"Bodgers
and Besoms"
Year 4 investigate local history in the woods around Ambleside
"Turn your own wooden chair leg"
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Ian is a National Trust boss and is an expert bodger. A bodger was somebody who lived in the woods a hundred years ago making their living by creating useful objects from wood. Relatives of children in Ambleside would have been bodgers. |
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The first job is to split your wood into a reasnable size using a lat axe and a simple wooden hammer. Ian's hammer was made from apple wood. Some of our class helped him split the wood. In the past people would have split trees up to 4 metres long with the lat axe. Ben split it with only a couple of blows. He's strong. The oak had been cut down only the day before, it smelt of fresh sap LOVELY. |
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The oak was split into half then half again by another child. This was done by placing the blade on top of the wood that was by now a rough cylinder shape. You slam the piece of apple wood on the blade when the blade was inside the wood Ian wiggled the lat axe and the oak snapped. |
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Before the wood can go on the Pole Lathe it has to be made rounder. Ian did this by using a draw horse and a draw knife. To stop cutting himself with the razon sharp draw knife he put on a leather apron. You push your feet on the lever at the bottom of the draw horse and it grips the wood and holds it tight. If he needs to turn it around he loosens it by taking his feet off. |
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The draw knife is like a knife blade with two handles, one at each end. It is extremely sharp. He pulls it towards himself to shave off pieces of wood and bark. |
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Next he puts the wood on a pole lathe to turn it. The pole lathe is very clever. There is a big bendy pole like a fishing rod. Tied to the end there is a some string. The string goes down, around the piece of wood and the onto a foot pedal. By pushing down on the pedal the wood spins. The bendy pole spings back and turn the wood the other way. |
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As it is spinning. he holds a chisel against the wood to cut patterns and grooves in it. You can make things like; spoons, bowls, chair legs, rolling pins, tool handles, cotton bobbins, tent pegs, clothes pegs and lots of other things. The bodgers lived in the woods and even made the roofs for their huts out of the shavings. |
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We all had a go at making the wood spin round. Perhaps some of our relatives did this job in these very woods! |
