South Downs Wood Fair – Pegs, Pimps, and trugs Oh and charcoal of course
Location: Queen Elizabeth Country Park
Link out: Click here
Start Date: 09-07-2011
Start Time: 10:00
End Date: 10-07-2011
After another long week in the woods I have finally had time to sit down and right a blog for this New ish event.
It really was a tale of two halfs as far as the weather went on the Saturday most of the scattered showers in Hampshire seamed to have found us and on the Sunday both the sun and the crowds seemed to have come out.
This is our stand on the Sunday with the charcoal kiln to the right. we where at the show explaining how charcoal is made and selling the finished product. However I would have been lost without my trusty pole lath.
We had a lot iof interest in both the lathe and the kiln and even managed to pick up and forfil a commission.
I only generally take commissions at shows in this case it was for making a new T handle for a spade. with the help of dad I turned the handle and dad drilled it and fitted it complete with a new oak peg.
Among the 12 or so coppice crafts being demonstrated there was tent peg making. although wooden pegs had gone our of fashion in the last few years there as been a revival due in no small part to the scout and Guide movement. making tent pegs using a stock knife is one of the traditional ways to make pegs a really good tent peg maker can create a new peg with 9 strokes of the knife.
The other traditional way of making tent pegs is with a draw knife and a shave horse.
Often seen at show with the banner Pimps, faggots and benders, Alan Walters is a charcoal burner and coppice workers from Chichester area. Alan Mainly works on the West Dean estate, with coppice coops on other local estates.
At the wood fair Alan was Producing Sussex pimps (traditional kindling) made from birch.
In the photograph Alan is using the boy to hold the birch in position so he can cut it using a pimp cutter (large heavy meat cleaver).
Dave Lister was making traditional Sussex trugs using sweet chestnut strips. It has been common to see dave along with his trug Mules walking on to the new forest show groud in past years. We wonder if the police have noticed the TRUG dealer passing?
we hope to have more images to add to this blog soon but I would also suggest you look at fellow pole lathe turener and Bogger Mark Allery's blog Coppice Group at the South Downs Woodfair