Welcome

As of this summer the greenwood workshop will be based in a woodland within the Purbeck hills. Using only the wood from the woodland I will be producing my chairs, stools, bowls and spoons using a pole lathe, shave horse and hand tools only (no electricity) just a lot of leg power!

Greenwood working is the term given to anything made out of freshly felled wood, ideally within three months of being cut as the piece of wood still has a high moisture content.; this enables it to be easily shaped using hand tools.

At the greenwood workshop, I concentrate on bodging - or chair making as it is referred to today. The process begins with a freshly felled log, which is riven (split) down the grain using a froe (type of axe). The corners of the section are then trimmed off using a side axe, from here the piece of wood is held in place using a device called a shave horse; this allows you to trim the log further into a cylinder with a draw knife.

The final shaping and decoration is done on the pole lathe. Components can be steam bent, the fire for which is fueled by chippings from the workshop floor so nothing goes to waste. Once the chair or stool is assembled I oil the wood and weave the seat out of rush.

This website will be updated with course details and more images regularly - please bookmark the site and visit again soon or email toby@greenwoodworkshop.co.uk for more information.