The latest session in our heritage skills training and education project saw participants learn how to sharpen and care for their countryside maintenance tools with Jeremy Weiss, a traditional rural services and training specialist.
The workshop was open to the public, staff from other heritage organisations and our Ranger team. Thank you to everyone who joined us for this training day!
The workshop was part of a wide-ranging heritage skills training and education project, which has been made possible by a grant of £10,000 from Cornwall Community Foundation through the Tanner Phoenix Trust.
Jeremy is an experienced instructor having taught courses for the National Trust, Dartmoor Hill Farm Project, Devon Rural Skills Trust and for his own business, ‘Proper Edges’. He has a first-class honours degree in Environmental Science and a very keen interest in ecology, conservation and traditional countryside management.
During this workshop, attendees learnt how to profile and shape the blades of bill hooks or axes so that they function at their best, cutting materials at the proper angle. A bill hook is a versatile cutting tool used widely in agriculture and forestry for cutting woody material such as shrubs and branches.
This skill means attendees can now also restore old bill hooks and prepare new bill hooks for use. They also learnt how to hone the edge to ensure that tools are suitably sharp and ready for correct usage.
Once their tools were ready, attendees made brash bundles, known as faggots, which provided the ideal situation to practise basic bill hook cutting and trimming techniques and become familiar with this tool.
About the funder
Cornwall Community Foundation helps people across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly by awarding small grants to grassroots organisations that are working to overcome the challenges of disadvantage, exclusion and poverty in their communities.
Find out more at www.cornwallcommunityfoundation.com
