Cruck barn in crenver grove



 Raised and raftered

 

 At long last I am finally getting round to putting up some stuff about the timber framing project I've been running in my local woodland this summer/autumn.
Over two weeks, 12 people joined me in Crenver grove, to saw, slice, chisel and bore through a pile of lovely, fresh Sweet Chestnut timbers we had felled and milled earlier in the year. These kinds of projects dont really come round very often, and the opportunity to build a traditional cruck frame on site, in a beautiful woodland, with a great bunch of folk was most enjoyable

 .

Pat cutting a housing 

There is something intrinsically satisfying about creating a building from the very trees that surround you,  a building capable of lasting hundreds of years, made from materials that quietly grow and will continue to grow. There is very little in terms of external input, really just the mobile sawmill and some tractor time shifting the trees, so it is an incredibly low impact building. Other than the odd judicious bit of chainsawing, the work was really about a few boxes and bags of good quality hand tools, and the desire and enthusiasm of the people involved.




Oooh lovely tools


 We were really lucky to have some great weather for both courses, so much of the time we were working with sunshine and bird song. I dont want to get too romantic about this but with the mix of weather, lovely people, woodsmoke, plenty of tea, wonderful materials and the sounds of hand tools being worked on green wood, the whole thing really did feel pretty special.

Plenty of tea

Most of the work we did would have been very familiar to a carpenter of medieval times, with the use of plumb bob scribing being used throughout. This allows for very accurate jointing of timbers, despite the wood being rough sawn and out of square.

Plumb-bobbing

We also used the adze alot to clean up the inside radius on the crucks and wind braces, which seemed pretty popular. It is suprising how quickly you can get good at this. One of my favorite tools.

Adam the adze



Ollie in action

All the jointing is done by carefully laying out the timbers flat and uncut, one atop the other in their relevant positions, then scribing, cutting and assembling, all in two dimensions.

Scribed and ready to cut

 

Crosscutting a shoulder

 

Assembled frame

 Timbers are marked using a tool called a timber scribe. Pretty important when you might have hundreds of unique elements in one building...
Most of the jointing is done with large mortice and tenons, with a wooden pin or peg holding it tightly together.





Carpenters marks with timber scribe and temporary steel pin






Once all the referencing is done on that particular layup, it can be dismantled and the timbers stacked away. Nothing is erected in three dimensions until raising day.




Heavy mortice chisel and a well cut tenon

I think much of the appeal of these green wood crafts lies not only in the aesthetic beauty of the objects being made (and the tools used), but also in a kind of honesty in the process. Its physical and no thrills kind of process, but the combination of care, skill and knowledge of material, and tradition passed down the centuries, results in something maybe difficult to define, but is immediately appealing to many people.

Cleaning out a mortice

 I felt by the end of each five day course we had managed to get to a pretty good level of understanding the fundamentals of trad timber framing. Actually these courses are always a bit of an experiment, because a balance must be struck between learning and simply getting stuff done, so I was really pleased that we managed so much. This has loads to do with the enthusiasm and drive of the participants and I was really fortunate in that respect. A big thankyou to all who sawed and chiselled and adzed..

Dylan chopping out and Jess on the boring machine
 

All the pictures on this post were taken by Rach weaver one of our course goers, so a massive thankyou to her for letting me use her brilliant images.

Tea break
 

Next up I will post some images and thoughts on the raising and raftering plus starting the shingle making...

Trusty shave horse for peg and shingle making

This summer I am planning to build a green oak / sweet chestnut barn in Crenver grove woods for the Sustainable Trust, a local charity involved in ecological restoration and enviromental education. The idea is to make a decent size building using trees from the woods, which can then be used to run future courses and educational workshops. As part of the process we are going to be offering a series of courses on traditional timber framing and ancient woodworking over the summer/autumn. This will be an opportunity to learn in-depth the techniques and skills needed to construct post and beam timber buildings using hand tools. I have been teaching this for nearly ten years now and am intending to make this course a special one, with loads of interesting tools and methods included, and a grand raising day at the end..

The courses will probably be 5 day duration over 3 weeks in the summer, with probably a week of voluntary work for shingling the roof. There are no finalsed dates yet, but if you are interested in attending a course you should contact Pip Richards who heads the trust-
sustrust@aol.com
01209 831718
07789600941

spring in the air

It has been quite some time since I have posted anything but like the trees, the woodland workshop has been dormant for the winter and I have been busy with my more 'conventional' carpentry work. I have really enjoyed working on a barn conversion for a friend, making a kitchen, doors, laying floors etc but with the warming weather I am very much looking forward to getting out in the fresh open air of the woods and hefting an axe and a drawknife again..
Lin and I are planning and preparing for the next round of summer courses. Lin has been doing an amazing job designing and building our new website, which will be going live hopefully in the next week... I meanwhile will be busy sourcing wood for some of the coming courses and also playing with some new ideas for courses, as well as building more doors, stairs etc etc...
We will be displaying and selling at various shows and fairs from easter onwards. Here is a brief list.

Trerife Easter fair             8th 9th April 
Trelissick woodland day  14th April
Royal Cornwall show       7th 8th 9th June

Do come and check us out if you are there..

Spoon carving

Our first spoon workshop was run successfully on the 7th - 8th July with very agreeable weather for most of it. It was a real pleasure to sit down or a few days and explore the skills and techniques used in traditional Swedish carving.

Using razor sharp knives and axes isn't something that is familiar to most people these days so a fair proportion of the first morning was spent going through the quite specific safety elements built into each type of cut used. We were all told as children never to cut toward ourselves but in fact many of the most effective and efficient cutting with a knife is done this way.

Once everyone seemed comfortable using the knife on short lengths of sycamore we studied various spoon designs, then began making spoons in earnest using axes first, then knives and finally gouges for hollowing the bowls.

Its great to see a small group of people slowly become more and more absorbed into crafting something by hand with simple tools. Conversation slows and life is temporarily given to the relaxed but intense focus of careful hand eye co-ordination, complimented by the woodland surroundings and interrupted by the odd cup of tea...

Your first spoon is of course never going to be your best. By the morning on day two everyone had managed to shape a roughly functional eating implement, and were eager to begin on a second project, this time using cherry wood rather than sycamore, both excellent woods for the job, but cherry having the more beautiful grain pattern. This session felt really relaxed, with everyone free to experiment with their new found skills. No images of finished spoons as the final sanding is being done at home, hopefully I can publish some photo's at a later date...

One of the nicest things about carving green wood is how easy it is to carry out in an unremarkable way. Whether sitting in the garden, by the fire on a winters evening or listening to the radio or even with friends, we can all partake without the need for a workshop or expensive tools. Sure you can spend loads of money on all the best kit but I reckon less than £50 would set you up nicely.

Carving has a kind of timeless quality to it, it was something our forebears did a lot, simple, satisfying, creative, and if nothing else, a damn fine excuse to turn off the box...

Course dates for summer/autumn

Here is an updated list of courses for the rest of 2011.


4th - 5th Aug   Make your own shopping basket

10th Aug   Family friendly messing about with willow 10 - 12am

10th Aug   Messing about with willow 1 - 4pm 

12th Aug  Make a basket in a day

15th - 17th Aug  Introduction to green woodworking

20th - 21st Aug  Spooncarving

17th - 18th Sept  Spooncarving

22nd Sept  Messing about with willow

23rd - 25th Sept  Introduction to green woodworking

Please note we have decided not to run the one day spoon carving workshops as they have not really booked up, and we also feel one day isn't really enough time to properly explore the subject.

Sweet Chestnut bark seating

Whilst running the intro to green woodworking course we took the time to peel the bark from the sweet chestnut logs before riving them down, with the aim of using it for weaving, principally for seating the chairs that I will be making this summer.

 Using inner bark for seating is common in North America and no doubt some other places in the world but has only very recent precedent in the UK. Hickory is the most commonly used bark in the US but as it doesn't grow in Europe we have to cast around and experiment a bit. Chair makers here have had good results with elm bark, particularly wych elm, which was first tried, I believe, by Mike Abbot, and detailed in his fine book, Living Wood.

Having no wych elm hearabouts I am hoping the chestnut will make a good alternative, being very leathery and flexible in nature, as well as tough and presumably, because of its high tannin content, durable and resistant to decay.

It is important to peel the bark at a time of year that the sap is running freely, otherwise it is too difficult to remove, ie spring to early summer. The chestnut is very easy to peel when fresh cut at this time of year and we have tried both peeling with one longitudinal cut, then removing as a whole slab, or cutting thin strips (3/4" - 1") one at a time.

The outer bark should be removed with a draw knife and this is best done before stripping. We didnt have the time and have since found it can be cut away with a sharp knife without too much bother.

Once cut into strips the thick inner bark fibres must be crushed and softened gently by rounding over a stick or between your thumb and forefinger, then coiled and tied ready for drying.

I am hoping this method will make a great alternative to rush seating which is quite time cosuming to weave therefore expensive. The beauty of it is that you can complete a chair using only one species of tree, and it is a quick and attractive way of solving the seating dilemma, ie suitabilty, comfort, cost, availability.

I will keep you posted on how well this all works when I make my next chair.. 

Our first green woodworking course

After a very busy few weeks building and preparing the woodland workshop (and exhibiting at the Royal Cornwall show), we finally ran the first course proper. Despite a pretty awful weather forecast for the first day we felt pretty much well prepared and raring to go, with a good supply of fresh sweet-chestnut logs, sharp tools, tea and cake, and four enthusiastic nascent green woodworkers.

I must say that we could not have had a nicer bunch of people for our first go. Elizabeth, B, Kevin and James were as enthusiastic and keen to learn and share as I could have hoped, and everyone seemed to settle in really well. Pretty soon the woods were filled with the sounds of splitting, chopping and shaving wood, not to mention some great conversation, philosophical debate, and jokes that were highly variable in subject and it has to be said, quality!

Over the three days we covered many of the fundamentals of green woodworking, including tool safety and handling, riving, using a break, chopping (axe work), shaving, adzing, boring holes and shaping and fitting leg joints with wedges.

The aim of this introductory course is to provide students with a foundation of skills crucial to working with green wood, started with in the round, and processed using simple tools in a woodland setting. I feel also that it is important for people to take something physical away with them along with the all important knowledge and techniques learned. I was delighted that everyone managed to make a beautiful 3 legged or 4 legged slab bench to take home with them. The 3 legged benches are the basis for a shave horse and will be completed on a later 2 day course.

By the afternoon of the third day the workshop had become an absolute hive of activity, and I was really pleased and quite surprised at how confident everyone had become with the tools and materials. From my point of view as tutor that was the most important thing, but I also felt that everyone had had a really enjoyable and fun time in a beautiful woodland setting, and crafted something with their own two hands that was really worth keeping and that they would be proud of for years to come.