I haven't really had a place to set up shop in a long time, so I my woodworking has been limited. Most of my tools are scattered around, stored in friend's shops or warehouses at the lumberyard where I work, or at other people's homes. I have started to gather them together, but I need some really basic stuff that has to be made. I think it will be fun, and a real challenge, to start with a bow saw, a hatchet, and a pocket knife and make some of the basic things I need.
The first step is to make dogwood wedges. Ms. Charming and I are clearing out for our garden, so there is lots of wood to work with. Dogwoods were among the trees to be removed, two were cut along with some other small trees. The next step is cutting the trunks into short lengths and sharpening both ends.
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To make two wedges from each length, the sharpened lengths were cut in half with a bow saw.
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The tops were beveled to reduce splitting when being pounded by a maul or sledge.
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The wedges range from about 2" thick and 9" long, to about 3" thick and 12" long. With the price of steel wedges today, this will save a lot of money for actual wood working projects.
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I put a sealer on the ends to reduce the splitting that may occur as the wedges dry out. This limits the effects of moisture leaving too quickly from the end grain, and causing the end wood fibers to shrink more rapidly than the fibers in the body of the wedge.
I will be using these wedges to make other projects. It would be good to have a wooden maul and a shaving horse.
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