Prepping for next winter.

Next winter it seems like one of my longer lived wishes will be granted: I`ll have a lovely woodstove (and a house around it to heat, but lets leave that for now). To properly use a woodstove we`ll be needing a load of firewood, so I`ve been working on splitting and stacking this weekend. The tire-contraption works excellently, and I was beginning to wonder how I`d store and dry the wood. That is when all of a sudden my better halfs father came with a very early birthday present to help me on the way here. The green thing in the picture to have firewood bags in to aid stacking, along with 50 80L bags.

Bagging station.

 I have now nearly 20 bags stored in a drafty and dry old stable where it`ll have a few good months to dry out. I know that it is best to dry wood for at least two years before burning it, but unfortunately I do not happen to have two years right now...

Half the production

The Norway life.

After a month in Norway I have to admit that I do not get around to carving as much as I would have liked. During the week I live in a student house where carving is just not an option, and in the weekends we are often busy with many different things. I haven`t been great at scheduling time to carve. We have been busy doing other things though. During the week we like to take walks in Bergen to get out of the noisy student house, and out of the city air. (Surprisingly, Bergen is one of the worst cities in Europe when it comes to air quality!) There is a mountain just outside Bergen called Fløyen that we like to hike up to in the evenings. The view over the city is just amazing. 

The weekends we like to spend on the countryside of Bømlo, where it is beautiful to walk or go fishing just from the house. 

Today, I spent time splitting wood. We have just made an improved chopping block with a car tire that lies on a slot on top. This prevents the wood from falling over and speeds the splitting up massively. For anyone who has not tried this, I do recommend it. A lot. I noticed that more than half of the time I was not splitting wood, but bending down collecting pieces or rebalancing rounds on the block. The tire-method improves efficiency, by keeping the rounds upright. You don`t have to get down to the ground after every swing anymore.  

First we measured out how high the block should be. The wood we`re splitting is on average 25 cm long, and for me to hit it square the upper face needs to be at ca 80 cm high. This means the block will have to be 55 cm high. After we cut a wide enough section of tree at 55 cm, we cut a circle away around the edge so the tire has a place to lie without shifting much. 

                                      

 The idea then it to stuff the tire full of wood, and split away! I like to walk around the block while splitting, so that I can always hit the rounds close to the tire. This prevents me from hitting the axe handle on wood between me and the round I am splitting.

Very satisfying work. splitting wood. Fresh air, excercise, and immediate visible results. I think I`ll have to fasten the tire to the block with some pins to keep it from shifting completely. I`ll have to be able to lift it off easily though, so that I can get all the bark and dirt that builds up inside away every now and then.

The Travelling Gnomes.

In the beginning of January  I carved a few stick-gnomes, just to play with my new knife a bit. It started with four, but soon I had ten, then twenty. Then my sister joined in and we made a small army of gnomes. I am not entirely sure how it happened, but all of a sudden we had this idea to send the gnomes around the world, hitchhiking with kind strangers who`d find them and take them along. The Travelling Gnomes-initiative was born. We played around a bit with different methods of wrapping the gnomes up, numbered them for identification, and made explanatory notes to go with the gnomes. The idea is that someone who finds a gnome reports this at our dedicated facebookpage: www.facebook.com/gnomerace, and then takes it along for a while and leave it somewhere else again. Within a weak one gnome had made it to Madrid, and another one to Switzerland! Various other ones have been found and taken along in the Netherlands, where they begin, as well. We hope that the Travelling Gnomes will indeed travel the world and visit many cool places. It is fun to see this idea developing with all these great people that find gnomes, and help them travel. To see where people have found gnomes and where they have left them again you can visit the Travelling Gnomes facebook page.  

The first four gnomes that were carved.

The Third International Secret Spoonswap

The third international secret spoonswap is happening right now on the Spoon carving, Greenwood working and Sloyd group on facebook. Just like the two previous times spooncarvers from all over the world send a spoon they made to a randomly selected other participant. I participated in the second swap, and now again in the third. It is great fun. I sent a spoon off the a fellow countryman this time, and received not one, but two spoons from carver Paul Lawrence in England!

Here are the spoons I received. A small deep scoop from olive wood, and a larger spoon in birch. 

And here is the spoon I sent out. There is already a picture of it in my previous post. I am happy it was received well already, even though this time it didn`t have to cross the atlantic.

I enjoyed the event again, and hope there`ll be another swap next year. 

Resolutions!

Since my hobby-related activities have diminished in the past half year, my blog has grown quiet as well. I have been very busy with a research project and thesis in the last months, but that is a lousy excuse to not make time for the things I like to do in my spare time. And therefore I have a resolution this year: I need to make time for hobbies, and document the things I enjoy here. That may be carving, or fixing up old tools, or a walk in a beautiful area, or anything else that I enjoy. In the coming half year my life will change a lot. I am starting my final research project for my MSc. degree in molecular biology, and for this I will move to Bergen, Norway. Then, when that is finished and I have finally finished this degree I will move to Norway more permanently. I suppose that with moving and another research project I will have plenty of things on my mind, but I should be able to carve the occasional spoon, I hope. 

Of course I haven`t been completely idle with doing fun things. In december I have participated with the "Crafty Secret Santa" on BushcraftUK.com. In this fantastic event organized by one of the members people from all over the world send a homemade gift to another participant. This way everyone will get something fun. I received the hand forged bottle opener shown above. I have enjoyed the event, although this far the gift I sent out (a birch kuksa) hasn`t been received yet. I really hope it does. 

 In December my sister and me always get together to produce a large load of gingerbread, and build a gingerbread house. This year we built a church, with windows made of coloured sugar, and lights inside. It is part of the christmas baking and preparation that we both enjoy a lot.

I will end this post with some pictures of spoons I carved this month. All are from cherry wood that I collected before summer break, so it is rather tough by now. It has beautiful colouring though, and it takes a lovely shiny finish. It also takes the edge of your tools rather quickly. There are two eaters in the first picture, and three cooking spoons in the following pictures. The spoon lying on top in the middle picture I have given to my sister in law, who had requested a new stirring spoon. I had given her a spoon about a year ago, and she says it is the one she reaches for most. I enjoy knowing that people use my work. It is the best compliment.

For the coming weeks I have quite a few things I want to write about. The third international secret spoon swap is going on at the moment, so that is exciting! I will soon post out my spoon, and am very curious to see what I will be sent this time. I also want to discuss a new knife I have received as a christmas present that I am very enthousiastic about. All this means that at least for the weeks to come I can stick to my resolution: More hobby. More blogposts.