Author Archives: stevetomlin

2013 scythe courses filling up

My Learn to Scythe course in May is now full with places booking up on the June and September dates too. I’ve been getting steady interest since before Christmas and it’s a great indication that the interest in scything is … Continue reading

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Scythes in Scotland

On my way up to teach a ‘Learn to Scythe’ weekend at Forres last summer I took the opportunity to visit two museums on the way and see if I could find out more about the Scottish scythe. In 2011 … Continue reading

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Jennie's legs

Back to post-and-rung ladderback chairs this week, steam bending the back legs for a new design of chair. The ash was lovely to shave down with the drawknife and bent very easily after about an hour in my steamer. Actually, … Continue reading

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Carved spreaders

I’ve been making and selling wooden spreaders for 10 years. They’re lovely things to use in the kitchen and a perfect carving project for learning knife techniques for spooncarving. On my spooncarving courses we make a spreader together on the … Continue reading

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Scythes at Highgrove

There’s one more special ‘Learn to scythe’ course from last year that hasn’t had a mention here on the blog. I didn’t write about it at the time in the hope that there would be a photo to accompany it … Continue reading

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What Joe Wright really thought of the scythers

It may have only got 12 seconds in the final movie but it’s nice to know that the time we spent on Salisbury Plain in 2011 filming the scythe scenes for Anna Karenina was appreciated. We certainly made an impression … Continue reading

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Milk Paint Recipe

I’m a big fan of painted woodenware and have been experimenting for a while now with different recipes of homemade paint. The egg based tempera I used on my spindleback chair was lovely but takes several weeks to dry properly … Continue reading

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Windsor Chair Baluster Leg

This photo shows why I was so keen to get turning beads with the skew chisel under my belt. After years of making post and rung chairs I’ve finally set my sights on making some windsor chairs so I’m investing … Continue reading

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Anna Karenina filming photos

It may have been out for a while now but Christiane only just went to see Anna Karenina (2012) at her local cinema in Austria last week which brought back some great memories and reminded me that I’ve never posted … Continue reading

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Oak Garden Bench

In Cumbria there’s a long tradition of harvesting oak bark for tanning leather and last spring I took part in a group day with the local Coppice Association to harvest bark from Moss & Height’s Spring Wood. The bark is … Continue reading

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