Saturday, October 29, 2011

Country Woodcraft by Drew Langsner



Phil found this book for me while we were at the Salvation Army thrift store today and I was so glad that he did. This is an incredibly useful book. Written in 1978 by Drew Langsner. This isn't about making fancy wood carved pieces for your house. It is about making useful pieces, most of which people don't think to make anymore. Drew and his wife Louise made and used these things themselves on their farm.
I hope you can read the contents here. He starts with tools you will find useful such as an Indian crooked knife, Swedish sloyd knife, billhook, Scorp, hewing adze etc. Complete with drawings of each so you at least know what to look for when trying to find them. He then tells you about wood, felling logs, building wood ricks and woodsheds. You then move on to sawbucks, shaving horses, different types of saws, wedges and tool handles. 
Some of my favorite parts are making a pitchfork from wood, making wooden spoons and making a dough bowl but it also tells how to make oak baskets and different farm tools.
It is presented in such a way that when you have finished reading  you really should be able to make the item yourself--maybe not perfectly until you have some practice but you should have a useable piece anyway.
I don't know if this book is available through Amazon. I haven't looked yet. I paid $1.75 for it at the thrift store.

4 comments:

  1. So what is on your "To Make" list then?

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  2. I definitely would like to try the spoons and the bread bowl(have wanted a bread bowl for a while) but want to take some time to read over the basket one as well and see if that is doable. I also need to know more about different types of trees. I only seem to know the obvious ones pine, oak, spruce, poplar and maple.

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  3. Yes, I would love a hand-made wooden salad / fruit bowl. We sometimes see them on sale at craft shows (the walnut and oak ones are best), but they are always pretty expensive. One day when I'm rich I'll buy one...

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  4. Well done on such a find! I do green woodwork and have had a go at making various bits of treen...it is a very soothing thing to do :-)

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