Chopping Area - how to make it look better.

That looks decidedly neat! How many years worth do you store and is that all cut by yourself?
I notice there's a uniformity about the size: I suppose it dries better that way but I still like saving some large chunks that burn all afternoon and putting them on, on the weekend.

 

Well, we've got central heating too and thoretically we could set the radiators on the thermostat and have them come on automatically when the stove's not going. But I much prefer it going cold and then getting warm - it's more like real life. Perhaps it comes from living in my Mum's overheated house and then in flats: in the winter it's never cold; the heating's on all the time, the air is dry, so dry... and I have a perpetual dust allegy. Like this I feel fresh and more alive. Others may disagree.

As for time: well, I come home tired from work but instead of slumping in front of the telly I don't go in; I chop. So it's not taking up any productive time, just time I'd otherwise waste. Although I'm tired in one way I find I still have all this physical energy that I can burn off by attacking lumps of wood! And I'm more relaxed afterwards, easier to live with, I reckon and I enjoy my evenings more. I look forward to it. Haven't yet started dreaming of doing it, as I did with picture painting, but it'll come.

I'll still feel a little sorry for you if that's OK. Just in case.

 

I wasn't aware that I had managed to get into any of the photos!!! :(

Cacadores, I'm fortunate in two respect.. We share a large house that has a big enough garden to store wood without it being a problem and secondly my workshop is based at a sawmill so I have full access to oak off cuts from the mill.



It would be hard to say how many years worth that I have stored up as I seem to add to the piles as fast as we use it.
It is only the bee hive shape log stack that has uniform logs, the rest are pretty much as they come.
The wood that is in the garage is just off cuts from my work, or wood that I have salvaged from jobs.

In reference to having a sharp axe/maul. I have always found that a blunt edge is better. Using an axe/maul that has a blunt edge, it will either split the log or just bounce off. But using an axe/maul that is razor sharp, the tendency is to either split the wood or just get stuck. Which ever methods works for you, the result is worth the effort. I also find splitting logs a good way just to switch off and clear the mind.

I think that someone on here posted the following photo, and at some stage in the future I'd love to make something similar, although on a much smaller scale!

 

Well, I dunno. But the photos look fantastic. Might try the matting idea if it's slippy.

Have you ever tried carving it with a mallet and chisel? If you get the wood really fresh then it's a joy, like carving butter.

Certainly gives some ideas.

I've never thought about the sharp verses blunt axe thing before. But one learns. Last time I'd used an overhead swing was at Scout camp, chopping branches up using a 'V' cut. With trunk sections, it takes a while to realise that chopping right through is not the first aim: a sweet axe blow in just the right place can leave the axe at the top, but split the lump right from top to bottom.

I heard people raving about Fiskars axes but since treating myself to one I know what a joy they are to use. Have you ever used such a thing, with the shaft and the blade made as one thing?

 

Distant but heartfelt sympathy is much more empathetic.
!

 

I have been known to whittle the odd bit oak

I'm afraid that I just use a cheap and cheerful Bacho splitting maul.





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I can't believe you did that pole with a chisel! An adjustable rotary table saw perhaps? Whatever you used it looks great. Will it hold something up? They all look fantastic but I especially like the fairy seat in relief: I think traditional magical themes suit gardens very well. Aside from gnomes, that is! I've never done anything as ambitious as those: the biggest things I did were fresh thick apple logs: I carved heads on the tops and stuck them in corners of the garden.

I suppose the dilemma with hand tools is knowing how fresh you can get away with oak being without it cracking when it's dry. Was that chair done by hand and how fresh was it?

Where did you learn to carve like that? Impressed, I am.

 

The pole was carved without any power tools, I just used a handsaw and then cleaned up the cuts using a chisel.







The fairy seat was designed with the help of my daughter, and then carved by me. It was an oak tree that I cut down due to weakness of growth, and the back of it is now re growing to form a canopy over it.

Other than the mouse holding the candle, all of my work is carried out using green oak. I've got used to the frustration of the wood splitting and just accept it as part of the work. Items such as the pole, I treat with danish oil followed by yatch varnish. It won't prevent the wood from splitting, but it helps to control it.

 

Hi john,

The finish on the pole has lasted a couple of years with no signs of needing a re coat, and the finish on this figure has done approx 3 years so far and still looks okay.


On the other hand I have also used it on several bits last year and the finish is already black and peeling off. I can only assume that you need perfect warm and dry conditions for it to work properly, which I guess we didn't see much of last year. None of that is really much help to I guess, but perhaps wait until the summer (if we have one) and try again. Sorry that I couldn't have been of more help. :(

 

It helps to drill a hole up through the middle. That's some sawing you did then on the totem pole! And the fairy seat sounds like it's going to look magical. My step father was a carpenter and with his cousin made all the furniture in his house out of heavy oak with proper mitred joints: beds, chests of draws, comfy chairs, doors, an oak floor, everything. And all with decorative carved edges, fluted legs and so on. I'd love to have some decoration in my garden. But some more plants would be good too!