Cooking and eating

Since getting my pole lathe working I have been making some wooden bowls for my kitchen. As much as I do like my porcelain bowls, being that I can stick them in the microwave and cook stuff instantly, I find it detracts from the joy off eating from my own homemade wooden bowls. My breakfast bowl is nice to eat from as it has aged nicely and everyday I use it, it brings back memories of making it and the journey it has taken. So having made some wooden bowls I wanted to make some pieces to cook with.

To that end I have made a nice little trough and serving spoon out of some rippled willow. Was an absolute bugger to carve due to the rippling wanting to break off and do its own thing. But they came out rather nice after a little perseverance and oiling. The trough will be a wonderful addition to serve food or to make dough in for bread as it follows the traditional pattern which is somehow find very pleasing. Whether it is its symmetry or its functionality I don't know but it just seems so nice.

Now too test them out and see how they age after use.

First Bowls On Lathe And Some Sheaths

after finishing the lathe last week I decided to test out a couple bowls on it. had to grab my tools from my workshop in Hull, and axe out some bowl blanks of sycamore.this was taken from the nursery just down the road from me and the guy there is wonderful and lets take a few bits every now and then.

I flattened the top using the axe then marked the circle and sawed the corners off. Used the axe to then carve the round bowl shape from the bottom upwards.

Then the mandrel

turning the outside first and then the inside

nice thinned core. this shot shows how fine the shavings are on the bowl. not the fast turned clean marks that medieval turners made but still very good.

having used the lathe for the first time its work perfectly well and has enough weight to handle turning bowls but not too heavy not to transport. Really want to show the lathe to sherwood forest who gave me the oak to make the bed and legs. I may have to turn them something nice in return to thank them.

But also having thought about re-enacment this year i felt it time to make some tool sheathes so i can stop hiding away tools from the public. I have to say over the past couple of years doing woodworking displays in front of public, they can easily spot out modern items very well. the amount of times people have noticed the "Made in sweden" mark on my gransfors axe has annoyed me so much. so for authentic tools they need authentic sheaths.

The axe, adze, and gouge simply have folded leather cover that was shaped to follow the form of the blades. Whereas the knife require a little more precision by mark the sheath fit it perfectly. After looking through archaeology books with surviving sheaths i decided to follow this article for a scandi sheath as the result were virtually the same as the originals (though the suspension strap isn't).

Quick update

Only a quick post today. Spent Sunday doing some re-enactment with the Savilles Household at croft castle near wale and I was lucky enough to do some bowl turning on my pole lathe whilst I was there (thanks to gary ball for bringing some poles). Was a fantastic venue and a fun day out with lots of public who were very interested in the pole lathe and how bowls were made.

I was only able to produce two bowls out of sycamore as I had to keep stopping and starting throughout the day. But was great to see adults and children who were interested in medieval bowls and medieval history.

Can't wait to do more turning next year with the society and maybe a few more crafts such as spoon carving and bowl carving. 

Holiday Holland, and some nice tools

this past week I have been on holiday in holland with my girlfriend and whilst visiting there were some lovely historical museums that we visited, with some wood work related history.

the first museum we visited was called Archeon located near Alphen aan den Rijn, Though calling it a museum is an understatement. It focuses on living history re-enactors recreating the living conditions of High Medieval, Roman, Iron Age, Bronze age, Neolithic, and further back. While all these areas were interesting with roman massages, neolithic bread on a stick, and medieval seal making the area that interested me the most was the bronze age. The re-enactor in that area had a wonderful collection of bronze axes in that just seemed too amazing not to look at. She asked me and the public to setup the axes in he chronological order, which i had correct. The two on the left being the earlier as they would work but the handles would eventually split. The two in the center were later and better designed to incorporate the strength of tree branches and having the axe head slotting into the head. This design must have given better results with fewer broken handles but again the wood would most likely spilt eventually. the axe on the far right was the latest design for bronze axes which incorporated the bronze head with a socket for the handle to attach too. This design would have been given the best longevity to the bronze axe and this design was even incorporated into the early iron axes of the iron age.

I certainly enjoyed the axes and the knowledge behind them. She couldn't help and show off her collection bronze knives and arrow heads. I also got to have a go with a bronze axe  in peeling an ash log, although it had been heavily used by other members of the public.

In the archaeology section of the museum there were some lovely medieval finds from holland, Including a lovely axe/hammer and an adze. I wonder what kind of workman would have used an axe and hammer at the same time?

Not to mentions a lovely selection of medieval bowls and some excavated spoons. It is interesting to see how simple they are and how they undecorated. simple and useful utensils :-).