The yoke is a practical, often underrated and overlooked tool, historically indispensable for many of the land-based people the world over. In modern times it’s still an incredibly useful technology for all sorts of carrying tasks, including working in the garden, hauling maple sap in the sugar bush, or carrying groceries from the car to the house in fewer trips.They are particularly helpful for carrying loads where wheelbarrows and carts can’t go or are unwieldy such as up steps, narrow paths between garden beds, in the forest, or on uneven or steep terrain. When well made, they are a joy to use. For a curious learner, they have many teachings to offer through their construction.

Making a yoke is a perfect medium for refining one's skill with many types of hand tools such as adzes, gouges, axes, inshaves, spokeshaves, drawknives, and hand planes, and the nuances in using (as well as setting up and maintaining) these tools will be our primary focus. The most challenging part of making a good yoke is carving it to fit the unique shape and contour of the participant’s own shoulders. Strategies for scribing and transferring complex information such as this will be covered, which can be used in numerous other woodworking applications.

As well as carving the yoke, students will also be guided through the process of hand-making their own rope using simple and traditional tools and adding a wool felted liner for shoulder padding.

Required Tools

• All tools will be provided

Optional Tools

• Drawknife
• Spokeshave
• Axe