Woodland Antics: Battling Tops

Wednesday, 26 August 2009

Battling Tops

I've dropped in this week on a 'Bodgery' on the Hampshire/Berkshire borders working on furniture projects (but more of that later).

The current issue of the Bodgers Gazette (as featured on Have I Got News For You) has an excellent article by Robin Fawcett ( aka Treewright ) on how to make Spinning Tops. Chair (& stool ) making activities were diverted for a while to discover whether Robin's instructions are foolproof.

Speaking for myself, bodgers aren't too good at following instructions. I don't think I'm atypical though. Despite initial misgivings in the design the top worked and before long it was battling tops on the kitchen floor.

Could this be the new Wii? Comes with real wood? Thanks to Treewright for stimulating this entertaining diversion and I'm sure it won't end here!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...: Nah, see, what you want for *real* battling tops is a nice shallow bowl, about 3ft across on that scale, so that the tops converge and when they hit each other - that's when the fun starts!; 27 August 2009 at 17:53
Robin Fawcett said...: Was the Gazette really featured on HIGNFY ??!!
Glad you had fun with the tops.; 28 August 2009 at 06:36
Woodland Antics said...: I've put a few of the 'tales from the woods' best of the bodgers gazette on my stand recently and one visitor asked if I'd seen it on TV. Turned out it was a repeat on some channel so I don't know when it was on originally but he seemed quite sure it was the bodgers gazette. Given the number of bodgers who don't have TV's it seems likely that we all managed to miss the event.

I think the tops are only just starting!; 28 August 2009 at 07:13

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My Interests

Most of the posts on this site will fall into a few themes. I'll try to fit the title to the crime. But some posts and interests just won't fit into a box no matter how hard I try.

Polelathe - posts about polelathe turning and related topics.

The polelathe is a traditional foot operated wood turning lathe. You might have seen one in use at a show or a museum, in fact you might have seen me demonstrating one. The turners who used these lathes for making chair-legs were sometimes referred to as Bodgers. I have been a bodger all my life, but its only since 2005 that I have taken up bodging on lathes. I spend as much time turning as I can, and during the summer months it is my main employment, though I mix it with a number of small jobs of a woody nature.

I am fascinated by all traditional crafts and trades, especially those working with wood. For millenia woodlands have provided us with an amazing range of products for everyday use. It is only very recently that we seem to have lost touch with woodlands and their uses.

I only use local wood, very often it is wood that I have cut myself and would normally be an unwanted by-product of managing small, local woodlands or heathlands.

Commons - posts about the Lynchmere commons. The commons were purchased from the Cowdray estate in 1998 by The Lynchmere Society, a local trust, which now manages about 340 acres of mixed heathland, woodland and adjoining fields. The commons are located between Haslemere and Liphook on the Sussex, Hampshire borders. I first got involved with helping the society to manage the commons in 1999 and since then have gained a lot of experience working on the commons as a volunteer. I prefer to work as a woodsman but I also help to manage the commons.

I am very keen to manage the commons in a sustainable way and as a part of this am trying to use the traditional crafts and ways of working that helped to shape this landscape.

Greenwood - Posts on woodland and woody topics not covered in polelathe and commons posts. Greenwood is unseasoned wood, but I shan't be too choosy and will cover all manner of only slightly woody topics here

I have a tendency to be a jack-of-all-trades although I try to focus upon pole-lathe turning, charcoal burning and besom broom making. As a woodsman I help to care for local woodlands in the Western Weald. I often work at or teach tree felling, coppicing and chainsaw skills.

Landrover - I restore, maintain, use and abuse a number of slightly eccentric old landrovers. I will post about working on them and related classic (and not so classic) car work.

Crafty - covering a range of traditional crafts not immediately related to wood and my interest in brewing, baking and preserving.

Woodland Antics

Wednesday, 26 August 2009

Battling Tops

3 comments:

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