Shaving horses

[woody leeds]

My first shavehorse, too heavy, its made from an elm log that came down on my back lane... The curveyness makes it work well i think. I have made another since.

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A couple of my bike trailers i use them to transport alot of my wood. Both homemade, one out of skip wood, the other out of skipped dexian shelving stuff.. Using it can be hard work but in the end it makes you value sources of wood that are local and you tend to make the most of what you can transport..

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Council tip, building sites, wasteland, demolition sites. Wood big and small is heading for landfill. shouldnt be too hard to find some for your shaving horse.

good luck
James

[RichardLaw]

Excellent! Where there's a will there's a way. Should we call you James two trailers?

[gavin]

Mike Abbott's shave horse made from easily obtainable materials...

What is the best softwood to make this from if it will graze outdoors?
Larch... ? douglas fir ... ?

What preservative would you recommend? I don't think creosote would be any good for clothes.

[SeanHellman]

Hi Woody, great to see your "bucking horse", and yes for some very strange reason wood ends up in landfill, which just goes to show that the human race is mad. I think that by law all wood should go to recycling points and reused where possible and the worst stuff made in firewood/chipping/brickets to heat homes or generate electricity. We are throwing away energy! Good to see someone using a large old saw, how do you find sharpening and setting the teeth on it?

Gavin, Larch will outlast Douglas outside. You can use linseed but it will all go blackish in time. You could also make your own Stockholm tar and use that. The bits that are going to rot first are the ends of the legs where they touch the ground, so treat these maybe with creosote, the rest should be fine for many years without treatment. Making a blanket for your horse will keep it going for longer or maybe a small stable.

[Mark Allery]

What preservative would you recommend? I don't think creosote would be any good for clothes.

Gavin, I made both my first shave horse and lathe from skip timber about 4 years ago (cue thought, is it really 4 years ago? Is it really only 4 years ago?) I suspect it's all pine. I have not used any preservative - but I do oil them occasionally especially on the end grain with cheap veg oil. I don't leave them outside continuously but they do a lot of shows and get wet regularly. I find the best preservative is use. Though the horse is a bit like my best maul, 3 new handles and 2 new heads.

cheers

Mark

[davestovell]

I take mine for long walks



And sometimes go jumping hedges!

[RichardLaw]

Hey Dave!

You'll be needing a numnah on the seat for those back bolt heads!

[davestovell]

Na.. It's all the perspective, I sit well forward of the bolts and my bum isn't THAT big.

[jrccaim]

Woody Leeds said:

A couple of my bike trailers i use them to transport alot of my wood. Both homemade, one out of skip wood, the other out of skipped dexian shelving stuff..

Bravo, Woody. I like the way the wheels are suspended. It had not occured to me to build a bike cart, although I bike a lot. If those are bicycle wheels, double bravo. I can get lots of bike wheels, but it is difficult to suspend the short axles.

[SeanHellman]

I have recently come back from Westonbirt festival of the tree, and finally filmed Dale and his flower making horse. Dale has made 1000`s of flowers and has worked and sold like the gypsy's of old, he also lives in a horse, now tractor, drawn wagon. He also has a shave horse which he travels with and is basically a short pole , some sticks and rope, I have no photos but will make one sometime. I love his flowers and have never seen anyone make them like he does, he is also very fast, see the vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNE2yl4YxKk

[SeanHellman]

More from Westonbirt, this time from Bob Slade, you may have seen the article about his standing horse in the Living Woods mag.

I love the idea and they are good to use, Guess what I will be making one and yes it will be a dumb head horse. I would not want to use one for long periods of time as standing on one leg is not to good for me and I would prefer to sit, but for shorter periods fantastic. I want one for my demonstrations as I prefer to stand and be on an equal high with my audience, it also means I can move about from one tool to the other better. I have made a log bench to make my fan birds on, more pics of this at another time, and I love standing to demonstrate, I can give a better show standing.

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Here is a very bad quality video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnZ_xwh4UsQ

[woody leeds]

Good to see someone using a large old saw, how do you find sharpening and setting the teeth on it?

The first saw i brought was from a nearby charity shop. One of the volunteers remembered using and sharpening one in his youth. He gave me a brief description of how. That got me started and the saw usable.

I wont describe the whole method as there is alot to talk about. The setting of the teeth is the hardest part to get right. Making a good way of clamping the blade while your filing seems to be important too.

The best description of methods for sharpening and setting big saws that ive read is in 'The Ax Book' by D.Cook.

[woody leeds]

Woody Leeds said:

A couple of my bike trailers i use them to transport alot of my wood. Both homemade, one out of skip wood, the other out of skipped dexian shelving stuff..

Bravo, Woody. I like the way the wheels are suspended. It had not occured to me to build a bike cart, although I bike a lot. If those are bicycle wheels, double bravo. I can get lots of bike wheels, but it is difficult to suspend the short axles.

They are bike wheels. Supporting the axles on both sides is alot stronger than a stub (one sided) axle. As long as the dropouts (places where they are supported) are similar thickness to those on a normal bike there should be no problem supporting them. Small bike wheels mean lower center of gravity for the trailer and lower lateral loads on the wheels themselves.

If your carying lots of wood its possible to make a much stronger trailer DIY than the ones commonly available to buy. DIY trailers normally end up heavier themselves though. Its usefull to have a handle to attach for using as a cart when not attached to the bike. Especially for extracting big logs where the bike just gets in the way.

[Donald Todd]

Here's my stallion for your collection. It's actually pretty standard: the bed built up from 6" x 2" softwood. I have a standard 1 piece bed as well. The only unusual features are the alternate front leg position which allows us to sex this horse. The ,er, pertinent part, is actually a loose fitting pin which is used to knock the legs out and doubles as a handle for carrying the bed. I never carry the bed with a finger through one leg hole; that's asking for trouble!
The small block let into the platform is a Southern Beech which is quite soft. I also replaced the top bar of the frame with this wood.
Like you, Sean I do a lot of small work so I need to make a Dumb-head horse.
I am still using the same frame that I made 14 years ago, but the original bed eventually rotted after being left out too much. I went through 3 sets of legs with that bed. Is this where the phrase "on his last legs" comes from?

[jrccaim]

Woody Leeds said:

They are bike wheels. Supporting the axles on both sides is alot stronger than a stub (one sided) axle. As long as the dropouts (places where they are supported) are similar thickness to those on a normal bike there should be no problem supporting them. Small bike wheels mean lower center of gravity for the trailer and lower lateral loads on the wheels themselves.

Very nice. I ran into a problem with a garden cart I made:

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The wheels were the fast-drop type, with a hollow axle and an 8mm pin and cam arrangement; I'm sure you know the things. They were free, but I couldn't simply bolt them in. Grrr. Fortunately I discovered that a US 8-32 threaded rod is almost exactly 8mm. Problem solved. I am. of course, way off topic, so I apologize. (On the other hand we have flowers on this thread, so perhaps bike carts aren't so bad )