Cleft Ash Gate

This is a garden gate I have just finished as a commission. It is made from ash which has been cleaved (split) to follow the natural curves of the wood. The right hand side will close against a curved wall, hence the shape.

The Roundwood Stage

This summer Jacob Lambert and myself decided to build a roundwood timber framed structure that could be disassembled and transported, to be used as a flexible space for events and as a showcase for roundwood timber framing. Its first unveiling would be at Shambala Festival in Market Harborough. Initially the plans were to create an octagonal structure, but worries about getting a fitted canvas made within the three week window that we had available, made us opt for a rectangular structure with pitched roof.

However, we were still interested in experimenting with less conventional styles of frame, as most roundwood structures we had seen were based on A-frames, and we were sure that other styles would also work with this vernacular. An important factor in our design was that there be no posts sitting within the footprint of the structure as we thought these would interrupt the space and make it less practical. The design process was ongoing throughout construction, with many alterations being made along the way.

The frames were constructed in the woods that I manage, using Ash and Poplar for their lightweight properties and availability. Although these woods are not particularly durable when exposed to the elements, this will not be an issue as the structure is taken down and stored inside after each event.

The photo on right shows timbers being worked on the framing bed. I (on right) am using a 'stab axe' - a kind of slick chisel to flatten the sides of a tenon on one of the poplar posts. Poplar is lovely to work with edged tools.

The structure consists of three independent frames which are then joined together with horizontal wall plates and a ridge pole and then braced diagonally. The two end frames are modified A-frames which we called 'star frames' due to the diagonal bracing that supports the ends of the horizontal of the A.

Star frame during raising

The central frame incorporates a number of elements of traditional timber framing design including upright posts, interrupted tie-beam and king post. It is essentially a truss frame except the vertical posts form an integral part of the frame, rather than the truss sitting on a wall plate on top of the posts. The king post was made from a natural fork that we then hewed square to reduce its size and to form a bit of a feature. The interrupted tie-beam raises up the bottom of the king post so that people don't bash their heads on the pretty little pyramid at its base.

Frames temporary guyed and ridge pole fitted

Diagonal bracing on and guy ropes removed. Its a free standing structure!

The frames were bolted together and then covered with false pegs made from oak (shhh...) to allow it to be taken apart with relative ease. The canvas for the roof was made by Roland at Custom Canvas Structures - a friend of Jacobs who makes beautiful marquees and tents. Big thanks to Mikey Pea and Pumpkin who helped us construct the frames in the woods and to Pedallers Kitchen crew and especially Stevie and George who were invaluable during the onsite construction process.

During the festival it was used as a workshop space and hosted folk sessions during the evening.

The structure is available to hire for events. It measures approx. 6.5m x 5.5m. We are planning on creating woven wattle and canvas side panels to allow the structure to be more enclosed when required.

We can also build permanent roundwood timber framed buildings. Email p.ditchfield(at)yahoo.com for enquiries.

At Woodfest, Hatfield Forest. Photo by Alex Evans

Jamie's Farm Outdoor Kitchen

In April last year I was involved in building a large outdoor kitchen at Jamie's Farm in Box, Wiltshire. Jamie's farm is a charity which hosts groups of children for week long residential visits, aiming to help them re-engage with education, with great results.

The outdoor kitchen was built looking out over the vegetable garden. This allows food to be picked, cooked and eaten all within a few metres. This build was largely done by volunteers - Jamie's farm provided food and accommodation and the Cherrywood Project provided tools, Lloyd and myself, the apprentices at the time, and Tim Gatfield's expertise and project management experience. We decided to build it in a week using Roundwood Timber Framing techniques - an ambitious goal seeing as none of us had any direct experience in this style of framing. We managed to rope in Dan Tuckett and Jacob Lambert, who both had some experience in the technique, to help us. Dan had done a short course with Ben Law, and is now, having gained more experience, looking at setting his own green building business, and Jacob, an old friend of mine, had been involved in building the beautiful outdoor classroom at the sustainability centre. Jacob and I are now building roundwood structures together.

It was a steep learning curve for all of us, especially considering the short time allowed for the build, but we did manage to get all the frames erected and secured by the end of the week.

The stucture was effectively a post and beam frame with truss roof, except an existing wall replaced the need for posts or beam on one side.

The hand hewn beam being moved into place

Working on the frames

The above photo illustrates how the frames are constructed. The 6"x2" frames are called 'framing beds' and are used to get everything level and accurate and ensure all frames match at the key points. The joints are called 'butter pats' and cup around the opposing log with a 'cog' and a notch fitting together, ensuring a tight, secure fit. One of the joints can be seen in the centre of the above picture.

First frame being raised

Action stations for the ridge pole being fitted

In the end me and Lloyd spent another couple of weeks putting the roof on, cladding the gables, finishing the pizza oven and putting a protective roof over it. All timber came from Cherrywood and was only moved about 3 miles to get to the construction site. This includes the larch cladding for the roof, which was milled at Cherrywood.

The finished product. All furniture was made by volunteers or Lloyd and myself

All change.

It seems that almost two years have passed since I last updated this blog. A lot has happened over that time. Soon after my last post I started living off grid, and have not had regular internet access since then. I mentioned in Oct 2012 that I was about to start an apprenticeship at the Cherrywood Project, near Bath. Well, that happened and it was great. I definitely came out of the other side of it with a lot more skills and direction, as well as friends. It would be great to write a post about my adventures, trials and tribulations as apprentice, with lots of lovely photos, but thats not going to happen now, too much time has passed. Instead I am going to start closer to the present and attempt to carry on updating the blog (more) regularly with projects I am working on.

Since finishing my apprenticeship in October last year I have started managing a woodland at Westley Farm near Stroud, Gloucestershire. It is still early days and a lot of my energy is going into setting myself up, but the aim is to scale up my making to focus more on gates, fencing, furniture and structures, as well as carrying on with the smaller items.

I will end this post with a couple of photos, courtesy of Lloyd Newman, my fellow apprentice, of structures that we have worked on together, during and after our time at Cherrywood.

Roundwood timber framed workshop using Larch

Sawn Larch timber frame extension

Roundwood timber framed outdoor kitchen

I plan to do more detailed posts on these structures and others I have worked on at a later date.

Stories

It is nice when I learn a bit of the story behind one of my handmade items, once it has left me. I have been sending off a few items lately to far flung places through my etsy shop.

Today I noticed that I had got a number of hits on my shop from a website called Tintina Fibres, so, wondering why, I checked it out. It turns out Rachel, who runs the website, had ordered a 3.5mm crochet hook from me a month ago, and now it has been transported half way round the world to the Yukon in Northern Canada. Rachel makes hand spun yarn and crochets beautiful, hats and bags which she sells on her website and etsy shop.

Some of Rachel's hand spun wool on her spinning wheel

It is amazing to me to think of one of my hooks carved here in rural Wiltshire, being used by a talented crafts person in the cold wilds of Canada. Thanks Rachel!

Today I am posting this Scandinavian style wooden kuksa cup to someone in North Carolina, on the east coast of the USA, and it pleases me to think of someone swigging a local tipple from it in this far away town that (the magic of google earth tells me) is surrounded by forest

Current works in progress

I have spent the majority of the last couple of weeks in the woods, making stuff. I now have lots of items in their final stages, drying out before I can do the last finishing cuts. The wood is much easier to work when relatively green, but it takes a better finish once the moisture content has fallen.

I have enjoyed making some larger objects with the help of a curved adze and gouges.

Here is a selection of the items I have made recently, all unfinished: 3 spoons of willow and field maple, one spatula in striped ash, a blackthorn serving spoon, a large poplar platter, a kuksa cup and an eating bowl in apple wood.

Apprenticeship opportunity

As any of you who know me will be aware, I am a young craftsman based in the West Country, scratching a living from carving spoons, cups, Box wood crochet hooks, and other treen. I am fascinated by traditional crafts and woodland management and am determined that I will make a living from these things. Because of this I have decided to do an apprenticeship in the area of coppicing and green woodworking.

Coppicing is a form of sustainable forestry that has been practised for thousands of years. Deciduous trees are cut, low to the ground, and instead of the stump dying off, as would happen with most conifers, new shoots are sent out. If the woodland is managed well, these shoots will grow straight and true and will be cut again in later years when deemed sizeable enough for their intended usage. This form of management dramatically extends the life of individual trees, as they are kept in the juvenile stage of their life cycle and there are less stresses placed on the tree by weighty limbs.

This form of woodland management means that timber and other wooden products can be harvested from a woodland almost indefinitely, with little need for replanting. It is also very beneficial for wildlife. The soil is not disturbed and so delicate species of flora and fauna can flourish, many of which favour the various stages of a coppice rotation over full canopy coverage.

However, in recent decades this sort of management has declined, in favour of the short term return of conifer plantations and as other materials such as plastics replace wood in many aspects of life. Sadly, when a coppice woodland is abandoned it becomes overstood – the stems may grow too large and twisted to be useful for anything other than firewood, and the stools (coppiced trees) will begin to tear themselves apart, letting in rot and disease. In a relatively short time the woodland becomes unproductive and lacks the biodiversity of an in-rotation coppice. It is then a substantial undertaking for anyone wishing to again harvest a useful product from the woodland.

Coppice stool that has torn itself apart

As people are beginning to realise the threat of climate change and the part that an over reliance on fossil fuels and imported products plays in that, coppicing is once again becoming important. Coppice products can reduce our reliance on foreign imports of timber as well as providing us with locally sourced building materials, fencing, firewood, furniture, food and much more. It is necessary to revive this ancient, but still relevant practise, in order to become more sustainable and self-reliant as an island.

I have been making things out of wood for a good few years now, gradually honing my whittling skills, as well as getting out into the woods and trying as many different aspects of green woodworking as possible. Now I feel that the time has come for me to get my teeth into coppicing by training with an expert, so that I can practise the sustainable woodland management that I feel to be so important. Tim Gatfield at the Cherry Wood Project has agreed to take me on as an apprentice for a year, but to make this happen, I need to find the funding to support me in buying the tools, equipment and training necessary, as well as a small amount to cover my living costs for the year.

The Cherry Wood outdoor kitchen

During this year I would be restoring derelict coppice, by cutting overstood stools, replanting to increase the density, felling and milling conifers and deer fencing to protect the newly cut and planted trees. I would also learn many different aspects of green woodworking and related skills including making furniture, hurdles, bowl turning and earth oven building, as Tim runs many different courses in traditional skills.

By donating towards my apprenticeship fund you are helping to keep traditional skills alive and encourage sustainable woodland management. You can donate to my fund by clicking on the donate button on the right hand side of my blog.
Thank you for any contributions. 

Pete

Sumac spoons

I have been experimenting recently with making some spoons out of the wood of the Sumac tree. It has turned out to be a lovely wood. Nice to carve and with beautiful colours and grain. Once oiled it takes on a shimmering iridescence.

Sumac is a tree genus, species of which grow wild across much of the world. It is not native to the UK, but is often grown here as an ornamental plant.

The ground up fruits of some species are used as a spice, particularly in the middle east, and I feel a particular affinity to this tree because  was introduced to its use as a spice by my late friend Osman.

The spoon on the left of the above photo is still available to buy from my etsy shop HERE.