Tervetuloa puunveistäjät - (Welcome woodcarvers)[Finnish]
News - by Wendy of the Wool:
The Weather Gods were on our side for our first September meet, bathing the garden in glorious sunshine. Richard gave Potty Steve a spoon carving lesson, while the rest of us sat by the classroom getting on with various projects. Ranger Dave kept us enthralled with stories about the deer at Bedford's Park and local areas, while working on a bowl and later joining Jamie working on Santa figurines. Sue worked on finishing some spoons, and Wendy continued with felting a small dog, whose head is proving to be quite difficult.
Spoon Carving Classes with R2 Wood
I’m doing a special offer on Spoon Carving days for APTGW members, held on our regular meet days at the beautiful Walled Garden. The lessons are intimate with just one or two pupils, allowing plenty of undiluted attention.
There are two options to choose from:
Solo Lesson - Regular price £80 - Offer £60
Two pupils booked as pair - Regular price £60 - Offer £40
Lesson Dates:
Sat 28 Sep Fully Booked
Sat 12 Oct 1 place available
Sat 26 Oct 2 places available
Sat 9 Nov 2 places available
Sat 23 Nov 2 places available
All prices are per person. Offer is only for paid up APTGW members on the dates shown above. Guests are welcome, but will pay the regular price. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire or book.
Sharpening Service
I’m also launching a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.
Word Of The Week - Mikko of the Bowl:
Puukko:
A puukko is a small traditional Finnish general purpose belt knife with a single curved cutting edge, solid hidden tang, and usually, a flat spine. The basic components of a puukko are a handle and a blade along with a sheath, which can usually be attached to a belt, but sometimes to a shirt or coat button. The traditional length of the puukko blade is the same as one's palm width, usually 90–120 mm (3.5–4.7 in). Carvers, huntsmen and leatherworkers favour shorter blades; woodworkers, carpenters and constructors longer ones. The blade of the historical väkipuukko ("strongknife") may be up to 500 mm (20 in). The väkipuukko more closely resembles a seax or short sword than a true puukko, although it has inspired the leuku of the Sámi people.
Both factory-forged and hand-forged blades may be laminated: a thin layer of very hard steel (traditionally crucible steel made from limonite iron) is sandwiched between two layers of softer metal, which makes the blade less brittle and facilitates repeated sharpening. Before the 19th century, almost all iron in Finland was made from limonite on charcoal blast furnaces, which yield very pure and high- quality iron suitable for crucible steel. German silver steel was and is a popular core-steel material. Today both carbon steel and stainless steel are used. The blade can be lightened and strengthened by a fuller.
The traditional material for the handle is curly (masur) birch. Also great sallow root, birch bark, antler (especially elk and reindeer), scrimshaw and bone are used. Often the handle is made from various materials between spacers. Today, however, industrially made puukkos often have plastic handles.
Puukkos are most often used as carving tools for decorative and fire-making purposes, and to clean fish and game. Some puukko designs have a slightly upwards-or downwards-curving point, depending on the knife's purpose. A hunting puukko's tip is often curved downwards, to make the skinning and gutting of an animal easier and less messy. Fishermen's puukkos sometimes have a small dovetail on point, to help in gutting a fish.
In Finland and northern Scandinavia, many take great pride in carving their puukkos' handles themselves. Over generations, this knife has become intimately tied to Nordic culture and, in one version or another, is a part of many national costumes. A good puukko is equal parts artistic expression and a tool. Making it requires many different skills: not only those of a bladesmith, but also those of a carver, a jeweller, a designer, and a leatherworker to make the sheath. Some fine puukkos have blades of pattern welded steel, and forging a blade using crucible steel was considered the hallmark of a master smith.
Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.
Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.
About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.
Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.
Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.
See site map, and map links at bottom of page.
Hope to see you there, and please contact me if you have any questions.
Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers
APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.
Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.
Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus
For just £20 a year you get:
A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.
Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)
Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball
Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.
Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.
Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball
Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!
Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles
Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99
