Green woodwork courses for 2015

Green woodwork courses for 2015

25th and 26th April Spoon carving
£65 one day £110 for 2 days.
Beginners and intermediates. Spoon making first day with sharpening, design, and
advanced knife work on the second Come for 1 or 2 days.

3rd Oct Fanbirds
£75
Learn to make beautiful fanbirds from one piece
of wood. You will make 2 to 4 birds during the day.

24th-25th Oct Tool making
£175
Make knives and hook knives for
green woodwork. Make a small forge to use at home. I will teach you how to make
tools on a budget with a simple set up to use at home or workshop.

The ever popular one to one workshops, from £140 per day. £250 for 2 days, £350 for 3 days.
Discount for 2 people £250 per day. £380 for 2 days £600 for 3 days.
More than 2 of you then the daily rate is £80 per person.

Wednesday afternoon and evening weekly sessions £15. I have space on the afternoon session.

Sheaths for Mora 106 and 120

Been having myself a bit of fun recently. Making more wooden boxes for knives that fit not only the knives I am making but also the Mora 120 and the 106.

They start off with a simple box with a leather hinge ( bottom of picture ). There is a cut out in the box so that the fingers can grasp and pick up the blade. As the knife is being picked up by the blade, the way it is balanced, means the knife pivots into the palm of the hand. The box is held shut by a pin through a round peg.

The next 2 boxes uses the round peg to lever the handle of the knife out of the box so it can be grasped. Push down on the peg and the handle rises from its home. These boxes have sliding dovetail hinges set into the end of the box.

They are ash with a hand planed finish, and all edges knife worked. No treatment has been used, the wood is bare. You can oil,  paint, or chip carve. Personalise them how you want. I often just leave them bare and over the years a beautiful patina will develop.

 Leather hinge box only  £30     
With a Mora 106 £50.
Leather hinge box with lever mechanism £45 
With a Mora 106 £65.
Wooden hinge box  with lever mechanism  £70  
With a Mora 106 £90.

Email me, and a Paypal invoice will be sent to you.

All the very best for the New Year

strop and slip sets

Finally I have sorted boxes and labels for a boxed strop and slip set for sharpening green wood knives and other tools. The set contains 2 strops and and excellent polishing compound for putting a razor sharp edge back onto almost any tool.
The slips are for hook and curved tools including carving adzes and even gouges. I also sharpen my axe with these slips. I have been making and selling these sets for 3 years and this is what I use for my sharpening. The strops will last for decades, the slips use silicon carbide paper which is cheaply and readily available to replace when finally worn out.

This stack of boxes is about to be sent off to full fill  a couple of wholesale orders. They are for sale on this blog, under Tools for Sale.
One of the problems I have is selling to Europe and USA, as postage is expensive. I am finding out about Fulfilment by Amazon which will keep postage costs to a minimum and far quicker delivery times. What this space, I will let you know when and if this happens.

The cost is £35 per set with £4.50 UK postage.

Europe £8.50, and with insurance £13.50

USA £12, and with insurance £18.

Postage Country

Strop set UK £39.50 GBP Strop set Europe £44.00 GBP Strop set USA £47.00 GBP

I have a problem with plastic tree guards

This happens

Lots of plastic guards either constricting trees or littering our woodlands. What a waste of oil and energy. They are not reused and so often left, even the biodegradable plastic ones get up my nose. I also have cut many civic trees out of their plastic band holding them onto the stake. So it was that at the APF I came upon a family owned business that has created a solution.

Tree guards made from recycled cardboard and bamboo. Apparently they work well, but I have not tried them myself.

 There are plenty of solutions to bad environmental practise, it is not always doom and gloom. Change starts with one idea or one person. I just wanted to share a good idea.