Steve Tomlin Crafts

Learn to Scythe first course for 2015

Posted on June 1, 2015 by stevetomlin

The weather forecast steadily improved over the course of the week and yesterday my first Learn to Scythe group for the 2015 season had a great day at Sprint Mill in Cumbria. An interesting and lively group with a mix of projects for the scythe including orchards, cutting rushes, a community park project and volunteer work with Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside. Most people used and then bought one of my Complete scythe kits while Frances brought her own scythe which I helped her set up correctly and get back to sharp.
The young grass and buttercups in the paddock made a perfect training ground and I was really pleased to see everyone cutting so neatly and sharpening with confidence by the end of the afternoon.
The next course is at Brigflatts, near Sedbergh on 11th July and costs £80. Places are filling up, please email to book your place now.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2015, course, cumbria, lancashire, learn to scythe, scythe, scything | Leave a comment

Mowing in Manchester

Posted on May 17, 2015 by stevetomlin

I was in Manchester yesterday and, popping into the City Art Gallery on a whim, got a lovely surprise in the form of George Clausen’s Old Reaper which I’ve admired many times in photos online but it was so much better in real life.
The movement in the man mowing is really great and the textures in the paint bring the weather and colours of the crop to life so much more than when seeing in on the screen.
The old Reaper by George Clausen
The outside of the Gallery has been transformed into a fantastic Lost Gardens of Manchester display in conjunction with the National Trust, including deck chairs where I enjoyed my lunch in some rare Manchester sun. I couldn’t resist a snap of this wooden hay rake propped up in a corner.

Posted in Scytherspace, wooden rakes | Tagged George Clausen, Manchester, National Trust, Old Reaper | Leave a comment

Ancient pear eating spoons commission

Posted on May 3, 2015 by stevetomlin

I don’t generally work to commission but every once in a while, I’m offered something that catches my attention. These two eating spoons are from a piece of an ancient pear tree that was cut back during building work at Hexham Abbey. My customer had managed to save a piece of a branch and asked me to carve some wooden spoons he could use in his kitchen. I love that part of the world and making something from the timber is a way of preserving the tree forever and connecting that history in the present.

The small section was quite twisted and dry so there was more work involved in carving these eating spoons than normal but the colours and story make it worth the effort.

Posted in spoon carving, SteveTomlinCrafts | Tagged artisan, eating spoon, handcarved, Hexham, pear | Leave a comment

Cherry colours

Posted on May 2, 2015 by stevetomlin

After all the scythe hullabaloo of last week, it’s been good to be back in the workshop and carving cooking and eating spoons from some lovely local cherry I got hold of. The colours in it are just fanstastic and will look even better once they’re oiled.

Posted in spoon carving, SteveTomlinCrafts | Tagged cooking, eating, handcarved, spoons, wooden | Leave a comment

Scything for breakfast with Chris Evans

Posted on April 22, 2015 by stevetomlin

Continuing the stream of media attention that scythes are getting since Poldark, my mate George Montague was this mornings mystery guest on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show. A big man with a big personality, George is the perfect man for the show.
For those of you interested in knowing about the man behind the voice, here’s George in action and the two of us (he really is that big!) after his win in 2013.

Listen to the show on iplayer here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b052hz6f#auto – George is on air from 2:11:45

Posted in Scytherspace | Tagged championship, Chris Evans, festival, Poldark, scythe | Leave a comment

Scything on Radio Lancashire

Posted on April 21, 2015 by stevetomlin

Since Poldark, the whole BBC has gone a bit scythe crazy with features and interviews on Farming Today, the Radio 4’s Today programme and countless local stations. Here in the north-west I’ll be on Radio Lancashire tomorrow morning talking to Graham Liver who is so keen that he drove up to Kendal today to meet me and get a taste of the scythe.

We struggled a bit to find some grass that needed cutting and he seemed mainly interested in posing by the river with his shirt off but I managed to get him to cut a few strokes with the scythe first and his efforts weren’t wasted.

Posted in Scytherspace | Tagged BBC, lancashire, Poldark, radio, scythe | Leave a comment

Consider the Fork (& Spoon) by Bee Wilson

Posted on April 12, 2015 by stevetomlin

Friends often send me links to articles, tv clips or websites related to my work, whether that’s Ross Poldark scything on the BBC or a video of traditional woodworking on YouTube. Some make me cringe, some amaze me, some make me wonder what my friends think I do all day…
This week I was sent a link for a recent edition of Woman’s Hour featuring the author Bee Wilson promoting her book, Consider the Fork. While making bechemal sauce with a wooden spoon in her kitchen, Bee talks about the history and importance of the wooden spoon, her “most trusty and lovable of kitchen implements”.
It was lovely to hear someone reminding us of the significance of the wooden spoon in our lives, it’s often underplayed importance in how we cook and the special pleasures in a handmade utensil:
“The thing that would have been magical about most pre-industrial spoons is that they would have just been hand whittled by somebody in the family or somebody in the local community and they might have been made specially for you; they were personal objects.”
Finally, she sums up what we all know already: “nothing does the job of the wooden spoon better than the wooden spoon.”
Well, the hand carved spoon is alive and well today and the feeling of personal connection people make with them is just the same.

Though she does resort in the end to using a whisk for her sauce she admits that this is partly due to being distracted by the interview and, in my mind, just another example of using the best tools for the job in hand.
Listen to the Woman’s Hour interview here, (wooden spoons start at 18:54).

Posted in spoon carving, SteveTomlinCrafts | Tagged BBC, Bee Wilson, Consider the Fork, Radio 4, Woman's Hour, wooden spoon | Leave a comment

Scythes and haymaking in Transylvania

Posted on April 6, 2015 by stevetomlin

A few years ago, I travelled over to Romania for a haymaking festival at Gyimes in Transylvania. It was a fantastic experience in an absolutely beautiful area and the event has gone from strength to strength since then. The film below includes a slideshow of last years mowing along with footage of the farmers collecting the hay from mountain sheds in deep winter snow.
You can learn to scythe and make hay in the mountains of one of the most unspoilt parts of Europe at this years festival 9-16 August 2015. The memories will stay with you forever. More details at http://www.treasuresoftransylvania.org/haymeadow-biodiversity/hay-making-festival

Posted in scythe festivals & events, Scytherspace | Tagged 2015, festival, hay making, romania, scythe, transylvania | Leave a comment

International Peening Day 2015

Posted on April 3, 2015 by stevetomlin

Sunday is International Peening Day, the global day for maintaining and sharpening your scythe so it’s in tip-top condition for mowing. Whether you peen using the jig or freehand peen on an anvil, it’s a day to connect with other mowers, share your experience and talk plans and tales of scything, haymaking and land management.
Please send me any photos you take of your peening and use #learntoscythe and #PeeningDay if you’re posting on social media.

Here’s a few events being organised by friends of mine over the weekend. There’s sure to be more that I don’t know about and, if you can’t find one near you, call up some of the mowers in your own area and organise an event. I’ll be peening in Cumbria, getting ready some vintage blades I bought last summer.

Richard Brown Saturday 4th in Norfolk, PE34 4PL, UK. is offering free advice on mowing, peening or scythe set up. Lush sections of my wild flower meadow and lawns available to mow. richardjbrown556[at]gmail.com
Botan Anderson and Andy Greybeal of One Scythe Revolution are hosting events in Coolsville, Ohio and Hastings, Minnesota, USA. Details on the website
Sarah Robinson from the Forest of Bowland Hay Time project and friends are meeting at the beautiful Bell Sykes Farm, Slaidburn, Lancashire, UK at 2pm Contact Peter Blackwell on 01200 446609

Posted in peening & sharpening, Scytherspace | Tagged anvil, IPD, jig, peen, peening, scythe | Leave a comment

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