We don’t have a TV but several folk told me I should watch the BBCs “Victorian Farm” on iplayer. Most of the presenters are friends, Ruth Goodman a Tudor expert has used my bowls for years, the latest episode featured two other friends Owen Jones my all time craft hero and in my opinion a “living national treasure” this is…
I don’t think I have posted anything on the blog yet about my wife Nicola’s research. here is a video overview. So whilst many of our friends know Nicola as a spooncarver by daytime she is Dr Nicola Wood of Sheffield Hallam University and conducts research into how craft skills and tacit knowledge are handed on. She is particularly interested…
Its been a hectic time since my last post. Last Saturday was the Sheffield woodfair so I was turning bowls and again racing my bowl lathe against Mikes electric lathe, a rerun of the popular “man against machine” race we have done for 3 years. Nicola did a youtube clip of last years race here. To be fair I am…
Just to show the European hewing technique as a contrast to the Japanese, here is some video again from 2005 Kesurokai. The technique of hewing by cutting out notches, chopping off the block between and then finishing the surface with a wide bladed axe is the same as was used in Britain to create all our wonderful timber framed buildings.…
I was just discussing axe design and use with folk on the British Blades forum and was reminded of one of the most wonderful exhibitions of woodworking skill I have seen. In 2005 I attended the first european “kesurokai”. This was an event inspired by a German carpenter journeyman spending time working with Japanese temple builders. In Japan the carpenters…
Last weekend I went to Kent on an intensive bladesmithing course with master smith Owen Bush. I have been forging my own woodturning tools for 15 years but everything I do has been learned by trial and error and I wanted to see if I could improve the quality of my tools so that they stay sharper for longer. It…
