Woodland Craft Supplies

New Additions

We are looking at a new range of spoon knives from Bo Helgesson, a leading Swedish toolmaker and hope to have them available shortly.

TOOLS

These tools have been carefully selected for their quality and function and come from a number of specialist suppliers. Where noted the tools are ready to use otherwise they may need some grinding to the correct bevel angle (depending on whether used with hard or soft woods) and final sharpening.

Sloyd carving knives by Frost of Sweden, also very useful for general woodworking. They have laminated blades which can be honed to a very fine edge and are ready to use from the packet. The hooks have a high carbon steel blade and benefit from time spent sharpening. I have found it easier to grind off one edge of the double sided hooks which makes it possible to push the blade. All knives, except the hooks, come with a plastic sheath. For spoon carving the 120 knife and 163 hook make a good combination.

106 Narrow blade Sloyd, 79mm blade with a tapering handle and plastic sheath. £7-95

120 Wide blade Sloyd, 49 mm blade (157 mm overall) with birch wood tapering handle and plastic sheath. £8.95

137 Wide blade Sloyd, 98 mm blade (197 mm overall) with birch wood handle and leather sheath. £13.95

162 Hook knife (also called a spoon knife) for hollowing bowls and spoons. It has a double edged, curved 52 mm blade (160 mm overall and tapering birch wood handle. £9.95

163 Hook knife with wider blade (61 mm, 169 mm overall) and double edge. Has a shallow curve. £9.95

Spoon carving kit, consisting of a 120 straight knife and 163 hook knife and the excellent book by Eric Rogers “Making Traditional Wooden Eating Spoons” see page xx for details. £21-95

Opinel Knives, renowned French pocket knives with wooden handle and locking blade, An ideal general purpose pocket knife.

Ceramic sharpening stones by Spyderco. Approx. 25 by 125mm in a leather case, the stone is double sided, fine and medium and used with water. Ideal for sharpening knives. £23-50

French drawknife by Arnaud. An excellent drawknife hot forged from carbon steel. The round beech handles drop down below the blade which is approximately 14.5cm long by 3cm wide. It is sharpened ready for use and comes complete with a very robust leather sheath. It is available in three versions, with a flat blade or with a slightly convex or concave curvature to the blade.

A new range of drawknives form Ray Iles which are well ground and have through tangs and riveted handles. Nearly ready to use, just a light sharpening needed.

Small drawknife with 5 3/4” blade and beech handles. A good size for finer work or for use by children. £26-95

Standard drawknife with 8 1/2” blade and beech handles. A good general purpose drawknife. £29-95

Inshave, by Ray Iles. For chair seat hollowing with deeply curved blade and beech handles. The curvature is approximately 4 1/2” diameter and blade width of 1 1/2î” Well ground but needs final shaping and sharpening before use. £27-95

Froe, by Ray Iles. The blade is approximately 10” long and 1 3/4” deep, It is made in high carbon steel with a tapered eye so that the handle is a wedge fit. For heavier duty or professional use select the Gransfors froe.

Gransfors froe, a heavy duty froe with a tapered eye to retain the handle, at last ! Blade length is approximately 12” by 2 1/4” deep. Made in Sweden by the renowned axe forging company Gransfors, and stamped with the makers initials. Complete with hickory handle, 17 1/2” long. £49-75

These are imported from Austria and made by Stubai. They weigh approximately 1 kg (2.21 lbs) and are available for left and right handed use. They have a cranked (offset) handle and a nail pull on the back of the head. They need some grinding for use and are slightly irregular on the flat side.

Kent pattern head approximate weight 2 lbs 4 oz. They have a symmetrical design so they can be used left or right handed. They need sharpening and have a slight bevel on the flat side, otherwise a very good tool. Supplied without a handle. £27-95

Twybil, by Ashley Iles. copied from an old tool. The tang runs through the beech handle and the blade has an overall length of 10”. The knife end is used for cleaning the mortise walls and the hook for breaking away the wood between the two drilled holes. £51-00

These axes are forged by very professional smiths. They are able to forge axes with such precision that no supplementary work, to hide mistakes in the forging, is needed. At Gransfors Bruk the forging craft is allowed to take its time, and there is no need to stone, grind or smooth and paint the axes in order to hide or eliminate imperfections in the forging. A professional smith has nothing to hide and marks each axe with his initials; L P Lennart Pettersson, R A Runer Andersson, K S Kjell-Ake Sjblund.

Gransfors Axes are forged from Swedish special steel for axes, are hardened along the edge and tempered. They have a handle of first quality hickory, are oiled and provided with an axe-blade cover of grain leather, and come with the “AX” book! The complete range is available to order;

Camping axe, a tiny axe small enough to take in your rucsac at 10 1/2” overall length. The cutting edge is 2 1/2”. Total weight is 12oz. And it comes complete with a grain leather sheath. £48-95

Hatchet, a small light axe easily carried for camping trips and ideal for cutting your wood for the campfire or roughing out a spoon blank. The hatchet has a 3” face and a 14” handle, head weight is 1 lb. £36-95

Small forest axe, a smaller version of the forest axe and ideal for cutting small limb wood. The axe has a 3 1/4” face and a 19” handle with a head weight of 1 1/2 lb. £39-95

Scandinavian Forest Axe. Ideal for limbing and felling small trees or hedging work. Forged with a thin, curved bit, it has a 3 1/2” face and a 25” handle with a head weight of 2 lb. £44-95

Swedish Carving Axe. A chop axe for hewing bowls and other objects and artistic wood carving developed by the master craftsman, Wille Sundqvist. The curved edge carried above the eye, the thick bit and wide bevel angle make this axe a good carving tool when used with curved movements. It has a textured handle for grip, the axe has a 4 1/2” face and a 14” handle with a head weight of 2lb. It is ground with a right hand bias, ie. a longer left bevel. Available for left hand use by special order. £59-95

Splitting axe, small. The concave bit penetrates the wood well to split the wood efficiently. It can be used one handed with a head weight of 2lb. It has a face of 2 1/2” and handle length of 20”, complete with leather sheath. £42-95

Splitting maul. A heavy duty splitting axe with a steel collar near the head and a poll designed for

pounding on wedges. The head weight is 5 1/2 lb. With a face of 2 1/2”. The handle is 31” and textured for grip. £52-95

The Gransfors Broad Axe, or the Hewing Axe, is used to shape (hew) logs and timber of all kinds in the old traditional way, particularly when building log-houses. Broad axe patterns have varied enormously from region to region and over time. This pattern is based on old Swedish logging techniques for squaring logs and timbers. the blade has space between the blades “beard” and handle so you can also grip near the head. The offset broad axe is proving popular with timber framers, it is available left and right handed .

Gransfors axe stone, a double sided stone (medium and fine) in a rubber case, 5 1/2cm diameter £15-95

Gransfors axe diamond, a diamond file with wood handle in a leather sheath. Blade length is 7 1/2cm £22-95

The Axe book, an informative 36 page booklet with details of the Gransfors axes and their uses. Also interesting information about axe care and use. £1-25

Axes, Viking style by Swedish maker Stefan Ronnqvist occasionaly available, phone for details.

These are high quality tools manufactured by Ashley Iles. They are forged, ground and tempered by time served craftsmen using traditional methods. They are ideal for use on a pole lathe (not a powered lathe) and come fitted with 8” turning handles.

Available individually or as a set with two options of flat chisel. Each set include 1 1/4” gouge, skew chisel, spindle gouge and choice of flat chisel. Complete with pole lathe plans.

Traditional edge tools from Morris of Dunsford. This long established firm are still producing excellent hooks, they just need a honing before use. Available in various patterns, the Devon is a good general purpose hook.

Yorkshire pattern bill hook. It has a long handle, approximately 14” and a double edged head popular for hedging work. £41-95

The last maker of crosscut saws in Sheffield retired recently but I have found an old batch of saws made for an army order in the 1940ís, These saws are in excellent condition having been stored with a rust proof lacquer on the blades. There may be some very slight surface rust but mostly very good condition. Complete with two ash handles.

With screw on handles which can be rotated 90 degrees for cutting near to the ground, very good quality. £39-95 Carriage £11-95

Made by Veritas, they can cut round tenons up to 2 3/4” long with curved shoulders and are the best tool I have come across for building rustic furniture. They can be used in a carpenters brace with parallel jaws or in a power drill.

They have a heavy anodised aluminium body with a 3/8th hexagon shank. There is a built in spirit level to make in line drilling more accurate. The thick blade comes ready sharpened and is easy to adjust for thickness of cut and precise diameter.

Tenon Cutters, by Ray Iles. Chair makers rounders made in beech, They are turned by hand, available in 1/2” 5/8“ 3/4” and 1” diameters. £28-95 (each size)

Swedish tools, prices and stock are variable as they are hand made to order. Phone for up to date details.

We are stocking a range of hand made tools from the outstanding Swedish Toolmaker Hans Karlsson. Each tool is hand finished, sharpened ready for use and stamped with the makers name. He only uses the best quality steel which gives the very keenest cutting edge, This attention to detail and quality also accounts for the higher prices of these tools ! However, if you want a tool for life these are the best that I have come across so far. He makes an excellent range of adzes which have extremely comfortable handles.

This has a weight of 600 grams, a curved blade for hollowing which is approximately 5 cm wide. The head is 15 cm long. The overall length of the handle is 23 cm and is shaped so that you can hold it in the palm of your hand and use the other hand for support. This gives a very comfortable action for the hollowing of bowls and troughs.

A heavier version at 700 grams, also with a curved “D” section blade approximately 6cm wide. £89-95

For larger heavier work 965 grams, blade width 5 1/2 cm with a flatter central section, head length is 17 cm, 40 cm total length . £99-95

Karlsson also makes a wide range of carving tools which are very suitable for bowl carving and general work. I stock a selection of these as well as the more usual designs there are also some very interesting patterns, in particular the dog-leg gouge for working in deep bowls. Each tool is hand finished, sharpened and honed ready for use and stamped with the makers name and curvature. He only uses the best quality steel which gives the very keenest cutting edge. If you want a tool for life these are the best that I have come across so far. Karlsson has his own reference system to decribe the sweep (curvature) of the tool, the number refering to the radius in mm of the cutting blade.

Heavy duty gouges, hooped gouges for use with a mallet. They have a sound absorbing nylon insert in the head and a heavy duty shank. Overall length is 30cm. Very suitable for bowl of trough carving.

Medium gouges, available with straight or curved blades. They have a hard wood handle and fit well in the hand for a pushing cut (not for use with a mallet). Overall length approx. 25cm.

Dog leg gouges, these are great for working the bottom of bowls and troughs and the smaller sizes come in handy for spoon making. As these are hand made tools measurements do vary.

Also by Hans Karlsson the “Minijarn” or miniature gouge, very useful for hollowing bowls of spoons the blade is curved in both directions and approx. 17mm wide. The handle is 80mm long. £24-95

These are hand made in Sweden from the best tool steel by Svante Djarv. They have a textured grip tapered at both ends and come ready sharpened. Thse Slojd knives are suitable for spoon carving, general whittling and excellent to have around the workshop. Of very good quality and keep a very good edge.

They have curved blades, left and right handed and available in two sizes. Best purchased as a pair. For a beginner the smaller knives are easier to use. The left handed knife has the edge on the right hand side and the right handed knife has the edge on the left hand side! These knives are of vastly better quality than the Frost knives.

Draw knife. This small draw knife is a delight to use and very controllable. The cutting length of the blade is 14 cm and 2 cm wide, overall width is 27 cm and it has textured wooden handles which give a very secure grip. Supplied sharpened ready for use.