All From One Tree

Hook Tools

2010-03-03T16:01:00.000-08:00

I had been planning to build this pole lathe for a long while now and last Spring I got a bit ahead of myself and made some hook tools, which are used for bowl turning on a spring pole lathe. Having worked at Fort William Historical Park in the past I knew the blacksmith there and approached him about learning how to forge. With some pictures of hook tools from various websites Dave Else and I worked away at the forge and made the tools pictured below. To sharpen the tools I glued abrasive cloth to piece's of dowel and used that to sharpen the inside bevel.

Last month, when I built the lathe, I finally made some crude handles for the tools and they seem to work well. I've not had much success actually turning a bowl yet, as I've not made a proper mandrel, but the tools cut well and I think they'll work nicely.

Polelathe

2010-02-27T13:07:00.000-08:00

In researching spoon carving techniques and design I came across a website by Robin Wood, a UK carver and spring-pole lathe turner. I had never heard of these ancient types of lathes but was immediately taken by their simplicity and elegance. There are relatively few pole-lathe turner's in the world now, however it would seem that the skill is becoming popular again, especially in the UK. Here's a link to the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers website. The site is filled with info, with an exceptional forum on a variety of topics.

Polelathe turning is something I've now been interested in for a couple years. Recently, Beth and I went back down to Grand Marais so I could build my own pole lathe and she could visit with her birch bark weaving friends. It was a great trip and the experience at the folk school was fantastic. The people dropping into that place have so much to share and they're so excited about traditional craft/living. An inspiring place to be sure.

Beautiful early morning drive down along the coast of Lake Superior.

Here’s the lathe.

Dave, Charlie, John, and Beth. These two guys have been Beth's instructor's for three courses now.

The picture is foggy because we left the camera in the really cold car.

And the first thing I’ve ever turned on a lathe…a chair leg maybe?

Moving on to bowls

2010-02-27T12:57:00.000-08:00

As is perhaps natural, my interest in carving spoons led to an interest in bowl carving. Having picked up the book Carving and Whittling: The Swedish Style I found that the best way to get into making bowls was with a bowl adze.

I bought an adze from Gransfors Bruks and got to work on a birch burl I have been holding onto for a couple years.

It’s still drying but I’m hoping it holds together and doesn’t crack. The burl wood is gorgeous with a lot of colour and character.

There are a couple rather large birches at the sugarbush that'll need to come down soon so I'm pretty excited to try turning those into bowls like this as well. The large "Dough Bowls" are really fun to make and beautiful to have in your home for, well, mixing dough, or as is more common an accent piece on a table or buffet.

Spoons to start

2010-02-27T12:49:00.000-08:00

I was inspired to start carving spoons from birch after reading the Celebrating Birch book. I had some interest in carving in the past but the pictures and instruction in the book helped me discover a new hobby.
I already had a Mora carving knife and bought a Gransfors Bruks Swedish carving axe, which is needed to rough out the spoon. I also bought a scorp (curved knife) from a local hobby shop, Tom Thumb.

Here is my first spoon. We use it almost daily and the colour remains quite light. The wood was harvested in winter and therefore lacks alot of colour. Also, I don't soak my spoons in flax oil so the colour is what it is. This is not to say I won't start using oil, as a friend of mine does and her spoons look really nice.

And here are some more, most of which I've sold at the Market or given to friends and family.

...and a butter knife...

The beginning

2010-02-24T14:19:00.000-08:00

I decided to start this blog to chronicle the progress my wife Beth and I make in learning about the food and crafts one can produce from the white birch. We have had a business producing birch syrup for nearly five years now and we've slowly started a line of what we're calling value-added products made from birch wood or bark sustainably harvested from our sugarbush.
A big part of our initial inspiration was a book called "Celebrating Birch" which was published by the North House Folk School in Grand Marais, Minnesota.

The book inspired Beth to take a course at the folk school, a convenient hour and half drive away.
Her time there resulted in these fun crafts...

Beth has been enjoying the weaving alot but it's hard to find the time to do it. We harvested birch bark ourselves last June in order to have some bark available to her which she used to make a bunch of stars to be sold in Toronto at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.

More to come...