Journal Competition: Woodworking
Time to type a little about my small endeavours at the Braithwayte's over Easter weekend just been.
So, I went to the Braithwayte's for Easter with very good intentions of creating a stool, and then was totally not in the mood for it on Saturday, instead being quite tired and napping for several hours.
All was not lost, however, and while I didn't end up creating a stool, I made something totally and utterly useful, especially with upcoming winter events and ensuing projected mud levels. Having spent the first couple of days eyeing up Merriwyn's pattens, and envying her dry feet (cold and damp is my feet's normal state of being at events), I decided that making myself a pair of pattens would be a very worthwhile endeavour. And it was. As it turns out, it was also at an appropriate skill level for me.
Have unfortunately worked out that besides the chest, most of the projects I actually want to make involving woodwork are quite small things, and usually fairly practical. But never mind. I should at least build up a reasonable level of skill throughout this project so that, even though I will never be an expert carpenter, I at least have enough confidence in a workshop, am capable of using basic tools, and can happily produce the few small things I am likely to need. And of course a 16th century French chest and a four poster bed are both wee small projects....
Anyway.
I dutifully stood on bits of wood and had my feet traced round. First decision was that I wanted articulated (NOT reticulated - apparently this refers to jewellery? Here I show my ignorance, and my atrocious misuse of the English language; I am a Philistine at heart) pattens, as I decided these would be far easier to walk in. Depth was decided by the available and appropriate piece of wood, using a very accurate "yep, that's about right" and "no, I really don't think I can be bothered planing that down" method of measuring. All research was done on the basis of having seen Merriwyn's pair and deciding I needed some, and Mistress Katherina telling me what shape was appropriate for me as a 16th century being (which was conveniently the same shape as my shoes, and the shape I was planning to go with anyway since it fits with most of the shoes I wear). I'll do some backwards research and read some books and articles on this later, to fill in the horrendous gaps in my knowledge. But for the time being, I was happy to be making something, involving wood, that I could actually use.
So, bits traced. I then watched Edward cut out one of Katherina's pattens (she was busy stretching a skin and scraping icky bits off it at the time), so that I had some sort of vague knowledge and a few useful pointers as to how the machine worked. I used a ?mounted? jigsaw (I have a handheld one, which is very wee and little and much less scary, this was an immobile monster of a jigsaw) to cut around the feet. This was fun, but scary. Fortunately there's a handy plastic thingummy that you can use to poke the wood through so that fingers and blades shall never meet. I used that LOTS. However, I must admit, I'm fairly scared of big power tools, so I was quite nervous using it, and consequently slow. This resulted in Ed coming over and telling me we had to turn the machine off to rest it for a bit, 'cos I was smoking the wood (will not consider various innuendos that could arise). I didn't realise, 'cos I couldn't smell it, and was beginning to think that maybe this lack of a sense of smell will actually prove to be quite a real disability, but fortunately Ed showed me what to look for - darker coloured shavings - so that I can check for myself if I need to rest the machine. So machine rested, process finished. The other downside of the big cutty thing was that it had a kiddy-safe cover on the on/off switch, so I got to spend several minutes attempting to open this every time. Fortunately mostly people were absorbed in what they were doing.
Next step sanding on the electric sand belt whotsit. Again, a big scary power tool, but was far happier to use this than the sharp one. And I only got my fingers on it once, which is really quite good going for me. And when I got them, I noticed quick enough to only really get a fright rather than a serious scrape, and pulled them straight off before the skin broke.
Then I discovered the joys of chiselling. Because the pattens are articulated, this meant having a leather "hinge" to join the bits together, and for foot comfort, this means setting it into the wood, because walking on something that's raised 4mm from the rest of the surface doesn't seem like an especially comfortable idea. I liked the chiselling. It was very satisfying, and something I felt comfortable doing. Ed showed me how to mark up where I wanted to chisel to with the cunning nail scorer thingummy first, and then how to chisel out just some, and work away at it until it was all just right.
Leather got glued on with some mighty powerful adhesive, which I couldn't smell except when I put my nose up close to the tin, and promptly got told to please not do that (whoops, didn't really think about that one, just wanted to see if I could smell it at all when everyone else was busy saying how strong it smelled as soon as the lid came off). I decided I quite like this glue. It sticks, really, really well.
Then it was a case of sanding down some nails so they looked "proper". Nails heat quickly, and get your fingers closer to the sand belt than a piece of wood does, but that was okay.
Holes drilled, nails in, very carefully checking throughout that the wood wasn't splitting, which is why I ended up with a hairline split on one and three big splits on the other. Apparently because the nails were wider than the other nails that Ed was using in Katherina's pattens, I had needed a bigger drill bit to make the preliminary holes. I was quite distraught at this point, because I'd been very carefully checking as I sunk the nails that the wood *wasn't* splitting, and then very suddenly I had three splits, and this is the point traditionally with wood work where I decide it's not a very forgiving substance, I absolutely hate it, become awfully disappointed and despondent, and stop. But, Ed assured me that all was not lost. He very carefully removed nails for me, and showed me the wonderful benefits of PVA, and we clamped up the patten with the three splits. After great consultation and a declaration from Katherina that she'd seen examples of leather-soled pattens in the 16th century, it was decided to add leather soles to the base of both pattens, to add stability to the wood where it had split, and this was a much easier fix on the tiny hairline crack than splitting the piece and gluing and clamping that one too.
The patten that had been glued needed time to sit and contemplate life, so I left it to itself and went off and had lunch and did fun things like work out how all the stuff that came out of the car at the start of the weekend fit back in the car, and take down the tent. When I returned to nail in the remaining nails, the "magic elves", who I'm pretty sure are all called Edward, had already put in the remaining nails for me.
At this stage we decided it was probably time to actually depart, so straps are still to be put on the pattens later, but this will occur sometime over the course of the week.
It was very exciting though, to make something in a substance that I totally am not comfortable working with, and have it (more or less) work, and come out with a product that I can wear. And I learnt a whole bunch of new stuff while I did it, and confirmed that I don't really especially like power tools (although I should play with my handheld jigsaw in a safe, non-dangerous fashion and see if I can turn this into an exception, as that strikes me as being particularly useful). This of course means that instead I have to become familiar and comfortable with a bunch of hand tools, and expect that something will take me far, far longer to make as a result. Also I will always be slow at wood work anyway, because it is not a natural thing for me, although I am enjoying it, even if it has been sidelined somewhat with the deadline for the feast rapidly approaching....
So, I went to the Braithwayte's for Easter with very good intentions of creating a stool, and then was totally not in the mood for it on Saturday, instead being quite tired and napping for several hours.
All was not lost, however, and while I didn't end up creating a stool, I made something totally and utterly useful, especially with upcoming winter events and ensuing projected mud levels. Having spent the first couple of days eyeing up Merriwyn's pattens, and envying her dry feet (cold and damp is my feet's normal state of being at events), I decided that making myself a pair of pattens would be a very worthwhile endeavour. And it was. As it turns out, it was also at an appropriate skill level for me.
Have unfortunately worked out that besides the chest, most of the projects I actually want to make involving woodwork are quite small things, and usually fairly practical. But never mind. I should at least build up a reasonable level of skill throughout this project so that, even though I will never be an expert carpenter, I at least have enough confidence in a workshop, am capable of using basic tools, and can happily produce the few small things I am likely to need. And of course a 16th century French chest and a four poster bed are both wee small projects....
Anyway.
I dutifully stood on bits of wood and had my feet traced round. First decision was that I wanted articulated (NOT reticulated - apparently this refers to jewellery? Here I show my ignorance, and my atrocious misuse of the English language; I am a Philistine at heart) pattens, as I decided these would be far easier to walk in. Depth was decided by the available and appropriate piece of wood, using a very accurate "yep, that's about right" and "no, I really don't think I can be bothered planing that down" method of measuring. All research was done on the basis of having seen Merriwyn's pair and deciding I needed some, and Mistress Katherina telling me what shape was appropriate for me as a 16th century being (which was conveniently the same shape as my shoes, and the shape I was planning to go with anyway since it fits with most of the shoes I wear). I'll do some backwards research and read some books and articles on this later, to fill in the horrendous gaps in my knowledge. But for the time being, I was happy to be making something, involving wood, that I could actually use.
So, bits traced. I then watched Edward cut out one of Katherina's pattens (she was busy stretching a skin and scraping icky bits off it at the time), so that I had some sort of vague knowledge and a few useful pointers as to how the machine worked. I used a ?mounted? jigsaw (I have a handheld one, which is very wee and little and much less scary, this was an immobile monster of a jigsaw) to cut around the feet. This was fun, but scary. Fortunately there's a handy plastic thingummy that you can use to poke the wood through so that fingers and blades shall never meet. I used that LOTS. However, I must admit, I'm fairly scared of big power tools, so I was quite nervous using it, and consequently slow. This resulted in Ed coming over and telling me we had to turn the machine off to rest it for a bit, 'cos I was smoking the wood (will not consider various innuendos that could arise). I didn't realise, 'cos I couldn't smell it, and was beginning to think that maybe this lack of a sense of smell will actually prove to be quite a real disability, but fortunately Ed showed me what to look for - darker coloured shavings - so that I can check for myself if I need to rest the machine. So machine rested, process finished. The other downside of the big cutty thing was that it had a kiddy-safe cover on the on/off switch, so I got to spend several minutes attempting to open this every time. Fortunately mostly people were absorbed in what they were doing.
Next step sanding on the electric sand belt whotsit. Again, a big scary power tool, but was far happier to use this than the sharp one. And I only got my fingers on it once, which is really quite good going for me. And when I got them, I noticed quick enough to only really get a fright rather than a serious scrape, and pulled them straight off before the skin broke.
Then I discovered the joys of chiselling. Because the pattens are articulated, this meant having a leather "hinge" to join the bits together, and for foot comfort, this means setting it into the wood, because walking on something that's raised 4mm from the rest of the surface doesn't seem like an especially comfortable idea. I liked the chiselling. It was very satisfying, and something I felt comfortable doing. Ed showed me how to mark up where I wanted to chisel to with the cunning nail scorer thingummy first, and then how to chisel out just some, and work away at it until it was all just right.
Leather got glued on with some mighty powerful adhesive, which I couldn't smell except when I put my nose up close to the tin, and promptly got told to please not do that (whoops, didn't really think about that one, just wanted to see if I could smell it at all when everyone else was busy saying how strong it smelled as soon as the lid came off). I decided I quite like this glue. It sticks, really, really well.
Then it was a case of sanding down some nails so they looked "proper". Nails heat quickly, and get your fingers closer to the sand belt than a piece of wood does, but that was okay.
Holes drilled, nails in, very carefully checking throughout that the wood wasn't splitting, which is why I ended up with a hairline split on one and three big splits on the other. Apparently because the nails were wider than the other nails that Ed was using in Katherina's pattens, I had needed a bigger drill bit to make the preliminary holes. I was quite distraught at this point, because I'd been very carefully checking as I sunk the nails that the wood *wasn't* splitting, and then very suddenly I had three splits, and this is the point traditionally with wood work where I decide it's not a very forgiving substance, I absolutely hate it, become awfully disappointed and despondent, and stop. But, Ed assured me that all was not lost. He very carefully removed nails for me, and showed me the wonderful benefits of PVA, and we clamped up the patten with the three splits. After great consultation and a declaration from Katherina that she'd seen examples of leather-soled pattens in the 16th century, it was decided to add leather soles to the base of both pattens, to add stability to the wood where it had split, and this was a much easier fix on the tiny hairline crack than splitting the piece and gluing and clamping that one too.
The patten that had been glued needed time to sit and contemplate life, so I left it to itself and went off and had lunch and did fun things like work out how all the stuff that came out of the car at the start of the weekend fit back in the car, and take down the tent. When I returned to nail in the remaining nails, the "magic elves", who I'm pretty sure are all called Edward, had already put in the remaining nails for me.
At this stage we decided it was probably time to actually depart, so straps are still to be put on the pattens later, but this will occur sometime over the course of the week.
It was very exciting though, to make something in a substance that I totally am not comfortable working with, and have it (more or less) work, and come out with a product that I can wear. And I learnt a whole bunch of new stuff while I did it, and confirmed that I don't really especially like power tools (although I should play with my handheld jigsaw in a safe, non-dangerous fashion and see if I can turn this into an exception, as that strikes me as being particularly useful). This of course means that instead I have to become familiar and comfortable with a bunch of hand tools, and expect that something will take me far, far longer to make as a result. Also I will always be slow at wood work anyway, because it is not a natural thing for me, although I am enjoying it, even if it has been sidelined somewhat with the deadline for the feast rapidly approaching....