Wooden Shingle (shake) Making

Hi All, It's been a little while but I hope to get back into blogging again now.

Over the last few months I have been reading up on shingle (shake) making and giving it ago to cover the woodshed roof. Shingles are wooden tiles, they are normally called shingles if they are sawn or sometimes shakes if they are split.

I read up on the traditional technique in Ben Law's new woodland craft book and also found a couple of great educational videos on youtube, here are the best two I could find. Many thanks to these people for sharing, I learn so much from youtube.

So you need to make a 'brake' to help split the shingles off how you want them. Here are the pics of my process for making this:

 and here is me and my Dad, starting to make them in the spring sunshine!

and we were very lucky today with mum making us all some lunch!

Note the wild garlic addition, picked from about 20 metres away

So far we have made about 150, and its taken a couple of days, I think we need 2000 so it's going to be a long job, but it's a great way to spend your days, so it's all good :)

The Clay Oven!

Here's a photo diary of its construction over the summer: (Many thanks to Ryan (in pics) who did most of the hard work!)

All of the clay and stones came from the woodland. Glass bottles are for extra insulation and we added some chicken wire into the clay layers for strength. Many thanks to this guide we found online and followed http://thecobovenproject.blogspot.co.uk/

June 2014 Happenings

Managed to get in a bit more 'wood time' lately, and here's a quick summary of what's happening as summer kicks in.

Not in my wood but I just love these hungry caterpillars I snapped in my girlfriend's garden.

We have foxgloves now growing where we cleared the laurel 18 months ago.

Baby wood mouse hadn't quite cottoned on to the fact it's probably best to run and hide in the daytime.

Hoisting the first beam for tree-house construction.

Rigging up a second of the extra strong tarps, to work/eat under.

And a few new steps to finish. Will look good when they have grown in.

Spring in the Woods - 2014

Ok, I know it's a little late for a spring update but I'm playing catch-up and just wanted a record on my blog of some of the things that happened a few months ago.

3 out of the 4 nest boxes were full of blue tit chicks!

Blue bells keep getting better year on year, and you can see me starting green woodworking on my shave horse, more about this in the next crafts post.

Friends came camping and amongst many fun things we had a go at a clay oven, it was a lot of fun but not a huge success on the baking so far, going to embark upon Mk II very soon.

Finally here is a shot of Mum and Dad getting the fire going for me in the pouring rain. I am sat in the dry chopping vedge! About to embark upon a Polish canoe and wild camping trip and this was a trail run for my meal. More about this in the next post.

March 2014 Woodland Update!

So we have rigged up a new extra strong tarp after the storms got the better of the last one. With a new design too, which uses just ropes in a kind of criss cross way so hopefully the whole tarp moves and gives with the wind with no particular stress points.

You can also see my new woodworking bench, made from sycamore with chestnut planks. It is really solid, and has a heavy duty vice donated by a woodland neighbour (thanks Andy!) So getting set up with a better working area to start making more cool stuff!

Looks like we may have some mischievous kids around though, this large water butt was full and would have taken some serious pushing over! See all the bluebell shoots coming up though where the leaves were washed away by their mini tsunami.

Talking of flora and such, here were Mums finds of the day:

1. Colt's foot

2. Dog's Mercury

3. Scarlet Elf Cup Fungus

4.  Turkey tail bracket fungus

Autumn 2013 Wood Update.

Just a quick update, haven't posted in ages and it was my ambition to do more and keep a record of it here, so I failed a bit this year really. For one reason or another work took it out of me this year but it looks like we are ending on a high with this fantastic kickstarter project http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1794375019/sketch-workshop. This success should also mean more wood time coming up and here's a few autumn photos to get things started.

Mum's finds of the day!

Bacon Sandwiches and Tea for lunch!

It was  real bumper crop of sweet chestnuts this year!

My planks for tree house construction are coming along well. I'm using a Granberg small log mill attachment on my Stihl 261 Chainsaw. 

Made some extra high swings for any visiting children (and adults) to play on.