Jag har börjat undersöka huggna, bilade ytor i slöjdföremål.
I hälsingland har man bilat sparrar ända fram till en långt in på 1900-talet. Sparrarna bilades med yxa och exporterades till bland annat Egypten. De bilade sparrarna tullades inte som sågat virke, vilket tydligen var grejjen. Jag har varit intresserad av detta länge och i sommras fick jag tag på en fin sparrbila på auktion. I detta projekt kunde den komma till användning.
Sparrbilan är en Urafors, eggen är 33 centimeter lång och saxslipad, yxhuvudet är helt plant på ena sidan, likaså eggen. Sparrbilan visade sig vara suverän att jobba med. Girig som en bankdirektör. Saxslipningen gör att yxan trycks in i träet, istället för att vilja gå ur, som en normal bila. Bilan visar inte en tillstymmelse till att vilja stöta. När man hugger längs en snörslagen linje så vill den hela tiden ta för sig mer och gå innanför linjen, tvärt emot vad jag är van vid.
I am currently working with the project Konst/Hemslöjd (Art/Craft). A project to create public decoration in the healthcare environment. County Council of Stockholm runs the project in which crafts and art meet. I work together with Folkform. For our part, the project will involve original surfaces. I have begun to examine hewn surfaces in craft objects. In Hälsingland they have made hewn beams as late as well into the 1900s. The beams where hewn and exported to for example Egypt. The customs on hewn beams were not the same as sawn timber, which was apparently the thing. I've been interested in this for a long time and this summer I got hold of a nice axe for beams at an auction. It can be of use in this project. The axe is a Urafors, the edge is 33 centimetres long and the edge is shaped like on a scissors, flat on one side. The axe proved to be excellent to work with. Greedy as a bank director.
Update: here are two pictures showing the log after I have shaped three sides. I didn´t bother to take off the bark, so the chalkline was very vague when I cut the beam.
Hello.
SvaraRaderaDo you know if this axe has a specific intended use? The name sparrbila seems to suggest that it is used for shaping spar beams for roof construction which are always from smaller diameter trees stems. Or do you think, "Sparr" is in reference to a type of wood/tree the axe is intended to be used on?
Have you also hewn with a double beveled axe, for example Gransfors Bruks universal or a Finish PIILUKIRVEET? I'm also interested in variations in hewn surfaces from different techniques and axe patterns. For example, I think it is interesting that you don't score along the stem first.
If you are interested here is some work I have done recently https://www.me.com/gallery/#100149
Greetings,
Don Wagstaff
Sorry better look here:
SvaraRaderahttp://gallery.me.com/donwagstaff#100149&view=mosaic&sel=0
Hello Don! I´m very delighted when I get comments like yours. We seem to share this interest in axes and hewing. Your interest in variations in hewn surfaces etc is something that I share and I´m doing this very much to explore how they may have worked with different axes before, how they were used. This axe is a very special axe, and that´s why I wanted to show this clip. This is actually the first time I use it and I was so astonished by the capacity. The word "sparre" is the same as beam or spar beam. So in a direct translation it would be "beamaxe". The word "bila" is the word used for heavier types of axes, with longer edges. Not the type of axe you would use for chopping wood or small work. So you are right. Around here it was a small industry, cutting beams. They were cut with this type of axes in dimensions around 4 or 5 inches (square). They were used for buildingconstructions. And a lot of them were exported, because the duty was not the same as sawn timber. This went on inte the -50s so many middleaged people remember this, knew someone who did this and know about these axes. They were just used for this special work. For you, Don, I will update this post with two pictures I took when I had shaped three sides of this beam. The surface is much different from that you get with a doublebeveled axe. And speaking of that, yeah I have worked a lot with doublebeveled axes. If you click on the YouTube symbol in the clip you will be able to see more of my clips on YouTube, I have some clips where I´m using axes to hew logs. They are doublebeveled, in one clip I´m using the Gränsfors "1900" broad axe.
SvaraRaderaThanks for your comment,
Greetings
Niklas Karlsson
By the way Don, I really liked seeing your pictures, great website!
SvaraRaderaHi Niklas,
SvaraRaderaI look in on your website now and then since I first saw it some months back. Much to say about all the kinds of axes there are around but nothing like picking one up and using it. Then the truth comes from the axe itself. I'm sorry I did not have contact with you at the time I was busy hewing this summer. Almost 10 weeks. After some practice it was possible to cut a regular wavy surface, what I think of as typical for Finland, along the length (double beveled Gränsfors 1700).
Here is one thing that comes to mind looking there at your beam. There are, maybe I can call them streaks or stripes on the hewn surfaces coming from nicks or anyway high spots on the axes cutting edge, not necessarily defects I would say or anything wrong, my point is this, I know how much work it must be to make the flat surface on an old axe flat again after long years of not being used if your idea is to get a really clean and sharp edge. Maybe from an economical way of looking at it a newly made axe is better. There are many good blacksmiths, from Finland to France who offer all kinds of axes. But this sparrbila of yours gives a particular and very fine surface I think.
Greetings,
Don
Don, you are right about the surface. I´m not satisfied with it. The axe was just sharpened, because this is the first beam I cut with the axe. The edge is either too weak and have bent. But I don´t think that is the case. And that would be really sad! I think that the edge has a raw edge, bits of the steel that the grindstone has torn away and that I have not yet taken away completely with the whetstone. And there is also some damages from rust on the back of the edge, the flat side. So it will be a hard job to get the edge absolutely perfect, I don´t know if I will. But I think it would be very expensive to have an axe like this made today, and they were expensive when they were new. The price second-hand is very low.
SvaraRaderaHello. I wanted to thank you for sharing your inspirational way of using and working with wood. I feel very close to your way of thinking. I was in Sweden some months ago to the great Gransfors Bruks log building courses. I've got some of Gransfors tools. Here in Latvia i found one old broadaxe in my neigbourhood. I restaurated it and tested a little bit - here you can see some kind of testing it (at the end of the video):
SvaraRaderahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IibavefUNwM I Can't wait this spring to star building one authentic/traditional log house using only the "old way" methods of building and of course only hand tools. Best wishes from Latvia. Jacob