Riving, a Viking-age woodworking technique
hurstwic.org
Riving, a Viking-age woodworking technique
1–10 of 93 posts
Re: Riving, a Viking-age woodworking technique
#2A while ago, I ended up watching a video about making roofing shingles using hand tools, which uses the same technique, but on only ~footlong logs.
Re: Riving, a Viking-age woodworking technique
#3I would imagine this wood-working technique wasn't unique to the Scandinavians. For one thing, a wedge is much simpler to make than a saw.
Re: Riving, a Viking-age woodworking technique
#4This is an interesting article, but riving is not specifically Viking. It was the primary method of producing workable wood blanks from tree trunks in every civilization that used wood blanks. Which is to say, it was used all over Europe and Asia (at least), for at least the last 2000-plus years. I'm not as familiar with the woodworking traditions of Africa or pre-European-contact North or South America, so I don't know whether they used wood blanks.
It's also used today by "green woodworkers" - woodworkers who specialize in building using non-dried wood. This mostly includes chair makers, but also some others. You can buy riving tools from a lot of places. Lie-Nielsen makes a very nice riving froe. You can also find antique ones at almost any antique woodworking tool show.
Re: Riving, a Viking-age woodworking technique
#5I wish the photos were bigger - as someone who has no idea about woodworking, it's hard to tell what's actually going on in some of them.
Re: Riving, a Viking-age woodworking technique
#6Planks created by riving can have a triangular cross-section rather than a rectangular cross-section. The first picture at http://lumberjocks.com/MattNC/blog/37466 is a good example.
Re: Riving, a Viking-age woodworking technique
#7This is an interesting article, but riving is not specifically Viking. It was the primary method of producing workable wood blanks from tree trunks in every civilization that used wood blanks. Which is to say, it was used all over Europe and Asia (at least), for at least the last 2000-plus years. I'm not as familiar with the woodworking traditions of Africa or pre-European-contact North or South America, so I don't k…
The article was hosted on hurstwic.org, which is a website dedicated to teaching Viking martial arts. It does not claim that riving is purely a Viking technique. I suppose it could have mentioned that, but I doubt the author ever considered their article making it to the front page of HN.
Re: Riving, a Viking-age woodworking technique
#8http://www.greenwoodworking.com/RivingArticle
Jennie Alexander, an amazing woodworker who just passed away last week, wrote on this topic extensively. Check out her books 'Make a Chair from a Tree'
Re: Riving, a Viking-age woodworking technique
#9Fun fact, this is the same root as Riven.
Re: Riving, a Viking-age woodworking technique
#10Planks created by riving can have a triangular cross-section rather than a rectangular cross-section. The first picture at http://lumberjocks.com/MattNC/blog/37466 is a good example.
You can create "rectangular boards" by riving too.