After the Bowl carving course.......... tool making

I am readying some tools to thin out the soundbox of the harp I recently made,  including a tool to get into the end grain at the top end of the harp and another to slice wood off the inside edge,   Its more tricky working this way but the rewards will be a richer and more balanced instrument.

 I made an extra long Olive Ash handle after the ones Robin Wood uses for my Bent blade, 

This tool is used two handed and slices across the grain.   Most effective on green wood! 

Alongside this is another tool, a commercially available hooked knife by Mora. Still a few more tools needed to do the work I need to do.  Updates in a few weeks!

Day Three on Robin Woods Bowl carving course

Day Three was the consolidation of the other two days work,  I didn't finish my second bowl but roughed it out to finish it later at home.

In this picture you can see the Hans Karlsson bent gouge, adze 

and the Gransfor Axe I used.  The very best kit and razor sharp.

This chisel is one I am looking into getting for my harp making

Martin Hazell demonstrating one of the north American Indian Style Adzes by the Kestral company

This lightweight adze balances perfectly in the hand and makes less tiresome work

Kestral adze side view

Rough profile of double headed bowl

Some of the bowls made by the students on the course

My completed bowl

Robin's bowl carving course teaches you all the hand skills for splitting, cutting, hollowing and shaping

and the safe ways to do this and much more.   For beginners to this way of working the Spoon carving courses are a really good way to start on a smaller scale.   

I had a really enjoyable time in good company and in a fantastic location, just need sometime to unpack what I have learnt and how to use it.   I now have a bent knife blade from Robin that I am making a handle for  and using for a harp re-voicing in a few weeks so I will blog again when I do that!

Day 3 blog course summery taken outside Edale Village hall on the Nokia Lumia 920 Windows phone(thanks to Nokia Conversations for the loan of this device)

Day Two on Robin Woods Bowl Carving Course

The second day was half spent finishing the willow bowl from the day before. We were taught different safe ways to use the Mora carving knives and two different strokes,  One, the reverse hold I had not used before.

First bowl rough shaped, ready for push spokeshave and nordic knife whittling

Robin Wood demonstrating how to safely axe out a bowl blank.

I chose Lime for my second bowl which was a joy to split and work!

Day 2 blog taken in my tent on the Nokia Lumia 920 Windows phone(thanks to Nokia Conversations for the loan of this device)

Stick Dulcimer Making Theme tune Tutorial and Tabs!

As promised here is the video tutorial(and Tabs) for the Stick Dulcimer Making Course Theme!
I am playing this on one of my new simple plain mahogany Stick Dulcimers(available for sale)

If you need a Tab sheet to print out please go to my Stick Dulcimer music page on my website where you can download this tab and the morrowind tabs
http://www.michaeljking.com/stick_dul...
Note: There was an error in the strumming section where I missed two notes but I corrected the tabs.

This video was filmed all on a Nokia Lumia 920 Windowsphone and edited on Openshot on Lubuntu Linux.

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Day one on Robin Woods Bowl Carving course

This is something I wish I'd done 10 or 20 years ago,  Learning how to carve wooden bowls from green timber using nothing but very sharp traditional hand tools.  Even though I trained as a cabinet maker my skill set was mostly modern hand tools and small power tools and apart from whittling there was a gap in my knowledge working fresh green timber.   If you are thinking of starting out yourself then the Spoon carving course is an ideal introduction with minimal outlay.  I was interested in bowl carving specifically as I am branching out into carving out Harps, lyres and Nyckelharpa from logs that are green so I can get a clean smooth interior( cutting into 4" deep kiln dried timbers, and especially the end grain is very hard without using a lot of machine work and sanding)
Robins Woods Bowl Carving course is over three days in the Village of Edale in the Peak District.  One of the locations of the recent BBC TV series "the Village"   I was camping a short walk away.

Edale, from the Campsite

Wearing my old Barbour jacket!

First stages of carving the inside of the bowl after initial axe work.  

Here I am using a lovely adze made by Hans Karlsson

The Simple Bowlcarving benches developed by Robin Wood over the years. Very effective.

My evening video blog, taken with the front facing camera of the Nokia 920 Windows phone

Thanks to Nokia Conversations for the loan of the Lumia 920 Windowsphone

Stick Dulcimer, Lighter machine heads

I really like Gotoh style sealed tuners on my instruments, the way they fit and work smoothly but with the stick dulcimer they add weight making the neck slightly top heavy. To make allowance for this  I usually add weight in the tail piece which is 2mm solid brass and by leaving the internal linings square and the tail block a hardwood.

For my new basic Stick Dulcimer (made completely from mahogany)  I decided to try the Klusion style of tuners. Mine were the Wilkinson brand which are easily available.

To see how much weight could be saved I weighted each type of tuner.

The Klusion type was 23 grams

The gotoh mini type was 34 grams

The saving in weight for all three by switching was 33 grams between them

With them fitted the mahogany instrument did feel better balanced without the strap,  the spacing is closer than I fit on the other type and they are nearer the end but look fine.

Fitting these was a little more complicated and required buying drill bits.  Stew mac sell reamers for this type of machine head to make this easier that I may get if decide to switch.

Video soon!

                              Plans available for these instruments available from my website

Kravik lyre

This is a Kravik Lyre made by a friend of mine in Norway, Sverre Heimdal, who specialises in this model.

The Kravik Lyre is a 7 strung 14th Century lyre.   It was found in a farmhouse without any soundboard in dilapidated condition.

The original Lyre is made of pine.