Hey All,
Recently I’ve had a few ideas for some furniture made from hand hewn posts and possibly boards… I was wondering if anyone here knew of a good book or article on the subject.
I know you can use curved bits in a power planer to simulate the look, but I would actually like to take a crack at it myself.
I have a shop full of my grandfather’s hand tools( axes, adzes, drawknifes, and such).. But he passed away before he could teach me to use any of them. So I think I’m pretty well equipped… just looking for some reference material on technique.
Thanks
-Blake
Replies
i'm not sure if it will cover all your needs, but the woodrights shop and companion volumes by Roy Underhill has a section on using adzes and the like.quite a good read even if it doesn't cover all the bases.enjoy.
Try any of the books by John Alexander, Drew Langsner or Mike Abbott.
Thank you both, I've checked these on Amazon and they all seem to be good suggestions. Thanks so much.-Blake
On the pledge drive for our local PBS station, they showed a film called, "Alone in the Wilderness". It's about a guy who goes off in Alaska and builds a log cabin, tools, furniture, etc. He uses basic hand tools, saw, axe, draw knife, auger. He packed them in without handles to save space and weight. A good part of the film shows him working on the various projects. It's a great visual to see how the various tasks are done. Of course, the film shows some amazing views of the rugged country and wildlife. http://www.publicvideostore.org/category/show/3219?gclid=CI3ihIeBppcCFQrFGgodD2KK9gBeat it to fit / Paint it to match
Hammer,I actually saw that halfway through... thats kind of what inspired this project, thanks for the link, I've been looking for it but didn't know what it was called. Thats a great help.And Stienmetz,Thanks or the quick tutorial, I have a right-handed hatchet/axe, with a curved 8 inch blade... I'll have to make a left-handed like you said, I'll just have figure out how to warp that handle or make a new one.
Blakeyoung, I used to have a beautiful set of Estwing single bevel hatchets but, somehow they 'walked'.
They had segmented leather handles . Recently, I googled up right and left handled hatchets,but Estwing doesn't list them on their website. However, there's several other manufacturers who do $ell tho$e hatchet$ ( for big buck$ )
$teinmetz
You'll need two hatchets. (One right handed ; one left handed.)
The reason you need both, is, if the material is not perfectly straight grained, and as you hew away, the tool you use digs in as you work from right to left,it's time to work from left to right. If you can't find the appropriate hatchets, try resharpening two standard ones.
( each with a single bevel.)
Of course, if the post is not too long, you can "flip the stick" then hew away and let the chips can fall as they may.
'tis easier to attack the post vertically and "Hew Down" **(See note below) rather than horizontally.
SAW IT DEMONSTRATED ON HEW TUBE HEW KNEW???
** Didn't he work for Johnny Carson?
Steinmetz
Edited 12/3/2008 9:54 pm ET by Steinmetz
Edited 12/3/2008 10:09 pm ET by Steinmetz
Edited 12/3/2008 10:15 pm ET by Steinmetz
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled