Tool tidy

I am not the neatest of people, I just get stuck into my work and the tools can pile up. The problem with putting edge tools down on the workbench with all the other edge tools is that they can get damaged. We often spend too much time sharpening and getting the tools into perfect condition, and then a nick is found in the edge because it has touched another tool.

The way I deal with this is by spending 2 minutes of my time, and a few pence worth, of usually scrap wood, making a tool tidy.

This set up is the one I use for fan bird carving. Not only does it save the edge of the tool, it is also safer and quicker. I know exactly where each tool is.

I use 2 to 3 different knives for the fan birds, each one works well for a particular task. This system is also a great space saver as well.

Shaving, on a horse, how do you do it?

Do you just use your arms or are you more of a rower?

Centre marker for turning

I have had a run on strop and slip sets, so more need to be made. I make them in small batches and one of the more irksome jobs is marking the centres on each end. What I need is a centre marker  and  I will not pay X amount for a plastic job when I can easily make one from workshop scraps. It is always worth spending 20 minutes to make a jig to speed up an ongoing repetative job.
My jigs are never things of great beauty, what I want is functionality and a quick make.

The wood is ash and is cut and planed square.  It does not matter what size wood is used, just make it with what you have and to the size you most commonly use. This is a big one and could have easily been made smaller.
A 45 degree square was used to mark the line from the bottom left corner. Using a tenon saw I cut about half an inch into the wood. The metal marking strip is a bit of bandsaw blade with the teeth left on. This was easily enough banged into the sawn slot.

The bottom guide fence is placed square with the edge tapped with a hammer to make a mark. This mark is then sawn.

Not having ever banged a toothed bandsaw blade into a slot before I thought it best to leave the edge square instead of sharpening it first. I finally used a carbide sharpener I was given years ago. I still do not like it, bloody useless tool. Do any of you use one? Do tell, and do you find it useful? 

So onward to using a file. This was all taking too long for my liking so I banged the blade out and sharpened it on a linisher. This is what I would advise you to do, and bang it in with a block of waste wood between it and the hammer. The bevel is about 80 degrees, obtuse and durable.

Screw the guides in making sure that they are exactly 90 degrees to each other.

To use place the wood in the corner, do make sure it is a good fit if you want accuracy. A gentle tap will mark a diagonal line corner to corner. Turn the wood  90 degrees and bang again. The intersecting lines will be the centre of the wood.

I turn a lot of smallish beads. I make longer billets of wood, when one end has been turned with six or so beads then the wood whips to much. I cut the beads off and start turning the much shorter other end. This jig will mark cylinders as well.

The square edge of kiln dried oak can be sharp and does fray the lathe cord, so I make up a simple sleeve from MDF and Gaffa Tape to protect the cord and also the square edge from being damaged.

In memory

These last few months have been a difficult and very sad time for me and my family. I have never had anyone really close to me die. My mum, Jane, died on the 4th Jan.
Jane has always been very supportive of my art and craft, and has always valued it highly when I have given something to her as a gift. I have been making for decades and have always wanted to give her something different for each birthday and for festive occasions, and so this has been an influence on my exploring and discovering new crafts.

My family home is in rural Mid Wales; an isolated traditional Welsh cottage in a field, across a ford and up a rough track to a smallholding.
The funeral  bypassed the institutions. We buried her in a simple but most wonderful way, surrounded by family and friends, on family land and overlooking the Cambrian mountains.

My brother Toby has set himself a challenge in our Mum's memory, an epic task that I can not even begin to think about doing. A fundraising event called '9 events in 9 months', which includes marathons and Iron Man events, and even a sports event competing against a horse. All money raised is going to the charity Cancer Research Wales.

If you feel like giving, even if it only a pound or dollar, please do so at:- http://www.justgiving.com/9events9months



Jane spent her last weeks in two different hospitals, and the staff of these institutions did their best for her. Our family has nothing but praise for all the professionals who looked after her. Her last weeks were spent in a small cottage hospital in Tregaron only 5 miles away from home. This meant that my dad, Glenn, could spend far more time with her than if she was in the large regional hospital, miles away in Aberystwyth. She was in that hospital initially, and I saw the physical, financial and emotional toll that it took on dad when he had to travel in daily.
I am a great supporter of the NHS. I am also very concerned that small hospitals are being closed and facilities are being moved into fewer, bigger hospitals. I am also very concerned that the NHS is being sold off very quickly to private business. This has huge bearing on peoples' lives, more so on the poor, and those who live in rural areas where facilities and public transport are lacking or non existent.
I am afraid that in my later life that I, and my family, will not have access to the NHS that I have contributed to all my life.

Lepcha homestay

Travelling in Sikkim is hard. The roads are hard, and if they were like that in the UK, parts of them would be classified as not suitable for motor vehicles. In mountain regions landslides always happen, and during the monsoon season the constant rain easily washes tarmac away.
The main way of travelling is by public jeep that you can book at the jeep and bus stands. At around 120 Rs, that is £1.20 per person, they are more expensive than the buses but are far quicker and more reliable.
The issue is just how many people they fit in. 3 rows of seats and 4 people to a row, including 3 next to the driver. Try it one day in a 4x4 and then go off roading. We often booked 3 seats instead of 2 for that extra bit of comfort, if indeed you can call a 4 hour journey bouncing up and down and being thrown side to side as the driver tries to overtake a lorry on a blind bend with a 300 foot drop next to you and no safety barrier on the road, comfort.  The average speed is 13 miles per hour.

We got to Mangan in North Sikkim, and met Tenzing, who we had arranged to stay with. We waited for hours while he got the necessary permits to stay in this part of the world. This is traditional Lepcha land and foreigners need permits to visit for up to 5 days at a time. 

Lepcha houses usually have the kitchen as a separate building, in this case the orange one on the left

 The kitchen is the heart around which daily life revolves. The stove is built from local clay and has 2 hotplates. Smoke rises into the roof and out through the eves and covered chimney hole on top of the roof. Most of this building has a ceiling, apart from above the stove. The slatted platform above the stove is used for drying stuff. The red meat hanging from the ceiling is mainly fat which is used for frying.

Lucy and  Tshering. This is the view opposite the stove. 

Prayer flags on the walk up to a traditional Lepcha house

 As with the rest of the world concrete is taking over as the building material of choice. This is expensive and not environmentally friendly. I had a few talks about this with our hosts. Concrete houses cost more than traditional wooden Lepcha houses.  Another issue is earthquakes. A concrete house is destroyed and cannot be recycled or reused, a traditional house has more flexibility built into it. Centuries of design have considered material and environmental needs, and with traditional materials, if the worst happens then they can be reused to some extent.

The square holes at the bottom of this post are for tying animals to. This understorey is used for housing animals, often year round, as there are no fields on the very steep mountain sides.

 I have a very understanding wife, and how could I survive 3 weeks without any knife work? So I took a basic spoon carving kit along with me. The only thing missing was an axe but I used the local banpok. These are used widely used traditional Lepcha tools. Tshering asked  me to carve a spoon for serving rice, and I was given a very dry plank of local wood.

Tenzing having a go with my hook knife.