Building

posts for our building project

  • Building,  Craft

    Second Forge

    This week we received a new forge, the building course bookings have gone so well with ten people already booked and paid up its obvious that a single forge will not allow for everyone to get adequate time at the forge to complete their drawknife. I searched extensively for an appropriate hand cranked forge and found a treadle forge of very high build quality which seams more than adequate for the tasks we need to achieve both for the courses and our own needs on the farm and my workshop. I purchased the forge from Germany through this web site www.oezwerk.de I received great service and a quick delivery of…

  • Building

    Straw Bales

    Last summer we ordered the straw bales for this years building courses and the weather as ever decides when crops will be cut and harvested, this lead to the farming neighbour who was baling the well compacted small bales for us ringing in the middle of our July 2013 Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course. Teaching all day and helping with the cooking in the evenings leaves little timeĀ  to go and collect bales, but they could not be left in the field to be rained on so collect them we did. The bales had been left in small piles around a single sloping field just off the main road so…

  • Building,  Craft

    New Forge

    New? I have collected the three main tools you can see here over the last four years and they are all pre owned and well used but they are new to me. The hearth is a French make with a manually cranked blower, I’m told its a farriers hearth, this came my way for free it was unused in a neighbours workshop. The anvil I purchased through a national French website for for classified adverts, it came from a farm about 10 kilometres away. The swage block I recently purchased from Ebay in the UK and had it bought over by a courier. These and some hand tools I’ve purchased…

  • Building

    First New Tools

    Today I received the first delivery of new specialist tools for our upcoming summer of natural building courses. While I already own some of these tools and other tools will be made on site some will be purchased so every student has the tools needed to hand. With six students already booked on the may course and rising interest showing on the website we anticipate full attendance for all our summer courses, which means we will need plenty of tools. So here is a quick review of the new tools and the supplier. I have used Fine Tools to purchase this batch and another already ordered, I am not so…