3rd September 2007
Week in the Woods, Westonbirt Arboretum.
I am on a 5-day woodland crafts course, organized jointly by the
Green Wood Centre, the Small Woods Association, and the Bill Hogarth Memorial Apprentice Trust. The course is to promote the use of traditional woodland crafts through demonstration and practical experience. It can also be used to obtain an OCN certificate, and is a pre-qualifier for applying for a 3-year apprenticeship in coppicing and associated crafts. The location of the course is at the wonderful and inspirational Westonbirt Arboretum.
We met at the Mess Tent for a cup of tea and to receive our name badges and OCN packs. Once everyone had arrived we walked round to the Green Wood Workshop situated in the woods behind the Plant Centre. I'm in the red group, and today we are going to make a cleft gate hurdle.
Cut 2 pieces from Ash poles. The first was cleft in two for the heads (uprights). The other was quartered for the rails. Cleeving is done using a Froe and a Cleeving Brake. We trimmed the top and bottom of the heads, the bottom to act as a point for inserting into the ground, and the top edges were shamfered to avoid splitting when hit as they are being inserted into the ground. The rails were shaped using a side axe and a draw knife on a shave horse. The ends of each rail were roughly shaped to produce an oval tenon.
The smallest tenon was then used to determine the size that the mortices in the heads will be. A template was made from an offcut containing both an oval and a round mortice. The oval mortice was formed by drilling 2 holes with a brace and bit, and then joining them using a specialist tool called a Twybil (pron. Twie-bill). The tenons were then trimmed to the exact size required using the draw knife and shave horse. The top and bottom rails had oval tenons, whilst the middle two rails had round tenons. The tenons were cut such that they were a tight fit in the template, and extended for about an inch bigger than the width of the heads.
Laid out the heads and rails on the ground and marked the top of each mortice on the inside face of the rails. The template was then used to mark the outline of the mortice. Again the mortices were cut using the brace & bit, and the Twybil. Three brace struts were then added. This is traditional, although the design is entirely down to the whim of the maker.
Satisfied with our day's work we headed back to the campsite and the Mess Tent. Most people were making their own dinner, but a few of us heated up some of the Dahl leftover from lunch and had that sat round the fire. Went back to me B&B about 9 o'clock.
I am on a 5-day woodland crafts course, organized jointly by the
Green Wood Centre, the Small Woods Association, and the Bill Hogarth Memorial Apprentice Trust. The course is to promote the use of traditional woodland crafts through demonstration and practical experience. It can also be used to obtain an OCN certificate, and is a pre-qualifier for applying for a 3-year apprenticeship in coppicing and associated crafts. The location of the course is at the wonderful and inspirational Westonbirt Arboretum.
We met at the Mess Tent for a cup of tea and to receive our name badges and OCN packs. Once everyone had arrived we walked round to the Green Wood Workshop situated in the woods behind the Plant Centre. I'm in the red group, and today we are going to make a cleft gate hurdle.
Cut 2 pieces from Ash poles. The first was cleft in two for the heads (uprights). The other was quartered for the rails. Cleeving is done using a Froe and a Cleeving Brake. We trimmed the top and bottom of the heads, the bottom to act as a point for inserting into the ground, and the top edges were shamfered to avoid splitting when hit as they are being inserted into the ground. The rails were shaped using a side axe and a draw knife on a shave horse. The ends of each rail were roughly shaped to produce an oval tenon.
The smallest tenon was then used to determine the size that the mortices in the heads will be. A template was made from an offcut containing both an oval and a round mortice. The oval mortice was formed by drilling 2 holes with a brace and bit, and then joining them using a specialist tool called a Twybil (pron. Twie-bill). The tenons were then trimmed to the exact size required using the draw knife and shave horse. The top and bottom rails had oval tenons, whilst the middle two rails had round tenons. The tenons were cut such that they were a tight fit in the template, and extended for about an inch bigger than the width of the heads.
Laid out the heads and rails on the ground and marked the top of each mortice on the inside face of the rails. The template was then used to mark the outline of the mortice. Again the mortices were cut using the brace & bit, and the Twybil. Three brace struts were then added. This is traditional, although the design is entirely down to the whim of the maker.
Satisfied with our day's work we headed back to the campsite and the Mess Tent. Most people were making their own dinner, but a few of us heated up some of the Dahl leftover from lunch and had that sat round the fire. Went back to me B&B about 9 o'clock.
Labels: course, crafts, gate hurdle, westonbirt
posted by Graham | 21:40
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