A Walk Around Britain » Skills

Bodging a Three-Legged Stool, with Ginger

Branching Arts — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 18:11:04 +0000

This is where Ginger shows us how to make a three-legged stool, with all speed and ease. With the then weather warming, this stool kept us out the mud, and prompted a spate of replicas to be knocked out.

Thank-you Ginger.

Tools required, are:

a saw (chain or cross-cut) to cut the seat from a log.

A bar-auger (and sharpening file) to put in the angled holes.

A splitting axe (and comedy mallet) to split the legs.

A sharper axe (and chopping block) to make the legs fit the seat.

A mallet for hitting the legs into the seat.

And that’s it.

The Ways of Barney Spoon

Branching Arts — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 17:40:42 +0000

A Video Series on How to make a Wooden Spoon, really well,

with Barney Spoon.

This winter, we were visited by a man named Barnaby, who calls himself Barney (though we named him Barn).

Barn makes spoons, with style and profound expertise. He taught us a lot, which is still slowly sinking into our craft consciousness.

We filmed Barn’s spoon chronicles, in order to spread the knowledge as he himself shared it. Here are the four short films, detailing exactly how to make a great spoon. It’s worth getting through to the final video, as it features Barney playing a song on his new spoon.

To add to his glory, Barney is currently on a long walk about Britain, living outside, and trading spoons for hospitality and a bit of food. Where he has reached by now, we cannot say, because he is wise enough to not be encumbered by a website. If we can get updates on his progress, they will be published here.

So, for the videos. Please enjoy them, and tell all your green woodworking friends that the definitive guide to spoon-making is, at last, online. Hurrah for Barney.

Barney Spoon part 1

Barney Spoon part 2

Barney Spoon part 3

Barney Spoon part 4 (the musical one)

Excellent.

How to split hazel, with Hopper

Branching Arts — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 18:01:48 +0000

This video shows how to split a hazel rod.

Hopper had already taught us the rudimentary techniques of hurdle-making (CLICK HERE), and in this video he shows us how to split hazel rods.

As well as the practical techniques of splitting, Hopper also shows how to measure the height of a tree, with a stick. Interested?

There’s also an interesting discussion, on recycling, universities, and Martians. And there is a very blunt billhook, the inadequacy of which led Hopper to loan us a nice sharp replacement.

The video might take a short while to buffer, but please be patient. Hopper is worth the wait…

Ed & Will play Ankle-Tap

Branching Arts — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 14:15:19 +0000

In Marazion, beside St Michael’s Mount, after 6 months walking in 2007 we are here, in friendly amateur combat.

The rules are simple: Tap the leg of your opponent, beneath the knee, keeping two hands on your staff, and stopping your opponent from tapping your leg.

You need space, a disposition not lent to tidal aggressiveness, and a good pair of stout staffs.

The singing is from a recording made in a family’s music room in Lyndhurst, in the New Forest, some 2 months earlier.

We discovered ankle-tap only a few weeks before, in a little town called Lostwithiel. It was probably devised as a ‘format’, and not a spontaneous childrens’ game, in the years following the Norman invasion of Britain, when Saxons were denied from carrying weapons. This is the historic context that gave rise to Capoiera, and Escrima, in Brazil and the Phillipines.

Ankle-tap. It’s a good sport, and rarely causes more than a bruise on the shin.

BUT: legally, with all social reponsibility in mind, no-one should ever do anything they learnt from the internet, and no-one should do anything without their parents, an MP, doctor, and minister of religion, being present in a democratic and CCTV’d manner.

Don’t do anything at home; especially not the ancient fun game of Ankle Tap.