Bushcraft Skills Events - National Forest Wood Fair

The National Forest Wood Fair

Five of the best exponents in the UK from The Association of Pole Lathe Turners and Greenwood Workers will take part in the first ever UK Log to Leg Championships at the National Forest Wood Fair over the August Bank Holiday.

A Log to Leg race involves highly skilled green wood workers, traditionally called ‘bodgers’, who start with a log of wood, split it, shave it, shape it and turn it into a matching pair of chair legs – all against the clock and using only self-powered tools: axe, shaving horse, draw knife and foot-operated pole lathe.

The races will be interspersed with green wood craft demonstrations: stool making, steam bending, Scottish spurtel making, a turned baby’s rattle, green wood rounders bats, and Windsor chair construction.  Visitors to the Wood Fair will have ample opportunity to watch all these green wood skills at close quarters and talk to the craftsmen while they are working.

The National Forest Wood Fair is organised by the National Forest Company and Leicestershire County Council, and will see awe-inspiring lumberjacks, horse logging, chainsaw carving, pole lathe turning, forest machinery, falconry and lots of children’s activities from eco art to greenwood crafts, making pizzas to scaling the climbing wall. For more information on the Wood Fair visit the website http://www.nationalforestwoodfair.co.uk/

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