Steve Tomlin Crafts

Carving eating spoons

Posted on December 13, 2014 by stevetomlin

A few photos from the last week taken as I’ve been carving my eating spoons. They’ve proven very popular and I’m especially pleased to have got so many orders from other woodworkers and spoon carvers. The cherry wood is carving beautifully and it’s nice when carving spoons to the same design to see the subtle differences in grain and form which makes each one personal.
These spoons are available from my blog at a special winter price so if you’d like to order go through to this eating spoons post.

Posted in spoon carving, SteveTomlinCrafts | Tagged carved, cherry, eating spoon, handmade, wooden | Leave a comment

New Cherry Eating Spoons

Posted on December 3, 2014 by stevetomlin

I’m really pleased with these new eating spoons. I’ve been refining the shapes and style for a long time now and finally happy with the combination of simplicity and design in these.
The generous teardrop bowl is really satisfying, both to carve and to eat from and they’re well balanced by a handle with the smooth lines and classic shape I prefer. Add a hint of decoration at neck and stem so as not to distract from the beauty of the wood and either finish with a finial or leave the end clean.

I like these spoons so much and I want them to be used so I’m offering them to readers of my blog at a special price. Use the buttons below to order, valid until 30th Jan 2015 (That gives you a chance to order for Christmas or use any money you receive for a gift for yourself. It’s also my Mum’s birthday so easy to remember).
Update: Thanks to all the people who bought these spoons during the offer and to those of you who wrote to say how much you’re enjoying using them. These and my other handmade wooden spoons, for cooking and eating are still available – why not take a look?

Posted in spoon carving, SteveTomlinCrafts | Tagged cherry, christmas, cumbria, eating spoon, handmade, Sizergh, UK, wooden | Leave a comment

Medlar Jam

Posted on November 29, 2014 by stevetomlin

Medlars is one of those things that everyone seems to know about but nobody I know has done. The fruit, which gets called all sorts of rude things in other languages, needs to be ‘bletted’, ie left to over-ripen or partially rot before it can be used. There are two beautiful old trees here in Kendal and I always wonder how many people realise what they are. So this week I decided to have a go at making some jam
The fruit had started falling a couple of weeks ago which made collecting the medlars easy and had given them chance to start bletting. They feel should feel squishy, kind of the opposite from how you’d normally select fruit.
medlars
Once you start to chop them up, they don’t look so promising:
Even less so after they’ve been boiled for an hour:

But, surprise surprise, the resulting juice makes a beautifully coloured, clear jam with a distinctive, fruity taste. Well worth the effort.

Posted in SteveTomlinCrafts | Tagged jam, jelly, medlar | Leave a comment

Wooden birds and brushes for Lancashire Woodcarvers

Posted on November 25, 2014 by stevetomlin

What do you do when you’re invited to give a demonstration and teach an afternoon workshop for 15 hobby woodcarvers? Earlier in the year I was asked to do just that for the Lancashire branch of the Woodcarvers Association and decided to give them something they’d never seen before.
I started the day by talking about my work including how and why I make in the way I do. Carving with an axe was an eye-opener for lots of them and I explained my preference for having fewer tools which I have mastered and how this frees me to be creative with what I make. Something we shared in common was a preference for a tool finish without sanding which gives my work a much more tactile and natural finish.
My demonstration for the morning took the group through the process of how to carve a fan bird. They guessed correctly that I would split rather than saw the feathers but were still nicely amazed to watch the wings take shape as I bent them into place.
For the afternoon workshop I had promised ‘something completely different’ and think that the session on making wooden brushes fitted the bill. The bristles for these brushes are pulled from a stick, building up into a head which is still attached to the stem and finished with a string band. After some initial good-natured frustration while they learned the technique they got on and everyone finished at least one brush with enthusiasm and plenty of banter.

A terrific, friendly bunch of people and a lovely way to spend the day. If you’re nearby and interested, visit their website for more information.

Posted in fan birds, greenwood events, SteveTomlinCrafts | Tagged association, brush, fan bird, greenwood, lancashire, woodcarving | Leave a comment

Peening scythe repairs for lost tension

Posted on October 10, 2014 by stevetomlin

At the Scythe Festival this year I made a request for blades which had been over-peened and, as a result, lost their tension. This is not a common problem but one which causes big problems for mowing with the blade. I learned to repair this while working with peening experts in Austria and, as the only person in the UK with the experience to do it, I was keen to practise and also pass on the knowledge.
In response to my request I was offered a challenge by none other than Simon Fairlie, the festival organiser, who had lost tension in his favourite, antique blade. He was keen to have it repaired but cautious of the problem getting worse so we made a bet as to whether I could improve the blade for him.
With assistance from Christiane Laganda I set about carefully hammering the body of the blade to stretch it and restore the tension. Everyone was slightly nervous and so we didn’t photograph the process but suffice to say that Simon was pleased, mowed with the blade in the team event and I won the prize money which I promptly spent on a 95cm vintage blade of my own.
Later in the day my mate Kevin Austin from Cornwall asked me to repair one of his blades and I was able to guide him through the process of doing it himself to begin learning the skills too.

Posted in peening & sharpening, Scytherspace | Tagged peening, repair, scythe, tension | Leave a comment

Learn to peen a scythe workshop

Posted on October 5, 2014 by stevetomlin

I’ve just taught the second of two Learn to Peen workshops for the Yorkshire Dales National Park. I’ve been teaching people how to mow with scythes in the park for a couple of years so it was thought that some specific peening courses would be useful to give some of those people confidence in peening which they could then pass on and spread through the networks we’re hoping to build here in the NW.
I recommend that everyone starts to learn to peen using the peening jig. This gives you the opportunity to learn to handle the blade and strike consistently with the accuracy built in for you. Once you’ve learned these basic skills and understand what is happening with peening, it is much easier to move on to freehand peening on the anvil if you want to.

We started out with a recap of what peening is, how to judge when to peen and how the jig works, then we set everyone up and the hammering commenced. When you know how to handle the blade and what results to look for, peening with the jig is a relatively simple operation but one that can produce excellent results including an edge that will pass the ‘thumbnail test’ for meadow blades. With some encouragement, checking and slight corrections to technique, everyone was peening well by the end of the days. Like mowing itself, peening is a skill which needs practise and time to master but these folk are off to a good start.

Posted in peening & sharpening, scythe courses, Scytherspace | Tagged Austrian, course, jig, peening, scythe, UK, workshop | Leave a comment

In The Flow at Sprint Mill

Posted on September 24, 2014 by stevetomlin

As well as two weeks of art and craftwork on display, our C-Art Open Studio exhibition hosted a fantastic night of spoken word with some fantastic pieces inspired by Sprint Mill.

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C-Art Sprint Mill Exhibition

Posted on September 14, 2014 by stevetomlin

The C-Art Open Studios event has just started with craftspeople and artists across Cumbria opening their studios to display and sell their work. Following our success last year, I am once again exhibiting as part of the Sprint Mill collective open every day 13-28 Sept 11:00-16:30.
This year 9 artists and craftspeople working in a variety of mediums have our work on display in the wonderfully evocative Sprint Mill, Burneside. I have a new collection of wooden spoons along with some of the large carved wooden bowls which I have been working on this year. It’s been a lot of work to get everything ready but it’s looking fabulous and we’re all incredibly proud of the results.
Like our SprintMilling facebook page to get regular updates and news of workshops and special events.

Posted in greenwood events, SteveTomlinCrafts | Tagged 2014, C-Art, cumbria, exhibition, sprint mill | Leave a comment

Scythe vs Strimmer video

Posted on August 27, 2014 by stevetomlin

My friend Simon Damant has become the star of a viral post currently doing the rounds on facebook.
This race between a scythe and strimmer takes place each year at the Somerset Scythe Festival and the result is always the same (can you guess?).
Simon has been the British mowing champion 6 times so he’s a very good, fast mower but the strimmer operator is also a professional (as well as a committed scythe user). It’s a great video demonstrating the efficiency hand tools, what a shame that the person sharing it on fb has removed the links to the original and gives no credit to Simon, the Scythe Festival or my mate Dave Oxford who filmed and posted the original.
Who said hand tools are slow?

Posted in scythe festivals & events, Scytherspace | Tagged festival, race, scythe, strimmer, video | Leave a comment

A very special plane

Posted on August 22, 2014 by stevetomlin

While we were ladder making the other week, Stanley recommended one particular wooden jack plane for me to use while smoothing the poles. I’ve used wooden planes before and enjoy the tactile process of adjusting them using a wooden mallet so this was didn’t seem anything unusual and it certainly cut sweetly.
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As I worked I noticed Stanley’s name stamped into the body of the plane. I commented that I’ve used many tools with names stamped onto them but never one where I’d actually met the previous owner and what a treat that was.

Stanley then revealed that the plane was actually made by his grandfather, Ebeneezer, whose name is also stamped onto the plane. Not only that but he’d signed and dated the mallet when the set was made, 9th May 1890. It was quite an experience to be making shavings with a 124 years old wooden plane.