Green woodwork, time for another revival?

imakebiodiesel

25 years ago, green woodworking , or bodging as its also called, underwent a revival. Woodworkers and writers such as Drew Langstner in the US , Willie Sundquivst in Sweden, and Mike Abbot in England raised the profile of the craft while in Ireland , Neil faulkes, Eoin Donnelly and myself produced furniture and ran courses. I think its time to restart the revival.
Green woodwork entails starting with that most basic of materials, a log of freshly cut hardwood.
Using a simple wedge and mallet the log is first split in half lengthways and then quarters and so on.
The billets as we call them at this stage are further trimmed with a sharp axe and then shaved into a roughly cylindrical shape. For this the billet is held in a clamping device called a shaving horse and shaved with a drawknife. These billets can be stored and allowed to dry or can be further worked immediately.
Many green woodworkers use only the drawknife to produce all the parts of chairs and furniture, while others use a pole lathe to produce a more "finished" look. This is one of my chairs, made on a pole lathe 20 years ago and in daily use ever since.

I built my own pole lathe and shaving horse and even though I have a powerful electric lathe I still enjoy the quiet rhythmic action of this supposedly "primitive " lathe.
One advantage of green woodworking is thye low initial cost, the equipment is mostly home built and the tools are few. Even a workshop is not needed, a lathe , shaving horse and chopping block can be kept outside in the garden Green woodworking is about learning a craft, not buying ever more sophisticated machinery. The raw material can be sourced free or bought for the price of firewood.
But the main attraction of green woodwork is the satisfaction of learning and mastering an entire process from basic raw material to beautiful finished item and thinking," I made that".
If anyone is interested in looking into green woodwork post here and lets restart the green woodwork revival.

..Brian..

I'd love to have a go so if it reaches a feasible level to run a day course I'd be very interested!

imakebiodiesel

Ill keep you in mind if I run a course, in the meantime if you are ever in Co Waterford feel free to call in and Ill show you my workshop. I m trying to get a picture of one of Neil Faulkes chairs. Made with only an axe and a drawknife from wood sourced on his farm nr Ballyconnel they are real works of art.

magicbastarder

possibly stupid question - would a greenwood chair need to be set aside after construction to dry out a bit before being put into use?

imakebiodiesel

There are two approaches to greenwood chair making.

My way is to make all of the parts green and if necessary steam bend them to shape. I then stack them on racks above my workshop stove. After 3 months they are completely dry and ready for assembly. I put the stretchers back in the lathe and turn the tenons, I bore the mortices in the upright posts and assemble using PVA carpenters glue.

Another method is to use green joints. The stretchers are shaved or turned on the lathe first and dried for a few days. Then the upright posts are made and the chair is assembled immediately without glue. Because the mortice in the post is greener than the tenon it will shrink more and tighten around the tenon. This requires a lot of experience and judgement to get right but done properly produces strong permanent joints.

Ive done a few chairs by the second method but because I was making chairs to sell I mainly used the first more reliable method.

timfromtang

..Brian.. wrote: »

I'd love to have a go so if it reaches a feasible level to run a day course I'd be very interested!

I'd love to host a course if there is interest (Teachers please pm me), I'd have suitable 20 year old ash and other species growing here in our 100 acre forest. We have a large covered workspace. I have been "playing" at green woodwork for a number of years.

tim

note our forest is located just about in the middle of the island of Éire
Tang Co. Westmeath. easy access off the N55.