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A Sixty Year Relationship with WoodThe following notes are intended as a simple guide for the novice wood worker who wishes to express his thoughts through the medium of wood and sincerely hope that those of you that do so will one day have the pleasure and satisfaction of looking back with pride at your achievements.
Safety Guidelines.Use protective clothing when required.Keep a First Aid box at hand and make a point of checking its contents at regular intervals, simple cuts and splinters unattended can easily become infected. Remember the age-old saying, measure twice and cut once, saves time and material. When carving, the sharper the tool, the less pressure is required to cut the material. When ever possible whilst using open-ended tool such as chisels, Stanley knives, cut away from yourself. When sawing, carving or planning, make sure that your work piece is held firm and you are in full control of your tools. A slight lapse in concentration could either damage your work piece or on a more serious note injure your self. 60 years working with timber I have experienced many avoidable accidents through not observing the latter, I know, as I am one of the casualties. When using electrically powered machinery and hand tools, always switch off supply and remove the plug before changing the drill bit, saw blade or plane blade. Use the correct amperage fuse and replace damaged supply cables. Instruments and Tools for Beginners
Since the first inhabitants of our planet ripped a branch from a tree and used it as a spear or kindling material for a fire, over the years wood has been divided into two categories as either soft or hard wood and through the knowledge gained over time, they intern have been selected for their mechanical / physical and artistic qualities. e.g. Oak for its strength as used in boat/ building structures, Ash for its strength and flexibility as used in coach work and wheel spokes, Teak for its strength, water / chemical resistance, Hickory for its strength /flexibility and its ability to absorb shock waves thus reducing the stinging affect transferred through a hammer shaft. A simple guide when drying a piece of timber, weigh it and write down the date and its weight. Place the timber on a kitchen cabinet away from the cooker and radiator and repeat the same procedure every 6 weeks, when the weight remains constant for a period of 6 weeks the timber should be ready to be worked. Rooting through off cuts and selected timber in my workshop, I have found many samples of which I have compiled the following list attempting to describe briefly their properties, characteristics and uses. Timbers their properties and usesAPPLE is hard to come by, as it is mainly grown for its fruit, it is pinkish brown in colour with a fine grain structure, be extremely careful when carving this wood as it has a tendency to rip and tare if the grain is irregular .It is ideal for carving intricate details e.g. small birds with their feathered wings spread out also as a decorative inlay.
During the 1960's whilst thinking of what I could use the many off cuts of plywood accumulating in the scrap bin, I developed the following procedure, thus creating many beautiful designs.When pieces of plywood are cut to conform to the contour of a design and glued together in a bread and butter fashion which is labour saving when sculpting. Also the end grain of the laminations when shaped and polished accentuates the depth of the contours. 
BEECH is very popular timber due to its availability and versatility. Its strong, pale brown with pinkish tints, close grain with small silvery flecks running length ways inline with its fine grain. It must be well seasoned prior to working, as it tends to distort whilst drying. It can be steam bent, for the construction of furniture, ribs for musical instruments, popular with toy makers, kitchen utensils and block floors. Ideal for the would be carver / sculpture giving a pleasant clean finish.CEDAR with its soft texture when dry is a very stable material, reasonably strong, light in weight and varies from light to dark brown in colour. Traditionally used in the cladding of cabin type homes, racing yachts and recognised world wide for the manufacture if cigar boxes. DOUGLAS FIR / COLUMBIAN PINE, pale to reddish brown in colour can be purchased in long planks very strong used mainly as structural material. I have used this material with the grain running cross wise for harp sound boards producing a pleasant soft mellow tone, the finer the grain the thinner the sound board. EBONY jet black in colour with a fine grain structure is an extremely hard wood. Used mainly in the manufacture of musical instruments parts. Rarely available in large pieces, ideal for decorative inlay work, carving requires extremely sharp tools, which should produce a clean shiny finish.
November 1969 I purchased 2 planks of Iroko 7'0"x 18"x 1¼"to make a dinning table for Christmas. On completion 20th December I placed it in the dining room. In the early hours of the morning I was woken up by a loud bang similar to a riffle shot. I went down stairs to investigate and couldn't find any thing out of place.The following morning I discovered the cause of the bang, the tabletop had a crack ¼"x 24"long at one end. On returning the tabletop to the timber yard I learned that the timber had been kiln dried to quickly, thus causing the outer faces of the plank to be drier than the inside, causing tension between the grain structures. This phenomenon in the trade is called Case Hardening. Morel of the story is, purchase your timber to give you plenty of time, if you have a dead line to keep. |
sixty years on I can still smell it in my nostrils, turning the sandstone wheel when truing up a damaged plane blade and the banter, leg pulling e.g., being sent to the local ironmongers for a long stand and after a while being told, you've been standing there a long time now boy, I think you'd better get back. Being a sibling in the university of life you have to give and take and sooner that you learn to adapt, the more tolerant you become and with it the skill and patient you require to become a good craftsman.
