Learning to see and use the natural beauty in wood.

[delabodge]

cheers tommer, just ordered the book,,,,

[Woodworks]

Cheers for all the advise.

Tommer that is one great piece of brown oak it must have been heartbreaking cutting it down to a smaller table.

 

Just got some of my old pictures back.

Does this count as woodcraft?

[Gray git]

Hell yes, well made frames are almost a work of art in there own wright the skill involved in getting such large joints so tight is deftly a gift

[Woodworks]

Thanks for that.

 

In all honesty I don,t think I really understand the term woodcraft, how does it differ from conventional craftsmanship? I can see there is a style difference but I don't think I know where the line is drawn.

[woodland dweller]

Hi Woodworks, nice frames, shame to stick them up in the air, how many people will walk under them and not look up to see the time,skill and detail thats gone into those joints.

[Woodworks]

Fortunately they are in a low extension and are surprisingly visible, the vertical support is in fact completely unnecessary but the client thought it looked to plane without it.

[tommer9]

Cheers for all the advise.

Tommer that is one great piece of brown oak it must have been heartbreaking cutting it down to a smaller table.

 

Just got some of my old pictures back.

Does this count as woodcraft?

 

Beautiful frames!!!

yeah was a shame. The garden table is even bigger! Slabbed it all with an alaskan at full chat....45 minutes and a tank and a half of fuel in the 088 per slab. The log was mahoussive!

[agg221]

Coming back to the original question, I was talking to someone at the Uxbridge clock fair a couple of years ago by the name of John Birkett. He makes and restores clock cases and I was looking at one them (the one in the style of Tompion and Banger shown on the page in the link below). I was trying to guess a date - I guessed c.1700, he said he'd finished it the day before!

 

Gallery - John Birkett - Clock Case Maker & Restorer of Antique Clock Cases

 

He reckoned that 'proper' cabinet makers found it very hard to do what he does. The point is that it isn't perfect - there are defects in wood which show through, sometimes immediately, sometimes over time. A cabinet maker tries to treat wood as a perfect, homogenous material, with the beauty derived from the form he creates. It's a totally different skill to work with 'defects' and make the most of them.

 

The clock cases excepted, where the attention to detail in wear marks, stains, appropriate shade in the interior etc, with dents etc in all the right places is meticulous with the intention of replicating an appearance of age, most 'use of natural features' seems to work best when it's not competing with the form. This means simple shapes and structures seem to work best in showing off the natural form of the wood, so big slabs and blocks. You need something far more plain grained if you want to show off your own jointing, shaping etc. which I think is why the frames and jewellery box work well.

 

Alec

[delabodge]

Cheers for all the advise.

Tommer that is one great piece of brown oak it must have been heartbreaking cutting it down to a smaller table.

 

Just got some of my old pictures back.

Does this count as woodcraft?

 

lovely work,,

[Woodworks]

Alec you have hit the nail on the head. You have exactly described what I normally try to do. So basically a simpler form and let the wood do the talking.

 

I can,t resist posting this pic as it is the most beautiful wood I have ever used and probably my best piece again probably not "woodcraft" but certainly some lovely wood.