September 2017
Sunday, 26 November 2017 17:27![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iguana
In September I finally finished selling my house, moving out of London and down to Devon. I also went on a green woodworking course where I made a stool, starting with not much more than just a tree trunk.
Green woodworking
Green woodworking is working with wood while it is freshly cut, before it has dried out. Emily and I took a two-day course with Turning Hare in Cornwall, staying overnight in a shepherd's hut on the premises.
To begin with we created billets from a log of wood, and most of the rest of the first day was spent draw-knifing those cuboids into more shapely legs. Lunch was provided, and was superb, and during a break we also pencilled the shape of the stool seat in a bit of oak that the instructors cut out roughly using a band-saw.
By the end of the day we'd finished the legs, and they were left to dry a little overnight, as they can (and did) shrink as the wood dries. In the evening Emily and I went out for a curry in Bude, which has an odd beach that at low tide looks like the sea is defying gravity and is uphill from where you're standing.
We prepared the newly-cut-out seat with a spoke-shave, in my case to round off the edges. I used a plane on the top since I wanted a flat seat that could be used as a side table, while Emily used a travisher for a more rustic carved wood look.
We drilled holes in the seats and used a tenon cutter to "pencil-sharpen" the top of the legs so they'd fit in the holes. Finally, with the legs in place, we hammered wedges into slots cut into the tenons to hold the legs in place.
A bit of turps and linseed oil (6 parts natural turpentine to 1 part raw linseed oil) really brought out the grain in the wood, and then it was suddenly the end of the weekend!
Here is a photo of the stools by all four of the people on the course. Mine is back right, the one with the natural knot hole at one end. I think it's wonderful how each one has a completely different personality to it!
Green woodworking is working with wood while it is freshly cut, before it has dried out. Emily and I took a two-day course with Turning Hare in Cornwall, staying overnight in a shepherd's hut on the premises.
To begin with we created billets from a log of wood, and most of the rest of the first day was spent draw-knifing those cuboids into more shapely legs. Lunch was provided, and was superb, and during a break we also pencilled the shape of the stool seat in a bit of oak that the instructors cut out roughly using a band-saw.
By the end of the day we'd finished the legs, and they were left to dry a little overnight, as they can (and did) shrink as the wood dries. In the evening Emily and I went out for a curry in Bude, which has an odd beach that at low tide looks like the sea is defying gravity and is uphill from where you're standing.
We prepared the newly-cut-out seat with a spoke-shave, in my case to round off the edges. I used a plane on the top since I wanted a flat seat that could be used as a side table, while Emily used a travisher for a more rustic carved wood look.
We drilled holes in the seats and used a tenon cutter to "pencil-sharpen" the top of the legs so they'd fit in the holes. Finally, with the legs in place, we hammered wedges into slots cut into the tenons to hold the legs in place.
A bit of turps and linseed oil (6 parts natural turpentine to 1 part raw linseed oil) really brought out the grain in the wood, and then it was suddenly the end of the weekend!
Here is a photo of the stools by all four of the people on the course. Mine is back right, the one with the natural knot hole at one end. I think it's wonderful how each one has a completely different personality to it!
