gave us completely free access to all areas of the palace. OK, we didn't have too much time to explore, but being able to pop into the tudor kitchens, royal chapel etc. on the way back from lunch made the experience that little bit better. Thanks to Maurice for the history lessons ;)No pics this time, unfortunately, as my designs are valuable. I'll be sure to let you know the name and address of my design company, however...
So I picked up some logs from my tree surgeon's yard last week. I already had all the tools to get from whole logs to pieces of log (i.e. a log splitter, a sledge hammer and an axe) but getting from rough log sections to workable pieces requires a shaving horse. A shaving horse is simply a bench on which you sit and a cramp to hold wood still while you shape it with a drawknife and spokeshave. There are several websites giving plans and directions such as http://www.greenwoodworking.com/shorse.htm However, in Living Woods Magazine (http://britishwoodworking.com/Living%20Woods.html), Nick Gibbs published instructions to build Mike Abbott's new style horse. To keep costs down, the brief I had set myself was to use up as much of the old wood I had lying around rather than buying in a load of 4x2 as in the magazine. Using a combination of old fence posts from my veranda and random pieces of hard and softwood I threw together my horse in a few hours.
He is a little rickety so I have started refering to him as my shaving donkey, he doesn't have a name yet.
So what advice would I give to people who want to make their own shaving horse? Firstly, there is no substitute for thick wood. You simply can't get the strength when using thinner pieces. Secondly, don't under estimate the strength of your legs. I used a piece of 14mm dowel as my pivot and it snapped immediately. I'm currently using an old piece of copper pipe until I can come up with an alternative. Finally, don't expect it to be perfect first time. My top board, or head, is a little too high. My seat is 50cm from the ground - a comfortable sitting height - and my top board is a further 45 cm from the seat. This creates a slightly unnatural movement and should probably have been nearer 30 cm from the seat as one's arms are stronger nearer your waist than up by your shoulders.
Now to get working on some logs...
Twice in one night, my you are lucky readers!
As my regular reader (thanks dear) will know, I've been doing rather a lot of woodworking recently. My two training courses, documented earlier on this blog, were very different and both taught me useful skills. I've invested in a couple of tools but not yet got around to building a shave horse or pole lathe. Shave horse first I think! I took an inventory of my shed earlier and I reckon I have enough spare wood to bolt together a crude horse. As long as it serves a purpose, doesn't matter how it looks IMHO.
But, the lack of horse hasn't stopped me from carving a few pieces. Robin (see Woodwork chapter one) was kind enough to give me a couple of pieces of cherry to play with which I subsequently did. I also picked up a couple of freshly felled logs from my tree surgeon's yard (cheers James). Alas, I am still not very good at distinguishing the different woods from their bark so am not certain of some of the wood I'm using. Learning though! If anyone can recommend a good book that will help me identify trees by their bark I'd be very grateful! Here are some of my first pieces from left to right - baby spoon (cherry), lettuce knife (cherry), measuring scoop with deliberately odd handle (unidentified wood), tasting spoon (poplar):
Different woods work very differently. Poplar, being a very fast growing tree is very light. It isn't the finest wood but has its benefits. Cherry is great to work and looks lovely when finished. I also tried messing about with an old, dry piece of London plane. Such hard wood it is almost impossible to carve. Got a great idea of what I want to do with it though. Watch this space...
Hello out there! Been a long time, again! Sorry, I've been distracted. Last week was taken up by a short course at the English Gardening School, hosted at the Chelsea Physic Garden under the tutelage of Rosemary Alexander, Laura de Beden and Simon Pyle. This was a great course and I learnt an awful lot from three great tutors. Far too much to disclose here but suffice to say that I now look at gardens very differently. In short, it isn't all about the plants. Sure, plants are some of the constituent parts of a garden but it isn't about buying plants you like and finding a "good enough" place for them. Oh no! It is all about the space. What is it for? What will you be doing out there? Once you've decided upon that, and a few other important things, such as budget, you can then start planning. Only when the plan is complete do you start thinking about the specific plants you want to place. Of course there's more to it than that but you get the idea. We spent one of our four days travelling to a couple of different gardens, including Rosemary's. Here is a pic of her Apricot Border, still looking rather resplendent despite the cold, miserable summer:
I had a great time and am already wishing I was back at the school expanding my knowledge even further...
Hello! No, I've not been lazy, I've been on holiday. Mrs P and I were in the south of France for a short while. Wonderful time had by all, well both! We got the Eurostar to Avignon, picked up a car, drove to St. Laurent du Verdon, drove round the Gorges du Verdon, drove up Mont Ventoux, drove to Orange, drove through Chateauneuf-du-Pape, drove back to Avignon, dumped the car and chilled a little after driving a little over 1000km in our surprisingly capable diesel Fiat in four days. Then got very stressed by the prospect of not being able to return home due to the fire in the tunnel. I shall not post my opinions of Eurostar/Eurotunnel nor any details of my personal experience until I am satisfied with the compensation I receive! Instead, here's a couple o' pics:
Atop Mt. Ventoux viewing our journey back down
Gorges de l'ardeche
Mrs P looking out of the Chateau in Chateauneuf
Of the four places we stayed I adored Le Moulin du Chateau in St. Laurent du Verdon and loved La Banasterie (and their dog) in Avignon. Le Moulin is run by a wonderful Swiss couple called Edith and Nicolas who operate a relaxed, beautifully decorated B&B that forces you to relax, eat well and enjoy yourself no matter how much you resist. La Banasterie is a slightly more busy place due to its location in an Avignon back street but is similarly tranquil. Typical provencal colour schemes and decor really make this place a wonderful find and Mouchi (sp?) the Shih-Tzu is an amazingly friendly little chap! If you are planning a holiday to Provence and fancy staying somewhere more elegant, charming and personal than a hotel check out:
http://www.moulin-du-chateau.com/
http://www.labanasterie.com/
Since I've been back, I've been baking bread with my newly acquired French ingredients, making lovely chicken stock from our roast chicken remains, perfecting some of my woodwork pieces as well as starting a couple of new ones, enjoying sleeping in my own bed and embarking upon some futher horticultural training at the Chelsea Physic Garden.
So much to post about, so little time...
"What did you learn this week Plutus?" I hear you ask. Well, aside from the fact that it is possible for an entire British summer to pass with only one solitary nice day, I learnt a bit more about wood. Last week was manual turning, this week I harnessed the almighty power of electricity to make my life easier. And easier it was! I turned a chunk of laburnum into a corkscrew handle, a piece of yew into a bottle stop and a piece of mahogany into a bowl. These are all a much more refined finish that my green wood pieces. Last week, after the final pass with a skew chisel, the only finish needed was a burnish with a handful of wood shavings. This week's pieces were sanded with four grades of sand paper, buffed with webrax and finally polished with wax or oil. Much finer finish that makes even my non-symmetrical corkscrew handle look good! I gained experience with several new tools that suit electric lathe work. I had great fun, the only down side is that I am impatient and it can be slightly frustrating when starting out with a new technique and a new tool.As is becoming customary, here's a pic (albeit quite a bad quality and poorly composed one):
Now for a little rest and some wine...
No, really, what makes a good teacher?
I don't necessarily mean a school teacher. In my opinion, anyone who imparts knowledge upon people on a regular basis is a teacher. Some teachers are professional educators, some are people trying to promote their wares, some are religious indoctrinators and some are simply people who love telling others about stuff they know and love. We've all had good and bad teachers in our time. Occasionally individuals connect with their tutor on some "higher level" but more often than not a good teacher is almost universally accepted to be a great imparter of knowledge. Why? Of course topical knowledge is critical but many subject matter experts make horrendous teachers. There has to be more than knowledge. I believe passion is vital, encouragement important and then there is the balance. The balance between giving someone the knowledge to find the answer to a question/challenge and stepping back just enough to allow the student to make, and learn from, their mistakes. I've had a couple of good pedagogues recently, some bad ones too. I've also delivered both excellent and substandard training in my time.
I'm taking several more training courses in the coming months so will probably have more to contribute on this subject but, in the mean time, I welcome your comments...
OK, so the wily little ####s are squeezing behind my net construction into the greenhouse, locating the nicest looking tomato and making an artful exit. I bound the net to the greenhouse more firmly but they can still manage to squeeze through. My neighbours must think I'm a bit weird swearing at and threatening what appears to be an empty greenhouse. Next step filling a juicy tomato with rat poison a la "Danny, the champion of the world"? I probably don't have the heart. Probably...
