Guildenstern the broken drawknife
Our story begins with two tools. Not, as one might expect, two chaps of less than impressive wit (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern spring to mind), but rather two actual tools. As in, metal ones. Our first contender is the humble froe (left). Plain and simple, but of stout constitution, the froe is designed for riving (that is, splitting) boards or shingles from logs. It is made to be struck, embedding it within the end grain of a piece of timber, before being used to lever the new board away from the parent log. By contrast, the drawknife (right) is keen and nimble, made for shaving timber pieces to shape and size.
Dying with Indigo – success!
Originally posted to the forum by Richard
So today (June 2012), after much talk, I finally made my first attempt at indigo dyeing! Huzzar! While I did manage to make some blue linen, the colour achieved was not up to the standard I was expecting, and I have a number of ideas as to what might have gone wrong. But I’ll get to those later.
Group Knives
Originally posted to the forum – research about kitchen knives for Company of the Staple by Richard.
I have been looking through various books and manuscripts in pursuit of images of kitchen and dining scenes. Sadly the desire to draw meticulously detailed pictures of kitchen and table implements seems to have been slightly lacking in the mind of the 14th century artist.
Flax to Linen
Originally posted to the Company of the Staple Forum by Richard
Some time in late August/early September, I planted my newest crop of flax. Unlike the first failed attempt, this crop flourished and at some point in late November burst into bloom:
Richard makes a fire
Recently we had a Skills Day in which various members shared their skills and talents with others. One of the workshops was about Cooking Over a Campfire. Here, Richard shows how to start a fire in a period manner with flint, steel and a charcloth.
