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Burr Oak Dining Table
This Burr Oak dining table is made from a single slab of oak. The oak tree came from Dryslwyn, in Carmarthenshire. The table is 6’9” (2060mm) long and 3’ (930mm) wide. The metal legs of the Burr Oak dining table give a simplicity to the table and because they are so much stronger than wooden legs they are less in the way. 8 chairs, including arm chairs can fit around and tucked under the table. The oak tree was planked by me and Huw using a double ended chainsaw with a milling attachment. It was the first time we’d planked a trunk wider than the single engine milling saw was…
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Caring for your wood.
Wood finish. What I use and how you can maintain it. My primary purpose of putting a wood finish is to seal the pores to keep it clean. But which particular finish depends on the purpose the wood will be used. I prefer oils and waxes which will sink into the wood rather than varnishes and paints which sit on the surface. I also prefer a satin finish rather than gloss. Food safe finish. The finish I use on all the plates and bowls I make primarily for everyday food use is flaxseed/linseed oil. This is a traditional ‘drying’ oil used for wood, either on its own as an oil or combined…
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Spalted woods. Which wood to spalt?
Which wood to spalt? Beech is by far the easiest wood to spalt well. It almost always ends up with black line and distinctly different colours. This bowl shows only one area left with the wood in its natural state. All the rest has been affected by fungi. I don’t know how many different ones. It was at the very limit of having enough structural integrity to work. Even with the gauge straight off the grinder it was difficult not to get tear out on the end grain. This wood had been left outside in all weathers for a year and a few months. It was a large tree and…
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Spalted Wood. How wood spalts.
Spalted wood. Spalted wood is where fungus or more usually several different fungi have been introduced to the wood. This is most commonly after the tree has been felled but sometimes it is a fungus which has killed the tree so the timber has already been spalted. Spalted wood can be created deliberately or can occur by accident as I have found out several times over the years! Spalted wood can be created as easily as:- Leaving the freshly sawn wood out in the weather, popping it into a plastic bag or burying the wood in wood shavings. However, knowing when the wood will be spalted enough to work but…
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Origin – A Makers’ Co-operative
Origin, a maker’s co-operative in Carmarthen, is a shop I am very involved with as many of you who have “liked” my Facebook page will know. Origin is a wonderful shop and I am so pleased and proud to be part of it. And it is such a really nice bunch of people. When I first joined Origin last year I spent time looking at all the work of the other makers, trying to memorize the products to help customers. I felt humbled by the wealth of talent. And then I thought about the hours of work and the years of experience, designing, altering, developing of skills and styles that…
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Turned Miniature Eisteddfod Chair
Having had the honour to be commissioned again to make a miniature chair for Cymdeithas Ceredigion‘s 2016 Eisteddfod I decided to put my all into making a turned miniature chair. Since turning is my main medium for working with wood it made sense to explore this method to make the chair. I’ve made chairs for Cymdeithas Ceredigion before, both a full size chair and two miniature chairs, however I used more traditional methods for these chairs. (The 2015 miniature chair, described here and here, was made out of Laburnum and the 2014 was made of Elm.) I had a prototype turned chair floating around the workshop which I’d made a…
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A Priceless Gift
I received a priceless gift a few years ago in a tale with many twists and turns. I was commissioned to make a chair to be given as a prize at a local Eisteddfod. Cymdeithas Ceredigion had been bequeathed money and the Cadair Goffa Pat Neill (Pat Neill memorial chair) was to be given for a poem in “cynghanedd” which is strict metre. (I’m afraid my knowledge of the complexities of poetry in any language is beyond me. The basics of Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter is the limit of my knowledge.) Working with wood, however, is another matter. And what an honour to be commissioned to make this chair. I immediately…
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Eisteddfod Chair
For several years now I have had the honour to be commissioned to make a chair for a local Eisteddfod. This is the first of the miniature chairs I made and the wood chosen was Elm. An eisteddfod is a cultural festival, a celebration of the arts and with competitions in all sorts of arts from poetry, literature, music, dance, performance… The original eisteddfod happened in 1176 in Cardigan only a few miles from me. It was held by Lord Rhys of Deheubarth at his castle. Major work has been happening there for a few years now, both archaeological and restorative, since Cardigan castle came into public ownership. (There is…
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Tale of an Ash Tree
My work often comes from trees where I know some of the story behind the wood. None more so than one particular Ash tree. There are so many different threads of different stories that I see when I look at a piece from this tree. Once upon a time an Ash seed rooted itself in just the wrong place, on a river bank where there was almost no soil and under a cliff so there was almost no sun either. For a hundred and fifty years and more the Ash tree grew tall and thin as she stretched to reach more light, developing a buttress on one side to hold…
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Swallows
Swallows have been nesting in the sheds here since before I moved here. At that time the sheds were cowsheds and open hay storage barns so it was easy access for the swallows. These dilapidated sheds had to be replaced for workshops. Naturally when the swallows appeared the following summer from their winter in Africa (lucky swallows!) they expected to use their homes as normal. I had to refuse my workshop to them as they do make such a mess it would mark the wood forever. Huw, however, was more than happy to share his workshop space so we cut a slit in the the wall (box profile zinc on…