In my continuing efforts to enhance my skills and try new methods out in woodworking, I traveled down to a school called Wood and Shop near Charlottesville VA. There I took a 3-day class on green woodworking, where you make bowls and spoons out of green lumber. The green lumber is easier to carve and modify with simple tools. After you get it set up, you let it air dry and put the final finishing touches on it.
To start with, we all built our own wooden chopping block. Most of the work is done with an axe, so this was essential for us to have somewhere to work from. Very similar to having a workbench for your shop. Its built with three 2x4s and a large stump (11” deep, 10” + in diameter). With that screwed in and leveled (angles cut in the bottom to make the three legs level) it was time to put the axe to work.
- Create blanks for spoons or bowls by taking a log and use wedges to split log. Do radial split so that it follows the grain, rather than trying to go straight
- Roughing out blank for spoon with an axe. Trying to get square on one face and two edges square and roughly same width. Hew with axe to rough shape. Do “ladder” cuts, angling blank to side, chop in, then put upright and “shave off” the pieces created. Once you have blank with one flat face, and both sides done, go to layout
- Layout. Draw centerline, then you can use your imagination to layout spoon or spatula or whatever. General rule is the “spoon” part is 1/3 or ¼ of the total length. When satisfied make sure the marks are dark enough to see
- Cutting out. Make small relief cuts with a saw just below the spoon section, as a “stop” when splitting. Take axe at top and place on top, bang in to set, and then continue banging wood on the stump. It should split along the grain, but stop at the relief cut. Way to remove a large amount of wood quickly
- Corners. Take off corners at front of spoon. May need to choke up on axe a bit. Cut one 45-degree, the other 45-degree. This will reveal a new corner for you to continue on. For sides, use “ladder” method again to remove large amounts. Continue to use axe as much as possible to remove most of the wood. Knife will be much slower
- Bowl of spoon. Spoon needs to be flat on top. Use knife to flatten top pieces. Draw new center line and then draw outline of inner part where you will carve the bowl. Take hook knife and cut across the grain from center line out. May go as much as 45-degree cut to clean. Turn spoon around and carve out on the other side of center line. Can also use gouges to make bowl of spoon.
- Storage. Store in a place with no wind, sun and not on ground. Keep the blanks long. If you need to store log, paint ends with latex paint to seal. It will crack anyway, but this will minimize. You can drop in in lack or submerge it in a bucket. Its OK as long as its completely submerged. When you take it out, you only have a few hours to process it as green. If necessary, place it in plastic bag for overnight.
Class was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot.
Kevin