Yesterday I gave Lillian some guidance on chair and stool leg needs and designs. I showed her how to do a half size and half profile leg pattern using the High Wycombe pattern and my own personal pattern.
To offer an alternative I did a simple pattern with gentle swellings and hollows which was made up on the spur of the moment. We discussed the merits of each and then left her to develop some ideas. Her second design really appealed to her and was keen to make it. The resulting legs are shown in photos below. The leg photographed is her fourth one and is shown during roughing out, partly finished and completed with the other three legs in a typical ‘Lillian pose’. She loves to pose and is good at it. She’ll probably demand that I delete that detail. No chance Lillian.
As I said earlier these were her first attempt at making a set of matching legs.
I turned a slightly undersize billet to create a copy of her design. This guidance was based on my approach to making legs.
With the first leg she struggled to deal with the overall shaping techniques. She persevered and completed a most acceptable leg. With each successive leg the finish and accuracy improved. Her final leg took about half an hour to make from a pre-prepared billet.
I can’t easily express how proud I am of Lillian.
Whilst keeping an eye on Lillian’s progress I made a high chopping block for Lillian, something I’ve never done before. I’ll bore the leg holes tomorrow, and maybe create some legs too.
There two photos of some turned work, the paler item on right is one of Lillian’s stool legs freshly turned today. The darker item on the left was made about three weeks ago and has fully dried and I suspect has oxidised to show the figure much more clearly. Normally with this species the figure takes at least a week to show itself.
The species is known as Omusemba and according to one of Lillian’s friends who is taking an arboreal course at university the botanical name is Mirkamia Lukea. I should have checked this detail before making this post so I’m hoping she is right. I also hope she will be able to give botanical names to the trees featured in an earlier post.
Large diameters are tough to cleave with the fibres resisting to the bitter end. It cuts nicely with an axe and draw-knife. It turns very nicely and gives a really smooth finish.
I love being creative, mostly in wood and metal but in other medium too.
Green woodworking is my main approach. With over 20 years of green woodworking experience I am happy to share my experience, skills and knowledge.
A quick explanation about what omubazi means, in one, or more African tribal languages it basically translates to "the man that takes a tree and splits it and makes things from it". I love the very idea of that, and am more than happy to be connected to that very definition.
My earliest memories of being creative are way back in time to when I was able to reach tools on my dad's bench in the shed. Naturally they were mightily crude creations, but were the starting point. As I grew in size so did my asperations. I recall taking dad's felling axe and two man saw over the garden fence into the woodland and felling trees. My friends and I built forts, made dams across the stream and all manner of other things. My earliest pride and joy was making a tree house that only I seemed to be able to reach. Maybe the barbed wire that I wrapped around the tree put most enquiring minds off. In the end my younger brother did try, but got his foot stuck between the two intertwining trunks. My dad came to the rescue, using the same axe and saw and felled the tree destroying my construction in the process. Such is life, though I had long since stopped using it.
Many years later I qualified as a CDT teacher at Shoreditch Teacher Training College, Englefield Green, Surrey. That was where I was able to widen my creating skills to cover a mind blowing range of crafts, skills, materials and processes.
The school teaching days are long over, but learning new crafts, skills, processes and handling new materials continue to this day. Long may it continue.
I have no idea how many people I have taught to work with green wood, to forge metal and to a lesser extent work with leather.
Much of the green woodworking involves pole-lathe turning. This comes mainly in two forms, spindle turning (my main activity) but also bowl turning where I have limited experience.
Pole-lathe turning usually involves turning green wood, i.e. unseasoned wood straight from the tree. After cutting to length the wood is split along its length and subsequently reduced in size until it is right for its intended purpose. This split, or cleaved, billet is then refined in shape sometimes with an axe followed by a drawknife. When the billet is sufficiently rounded it is centred on the lathe ready for roughing cuts to be made. From there shaping and smoothing is undertaken with a range of skew chisels and a finishing chisel. A handful of dried shavings can be used to burnish the surface if required. Rarely is abrasive paper used.
But, it's not all about pole-lathe turning. There are many ways to create with green wood. Spoon carving is one such option. Items can be made just by shaping and smoothing using a shaving horse and drawknife. Carving has so many possibilities. One of my latest newly acquired crafts was making a fan bird, a combination of carving and splitting wood. I've a long way to go before being proficient, but intend to spend time working on this.
I mentioned blacksmithing, and this is an ideal way to make your own tools that are purpose made for specific tasks. A double hit as you have fun making and then have fun making with what you have made.
I mentioned earlier that I have lost count of the number of people that I have taught pole-lathe turning too, and also helping a huge number with enhancing their skills. There is a real pleasure in helping in this way.
In early 2017 I spent six weeks in Uganda helping some young people to learn pole-lathe turning. Whilst there we made two pole-lathes and two shaving horses as well as refurbishing two other lathes that had been made the year earlier. The inspiration to get involved in Uganda came from Roy Godber, an expat Brit living in Canada. Roy had worked in Uganda and Kenya and thought that with irregular electricity supplies, very high unemployment, extremely rare funding for adult training and the very real need to be self sufficient that pole-lathe turning would be useful approach to introduce. I think he is right and that this should be extended to other green woodworking crafts.
In January 2019 I return to Uganda to mentor one of the young ladies, Lillian, that I taught in 2017. The aim will be to enhance her turning skills and to guide her through tutoring techniques that she can use to pass on these crafts to other folk. In addition, I'll also teach her as many of the other crafts that I know as resources allow in my time with her.
It has also occurred to me that a blog such as this could have "how to" guidance notes, photographs and videos perhaps to offer distance learning. Hopefully this is something that I can include.
With this particular trip I have received some funding to help with the costs from the 'Association of Pole-lathe Turners & Green Woodworkers' . The fabulous charity 'Tools for Self Reliance' provided some tools for me to take and I have also been given sums of money from anonymous donors keen to help. For all of this generous help I am most grateful.
Watch this space for updates.
For now I'll leave you with this thought; as we go through life we all meet people that inspire us. I believe that I owe it to those that have inspired me to attempt to inspire others to keep inspiration ongoing for the general good.
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3 thoughts on “Lillian’s first set of stool legs.”
Good job Lillian and the wood looks rather nice, I’ Look forward to seeing the finished stool. Will it have a woven seat?
Sorry, I was distracted. I’ve never done a woven seat and only know the most basic details. I’ve not seen a woven seat in Uganda, sadly far too many plastic chairs used in our gardens. There is a sisal like rope used for a multitude of purposes which might suit the bill kind of like our seagrass.
The wood we’re using are remnants from making the workbench. It’s a hard wood (Ugandan definition) with unknown figure. The thickness is a nominal 1 inch so two pieces will be ‘laminated’ together to create a workable thickness. Photos will be posted. Lillian turned a fifth leg today and is currently shaving two billets for the stretchers. The seat boards will be taken to the sawmill when we finish here in the hope they can get a decent finish.
Omubazi Mike 
Good job Lillian and the wood looks rather nice, I’ Look forward to seeing the finished stool. Will it have a woven seat?
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Thank you Amy, the stool will have a wooden seat for several reasons. I’ve never done a woven seat and only kn
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Sorry, I was distracted. I’ve never done a woven seat and only know the most basic details. I’ve not seen a woven seat in Uganda, sadly far too many plastic chairs used in our gardens. There is a sisal like rope used for a multitude of purposes which might suit the bill kind of like our seagrass.
The wood we’re using are remnants from making the workbench. It’s a hard wood (Ugandan definition) with unknown figure. The thickness is a nominal 1 inch so two pieces will be ‘laminated’ together to create a workable thickness. Photos will be posted. Lillian turned a fifth leg today and is currently shaving two billets for the stretchers. The seat boards will be taken to the sawmill when we finish here in the hope they can get a decent finish.
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