Q: What do you need for a very large bottle of Sol?

A: A large slice of lime.

Was travelling back to London the other weekend after being away in the Cotswolds, and on the way back we (my wife and I) stopped into a place called Welford Park in the county of Berkshire.

The reason why we stopped was to look at this seasons crop of Snowdrops. Jenny does love Snowdrops, and we were going to visit the park last year but didn't, as we went elsewhere to see some.

As a bonus and a bit of a bribe, the park does farm pigs and has for sale various pig derived products. These pigs live in the woods so have a good time rooting around in the undergrowth. So I was hoping for a tasty lunch in their cafe.

Yes, the snow drops were impressive. I have never seen so many in a single place.  For all you snowdrop fans, here is a picture.

Snowdrops as far as the eye can see

The cafe was good too!  A freshly cooked sausage bap, followed by a cream tea. The sausages were so good, we got a pack of them in the shop to take home. I would like to buy half a pig, but our freezer isn't big enough.

Anyway, at the park they have the largest lime trees in Berkshire. A couple of hundred years old. And by the looks of it, full of mistletoe, or maybe a nest of some creature I have never come across.

The largest lime trees in Berkshire

Now where is my axe? I need a large slice of lime for that beer.

January

Don't be fooled into thinking that the title of this blog means that I will do monthly updates on what I have been up to. Oh no.

January is an answer to a question. Not the answer to the ultimate question, but the question "How long did it take you to make?"  I can now answer by saying "January" rather than "blah blah number of hours".

What did I make in January? I made a chest of drawers in American walnut and steamed pear.  Here we go with the pictures.

These strips of timber will make the sides of the drawers.
They are the first wood machined for the project, as I want
it to stand and acclimatise for as long as possible.

This is a big plank of steamed pear. I did actually
cross cut it with a hand saw!

Four pieces of wood. These will become the cabinet legs.

I have five of these frames. They hold the sides of the carcass
together, and the drawers run on them.

The drawer frames being fixed to the carcass sides.

Here is the completed carcass (minus the top).

The last drawer box glue-up. This is the biggest of the five drawers.

Here the drawer boxes have been fitted into the cabinet carcass.

The handles for the drawers are handmade from pear.

Using yellow plastic shims while attaching the drawer fronts
to the drawer boxes.

And here is the finished piece.

 

This chest of drawers is currently on show at an exhibition called 21st Century Furniture IV, being held in The Millinery Works Gallery, London.

Please check my website if you want to find out more about my furniture, follow me on my Facebook pages, or see what I am talking about on Twitter.

 

Not from Santa

Sometimes you just have to give up on things.

I have two routers. A 1/4" one made by Black & Decker that I purchased way back in 1992. The other is a newer 1/2" Trend router. Both have problems. 

The 1/4" is wearing out. Brushes almost worn down, and now bits keep getting stuck in the collet. It is really only a hobby machine. But it has served me well over the years

The 1/2" has a problem when it looses power and runs down. And it isn't hard work causing it to stop. I have taken it to a registered service centre three times, and they can't fix it. "We can't find anything wrong with it", they say. "Maybe it has a heat problem or something". I have told them what I am doing when it goes wrong, but they still can't find it. Heat problem! After I got it back the first time, it went wrong again in 20 seconds.  Since June, the router has been away for a total of 8 weeks being 'repaired'.

I can't risk the routers breaking halfway through a job.

So yesterday I took delivery of a new Festool router.

Yes, Festool machines are more expensive than other makes, but I feel they are better and well worth the extra cost. The after sales service and repair is much better than that offered by other companies, and there is a three year warranty. 

Slowly my collection of Festool items is increasing.....

Does that mean I am a Festool fanboy, similar to those Apple fanboys you get? Probably. But at least I don't say things like "Festool make really good stuff. They have green on/off switches and buttons".

My new Festool router

It has nice green buttons and switches

Dark in the afternoons

I don't like these winter evenings. I don't even think it is really winter yet. I am never sure the exact months that make up the seasons. Are the solstices and equinoxes in the mid part of the season? That doesn't seem correct to me......

....is summer May-June-July or is it as I always believed June-July-August?  And the Christmas carol 'In the deep mid winter', are they implying the mid winter is around Christmas or the winter solstice? I always assumed winter was December-January-February.

Have the seasons slipped? Is it to do with the earths orbit or global warming? Is too much forest area being cut down to make way for dairy farming? The tress are the lungs of the planet and soak up carbon dioxide. Cut too many down and the planet can't breath.

And now in this country we might loose 90% of our ash trees.  Damn!  I like English ash. It is a great wood. I have made lots of pieces from it.

I just finished a big hall mirror where the frame is from ash. It is to go with the olive ash and ash sideboard I will be taking to the Handmade in Britain show this week in Chelsea Old Town Hall.

I also made a small jewellery chest of drawers. Something that sits on top of a dressing table. It is from olive ash and walnut. Here are some pictures of it.

Olive ash and walnut jewellery cabinet

Drawers have divider compartments

The jewellery gives the piece a sense of scale

Four of the drawers have dividers in them, the size of the divider compartment getting large in each drawer down, while the fifth drawer is just empty for large objects.

It will look good at the show sitting on the sideboard.

Please check my website if you want to find out more about my furniture, follow me on my Facebook pages, or see what I am talking about on Twitter.

Chalara is coming

With my next show coming up in less that three weeks time, I have been busy in the workshop making items for my stand.

I normally have furniture 'ready to go', but at the moment most of my work is currently in galleries around the country.  So I had to make some more.

Anyway, the big items are done.....I still have a mirror to make, and that is being a bit of a pain.  I went to the local glass cutter down from the workshop of get a mirror cut and a 15mm bevel put all the way round the edge. The machine they use for doing the bevel was broken, but the person would be coming to fix it the following week.  That was over five weeks ago. Whenever I go in, it has been fixed and broken again and they are still waiting for the repair to be done. I was getting very pee'd off with all this, and when I went in the beginning of last week to see 'progress', I did get a bit stroppy. But I had right to? Customer service???  Anyway for some mad reason, I also wanted some glass shelves cut and toughened for the display cabinet I had made. My displeasure could be seen, so the price I was given for the mirror and shelves was very very good.  I have the shelves now, but still waiting for the mirror. The machine should be fixed today. I will find out when I go back tomorrow.

Something I have been making is a small chest of drawers that will be used to hold jewellery. I do have picture of it, and these are on my furniture Facebook pages. The pictures I have posted there don't give a clue as to what I am making, nor do I say. It is something for my Facebook followers to guess, but coming from my blog you know.

On a different note, you may have seen on the news the stories about the threat to the ash trees in the country from a fungal attack.  There is an app on both Android and iOS that can be used to identify and report any ash trees that you find are infected. You can get the app from your OS store, and can find out more information from their website.

Please check my website if you want to find out more about my furniture, follow me on my Facebook pages, or see what I am talking about on Twitter.

Not so plain Jane

I am building a display cabinet at the moment, something open fronted with glass shelves.

The outside of the cabinet will be from American walnut, but for the inside faces I wanted something lighter and contrasting.

Something like sycamore could be used, as it has a minimal grain patter and is a 'white-with-a-hint-of-yellow' colour. But I thought this will be a bit dull and uninteresting.

A wood I have always wanted to use is something called lacewood. It has a lace or snake skin pattern and is a pinkish colour with brown flecks. A good contrast for the walnut.

Here is a picture of the lacewood I have for the cabinet inside. You should be able to get what I am talking about.

Lacewood showing the striking grain pattern

Lacewood has an interesting background.  Most woods with an unusual grain pattern or colour are exotic timbers, but not this one.  It is a tree that grows very well in this country and exceedingly well in cities.  I am sure you know the tree I am talking about - sometimes called 'lungs of the city'.  Want another clue?  Here is picture of the tree in question.

The source of lacewood

Still clueless?  A hint is in the blog title........yes it is a Jane tree!!

Alright, it isn't a Jane tree, but it is a London plane.  Yes, that tree you see in parks and streets everywhere (and not only in London or the UK, but global).  

The London plane tree is a bit of an odd one...there is some argument as to where it comes from.  It is a cross of two trees, the oriental plane and American sycamore but these are debated. It has been widely planted in England since the late 1600's.

Apparently the tallest London place tree is in Bryanston School, Blandford Forum, Dorset. In 2008 it measured over 48m tall. Maybe fresh air is good for them.....

So now you know all about lacewood and where it comes from.

I will post some more pictures of the cabinet in due course.

For more information about me or my furniture, the have a look at my website.

Website update

There is a new version of my website now. It went live a couple of days ago.  

The look and feel has changed mainly, and a few more gallery items.

Good old ASP.Net.