South West Forest WoodFair report

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Alf

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Possibly this should be in General Woodworking, but it was very much neanderthal in tone, so here it is.

This is an annual get together of wood related folks in the south west of England (well duh!) with much bodging, some furniture, a few tools and so forth. Lots for the kiddies to do to, but frankly who cares? :wink: It's held at Roadford Lake between Launceston and Okehampton (Lawn-sun and Oak-hampton, Mike, Frank, Roger, etc). As you can see, it was a perfect day:



I devoted my attention to the craft area, and firstly the green woodworkers:


Using an adjustable rounder with the work held in a cleaving brake (I think)


Pole lathe and shaving horse.


Pole lathe again; the wedges visible at the headstock end are used to adjust the spacing of the tool rest from the work. The rest itself is held just with the pressure of the turner applying the tool to the work.


A slightly different design of lathe with the power supplier by a cord stretched between two upright poles strapped to the lathe frame.


Hmm, a little lathe obsessed I'm afraid... This one could be used with both a long pole and two upright ones. The chap using it had a very quick, chopping style of turning. Quite different from his neighbours.



Another simple shaving horse and a chopping block.


Another shaving horse, this time being used by a long bow maker.


Some of his completed bows, with Yew blanks of heart and sapwood waiting in the background.


Next door to him was one of the sawmills represented there. I made a beeline for the burl you can just see to the right of the woman, but I was too late. It was already sold. :(


A Merryman boat, or "Boat in a Box" kit boat. It has a wheel in the bow and the oars can fit through the transom to make moving it easy. I was much taken with it (having long had a hankering to make a boat) but kits start at £495 :(

Next it was into the marquee, and particularly the competition one, to have a look. There were many different classes, and apologies, I can't recall any of them. :roll:


A chisel caddy for turning tools, mainly in oak IIRC, with the top handle held with leather. I had to ramp up the brightness to get a shot of the carousel within, so sorry for the quality.


I think this what you call an "interesting" piece. I quite liked the wooden hinges and catch though.


This will be a familiar design to DC readers. The maker was very clear about its origins, but the judge praised the "stunning shape and form" and made no mention of the workmanship, which would have ticked me off considerably if I'd been competing against it. It wasn't bad although the wedges in the tenons were a bit wonky in places. Easy for me to say; I've never made one :wink:


Another one where I wish I'd had a pen and pencil to make a note of the details. Rather a striking bench, and apparently comfortable too.


A bowsaw with, apparently, a copper blade? The close-up of the blade holders isn't in particularly good focus, sorry. But I thought it might be of interest.


Some assorted items which appealed to me - dunno why. The heat under the canvas might have been getting to me by then...


One of the main furniture competition entries; made by a student of Bridgewater College. Mainly cherry. DC was judging these, and I didn't envy him the task. If he remembers details about them better than I, I hope he'll jump in and add them. The smooth action of the drawers on this was a delight, but the ball catches on the doors less so, I thought. As usual, it's the hardware that knobbles the woodwork. :roll: I'd have happliy taken it home though; a really practical piece of furniture.


Another entry. I had a look under the top of this one (table top fixings being a current obsession with me) and it appeared to be just glued to the stretchers. I'm sure I must have missed something, but when I came back it had been moved from the top of a table to the ground, and I couldn't look again.


A truley gorgeous side table by Sawle and Vaughan. The pictures say all that needs to be said. Apart from the info that the buttons holding the top on were tiny. I thought about the enormous ones I'm using at the moment with considerable dismay. :oops:

Now I failed to take overall shots of the three tool sellers there, but a few things did take my eye on Mike Hancock's stand in particular. We'll draw a veil over the #55 that Chris White had on his stand and that I womanfully resisted. :cry:


Appart from the mitre template that took my eye sufficiently for me to buy it, this user-made screwdriver fabricated from a file was also in Mike's "bargain" box. The teeth of the file are still visible in places, but the shape! Lovely work. I was terribly tempted...


For those folks who've wondered, this is what Ray Iles Old Tool Store chisels look like. Rather nice, in fact. Although the ungraduated handles are a small disappointment.


A couple of infill planes from Harris Tools. The smoother's £550 and the jointer £650 (IIRC, but it seems unlikely?). Mike also had a Sauer and Steiner smoother, but I was too in awe to remember to take a picture. #-o

Anyway, I had a little chat with DC (although I think we were both much preoccupied with not being in a hot, smelly tent at the time...) and Mike. The latter says he's expecting to have a big stand at Westonbirt Arboretum on 27/28/29th August, including Rob Cosman demo-ing, Chris Pye, etc which sounds good, and I wish I could go. Never mind, our little "do" here in the south west wasn't bad at all. And neither was the (get this) Venison burger (the queue for Ostrich was too long) or the double choc ice cream. Mmmmmmm.

Cheers, Alf
 
Great report Alf!

The screwdriver was a great find. Now I know what to do with a few old files I've kept...because I just "knew" I would have use for them one day!

fwiw, the small table with its top apparently glued on. I've made a few small tables that I have just used dowels down into the apron, and going up into the underside of the top at the end of the long-grain (into the rails at the end of the long grain).

Anything larger/heavier than that I've either used buttons or pocket screws that I've ground the points off of in order to get more thread into the top's underside.
 
Philly":3a9x065y said:
Any purchases? Bar the ice cream... :lol:
Just two, and one I was going to order anyhow:
woodfairgoodies.jpg


Mike, ah-ha, that could be the answer. Ta muchly. :D

Cheers, Alf
 
Ohh, so nice. Big things are always nice to find, but I like the little trinkets like the mitre template more.

So, now ya gonna build something so you can use the template? Maybe a nice little cabinet (or big one) with an inner bead 'round the rails and stiles? That's about the only time I've used mine, but they sure are handy for it.

Do you also have Cosman's first DT video? That's the one my oldest watched and decided he needed to handcut all his DT from now on--which lasted until he watched the one you just got!

I've always wanted to attend one of his seminars. A couple people I know who attended came away very much the better for it.

Bye, Mike
 
Alf,
Sounds like a great day out and your weather was considerably better than here (grey until 3 pm then muggy with occasional sun).

I wonder what the copper bladed bowsaw is for? (I do remember drilling glass with a piece of copper and valve grinding paste) Bad luck on the burl - looks nice! Still the pleasure of creating the advanced dovetails you will soon be showing us will soon eclipse that in your memory no doubt.
 
Copper bladed bowsaws were used to cut blocks of salt. Steel blades would quickly corrode away.

Aldel
 
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