Green woodworking involves working with fresh wood, nothing like the dried timber that you have to saw from B & Q. This is far easier to split and turn, so you can set up a quiet cottage business from your garage, without power tools. The Conservation Volunteers says that ‘a skilled green woodworker can walk into the wood carrying a few simple hand tools, and emerge carrying a handmade chair!
Only in England could we have a man called Barn the Spoon. He is one of our best green woodworkers and has just written a book. Wood Craft shows you how to create beautiful objects from fresh green wood by becoming skilled in the arts of whittling, axe-based furniture making and turning. No need for costly materials or machinery, all you need is a fallen log, an axe and a hand knife.
Learn to carve your own bowls, shrink pots, frame stools, side tables and yes, spoons. Plus you’ll learn how to make a full chair with turned legs and back rest. There is also a stool that uses recycled bicycle tubes for the top seat.
In the UK, Ben Law became subject of the most popular Grand Designs episode ever, when he built his little house in the wood. Grand Designs magazine says that whenever asked of their favourite episode, everyone says ‘that guy who built his house in the wood’. The 8-month project cost £28,000 and became a lifelong business for Ben, who now gives walks and seminars, and teaches others how to do the same.
Before that, Ben had lived in a caravan for 10 years. Today he still lives there with his young family, with some added luxuries including a sunken hot tub. He says ‘I love living here. Every day, waking up is a pleasure’. Read his books Woodland Craft and Woodland Workshop with lots of green woodworking projects including a Sussex knee vice and peeling jig (?!)
