Handmade Drawknife

For a long time I've needed a drawknife and always wanted to make one, I decided to re-use an old farm tool that wasn't serving any purpose in my workshop. I don't have a forge so most of the reshaping work was done with grinding and cutter tools and a butane torch was used to attempt to make the tangs. I say attempt as I didn't leave enough material for the 2nd tang and they've ended up very different lengths!

 I decided the shorter tang is still long enough for my needs and as long as I place it on the left side (the side I pull on less when using a drawknife) it should stay in place. The other side was actually too long and I had to shorten it to fit the handle. Unfortunately I didn't get pics of it's earlier form. 

My next attempt will be better but for now I'm going to carry on with this one; The wood I've chosen for the handles are these Cherry offcuts. It looks plain at the moment but Cherry takes on a beautiful rich colour when seasoned, I figure that as the large knots dry they should develop an interesting grain.

  They were actually a bit too green so I roughed them down then put them in a microwave for 1 minute, this allowed me to get a nice clean cut & polish for the finish.....

Which has already given them a nice rich colour. Cherry grain is quite tight and resilient so should work well.

 Before I can fit them I need to harden & temper the steel, this can be done without a furnace but much better results will be obtained with a good even heat source, a butane blowtorch won't quite do it. For now I have to leave them, soon I'll either borrow the use of a potter's Kiln or just have a nice wood fire. With some offcuts.

Cat's Paw (Pippy) Oak Shelves

Just Sold my favourite shelves, these were made from Pippy Oak, otherwise known as Cat's Paw Oak - for obvious reasons!

Trial cut to size and layed out for spacing,  

 followed by the trial fit, 

the difference after a few hours waxing & polishing finally does the wood justice. Even when bare this wood is stunning, after being buffed the grain is simply amazing.

These have been to many shows with me and will be hard to top as display shelves, the wood is quite rare so not easy to replicate.

Wire Scorpions & Spiders

Unable to use my wood-working tools I decided to try some wire sculptures, these small Arachnids are the produce of idle hands. Fun to make and (I think) beautiful results for my 1st attempt at wire sculptures. Great way of using up my old craft wire! 

                                                Made from Gold, Silver & Copper wire.

                                 The Bodies are intricately plaited and very decorative.

  The 10p piece shows how small they are. The Scorpions are smaller, most have approx 1" leg span.

        These can be purchased from my Etsy shop (link at top of the page) or by contacting me.

Hand-made Woodturning chisels & Marking Knives

A few pics of some of my hand-made wood-turning chisels. They are all made with an extremely strong & hard Cobalt steel capable of taking and retaining a much sharper edge than the steel normally used by manafacturers. This metal is really designed for cutting ultra tough metals (titanium, stainless steel, Inox etc.) and so hardly notice when they are cutting wood. They stay sharp up to 15 times longer than normal HSS (high-speed-steel) and stay sharp for weeks when used on only wood (my regular chisels require re-grinding every couple of hours at best). They are very easily capable of turning stone on a wood lathe!

The very best thing about them is that the steel is designed to work at red-heat. Normally the grinding of a chisel is a very precarious process as any over heating of the tip will destroy it's temper (requiring a complete regrind to remove the affected portion) - these chisels aren't affected by it.

The first two were made from Yew wood, very unusual but extremely good looking. Most hardwoods can be used but there are some much better suited than others. The properties of Yew make it ideal but the rarity of good timber makes it rather luxurious.

The Yew handles polished up beautifully and definately have the nicest shape and feel of all the handles I've made. 

                                  Even the Sapwood is strong and resilient enough to be left as part of the handle.

All the others have been made with more traditional Ash handles, not as decorative as the last but ideal qualities to the wood.

The first is a strangely named 'Skewchigouge' (skew chisel & gouge in one) - copied straight from the Axminster catalogue.
      Made with an M42 grade HSS. A very versatile chisel it also makes one hell of a scraper and is the chisel best used for turning stone.

The next is a shorty, yet to be ground for use in the picture. The steel requires re-grinding so little that this 4" blade chisel will still give years of service

Next one is a square ended scraper, very useful for narrow openings - bottom of narrow bowls, egg cups etc.

The next is another copied straight from Crown tools in the Axminster catalogue - a 'splay tool'.The diagonally ground diamond tip allows it to be used like 5 different tools in 1. Only problem is that it's so sharp that if you have an accident (a 'dig') it'll go straight through the work before you can flinch - I have literally cut work in half by mistake. A special 'Hot-Working' steel was used for this as I also use it for trimming the metal ferrule flush on other chisel handles.

The last chisel for now is this very thin parting tool - this 1 is actually design ed for cutting work in half)....

 Finally; Japanese style marking knives - again made with much harder steel than usual, also chosen for it's ability to cut through Titanium, wrapped in waxed leather thong for comfort & durability. Matching left & right sided pair.

Book-matched Yew table

This is a Yew table I started some time ago, one of my favourite pieces (also one of my favourite woods) - over 2 weeks was spent on this table working to get the most out of the beautiful grain - quite rare wood in this size, the tree is believed to be around 500-600 years old, It had to be cut down in a local cemetary as it was deemed dangerous and consequently found it's way into my wood pile :-)

The table is made from book-matched planks, a single log which was sliced into 6 pieces, the top & sides all match (are mirrored) but, the shelves are from opposite sides of the log.

Absolutely stunning wood with lots of character, the colour doesn't show up too well in the pics most of the dark streaks are actually a very deep red which is described as 'flaming'. Hopefully once it's polished they will show up more. 

   The 2 pinkish spots at the end of the top is a small piece of very rare Australian Jarrah which I've used to fill a dead knot. Over time this wood changes to an amazing burgandy red.

From Burr to bowl - Holly

From Burr to bowl - Holly

 A while ago I found this small but very dense growth on the side of a fallen Holly tree, hanging over the stream it was just crying out to become a bowl;

 After just a few days drying time the surface had taken on this stunning and very unusual green patina, there was a small band of rotten wood that had to be removed but the burr itself looked very strong so, on with the turning!

Mounted on the chuck and ready to go, the burr was very unbalanced and the weight can cause massive vibration so a very large 'roughing' gouge is used to round it off.

Once it's near round I can start to get a better idea of the shape and grain I have to work with. When I stopped the lathe I was very happy to find these signs of disease standing out from the white grain. The actual fibres are structurally sound, they have just gone through a colour change. 

I usually try and keep the shape as close to the natural shape as possible, ie: once it's rounded off I try not to remove anymore than is necessary, in this case I left a large flat on one side, not the normal thing to do but it can have some interesting results and removing it would also have lost a lot of the striking grain. 

And finally the inside of the bowl is hollowed out to a shape that should blend in with the outside, this is always the hardest part and because of the bark and knotty inclusions I decided to keep it quite chunky - rather than risk breaking the bowl.

 Completed bowl, oiled and ready for use;