Many rivers to cross, but I'm not going on the ferry.

Before the round wheel was invented, did the square wheel have a brief period in vogue? Probably not, but it is surprising how well a square shape 'rolls'.

Probably better than a round one, when its rolling up a 6ft wall, along a passageway, up another 4ft wall, across a garden, over another wall and back along another garden. A good job really, when you come to install a project and you realise the planned access is just too tight. "Never mind", said Richard, "just remember when we built Stonehenge." Leverage, man. Leverage!

In with Wendy's new doors.

I've been doing a bit more 3-d carving recently with this lion corbel

and this flower.

I haven't been able to use my pole lathe since last winter because it has been buried under loads of other equipment while replacing the roof last summer. Someone asked me to make some cupboard handles last week, so I have been excavating down to the level of the lathe with eagerness this week.

I definitely need to invest in some more turning tools; a 2" gouge and skew are just not sufficient. I reckon I will just about make the handles though.

I went to Dartmouth yesterday, provisionally to take around some business cards, but also to eyeball some of the great buildings there.

Whoever carved this horse, must have been a bit keen, maybe they sold the spare ones to a merchant round the corner.

I live way up stream from here, but as the name suggests this is where the Dart heads out to open waters.

I've been trying to come up with a new logo for the furniture, with a view to having separate websites for that and another for the other stuff I do. I'm not sure people who want a door or a window made have any interest in the carved stuff.

Does this work? Can you even see JBF - Jon Bayes Furniture?

Deep in the woods

I've had a few mishaps over the end of the year. I scratched my cornea while machining some timber a few days before Christmas. My small chainsaw gave up the ghost the next day. Then on Christmas Eve my car died. A clear message to take it easy, stop work and eat food. I obeyed.

However, that means I now have a few pounds to lose (from my waistline) and a few pounds to gain (to pay for a new car). I have been in the workshop working on a glazed stable door and some french doors for Wendy all week. I had planned to have them installed and be out in the woods by the start of this week, but hey ho.

So it was with a happy heart, and fortunately wet weather gear that I headed to Hillyfield for a Timber Extraction course this Saturday morning.

Mike Gardener of Woodmanship shared his experience with us, talking about felling for easiest extraction, use of winches etc. Nothing wholly new to me, but there's always something new to learn, especially from a full-time forester. And when the driving rain stopped, and sun came out, Dartmoor could be seen, a fine day to be in forest.

A hearty soup was enjoyed by all and then we spent the afternoon with Will, and William the horse.

William is an Ardennes, one of about 50 in the UK and bred for forestry. 15.2 hands, legs as thick as the tree trunks he pulls and rather keen.

This horse loves to work.

Maybe the time has come to not buy another car, stick to hand tools exclusively and get a horse instead. Where's ma horse?

Happy New Year

In carving oak, I am often conscious of making something beautiful that will endure. Walking on Dartmoor at the weekend, I was walking on a huge volcanic plug, which will no doubt persist for far longer.

Both have beauty, but some thing's beauty lies not in their steadfastness, but in their transience.

Happy New Year everyone!

Crux Craft Fair

I have broken my Craft Fair virginity. Wahey!

Here's the set up for the first evening of the weekend.

Wall plaques, boxes, coat racks, chopping boards, door stops, holly spatulas, holly bookmarks etc. all inside a large settle (minus seat boards).

When making a whopping piece of furniture, its probably a good idea to measure your transportation device to make sure it fits. As usual my cavalier side, threw caution to the wind (an attribute I find often gets me through making joined furniture successfully, you kind of just have to go for it!). This time providence shone through, one more half inch on either dimension and.....

Roll up, roll up, roll up......

Get your lovely 17th century (mini) box here.

6"x6"x6" with a 7" square lid. This and other such little gems for sale at Crux Craft Fair. Come on down!

Draw bore and getting ready to go to Totnes Market

I don't know why I didn't put this photo in the last post. But here it is. A shot of me drawboring the new lid for the mini-chest.

Off to do a stall on Totnes Market tomorrow, so I thought I better give things a shine. I gave the chests a coat of beeswax polish.

Then put them in front of the woodburner to warm up before polishing.

They got a bit too hot and it had the effect of melting the polish and making it sink right into the oak, darkening in the process. I like how it looks.

I will be taking this new stand alone panel.

But I shall not be standing alone, as I will be sharing the stall with the lovely chainsaw-carving Hannah. Not that she carves chainsaws you understand. Here's one of her chairs.

Old chest, new lid.

Its almost two years since I found the oak tree, which was destined to be this chest. The tree had fallen out of a hedge near Rattery, just up the road. When I made this chest I gave it a flatsawn single piece oak lid cut from the same tree, unlike the rest of it which was riven. With one thing or another, it has taken until today to make the lid, that the chest really deserved.

Its now ready to go Crux Craft Fair on the weekend of 28-29-30 November in Rattery, from whence it came! And hopefully someone might want to give it its forever home.