News

7/12/11 Carving Blades

Have finally uploaded the latest set of woodcarving blades, these proved ro be very popuasr at shows over the summer.

22/09/11 Courses- coming soon

Re-equiping my workshop for toolmaking has meant that I have now got multiple setups of forges, tools and anvils and have been running courses over the last few months, the insurance and number of students  are now finalised, and I will be adding details of dates and prices in the near future. 

21/09/11- HAND FORGED TOOLS- coming soon

I have spent a large proportion of the last year equiping my workshop for toolmaking, the grinders and forges are now build and installed. A new range of tools has been produced and sent out for testing, some have already been passed with flying colours and will be featuring in my Hand fForged tools section. Others need refining futher, but will hopefully be up before Christmas. Mostly I will be supplying unhandled (but fully sharpened) tools or blanks,  but some will be fully finished. Contact me for more details. 07/10/11 - spoon knives now up.

18/02/11-DESIGN INSPIRATIONS for the Ironwood Kitchen Range

The high points of my year are demonstrating at craft shows, it gives me a chance to interact more naturally with the public, after all I am primarily a craftsman not a salesman. The other great privilege is working with some of the best demonstrators in the country, observing these highly skilled craftsmen has been highly influential. A few years ago our newly completed duck run needed a gate and as I had been watching cleft gates and hurdles being made all summer I coppiced some hazel and spent a couple of hugely enjoyable afternoons in the sun making a gate, It was only later a realised the similarities to a forged gate I had designed a few months earlier, subliminal mental osmosis had obviously been taking place.  

It might seem that wood work and Ironwork are diametrically opposed and I suppose they are, but only because they approach a similar end point from different directions.

The woodworker will release the final form from the natural shape of the log, woodturners talk of releasing the inner beauty of the wood. In contrast I can produce living flowing lines from a uniform straight length of steel.
We both need to visualise the final form, to work efficiently and minimalise waste after all, final finish come from a hand  tool. No sanding or grinding down to size with power tools is needed or necessary
I have always loved wooden cooking utensils, and when travelling have long made a point of searching out locally used examples in preference to the highly finished versions aimed at the tourist trade. My most memorable purchase was a handful of spoons bought from a merchant in Marrakech, his unfinished spoons were displayed in buckets, in bundles of 10. They were wholly utilitarian but beautifully made, and originally destined for the famed food stalls of  Djemaa el fna.

The most appealing spoons I have ever seen were however made by a fellow demonstrator, Mark Withers.    

Over the course of a weekend I watched how Mark made his spoons. He started with unseasoned cherry and split and hewed rough blanks from the log with a side axe, then refined the handles and outside of the bowl with a draw knife, the inside of the spoon was cut out with a unique gouge that Mark said was no longer made. After watching how this tool was used I made him a set of gouges during one of my demonstrations. In return I picked out a set of spoons and spatulas that to this day still have pride of place in our kitchen. The flowing, sinuous lines of these spoons are unrivalled by any I have seen since, also the finish appeals to me, they were cut to shape and not sanded, this give cleaner crisper lines, you can see the individual facets, where the wood mirrors the polished cutting edge of the tool. This is a sign of a great craftsman, if you can cut to shape and don’t resort to sanding you will work quicker, truer and cleaner. A pile of shaving is much healthier than a lungful of wood dust.

Six years later it was these spoons that provided the inspiration for my Ironwood Range, I wanted to take the best aspects of these spoons and green woodwork  and apply them to my ironwork, I wanted smooth clean lines. Finished straight from the hammer and anvil, not ground to shape. The gently flared handle would be a constant throughout the range, a  faceted texture to provide contrast and grip, a punched hole to allow them to show off their elegant lines as they hang. No joints to maintain strength and leave nowhere for germs or rust to take a hold. Lightness was important but this range is less delicate than some of the work that I am well known for, this is another reference to the material originally used by Mark.   

And yet they had to be practical, to feel good in the hand and to work well in the kitchen. After trialling the designs in our home, this I think I have achieved admirably.