Spanbaum

Last updated
A spanbaum as the central column of a Christmas pyramid Moderne Weihnachtspyramide mit Krippe.jpg
A spanbaum as the central column of a Christmas pyramid

A spanbaum ("wood shaving tree"), variously referred to in English as a hand-shaved tree, wood chip tree or span tree, is a handmade ornamental tree which is usually part of a pyramid ornament. They are mainly manufactured in woodturning workshops in the Ore Mountains of Saxony in eastern Germany. Their method of production is known locally as Spanbaumstechen.

Contents

Material

The choice of material is especially important. Only lime wood with a straight grain is suitable.

Manufacture

To make the spanbaum, first of all a conical blank of the tree is turned and a small disc is made for the base. The conical blank is clamped in a vice and the branches carved symmetrically using a chisel, shaving by shaving, on all sides.


Related Research Articles

<i>Podocarpus totara</i>

Podocarpus totara is a species of podocarp tree endemic to New Zealand. It grows throughout the North Island and northeastern South Island in lowland, montane and lower subalpine forest at elevations of up to 600 m.

<i>Juniperus virginiana</i> Species of conifer in the cypress family Cupressaceae

Juniperus virginiana, known as red cedar, eastern redcedar, Virginian juniper, eastern juniper, red juniper, pencil cedar, and aromatic cedar, is a species of juniper native to eastern North America from southeastern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and east of the Great Plains. Further west it is replaced by the related Juniperus scopulorum and to the southwest by Juniperus ashei.

Plane (tool)

A hand plane is a tool for shaping wood using muscle power to force the cutting blade over the wood surface. Some rotary power planers are motorized power tools used for the same types of larger tasks, but are unsuitable for fine scale planing where a miniature hand plane is used.

Pencil sharpener Device for sharpening a pencils writing point by shaving away its worn surface

A pencil sharpener is a tool for sharpening a pencil's writing point by shaving away its worn surface. Pencil sharpeners may be operated manually or by an electric motor. It is common for many sharpeners to have a casing around them, which can be removed for emptying the pencil shavings debris into a trash bin.

Mug Type of cup

A mug is a type of cup typically used for drinking hot drinks, such as coffee, hot chocolate, or tea. Mugs usually have handles and hold a larger amount of fluid than other types of cup. Typically, a mug holds approximately 8–12 US fluid ounces (240–350 ml) of liquid. A mug is a less formal style of drink container and is not usually used in formal place settings, where a teacup or coffee cup is preferred. Shaving mugs are used to assist in wet shaving.

A die is a specialized tool used in manufacturing industries to cut or shape material mostly using a press. Like molds, dies are generally customized to the item they are used to create. Products made with dies range from simple paper clips to complex pieces used in advanced technology.

<i>Anemonoides nemorosa</i> Species of flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae

Anemonoides nemorosa, the wood anemone, is an early-spring flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to Europe. Other common names include windflower, thimbleweed, and smell fox, an allusion to the musky smell of the leaves. It is a perennial herbaceous plant growing 5–15 cm (2–6 in) tall.

Woodturning

Woodturning is the craft of using the wood lathe with hand-held tools to cut a shape that is symmetrical around the axis of rotation. Like the potter's wheel, the wood lathe is a simple mechanism which can generate a variety of forms. The operator is known as a turner, and the skills needed to use the tools were traditionally known as turnery. In pre-industrial England, these skills were sufficiently difficult to be known as 'the misterie' of the turners guild. The skills to use the tools by hand, without a fixed point of contact with the wood, distinguish woodturning and the wood lathe from the machinists lathe, or metal-working lathe.

Drawknife

A drawknife is a traditional woodworking hand tool used to shape wood by removing shavings. It consists of a blade with a handle at each end. The blade is much longer than it is deep. It is pulled or "drawn" toward the user.

Potpourri

Potpourri is a mixture of dried, naturally fragrant plant materials, used to provide a gentle natural scent, commonly in residential settings. It is often placed in a decorative bowl.

Straight razor Knife used to remove body hair

A straight razor is a razor with a blade that can fold into its handle. They are also called open razors and cut-throat razors. The predecessors of the modern straight razors include bronze razors, with cutting edges and fixed handles, produced by craftsmen from Ancient Egypt during the New Kingdom. Solid gold and copper razors were also found in Ancient Egyptian tombs dating back to the 4th millennium BC.

<i>Eucalyptus coolabah</i> Species of plant

Eucalyptus coolabah, commonly known as coolibah or coolabah, is a species of tree and is found in eastern inland Australia. It has rough bark on part or all of the trunk, smooth powdery cream to pink bark above, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven and hemispherical or conical fruit.

Orussidae

The Orussidae or the parasitic wood wasps represent a small family of sawflies ("Symphyta"). Currently, about 85 extant and four fossil species are known. They take a key position in phylogenetic analyses of Hymenoptera, because they form the sister taxon of the megadiverse apocritan wasps, and the common ancestor of Orussidae + Apocrita invented parasitism for the first time in course of the evolution of the Hymenoptera. They are also the only sawflies with carnivorous larvae.

<i>Fear of a Blank Planet</i> 2007 album by Porcupine Tree

Fear of a Blank Planet is the ninth studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree and their best selling before 2009's The Incident. It was released on 16 April 2007 in the UK and the rest of Europe by Roadrunner, 24 April 2007 in the United States by Atlantic, 25 April 2007 in Japan by WHD, and 1 May 2007 in Canada by WEA. Steven Wilson has mentioned that the album's title is a direct reference to the 1990 Public Enemy album Fear of a Black Planet; while the former tackled race issues, the latter is about the fear of losing the current generation of youth to various common threats to their mental and social wellbeing, including broken homes, excessive "screen time", and narcotic overuse to the point of mental and spiritual "blankness".

Surfboard shaper

A surfboard shaper is someone who designs and builds surfboards. The process of surfboard shaping has evolved over the years, and the shaper often tailors his or her work to meet the requirements of a client or a certain wave. Surfboard shapers can be independent or work in collaboration with mass-production companies.

Fatwood

Fatwood, also known as "fat lighter", "lighter wood", "rich lighter", "pine knot", "lighter knot", "heart pine" or "lighter'd" [sic], is derived from the heartwood of pine trees. The stump that is left in the ground after a tree has fallen or has been cut is the primary source of fatwood, as the resin-impregnated heartwood becomes hard and rot-resistant over time after the death of the main tree. Other locations, such as the joints where limbs intersect the trunk, can also be harvested. Although most resinous pines can produce fatwood, in the southeastern United States the wood is commonly associated with longleaf pine, which historically was highly valued for its high pitch production.

Blanking and piercing

Blanking and piercing are shearing processes in which a punch and die are used to produce parts from coil or sheet stock. Blanking produces the outside features of the component, while piercing produces internal holes or shapes. The web is created after multiple components have been produced and is considered scrap material. The "slugs" produced by piercing internal features are also considered scrap. The terms "piercing" and "punching" can be used interchangeably.

<i>Scheitholz</i>

Scheitholz is a German term for any log sections that have been split lengthways with an axe or log splitter and that are primarily used for firewood or the manufacture of wood shingles. The individual pieces of timber are called Holzscheite, derived from the Old High German word scît = "piece". Scheitholz boilers are used to burn quantities of Scheithölzer. The expression "auf Scheitholz knien" was a disciplinary measure used in times when corporal punishment in schools was still permitted.

Jennie Alexander was an American woodworker considered a pioneer in the woodworking world, "Instrumental in designing the now iconic two-slat post-and-rung shaving chair,". She also coined the term "greenwoodworking" as a single word in her book, Make a Chair from a Tree: An Introduction to Working Green Wood.

<i>Protea glabra</i> Species of flowering shrub

Protea glabra, also called the Clanwilliam sugarbush, is a flowering shrub belonging to the genus Protea.