I should have paid more attention in my high school German classes. I do remember singing a song in German about a three-cornered hat or something — and I can still count. It would be nice to sit and watch this with someone who speaks German well sometime. The good news is, this story is filmed so beautifully that words are hardly necessary.
Watch as this venerable master carves a giant bowl. He has retained incredible skill with an axe and the technique for removing the core with thin wooden wedges is spectacular. Consequently, Kristin and I have committed to beer and schnapps at lunch from now on. Near the end, one can see the variety of smaller bowls that he makes.
I had seen this some time ago, but I could watch it a thousand times. It is so skillfully filmed, and there is so much to be learned. Thanks to Peter Follansbee for reminding me of it. There is a whole series of these “Der Letzte seines Standes?” films on youtube. I think it translates to something like “The last of their craft?” And I’m guessing Der Mollenhauer is something like “The trough/bowl hewer.” Perhaps someone can provide a better translation.
In a similar vein are the films available from Folkstreams. I wrote this post about them a couple years ago with some links. Always worth revisiting.
The height of the low bench (a little over 23 inches — or just above my kneecap) makes it handy for all sorts of general shop tasks, like sawing. The heaviness and widely splayed legs make it stable, yet it is still portable and fits into my small shop well. In construction, it couldn’t be more simple. The dimensions of the top aren’t critical; I had been given this oak timber (44 x 14 x 3 1/2 inches), and the size has worked out well. The legs can be anything tough and strong like oak or hickory. Mine are actually four roughly-shaved quarters of a hop hornbeam log. I wrote a post a while back about how I execute these joints — you can check it out 
And you can sit down to do some decorative carving on the rim (if you don’t feel like standing at the high bench). Here’s how I shaped the rim of the bowl after the bench photos had been taken.
If you’re short on green wood, this might be a great project that will help hone your adze skills. I started with a dry walnut board, 1 1/2 inches thick, that I had around. I penciled some guidelines on the edges, then worked cross-grain with the adze — working in toward the middle from both edges to avoid blowout. I quickly pared over that surface with some cross grain gouge work, then hand-planed the top smooth.
Greenwood Fest 2017 promises to be even better than last year’s inaugural event. Paula and Peter have things all set up on a 
David Fisher, Carving Explorations 