Woodwork in the woods – Days 4 and 5

Armed with mallets and wood for walking sticks, the last 2 days were spent back in the grounds and workshop at school.  Mallets were sanded and smoothed down ready for oiling, walking sticks were made by whittling away the bark and some of the children embarked on elaborate and beautiful designs.  Finally, the class saw how a small log could be split to create two spoon blanks.  These too were chopped with the axe and whittled with the knife until they were ready to have the bowl of the spoon hollowed out, using the mallets the children had just made to hit the gouge with!