Shop Tour: The Green Woodworking Studio
Green woodworking – working with freshly cut, unseasoned wood – is a different craft from dry-wood furniture making. Bodgers and chair makers split rather than saw, shape with drawknives and spokeshaves rather than planes, and work with the wood’s moisture and grain direction in ways that require no workshop and minimal infrastructure. This studio is a 200-square-foot heated space for the cold months and an outdoor work area for the summer – the majority of the work happens outside, with hand tools and a shaving horse, and the studio exists primarily for storage, drying, and finishing.
The Shaving Horse
The shaving horse is the central tool of green woodworking – a low work bench with a foot-operated clamp (the dumbhead) that holds work while the operator uses a drawknife or spokeshave. It requires no power, no floor space beyond what the operator occupies, and can work anywhere with a level surface. This studio has two shaving horses – one built to the owner’s height and one shorter, for occasional apprentice work with younger learners. Both are shop-made from red oak and have been in use for 12 years.
Wood Storage and Drying
Green logs and billets are stored under a simple roof shelter beside the studio – a pair of sawhorses with a metal roof panel, open on all sides for air circulation. Logs that have been split but not yet worked are stickered on simple saw benches inside the shelter. Round billets are end-grain coated with diluted wood glue to slow the end-grain drying and prevent checking. The studio’s interior holds pieces that are partly worked and in the final stages of drying before assembly.
Heat Bending and Steaming
Windsor chair backs, bent rungs, and bent wood forms for seating all require steam bending. A simple steam box and a propane-fired wall-paper steamer live on the outdoor work deck. Forms for chair backs – curved plywood assemblies that hold the bent wood while it cools – hang on the studio wall and come down when needed. The studio temperature is maintained above 60 degrees Fahrenheit during the chair-seat drying period to ensure even moisture release without cracking.
Key Lessons
- Most green woodworking happens outdoors. The studio provides shelter for drying and finishing, but the shaping work – which generates large shavings, not dust – belongs outside. The shavings become compost and mulch rather than shop debris.
- Locally sourced wood is the material of green woodworking. The owner gets most material from local tree services, storm-downed trees, and a local sawyer. The cost is often zero. The quality, in terms of specific gravity and grain characteristics for turning and bending, is often superior to commercially available lumber.
- The shaving horse is genuinely the best tool in the shop. Nothing else provides that combination of secure workholding, freedom to work from any angle, and compatibility with the drawknife and spokeshave’s pushing and pulling motions.
FAQ
What wood is best for green woodworking?
Species with long, straight-running grain that splits cleanly along the grain without deviation: ash, white oak, hickory, cherry, and black locust are the most valued in North American green woodworking. Avoid ring-porous species with irregular grain and species that check heavily on drying.
Does green woodworking require a big upfront tool investment?
No. The core tool kit – a froe, a club, a drawknife, a couple of spokeshaves, and a shaving horse – can be assembled for $300 to $500, including a shop-made shaving horse. This is among the lowest-cost entry points in all of woodworking.