Polelathe - A Dandy Day

The weather today lived up to expectations at the Weald & Downland Museum. I spent a good couple of hours this morning setting up to demonstrate in the rain. Fine weather for the ducks, and in fact my first visitor was a duck.



As it was quiet at the museum today I took the opportunity to go up to the woodyard and look at the good progress they've been making there recently.

I got to disturb Ben from the work he'd just started on a beam of oak with his very nice new draw-knife. The answer to the obvious question 'What's it going to be?' was 'A wagon'. Right, of course, my fault for asking.




And to prove the point here's the wagon it's aiming to become. I know from watching some of Ben's previous restorations that it's going to be a very interesting project. It's great to have seen this just as the work starts, so I'll be back to look at progress.



I went over to see Julian who was busy hewing a log into a beam. Having just learnt my lesson, I refrained from asking why? The shed he is using has just been re-sited to the woodyard and restored so it provides a good workshop space and a great place for demonstrations. As well as the hewing Guy was making a batch of Sussex style chestnut gate hurdles in the next bay along. The museum has an almost insatiable appetite for gate hurdles which are often used as folds for the Southdown sheep before being retired to a host of other uses.



One of the good things about the woodyard is that the kettle is always on, but unfortunately I had to go back to my demonstrating at this point. I hope to back up in the woodyard in a few weeks to take part in one of the 'woodyard weeks' that Julian is organising.




On my way back through the museum I spotted the recently finished continous hazel hurdle fencing around one of the small fields by Bayleaf the farmhouse, and contrasts with the newly laid hedge in the background and the gate hurdles I'd just been looking at.



I got back to my shelter to discover that even the ducks had given up. 'A Dandy Day' was what Duane the tree-cutter on the TV documentary Ax-men would have pronounced it. Such a contrast from a couple of weeks ago when I didn't get a break all day as throngs of interested visitors kept me at the lathe. Still at least I got time to get around which is rare, and some useful work done. I'm ready for a glorious sunny day tomorrow with hordes of visitors (I can hope).

Polelathe - The Thin End of the Wedge

I've spent most of today getting ready to spend the Easter weekend demonstrating at the Weald and Downland museum. I had great plans, but in practice I've left far too much to the last minute as usual. I did get around to preparing a few bits in advance and used some of my spalted birch to make a pair of doorstops.


The doorstops are part turned on the lathe and then returned to the shavehorse to finish the wedge. it helps to make two at a time, as it gives the shavehorse a better grip and I like to leave a section in the middle to help with this and also to keep the cord out of the way whilst I am working.


Once you have the shape and any decorations then the drawknife is used to create the wedge shape. There are two basic variations one is a wedge with a similar shape to each side, whilst the other is more of a scoop with only a slight shave along the bottom for the wedge to sit straight.


Here are the thin ends of the wedges, both spalted and plain vanilla versions, scooped and straight.

Talking of the thin end of the wedge, you will see a new button over on the left of the blog, for the Heritage Crafts Association. Did you know that until now there has been no organisation (in the UK) aimed at promoting the knowledge and craftsmanship of our tradtional crafts? It's no wonder that Wadsworths can't find a new cooper, and how will I get my 6X (thats a warm brown English beer in case you're wondering) from a wooden cask then? Somehow traditional crafts are too often seen as 'old fashioned' rather than an alternative and very much as a second best to the 'arts'. Indeed if I had a pound for every time I've heard someone say 'this is how they used to do it'.....Anyway take a look and sign up to support it if you can.

Western Weald is in the New National Park

I'm still pinching myself to make sure it's true. Last week the decision to create the South Downs National Park was finally announced, a mere 60years after it was first recommended and 9 years after the current process started.

The delay gives you some idea of the strength of the arguments on both sides, both for and against, that have waxed and waned through the years. Not surprising, creating a National Park in amongset the rat race that is the South East is going to be contentious. As you'd expect, the arguments look set to continue, but the decision has been taken and the boundaries set bar a few additional inclusions which have yet to be consulted upon.

Until it was announced last week, the shape that the National Park would take remained unclear. One of the major concerns was that areas currently protected as a part of the South Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) would be excluded from the National Park, and thereby possibly losing their protected status.

This was particularly true for the Western Weald, an area of essentially undeveloped and characteristic woodland and heathlands on the greensand hills of the Sussex/Hampshire borders which provides much of the setting for the chalk hills of the south downs. The Western Weald could be said to be a forgotten corner, especially Lynchmere, as its often hard to get people in Chichester to believe that we are in West Sussex at all. It's hard to find books or articles on the Western Weald, but those that do exist are often quite special. Gilbert White's 'A natural History of Selbourne' for example. As the preface to the New Naturalist 'The Weald' says in 1953, 'It is no accident that Gilbert White's parish lies in a part of the Weald where the most diverse types of land come together.'

But in the event the Western Weald is in the National Park and I am delighted. I'm biased of course. The park boundary comes down our road, so the woods on the other side of the road are in the park. Which means that I can get up in the morning and say 'My doesn't the National Park look good today!' I hope these photos show just a hint of some of the magic that is the Western Weald.


The announcement was made at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum, which is where I am off to on Friday for a long 4 days of demonstrating over the Easter Weekend. The weather is not looking too good for Friday, but improving for Saturday and Sunday.

Lynchmere Common - Dead Hedging

Recently we had a bonus work party on the Lynchmere commons when we were joined by the Southampton University Conservation Volunteers.

The weather was kind to our visitors and we were able to work on a couple of tasks that had been waiting for some spare labour.







On the Saturday we worked on Lynchmere to clear scrub from a regenerating heathland area. But rather than burn it we used it to rebuild a nearby dead hedge around an area of Hazel coppice on the edge of the common.

On Sunday we started to clear a fence line on Marley common where we will be grazing jointly with the National Trust.






A dead hedge is a way to build a temporary barrier by reusing the waste material to hand. It forms a less intrusive fence to prevent the cattle from grazing the young hazel shoots.

The coppice here is one of a number of areas (called coups) of hazel coppice we are planting around the edges of the common. It increased the diversity of our site and provides a great habitat for wildlife. It's also good for the woodland flowers as the coppice is cut on a regular cycle.

For this dead hedge we are just piling the cut birch, gorse and pine in a bank between two rows of posts. But we also have longer dead hedges which are based on weaving the brash around a single row of posts.





All too often heathland management seems to be a matter of spraying and mechanised cutting. We don't spray and increasingly we try to minimise the amount of mechanised cutting that we do.

It seems more appropriate to cut the scrub by hand and then reuse it for the hedging, and it results in a much lower carbon footprint provided you don't count the tractor diesel it takes to move it. But then these things are rarely simple choices.





Dead hedging has a number of drawbacks, it's only really useful if you have a lot of spare labour and plenty of waste material, which conservation groups often do. But it has some positive sides as well in that allows the waste material to rot down naturally and provides a great haven in which the wildlife really thrives.

The result of the days work is a sturdy dead hedge and already the wildlife is moving into its newly refurbished home.

Greenwood - A new display table

I tried to resuscitate my display table once more for this season, but gave up when I realised that the ravages of the winter had warped the plank and broken the sticks used as legs. So time for a new table.

I found a likely looking candidate for a new table amongst some of the strangely shaped waney edge oak boards I put away to season.

I was lucky, this one hasn't even been stacked properly, just piled on its edge but its the shape I wanted and it seems to have seasoned well to some extent.

All I had to do was give it a quick run over with a belt sander and then wipe it over with plenty of linseed oil (cut with turps substitute). The bark edge has had a coat of yacht varnish cut with white spirit to help prevent it coming off too easily.


I cut off the ends of the plank with curves that match the shape of the edges.

Then drilled holes for the legs using a 1 inch cordless drill (sorry, couldn't resist it, ok it's an augur) and a home made angle gauge to help me keep the hole angle constant (about 12 degrees in this case) which gives the legs a splay for a little more stability.










Unfortunately I'd left it a little late to make the legs, so this turned into the first job of the day at the show.

Just to get started I've used some seasoned hazel from would be broom handles and I'll get around to a more permanent set of legs in the future.







Despite the temporary legs I'm quite pleased with the finished item and it drew a few good comments during the day. It fits well with the rest of the setup and is a good background for the turned items.

I just can't bring myself to use a plastic table and gazebo, when I can make something more appropriate relatively easily with local wood rescued from the firewood pile.

A new friend in the family

Through the grapevine I heard that an old Massey Ferguson tractor might be for sale. Always interested, at a friend's workshop I ended up being passed the phone and talking to someone who knew about the tractor. Slowly it became clear that I actually knew the farm and the tractor that might be for sale. So now there is a new friend in the family.


Meet Peter, my little red Massey Ferguson. He's a 1974 MF135 with under 6000 hours on the clock and one very careful owner. In fact he's spotless and it will be a challenge for me to keep him in the same condition.

So this afternoon the deal was done, although it felt more like an interview. But it seems that I passed the test and I was allowed to take him away with me After much discussion of the niceties of the model and an introduction to the controls (which I needed as I've mainly been driving monster modern tractors with air con and surround sound recently) I drove Peter triumphantly back through 4 fields from his old home to his new home. We don't get out much around here.


So Peter will continue to be seen working on the same fields, and now on the commons as well. After all he's been working around here much longer than I have so it feels good to be entrusted with him and I'm looking forward to working with him.

Don't forget to wave if you see me passing by!

Greenwood - New life to old tools

A friend recently asked me to rehandle an old garden tool. I'm not sure what you'd call it, a scratcher seems appropriate. It's somewhere in between a fork and a rake, ideal for going over vegetable patches and breaking up the large clods of earth left by digging.

It's the kind of tool that you don't see in the garden centres these days.

I find there is something enormously satisfying about taking an old tool and refurbishing so that it has a new lease of life.


Sometimes getting the old handle out can be the biggest problem, and I have had to resort to leaving them in a fire to burn out the handle. But in this case the wood was so rotten and worm eaten that it came out easily once I'd cut through the rivets with a jigsaw.

The new handle is an ash pole thats already a couple of years old (in fact its part of a standby polelathe pole) so quite dry but should do well for many years as a handle.




Fitting the handle is a straight forward job using a draw-knife on the shave-horse. Each trial fit the handle leaves a mark on the high points which can then be shaved until the fit is snug.

The trick with these tools is to fashion the new rivets.

A friend who used to work as a coppicer taught me how to do this by peening (cold hammering) over the ends of six inch nails. First drill the hole and then drive in the nail. Cut it to size but leave it standing proud by about 1/8 inch or so.



The metal is soft enough to hammer around the edges until it forms a domed rivet head. A single six inch nail is enough for 3 or 4 rivets. One of those things where a good job looks right.










A quick scrub with a wire brush and a liberal coating of boiled linseed oil, cut with turps substitute to help it penetrate the wood of the handle. I use boiled linseed oil as it dries and hardens relatively quickly to a protective coat on both the wood and the metal.

Of course you can add some bees wax to the mix - and you'd then have the original wax-oil, still used by blacksmiths to put a protective coat on their metalwork.

polelathe - first show of the season

Sunday was good weather and my first outdoor show of this year at the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum, Singleton, near Chichester where I am the bodger (aka pole lathe demonstrator).

The medieval farmhouse, Bayleaf, is one of the jewels in the crown at the museum and gets to feature in a lot of films and TV shows.






I was on my normal pitch, an old oak tree down beyond the water mill next to the blacksmiths forge. A hole in the canopy, enlarged over the last couple of years, just allows me to shelter under it. You will find me there at most of the shows this season.

With the calm weather and only a 1 day show I decided to go 'au natural' without my pole and canvas shelter which takes extra time to put up and take down.




Before the museum opened I had a quick walk around to say hello to some of the buildings, the animals and friends I haven't seen since last year.

Behind Bayleaf, the farmhouse is a large barn and the oxen, who didn't seem particularly impressed to see me early in the morning.

One of the things I like about the museum is the way in which the buildings and animals are all working together.



It's a place where you can kick the tyres - but wear boots if you do, because most of the tyres are metalled!

The side of Poplar, a small workers cottage from the 17th century was bathed in the warm light from the sun with the winter teasels still standing in the garden.







It just kept getting warmer through the day which was a great contrast to last years cold and wet shows. Almost too warm as there was little shelter from the sun without the tree in leaf.

The weather brought out the visitors in good numbers, over 3 thousand. Certainly kept me busy all day and the first task was to make a new display table as the old one had just collapsed!






By the time the last of the visitors had gone it was well past 5 O'clock and the museum had closed at 4pm!

Many thanks to Robert and Carol, the blacksmith's, for keeping in cake and helping me dismantle the recalcitrant lathe at the end of the day when I lost the plot. A great day with everyone in good spirit and I'm looking forward to the next show over Easter.

Greenwood - Birch Sap Wine part 2

I brought the first full demi-john of birch sap back a couple of days ago, but with volunteers groups and then demonstrating at the Weald & Downland museum over the weekend I haven't had to time to spare for the wine making. By the time I looked at it tonight it had already started to ferment a little with the natural yeasts.

There are several recipes for making birch sap wine that I have found, mainly in old country wine books. They are all slightly different. Some boil the sap and some don't. Some add differing amounts of sugar, and some don't add any sugar at all.

Nearly all add the juice of a lemon and a few add grape concentrate or a few ounces of raisins. The lemon adds acid and the grape/raisins the tannin and nutrients which allow the yeast to thrive. I've tried most of these with differing levels of success and in the end I use a very simple recipe.

I boil the sap with a sliced lemon and add around 2lbs of sugar. Allow it to cool, pour back into a demi-john then pitch in the yeast (I used general purpose wine yeast) which I start separately using some of the sap, hot water and a tablespoon of sugar. and then fit an air-lock to the demi-john.

Then leave to ferment for a few months depending upon the temperature. The warmer it is the quicker it will ferment. Once it's completed fermenting, place it somewhere cooler and leave until next spring when it should be ready to drink.

As I don't add raisins or grape concentrate the fermentation can be a little slow sometimes. It's a good idea to use a wine hydrometer to show you the specific gravity at each stage and to judge when its finished fermenting. If you add more sugar at the start (or as it goes along), the wine won't necessarily be stronger, but the yeast will die once the wine reaches a certain strength, the remaining sugar will result in a medium wine rather than a dry wine. Althernatively you can use a high alcohol yeast to create rocket fuel instead.

Once it's ready the wine should clear (eventually) and it can then be bottled. Here is one from last year that's almost ready to bottle and some already bottled.

Cheers !

Greenwood - Pea sticks

I used to use string for my peas in the vegetable patch, but a couple of years ago I tried some birch spray for pea-sticks and was hooked. They work much better and if you use them for flowers like sweet peas they look really good.

A good pea-stick is a flat fan-shaped top from Hazel, birch or any other suitable young coppice tree.

They are typically about 4ft 6in high. Cut off any shoots that are lying in the wrong direction and then clean the bottom 12 inches of shoots with the bill hook and put a slanted cut on the end so they push easily into the ground.

In practice they don't have to be fan-shaped or flat and just about any top will do the trick particularly if you are planting in rows or if using them bent flat on flower beds. Old ones can be used to keep cats off fresh beds and eventually as kindling.


Bundled into 10 or 20 they are tied loosely at the base.

They can then be weighted on the ground with logs to help them form the flat shape until used.















I put a few bundles together today for this weekend as I am demonstrating pole-lathe at the Weald and Downland museum on Sunday. First show of the season and time to shake off the cobwebs.

Unfortunately as I found out today, pea-sticks don't photograph very easily, especially on a woodland background.











But the weather has been great here this week and I was surrounded by brimstone butterflies whilst bundling up the sticks. Suddently a pair of buzzards appeared right over me quite low and then circled catching a thermal and rising until they almost disappeared above me.