End of the holidays

Well, it's the last day of the half-term holidays and I don't have a lot to show for it, but Ju says I need to post more often, so here goes.

Firstly, I was lucky a week or so ago to get a new axe. It's a common enough axe - a Gransfors Bruks Swedish carving axe with the carved handle - probably one of the most popular amongst the greenwood carving community, but it would usually cost more than I would want to pay for an axe. Especially as I already have a perfectly good Nic Westermann carving axe that was given to me when I left my last job. This particular axe became available from a chap on Bushcraft UK who, after a nasty accident with an axe, decided he didn't want to use it and so sold it for less than half the retail price.

I was interested to see how it worked compared to my other axes so had a go at a couple of spoons - neither of which I actually love, but I guess I'm out of practise at the moment.

 

 

All in all I'm happy with the axe. It weighs about the same as the Nic Westermann axe, so felt pretty good. It's no sharper, but due to the offset grind, it has a tendency to bite deeper when carving, so I had to make a conscious effort to not let it, but I soon got used to that. A good addition to my carving bag.

 

I also got his rather nice Del Stubbs left-handed spoon knife from Ju for my birthday.

 



I haven't had a go with it properly yet, but I'm hoping it will make carving a spoon bowl a little easier.

Here is another eating spoon a did in the week. I've tried this 'spades' shaped bowl before and thought I'd try it again - it works really well for a shallow bowl. It's made from a straight grained piece of cherry so I cranked it myself - I shouldn't really as it supposedly makes the spoon weaker, and I have had them delaminate in the past, but I just love them heavily cranked.

And lastly, whilst these are not new (I made them a year or so ago) I thought I do a quick review on my handmade knife sheaths. When I bought my first Mora carving knives I was concerned that they only came in those cheap plastic sheaths that fall off really easily. If that knife is in your bag and reach in to get it, only to find the plastic sheath has fallen off, you are most likely going to find out the hard way - and those knives are sharp!! So I made these:

It's thick veg tanned leather - a bugger to stitch, but like iron once it is cased. They work really well, I just don't know if I can face doing it again for new knives.

Mora 120 refurb

Those of you that read this blog regularly (I think there are four of you, three if I don't include you Mom) will know that I've been through a period of illness recently. During this period, especially at my lowest point, a friend gave me a lot of help and support, which I was very grateful for. I wanted to give him something to say thank you, and as he had done some carving before and shown natural ability, i thought it would be nice to make him a carving knife.

The blade is from the much loved Mora 120. You can buy these blades new, but I found it very easy to just clamp the handle of a 120 I already had and, using a nail and a hammer, knock the blade out of the handle.

The bolster is made from reindeer antler and the rest of the handle is Yew. I haven't made a knife for a while, but this has given me the bug again and I'll probably make a few more now. I might do a tutorial next time of the process that I use.

I also took the opportunity to use my new Husqvarna sewing machine to make a little bag for it with a fastening that uses a button made from a Yew twig.

Hooks in daylight

I'm not an expert when it comes to photography, but I've started to work out that light is important.

Carved Hooks

I'm starting to be able to make things again and so I've eased myself into things by making a few coat hooks using naturally occurring hooks in branches. You can read about making these in two fantastic books Celebrating Birch and Swedish Carving Techniques, but it's pretty straight forward anyway.

I like the fact that they can be pretty basic, just a bit of tree stuck on the wall, or you can add a bit of decoration. They're a great project for beginners (and people recovering from illness)

Sharpening Stones

Went to my first car boot in a while today and picked up a nice natural sharpening stone. I often see these at boot sales and can't resist picking them up as they're usually just a couple of quid. This one is particularly nice in a smart wooden box with lovely patina.

It's difficult to see in the photograph, but the stone is almost green. I'd love to know more about these stones. I have to confess that of the many I have, I've only really used one of them as most of them need cleaning and flattening and I haven't got round to it yet.

This is the one that I use. It has a yellow colour with red veins, I have another one that is similar, though it's a bit browner (and needs a good clean).

This next one has a nice box and I think that it is a slate stone, that is used with water rather than oil.

I have a few black stones, all very similar. I don't know anything about them, but I know that you get black Arkansas stones that have a good reputation.

Eventually I'll get around to cleaning and flattening them all. Then I should take some time to test them out, see how fast they cut and how fine they are. If anyone reading this knows can shed any light on them, then I'd be grateful.

This morning I also managed to pick up a wire wheel that I need to restore a wood burning stove that I rescued from the side of the road and a couple of jars of old style slotted screws (look so much better than modern galvanised ones). I love boot sales.

Old Swedish Spoons

Just thought I'd share another fine blog entry by Tim Manney. He's posted loads of pictures of antique Swedish wooden spoons. A great source of inspiration here

Mini Axe

Cutting edge 21/2", 9" overall. just over 400g in weight

Still not feeling up to doing some woodwork, but I was able to take some pictures. This is an axe that I handled a while back using a head that I picked up for 50p from a car boot sale. I liked the idea making up a mini hatchet that I could use for spoon carving. Something small enough that I could daily take it on trips, comparable I guess to the Gransfors mini hatchet. Unfortunately it just didn't work very well. I played around with the bevels and tried to give it a nice asymmetric grind, but it just wasn't happening. So I put it aside and left it. Then one day I came across a blog post by tool and chair maker Tim Manney on how to tune a carving axe. He uses a grinding jig very similar to the one that I have and so I thought I'd give it a go. 10 minutes on the grinder and 20 mins honing later and my mini axe is singing to the right tune.

The difference, I think, is the flatness of the bevel. What Tim taught me was that the best way to get a flat bevel is to start with a hollow grind. That way you have two surfaces with which to register your hone and you just continue until those two high points meet each other. Encouraged by this success, I'm looking forward to putting together some more hatchets. I even have one smaller than this.

Stefan Ronnqvist axe for comparison