Shave Horse

This is the shave horse I have just finished, I was restricted to scrap wood lying around the garage and garden.  I chose three legs as it is supposed to be a bit more stable than four on uneven ground.  I've given the legs added security by roping them together. Though the legs are secure I'm still not happy with the way they look and may end up changing them

I tried to model it on a picture of a medieval Shave horse which is quite common on the net. It is titled Vom Bergkwerk of Georgius Agricola (1557).  If you look carefully you can see a spare draw knife on the floor.

I made this cut out section to make it easier to push the foot pedal without curving the leg around the bench

Another thing that I wanted was for the bench to double up as a bench in the evenings for sitting around the camp fire, also for ease of transport it needed to come apart. Hence the foot pedal arm and shaving ramp all were made detachable.

New Tiller Stick

 Having been using a tiller stick made by my six year old I thought it was time to make my own. With no modern materials.

I used two pieces of wood held together with two dowels (broken arrows) and then sanded the corners off to make it look a bit more natural.

I cut out notches every inch and then carved in the inch numbers

I'm hopeing this finished article will pass for medieval will pass for the re enactment shows. 

The short Longbow - fire slinger

With there being a medieval law, which is still in place today, although mostly forgotten, that states every parent or gardian of a boy aged 7 or above must provide them with a bow and two arrows for practice, and that Archie is now seven years old, it was time for me to have another go at making him a wooden bow instead of to the fiber glass one I bought him out of guilt for breaking the other one we were making (in my last post).

  

I recieved a new beech handled spoke shave (starting bids on ebay can be as little as 99p). I had lying around a piece of wood from the front of a very old kitchen unit. Which I beleave is hickory rift saw (diagonal running grain), very good for beginners. I cut off a peace 60 inches long leaving an other length of 59 inches which I think I'll use for a flat bow.

Having marked it out to the measurements for a long bow which the the depth should be 5/8 the dimensions of the width and using the spoke shave to trim it down to the marking. 

Once the shape had been roughed out I smoothed it out and the bow was floor tillered (begining to bend when pressed in the centre against the ground. and rounded it off at the back with a file.  

I then started the tillering, using the tillering stick my son had made for me (again in the last post).  This all went well this time!

 I took my time which meant exercising the limb 30 times each inch, training it to bend firstly on the long string. all seemed to go well without the need for extra tillering as the limbs were bending evenly.

I moved to a shorter string and carried on again it seemed to be going too well.

Having took it to full brace again (a shorter string using a cord from an old blind at this stage) until I get time to visit The Longbow Shop in Birkenhead a very friendly shop which I recommend anyone to visit, if it's too far away they have an on line shop www.thelongbowshop.com

I tillered it to 23 inches at about 14lbs ideal for the majority of Archie's arrows. As it had been going so well and it hadn't needed any extra wood taken off for an even bend I decided to take it further.

I took it on to 27 inches at about 20lb again it didn't need anymore wood taking off for an even bend. I felt like a bit of a cheat not having to anything more than the initial shave.

I have made Archie two arrows at 26inches with ash shafts and bound medieval style.

Before letting Archie loose on it I shot it in using his smaller arrows, as the last thing I wanted was for it to explode on him.

When he had a go I could clearly see he needed a handle to know where to hold.

Archie chose the name for the bow FIRESLINGER which is a character from his favourite game at the moment Skylander Giants.

First failed attempt

My first attempt at making a bow was not a success, it was a project with my son who was 6 at the time, we tried to make him one out of an old broom handle. We worked on it and all was going well. Unfortunately I hadn't read the book 'The Backyard Bowyer by Nicholas Tomihama' a book I recommend by get a paper copy not an electronic copy as the pictures aren't as clear.

Archie Filing down the bow to shape, he was very keen at this stage.

We got it to a stage, where we thought it needed a tiller stick, so Archie went to work making a tiller stick while I carried on filing. It was a simple design but very effective.

When we started to tiller it, I was in too much of a rush, as you can see, at this stage it was far too stiff at the centre of, and I didn't spend enough time training the wood to bend, resulting in it breaking near the handle, and Archie in tears.