Author: seanhellman

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Beavers and Grey Owl

I have been reading Grey Owl’s books again; and through reading a blog about paddles I found these Canadian films about Grey Owl. It is wonderful to put a picture to a name and to see that person, now since long dead, who wrote the book that so moved me and many thousands of other people. Grey Owl was one of the very few people who brought awareness of Canadian environmental issues to a world wide audience.
Pilgrims of the Wild is Grey Owl’s autobiography. As a trapper of beaver and other animals, he was devastated by the ways of the-get-rich quick trappers. He then adopted a couple of beaver kittens and he and his wife raised them, vowing never to trap animals for money again. A sticky situation – as he owed a lot of money to the trading post.

His descriptions of beaver are wonderful; he shows them as very hard working beings, felling trees and moving them around to build their dams and lodges. They are also very social and playful creatures.

Grey Owl is worth reading and will inspire; a one-time Englishman who, at the age of 17, went to Canada and fell in love with the vast forests, wilderness and the first nation peoples.

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Coracle making for Edwardian Farm

A few weeks ago I had a phone call from the production company who make Edwardian Farm for BBC2 television. This is a follow on from the series Victorian farm ,which I greatly enjoyed: a season to season journey on how Victorian labourers farmed. They, at 3 days notice wanted a chap to make a coracle on camera with Alex Langlands, one of the stars of the show. I of course said yes, especially as it was being filmed at Morwellham quay, the other side of the moor from me. I tried to negotiate a proper fee that reflected not only the day’s filming but expenses such as petrol and materials supplied. Getting tools and preparing jigs, etc., for such a days filming can also take a day. They of course said they had limited budget and we came to an agreement. The promise of being seen by a couple of million people and that this is the best advertising you can get is water off a ducks back to me, it is just a promise with no guarantee of more future work. I am not knocking it, and it is important to be seen, but it does not pay the rent today.


Above is Alex posing for a photo as we made a woven willow coracle.

I was filmed by a popular South West programme again making a coracle and taking the presenter out onto the Dart. The only feedback was a chap wanting to borrow a coracle as part of a flower show display. A few people recognised me from the programme but no great rush of people wanting coracles. A few years later I was again filmed by a programme on woodwork shown on Sky. Now, if anyone out there wants to film me making fan birds or other green wood crafts I would be delighted to oblige. Although I have made quite a few coracles and written a ‘how to make a coracle’ book, I am not just a coracle maker. I am also happy to present programmes on wood and trees and harbour a desire to have my own TV series, as I think the best people to present these are practising craftspeople.


Me and Alex: we did nor quite get the coracle finished and Alex had to finish sowing the cover on in his own time, and I had to bring the paddle back to the workshop to finish as we ran out of daylight.

I very much enjoyed the day as Alex has a good understanding of traditional craft and a passion for it; he is also very able and knowledgeable. We probably talked too much. The crew were great and the way they filmed and directed was exactly how I liked to work: just get on with it and explain and talk as we go. Any bits that needed to be re filmed were done on the spot and everything was very natural. How they are going to fit all this into 5 minutes I do not know.

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Cross cut saw

Today I did my best ever job on sharpening a one-man cross-cut saw. This saw was bought for £5 from a recycling centre. Most of these places now sell stuff that would once have been trashed.


It did take me over three hours to do. The main problem was that the raker teeth were longer, or higher, than the cutting teeth. The cutting teeth are the ones that come to a single point and are set or bent left and right alternately. They cut the fibres and the set means that they are cutting a kerf wider than the saw blade. These teeth are in sets of four on this saw. The raker teeth remove the swarf by chiselling out the fibres cut on the left and right by the cutting teeth. Raker teeth have no set on them.
If the raker teeth are set higher than the cross cut teeth then the saw does not work. You could cut with it but you will take for ever cutting even a 6 inch diameter log. How it got into this state I do not know. Other than the raker teeth being to high, the saw was sharpened correctly.


Above is the swarf, the waste from the saw, and I am pleased with it. If the swarf has little whiskers on it, that means the raker teeth are still too high and are tearing out the wood that the cross cut teeth should be cutting.

The log of wood is a bit of burr lacewood or London plane. The saw had no problem cutting through it and the finish was surprisingly good.

Before I hung the saw up I gave it a good wipe down and applied oil to stop rusting and most importantly I made a blade guard for it. In this day and age we are so use to hardpoint saws that once blunt or damaged we throw them away. Sharpening your own saw immediately gives you another perspective and gives the saw a greater value and respect.

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Traditional Russian toy

Traditional Russian toy

I have been selling and showing my work in Birdwood House gallery, a fantastic space right next to the market, in Totnes. I have been there for seven days. Shame I blew my van up on the setting up day, I spiked the ECU or in other words fried the computer that controls the engine. This is either going to be expensive or I may have to buy a new van.
Anthea who takes all the bookings for Birdwood, saw my fan birds and bought in this toy which was made for her by Austrian POWs in the second world war. I have seen many versions of this toy over the years but this is the first one I have seen with fan tails.

I have it in my workshop for repair as one of the chickens has lost most of its tail. I am really taken with this toy, especially as it was made by a young country man who was caught up in a war not of his making. It shows great skill, and is probably made with only a penknife. Anthea said that these young POWs were worked hard all day and only had time off in the evening. This is a fantastic example of folk art and I hope to make a copy soon.

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The winner of the Christmas give away

The winner of the Christmas give away is number 2.
There were 7 of you who left a comment. I assigned you each a number, in the order you left your comment, and let the random number generator choose the winner.


So Mr Allery, if you like to drop me your address, I will send these cards of to you.

A big thank you to you all who read and comment on my blog. I will be having more of these give aways in the future, next time it will be something I have made out of green wood.

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Christmas give away

Christmas give away

I now have the cards from the printers, so the draw will happen at the end of the week. For those of you who have not read my last blog entry, I am giving away a set of 19 greeting cards. For a chance to win these cards just leave a comment on this, or my last blog entry.

I am having a Christmas exhibition in Totnes, Devon next week as well, so do drop in and say Hi. Click on the poster to make it readable.

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Christmas give away

New cards, and another print run.

I am having a reprint of some of my greeting cards, and another 4 new ones.

I will be randomly selecting a person who leaves a comment on this blog, and as a Christmas gift will be giving them a full set of of cards.

This will be done on the 13th of December. If you live in this country or Europe, you will get them before Christmas. Other parts of the world often can take longer.
I have had the proofs from the printer and should receive the cards within a couple of weeks. If you would like to buy a pack of all 19 cards you are welcome to purchase them at a special price of £15, which includes postage. I normally sell them for £1.50 each or £28.50 excluding postage.

Alder; Ashburton.

Hawthorn; Haytor, Dartmoor

Oak tree; Sussex.

Arum Lilies; Landhydrock, Cornwall.

Above are the 4 new cards, and below are the present set:

Stags-head oak; Bovey Tracey, Dartmoor

Apple; Godalming, Surrey

Oak; Wistmans Wood, Dartmoor.

Beech tree; Dartmoor.Alder buckthorn; Spitchwick, Dartmoor.

Walnut; Bovey Tracey, Dartmoor.
Tulip Tree; Saltram, Devon

Cairn; Rocky Valley, Cornwall.


Oak tree; Wistmans Wood, Dartmoor.

Oak tree; Wistmans Wood, Dartmoor.

Oak tree; Wistmans Wood, Dartmoor.

Oak tree; Dewerstone, Dartmoor.

Oak tree; Cisbury Hill Fort, Sussex.
Alder buckthorn; Spitchwick, Dartmoor.


I sell these cards wholesale; the minimum order is £25, postage is £6, flat rate. If your are interested in selling them please contact me for the wholesale price.

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Wooden cups

Wooden cups, made by hand tools only, these cups are also known by some as kuksas. Each kuksa is made from one piece of wood, and most of the samples here are apple, with two of them made from Sika spruce.


The cup at 3 o`clock was the first one I made (it is also shown in the last image at the bottom of the page). It has gone very much darker with use and was made just under a year ago. I frequently for water, juice, and alcohol. I dried it out a bit to quickly and some splits appeared in the main body of the cup and these open and close depending on how hot it is. These splits do not go all the way through. These cups are not made from burr as is traditional, but from larger branch-wood. Burr wood is far more durable and apparently more waterproof. I soak these in hot beeswax to waterproof. As these are waxed they can not be used for hot drinks or wax melts; to use them untreated they do slowly leak, which was not a problem in the past with outdoor living or with stone and mud floors.


The top left cup is made from burr sitka spruce, and came from a log that was 14 inch dia and only 9 inches thick. This log was in a pile in the woods for about a year.


My first wooden cup, as new. They acquire a patina and darken very quickly.


The bench I now make the cups on: note the French clog-makers tool, that I have found to be very useful for hollowing out. I use an adze and then long bent and spoon bent gouges to hollow out the bowl finishing up with a small hook knife. I will be making long handled hook knives as these are so much easier and quicker to use.