Rustic Furniture

The woodland here offers a wealth of materials to inspire creativity. However making furniture from green coppiced wood can offer challenges as well as opportunities. Creating a rustic piece straight from the woods is very unlike the process of making something from a set plan, with timber of preordained measurements bought from the timber yard.

The timber which grows here isn’t straight or square nor does it lack knots and blemishes, however these irregular shapes and imperfections can add to the charm and quirkiness of the finished product. Much of the time I spend on a piece is ‘looking’ time. Hunting through my woodpiles, scouring trees for just the right bend in a branch or fork in a length of wood, offering things up, trying different pieces in different places and so on. Carefully selecting the right materials for the job is far more of a consideration in this type of work than in bench joinery using precut materials.

I would most commonly use Sweet Chestnut for outdoor products such as benches, chairs or tables. The species was probably planted here during the 19th century to supply fencing materials to the local farms and estates, and poles for the hop industry in Kent and East Sussex.  Its high tannin content makes it extremely durable, comparable with that of  oak, though not quite as hard. It is a lovely wood to work, it cleaves very easily revealing a lovely textured grain and once the bark is peeled off a beautiful creamy yellow surface is exposed which gradually turns silvery grey as it ages.

This kind of work appeals to me as it fits in so well with the natural surroundings of a woodland or garden. Unlike the plastic flat pack furniture so common to DIY and garden centres, the furniture I make from the coppiced woodland is 100% natural and sustainable. By the time you have the piece of furniture home, the stem I cut to make it from will already be regrowing. In 15 or 20 years time, it will be cut again, to make a replacement, but the old one won’t be thrown in to landfill, it will most likely be cut up as firewood and its final use be that of warming your living room for a few evenings. You wouldn’t want to do that with your redundant old plastic flat packs!

All my furniture is made to order, mostly using traditional hand tools, although I do use a chain saw mill to rip planks for table tops and benches. Every piece I make is unique and one off, so please contact me to discuss your particular requirements or project. Lead time in the summer months is 4 to 6 weeks, it can be longer during the busy winter period. Please contact me for further details.