Making Side Fenders at Audlem Mill

Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

Tim, Hitching his Button Fender

Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

Jeremy, Hitching his Button Fender

Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

Fendermaking Workshop at Audlem Mill

Over the weekend we ran another of our fendermaking courses at Audlem Mill. We had just 2 trainees, Jeremy from NB Pike & Tim from NB Masquerade, so it was quite a relaxed affair. We started of on Saturday morning with a brief introduction looking at the materials and tools that we would be using. We soon rolled up our sleeves and started by making some side fenders. We a stop at lunchtime for a lovely meal of brazing steak & potatoes & veg. By mid afternoon we'd managed to complete 2 very presentable side fenders a piece, so it was time to start work preparing our button fender cores. By the end of the day we were all well on the way to completing our cores.

On Sunday morning we completed the cores and after grabbing a coffee we started half-hitching. Jeremy & Tim soon got the hang of hitching and covering progressed well. It took a bit of practice to get the right tension but they had soon finished hitching around the circumference of the fender. We then learnt how to splice in more rope and began covering the ends of the fender. By the end of the day both Jeremy and Tim had produced very well made button fenders that would look great on any narrowboat.

It was a great weekend and we really enjoyed passing on our skills to people that were keen to learn. Jeremy and Tim were great to work with and of course Peter and Christine at Audlem Mill looked after us very well with lovely food and we felt very welcome.

Our next courses at Audlem Mill is on 29th & 30th October 2011.
Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals