Friday 23 September 2011

Dartmoor Mountain Rescue 'A'sec (S.A.R) Grand opening...

 
The Members of Dartmoor Search & Rescue Team (Ashburton) would like to invite members of the public to The Grand Opening of their new Base and HQ from 14:00 on Saturday 24th September.

The Abbot of Buckfast Abbey will preside over Ribbon Cutting at around 14:15, after which there will be an opportunity to look around our new home, meet the
Team Members and discover more about what we do. Refreshments will be
available.

The base is situated at grid SX745677 at Furzeleigh on the old A38 between Buckfastleigh & Ashburton.
We look forward to seeing you all there!

Tuesday 20 September 2011

Spoon carving and spatular making with the Endy Kids...

Kevin, Jenine and the three Endy kids came up for a 'Mac-cation' last weekend. Kevin and I wanted to chew over some ideas and we also wanted to introduce the children to some spoon carving knife holds and techniques. Kevin told me he had taken the kids to the Wilderness gathering and they had been taught simple knife safety amongst other things. By all accounts they had a great time at the gathering and Kevin's business went well. He kept selling out of equipment and made many trips back to Endy central for re-supply. Well it looked like the children had been taught well, as they all understood about how to pass a knife and how to keep the blade away from danger areas on the body.
I thought a simple shape would go down well with the children so I decided to make a spatula with them.
We started the morning with a little music. I have played a mouth harp since I was about seven years old. A good friend of mine lent me a harp made in East Africa... We all had a go...

spoon carving first steps

The instrument consists of a bent stick and a tough strip of rattan. You hold the instrument across your mouth whilst tapping out a rhythm with the stick. I have had a cast about to try and find something on You Tube to give you an idea of what it sounds like. Can't find anything on this particular harp, so I'll post a recording here some when soon...

spoon carving first steps

 I wanted to keep the project simple. I split down some Birch with my Leuku...

 spoon carving

I don't usually pencil in the shape of my spoons, but I thought in this case it would make the process a little easier. I used a spatula I had made some years ago as a template...

spoon carving

Once the children had decided on the general shape of their spatula I set them off with some of my smaller knives... We used a variety including a short 'Frost', a 'Roselli' carpenters knife and a 'Mini MaChris' or 'MiniMac' as we like to call it. Of course 'Dolly' helped out as well...

 spoon carving


 spoon carving

Amelia gently lets in the handle...

 spoon carving


 spoon carving

Sophia wanted a pointy end with which she could poke the sausages...

spoon carving

I cant tell you how much fun we had. The kids were only too happy to work and listen to instruction, it was a pleasure teaching them...

spoon carving

Even little Isaac or 'Badger Man' had a go, with dad's help...

spoon carving

I think he preferred swinging in Sarah's swing seat though...

spoon carving first steps

Kevin came up with some funky designs for their makers mark...

 spoon carving

Which I burned on with a soldering iron...

 spoon carving

I thought I had better make one of my own...

spoon carving

I decided to carve a little raven helper on mine...

 spoon carving

We cooked some sausages on a fire for lunch and the children had the opportunity to use their spatulas...

 spoon carving

Every body left full of sausages and Sarah's cakes.
Sarah and I look forward to the next Endy visit...
Enjoy...



Carving a Dragon Kuksa.

Carving a Dragon Kuksa.  I have been carving Kuksa from green Birch for 15 years or so, I’m self taught. From the beginning, I limited mysel...