Oxfordshire Woodland Group

The practice of making riven wood chests is still alive and well with Tamás Gyenes (and his wife) engaged in splitting beech and converting same into riven planks to make traditional Hungarian greenwood furniture.

Once riven the rough planks are trimmed to size using the hewing hatchet -

then the planks are flattened on the shaving horse and -

- then a groove is made along the edges of each plank to join the planks together -

- to form the walls of the chest.

Once finished and fully assembled the hand conversion signture marks are quite visible

Then it's on to scribe and carve geometric patterns into the chest surfaces -

- resulting in a beautifully finished piece of greenwood furniture

Ken Hume OWG