Living Longbows

Just arrived and setting up!

Steps and stages of historical poll lathe bowl turning. This was a piece of apple wood, generously donated to me by , thanks! More to follow!

Here is an update on some of the bowls I've been turning on three different traditional pole lathe set ups.

New bowls this season... including: cherry, sycamore, apple and horn-beam. They each have their distinct aroma when turned fresh on the pole lathe!

Thanks to for the opportunity to mill this magnificent scalded burry beech stem! It's 14' long and approximately 40" wide. Big tables....

Milled with my 84" MK IV, 84" GB bar and .404 hyper-skip ripping chain from .ie and my .

Cutting rings for future tables by

Today I used my 84" MK IV alaskan mill frame. It looks like overkill on these logs, but they are over 1.4 metres wide (thick) so it was nessary.

Here are some of the steps in my process of making beams from logs. Box-heard spruce beams 205mm X 205mm X 5m.

1. Creating two parallel sides with the and the .

2. for the next side.

3, 4, 5. Logsol to remove the last side (square and parallel).

Milled up some beech this week... the trunk was cut about three years ago, but mostly off the ground and has remained in good solid condition. Two inch thick boards for future furniture and house fit out.

Well done to all the longbow makers at the Weekend in the Hil traditional craft skills event! Topskills and results all around.

Run by and hosted by

Today's pole lathe turned bowls.

Bowl turning on the .ie pole lathe summer 2023. Learning a new skill.

https://youtu.be/EbsXz2Yu4pk?si=n_Q-JkxeRJxMm9Bp

So somehow, fresh ash timber shows up beetroot red when light is shone through it.... who knew???

11 beech boards made yesterday... Good to get a bit of milling for friends and neighbours again. These will be window sills and an indoor step.

and and

Today, we smelted iron!

What an amazing process to take the bacterial accretion bog iron ore, smelt it with charcoal and air in clay furnace, to produce a billet of foragable wrought iron.

Thanks to the and for organising and hosting the event.... more again tomorrow!

Turning cherry and beech timber today. It was a busy day i .ie with events going on. Thanks for all the great questions and continued interest in hand crafted woodwork.

Three new bowls turned on the pole lathe, this time using cherry wood felled less than 24 hours previously. The heart wood gives off a sweet cinemon aroma when worked.

This bowl has a lot of 'character'... a hidden bark pocket, not visible from the start. Also, I had a bad 'catch' with the hook tool around the edge. So it's a feature bowl with handles. Beech, pole lathe turned, 20cm diameter (25cm at the handles).

Craft skills demonstration at Cahermurphy woods. Thanks to and for facilitating such an interesting day of learning. Longbows, pole lathe turned bowls by .synnottwoodcraft and sugán chairs by Sean Walsh in production.

This dead standing Scots Pine was in front of the wild boar enclosure at Craggaunowen. I felled it through the gate into the their enclosure. This should give me plenty of material for hand made projects in the ring fort.

My first ever end grain cup, turned on a pole lathe, beech.

I found this grain orientation of turning a lot more difficult. It's mostly removing 'dust' but also awkward to reach the bottom of the cup with the tool, between the rim and the core. Still, happy enough with this one, as a first attempt. The light shows up inconsistencies in wall thickness, but also a dark streaking, which is hard to see from the outside.

Some pictures of my most recent pole lathe turned tableware.

I'm daring to go thinner and lighter on the wall thickness. The end grain cup was my first attempt at this type of turning, and I found it a lot more difficult.

I'm asked: "What is that?"

I reply: "A skutching board and knife!"

Any follow-up questions???

Table to skutching board made of oak and skutching knife is scots pine.

I'm pleased with the shape of this one... beech wood, pole lathe turned with hook tools.

Today, I split an oak three with malet and wedges. The tree had died several years ago of unknown causes, but all the heart wood has remained sound.

This material will make lots of things, including warp weighted looms and ladders.

My first attempt at turning captive rings on a babies rattle. This is using fresh oak, which cracked towards the end of the process. But the rings worked OK. Always more to learn....