Starting out on this journey I soon realised that there are a few essential bits of kit that I must get together. As well as a good selection of handtools, which I will go into in another post, there are items such as a Pole Lathe, Froe Cleaving Brake and a Shave Horse to consider.
The first item I decided to tackle was the Shave Horse. After great searching through endless pages on the internet and loads of reading, in publications like Living Woods and Permaculture Magazine, I came across a design by Mike Abbott using recycled wood, which fit the bill perfectly.
As I cannot get readily available access to woodland, this design is an excellent alternative and gave me the opportunity to use up oddments, recycled timber and wood sourced from eco-friendly suppliers, such as the Worcester Resource Exchange. As Mike says, "I had always based my shaving horses on a 4ft length of log, but I was aware that this is not the sort of thing that most people have lying around in the workshop". The build is very easy and well thought out. The only adaptations that I made were to brace the legs with an additional bar at the rear to give a little extra support (If you intend to dismantle the horse to transport it then I recommend you stick to the original design) and I added a block in the middle of the platform to give a larger bed to hold work under the top bar of the clamp. I also turned the clamp pin out of recycled Oak, using my Kity lathe, with a larger head to help it stay in place and not travel through the clamp. I have posted a link to the design in the links column on the right.
