I don’t know if it’s because of the long wet winter but spring has sneaked up on me this year and it’s almost International Peening Day again!
If you went on a scythe course last year or bought a scythe you were hopefully told how important peening the blade is and given some instruction on how to do it. On my courses I demonstrate the peening jig which is the method I recommend for most people though you may also have a hammer and anvil.
Whichever method you’re using April 6th 2014 is the day to dust off your scythe, clean it up, peen and sharpen the edge so you’re ready for the coming season (or to put it to bed if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere).
As always, this is an ‘everywhere’ event in that it’s not hosted anywhere in particular so feel free to get together with a couple of scythe friends at your own place and peen blades together, that way it’s more fun and you can help each other out. If previous years are anything to go by you’ll be peening in the company of folk from around the world – feel free to send me your photos like this one of my friends Andy & Ellie from Derbyshire.
From time to time I get together with my mate Phil Bradley, who is a terrific basketmaker, for a day trying something out. Sometimes he is showing me, sometimes I show him and sometimes neither of us know what we’re doing. They are wonderful days and in my opinion, extremely important for craftspeople. All too often we are working alone and stick to what we know. There’s a kind of fear of trying new things, not just of failure but of wasting valuable time that could have been spent making familiar work. Taking time out to experiment and spent time with other makers should be a regular activity for more of us, it can stimulate all kinds of ideas, leading to new products or simply reinvigorate creativity and curiosity for a material.
A new addition was the Spoon Carving Chair which was occupied by various makers and gave people the opportunity to watch the likes of Fritiof Runhall, Jarrod Stone-Dahl and others carving at their normal pace. This is very different from seeing folk carving when they’re teaching and gives a better insight into their actual methods and way of working.
Also making it’s first appearance was the Spoonfest oven which was built as a course in the days running up to the weekend under the guidance of Martin Hazell, seen here giving it his blessings. The pizzas were certainly delicious.
There are times when you want to have your own craft course on a 1-to-1 basis.
Although Mike, Malcolm and Charlie had come for different reasons they all wanted to spend their time learning more about carving wooden spoons. Over the past 5 years or so I’ve seen spoon carving really take off in popularity which is fantastic as it’s a wonderful introduction to working with wood, a great way to learn to use simple tools and the possibilities of design are endless. I’ve been carving since 2000 and teaching since 2006, increasingly offering opportunities for improvers to develop their skills at events like Spoonfest alongside my regular 
All three had some previous experience but were wanting to get a proper understanding of how to carve so we started with some axe and knife techniques on practise blanks. I think everyone can benefit from going back to basics and spending time just making cuts for practise without thinking of making something. That way you can be more daring and positive in your motions since there’s no fear of ‘getting it wrong’ and your whole focus is on technique rather than the spoon. Mike in particular was impressed with how far it’s possible to carve a spoon using just the axe, making the knifework much easier. He has a house and woodland in France but comes over to see his beloved Liverpool FC play so tied in two days of spoon and some fan bird carving with the trip.
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