Time to get mekin'!

The wood fair I mentioned in the previous blog was a great day out. Despite the rain we stayed all day and took in all that was on show. We stopped and spoke to many people who were involved in a variety of practices including charcoal 'cooking', spar making, basket weaving, logging with horses and a few framers and chair bodgers. Unfortunately there wasn't a pole lathe on show, though I take that as a sign to get practicing and get on the APT & GW demonstrator list.

Fineshade woods is in the heart of Rockingham Forest; an enormous managed woodland in Northamptonshire which is home to a colony of reintroduced Red Kites, one of which allowed me a quick photo.

Fineshade could also be a good source of timber for future projects!

I've had a discussion of late on the Bodgers.org forum about what makes a good froe and whether I should continue with my home made froe, or invest £70 in a Swedish Gransfors model. After reading other people's suggestions I came to the conclusion that I should stick with the one I've got and try a different approach to cleaving. The current froe is quite heavy duty and so I realised that the problem may not be in the froe itself, but the object I was using to drive it into the wood. So last night I spent half an hour with the axe carving a beetle from Eucalyptus, which is ideal as it's tough as old boots and not much good for anything else!




Now the froe is much more effective; it just needed a bigger whalloper!