- Joined
- Aug 31, 2012
- Messages
- 390
I have been wanting to build me a shaving horse for a couple months now for shaping hafts among other things. Since I was out of work (I have since found employment) and had no money I was thinking of potential sources of material for the bench in particular. I also had acquired these 2 broad hatchets recently and figured I could hew legs and stuff for the horse. Then one day back in December my sister had an alder come down on her property. I thought about it and finally decided to try and get the bench out of part of that tree.
The alder tree.
I limbed it and bucked it up and 3 other trees my brother in law wanted taken out too. From the tree above though I cut out a couple 7' or so sections of the trunk and split them.
The trunk had some twist to it but I figured I could hew a piece somewhat flat before hewing the other side to make a plank.
I brought them home to figure out what I wanted to do with them.
I picked out the one that looked best for the bench and hewed the center flat or mostly flat.
Then it was time to cut the juggles and knock em out. I cleaned it up with the broad hatchet. Yes, all the rough hewing was done with that little Craftsman broad hatchet. I know I need to get a proper broad axe. I do have access to one but wanted to give the little hatchet a workout. I had also just cleaned up and sharpened the drawknife that was my grandfather's and came to me via my parents. I used it to strip the bark and it worked beautifully.
That little hatchet did pretty good considering what I was asking of it. The rough hewing was complete.
Wet alder is fairly white when it is first cut but turns this crazy orange color within a day or two of exposure to the air. I find this very interesting and am wondering what color it will be when fully dried. Here it has turned orange and is getting ready to be smooth hewn with my great grandfather's piiluja.
Mind you I have no idea how this piiluja is supposed to be wielded so I developed my own technique of making potato chips with it.
I certainly didn't make it completely smooth and I am sure my great grandfather was laughing at me. I did manage to get it a lot smoother and flatter with the piiluja than it was.
It was then time to break out the big boy block plane.
And work up a real sweat making it smoother and flatter. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it cut the soaking wet alder and made ribbons.
It did rip a little and required constant cleaning of the knife but after a couple hours I had one pretty nice side
I started to plane the other side. I got tired of it and gave in to the dark side and broke out the thickness planer. I ran it through the power planer and got it down to about 2 inches thick. I think that will make a mighty fine bench for the shaving horse provided it doesn't crack.
The alder tree.
I limbed it and bucked it up and 3 other trees my brother in law wanted taken out too. From the tree above though I cut out a couple 7' or so sections of the trunk and split them.
The trunk had some twist to it but I figured I could hew a piece somewhat flat before hewing the other side to make a plank.
I brought them home to figure out what I wanted to do with them.
I picked out the one that looked best for the bench and hewed the center flat or mostly flat.
Then it was time to cut the juggles and knock em out. I cleaned it up with the broad hatchet. Yes, all the rough hewing was done with that little Craftsman broad hatchet. I know I need to get a proper broad axe. I do have access to one but wanted to give the little hatchet a workout. I had also just cleaned up and sharpened the drawknife that was my grandfather's and came to me via my parents. I used it to strip the bark and it worked beautifully.
That little hatchet did pretty good considering what I was asking of it. The rough hewing was complete.
Wet alder is fairly white when it is first cut but turns this crazy orange color within a day or two of exposure to the air. I find this very interesting and am wondering what color it will be when fully dried. Here it has turned orange and is getting ready to be smooth hewn with my great grandfather's piiluja.
Mind you I have no idea how this piiluja is supposed to be wielded so I developed my own technique of making potato chips with it.
I certainly didn't make it completely smooth and I am sure my great grandfather was laughing at me. I did manage to get it a lot smoother and flatter with the piiluja than it was.
It was then time to break out the big boy block plane.
And work up a real sweat making it smoother and flatter. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it cut the soaking wet alder and made ribbons.
It did rip a little and required constant cleaning of the knife but after a couple hours I had one pretty nice side
I started to plane the other side. I got tired of it and gave in to the dark side and broke out the thickness planer. I ran it through the power planer and got it down to about 2 inches thick. I think that will make a mighty fine bench for the shaving horse provided it doesn't crack.
