Medieval thread reels

A friend in our re-enactment group Pelican-in-her-Piety, has asked me to turn her some thread reels.  She needs these as she produces high quality hand sewn authentic clothing for the group and whoever else is interested.  Every aspect of the group’s activities has to be authentic as it regularity takes part at events for English Heritage which has high standards and expectations.

The specification for the reel is from a drawing in the book ‘The Medieval Household’ (Museum of London) by Geoff Egan (published 2010) and I took measurements directly from this.  There is no detail of the species of wood it is made from but after a few attempts oak gives me the best finish, though I will continue to try other native species as I gain confidence when making more of these.  

I am using oak in its green state at about 14” long, split and drawknived on a shaving horse.  This is then set in the pole lathe and roughed out into a cylinder.  Each discus at the ends are marked on the spindle so the finer turning can be carried out to the measurements of the original specification.

Once the first reel is finished I part off the reel at each end by thinning down as per the specification profile and remove from the cylinder with a sharp knife.

Once I removed the first reel, I re-centred the waist billet and installed it back onto the lathe so I could turn a second reel.  The reason for removing the first reel before starting the second is to eliminate the vibration that naturally occurs over such a length when the diameter is reduced to the 9mm.

The second reel is then turned in the same way as the first.  The amount of reels that can be turned from a single billet depends on the length of the original piece of wood and maximum length of the lathe bed.  The piece of wood in this case was 14” long and I was able to turn two reels, leaving a 3” piece of waist (the ideal length needed for three or four wraps of cord needed to turn the item).

I have really enjoyed turning these reels as before I converted my bowl lathe to accept spindle work I have not really had much chance to practice spindle projects.  Even making these small delicate reels has helped me improve my skew chisel use.

Once I have finished this initial order, I shall carry on making these reels for the re-enactment market, as I’m sure re-enactors and medieval tailors will appreciate pole-lathe turned items.

Bring on the next project!

Bowl lathe to spindle lathe conversion

Having been focussed on my bowl turning the last few years, I've neglected to make sure I have a resident good quality spindle lathe to play on, to make things like mandrels and tool handles (for the bowl turning), chair parts and other items.

This underlying frustration has made me think about building a new spindle lathe which then got me thinking about making a separate set of spindle poppits for my bowl lathe bed.  This means I can now change from bowls to spindles just by simply changing the poppits and treadle.

Before:

and after:

 

The poppits are made from some scrap oak that was lying around.  They're three inches thick and planed down so they would fit snugly in the bowl lathe bed.  The required toolrest supports were then just let into the poppits as on standard spindle poppits, and the same wedges have been used.  The old spindle treadle is still needed, so I'm still happy using my natural hazel fork.

I tried the lathe out straight away and it was extremely sturdy, the lathe bed not moving an inch, as you would hope for.  Having a lathe bed already set up to make bowls and yet often wanting to turn 'spindle style', I now don't have to put up a separate lathe which makes it all really convenient.  My old spindle lathe was made from soft wood and about 15 years old, so was getting very rickety and was not a pleasure to use at all, so really pleased with this one. :-D

Microbodge at Nick and Nancy's - February 2012

On the weekend of 17-19 February, we enjoyed the first communal bodge of the year for the Sussex group, kindly hosted by Nick and Nancy.

The usual plan for Sussex microbodge ensued, where people engaged in various activities such as John making legs, Fionn making parts for a new shelter, V finishing off her candlestick... also Tim was working on a child's Windsor chair, and Nick was overall 'facilitator' providing advice on the various bodging activities (as well as making sure everyone had a homemade beer!)

There was also lots of spoon carving going on in the bodging shed keeping warm by the woodburning stove.  It was Hannah's brother's first time with the group, showing his natural skills as he carved his way through a number of spoons, and we hear he now has 'the bug'.... good thing too.

There was also a special guest on Saturday from the Kent group, John Burbage, who spent the day making shingles for his timberframe barn.  It was a shame we missed John as we had to miss the Saturday for a family birthday.

Thanks to Nancy for keeping us all fed and watered, with some great homemade nosh including her signature chestnut soup and classic chilli!  :-D

So overall another great event, and looking forward to the next one round V and Steve's in March where hopefully we WILL be cutting the ribbon and smashing a bottle of Cava on Steve's lathe ;-)

Bodge on!

Ardingly Microbodge, 10-11 December 2011

Every now and then, a few interested parties gather local here and there in Mid Sussex to bodge, with the aim of practising their green woodworking skills and other associated skills such as drinking tea and eating nice baked things!

This was all started by the lovely Nick and Nancy a while ago who invited as many as they could fit into their garden to bodge and eat, since then a few other venues have cropped up and last week it was my turn to host.

The main aim of the Microbodge is to lend support and enthusiasm as we can get on green woodwork projects, without complications getting in the way.  This weekend saw some forging going on with the aid of my homemade forge and work-made charcoal fines for the heat.  Fionn wanted to start forging tools for himself so he got on with work and started wisely making a bottoming knife.

He didn’t finish the knife as darkness came in too soon but the initial forging was ready to accept some of the 1^st stage of sharpening, leaving the secondary forging of the bottoming curve for next time.  This next stage will then require the heat treatment part and final sharpening.  This project will give Fionn a good base to make his first hook tool later down the line.

Nick got on with some bowl turning on his lathe and even talked Tim through some bowl turning who I believe made his first green bowl.

Nick’s work has come on a great deal and the improvement in his work can clearly be seen and the finish on his bowls is excellent.  Through the day I noticed he was returning to the sharpening stone to “tickle” his tool (bowl hook!) which is essential to the good finish of a good looking bowl.

It was great to see Steve was concentrating on his poppits to finish his beautifully crafted pole lathe, and Vanessa was turning candlesticks in time for Christmas on Fionn’s lathe, showing her eye for detail, and we look forward to seeing the finished article.

 

Others joined us just for the social, you can normally tell who they are from the workman’s hands (or not)!

Becky and Tim were here, as well as Em and Gaz who started their next spoon which they took home to finish off in their front room as instructed.  We will be inspecting their work at the next micobodge!

We obviously had to eat over the weekend, so we took the opportunity to spark up the fire pit and cook stew and dumplings in the Balkans Kotlich we were bought for Christmas last year by Char and Dave (thanks!).

I personally loved it and it was very filling, the herby cheesy dumplings were a hit and everyone was suitably fuelled to carry on in the afternoon.

Mike Gordon brought his tart which everyone enjoyed, it appears he has other talents other than his bodging skills, including his next fabulous spoon.  So we’re looking forward to the next treat Mike!

For those who stayed with us for the whole weekend, we rounded off Saturday evening with a quick visit to see the famous Wakehurst lights and then piled down the Ardingly Inn.  Happy days.  So, a great weekend had by all, and can’t wait for the next winter bodge!

A brief history of how my bowlturning came about

Hello readers

This is my first attempt at blogging, so apologies if it all feels a bit rough round the edges, but I hope you enjoy this insight into the life of a green woodworker!

So, first things first, a brief account of my history and what this blog’s all about.

I'm a tree surgeon based in a small Sussex village called Ardingly, working for the country's leading arboretum, Kew Gardens, at Wakehurst Place.  Not only do I lead on the gardens' tree work, but I carry out all sorts of woodland conservation and forestry work too.

But perhaps the most exciting development in my career so far has been entering the world of heritage green woodwork, my passion in life (well, perhaps second to my wife to be!).  I've been pole lathe turning since the mid '90s, and have always had an ambition to make bowls on a pole lathe after seeing a picture of Stephen de Brett doing this in Mike Abbott’s ‘Green Woodwork’ book, but somehow never got round to making it happen due my lack of knowledge of this complicated skill at the time.

However, this all changed when I had the opportunity to build a timber frame oak building at Wakehurst.  I enjoyed this so much, it was the realisation that I should delay no longer in pursuing my ambition to turn green wooden bowls.

Now I have got to a stage where I consider myself a fledged competent bowl turner, and I would like to write this blog to record how I have developed my skills and where they’re taking me now.

2011 Bodgers Ball, Lower Brockhampton (the 'half hour challenge')

I’d also like to take the opportunity here to pay a tribute to my grandparents, who inspired me as a child to respect nature and enjoy the countryside from a young age.  I stayed with them every weekend after school and during school holidays, and they would take me out to local woodland and wildlife sites like Woods Mill and the South Downs.  They also taught me basic field skills like using a sheath knife, collecting firewood, axework and lighting a fire, well before I was 10.  This is what drove me in the end to have a career in conservation and treework.