Bespoke Furniture

A fine piece of furniture is a combination of craftsmanship and the wood it is made of, so it is helpful to understand some of the procedures a typical hardwood has to go through before it becomes a piece of furniture. Oak has long been the favorite of furniture makers' because of its strength and figuring, which when polished, produces a rich long lasting patina.

Oak trees grown for sustainable harvesting achieve a height of over seventy five feet and a butt diameter in excess of three feet, which has often taken well over two hundred years to grow. When felled the lower part of the trunk, called the butt, where the grain is clearer and cleaner, is then converted into planks and stacked with "sticks" between and left to air dry for one year per inch of board thickness.

The purpose of air drying the timber is to reduce the moisture content at the time of felling, from 60% to 25%. A further reduction down to 10-12% will be needed, which is achieved by placing the planks in a kiln for up to 40 days at a varying temperature ranging from 20 - 60 centigrade.

After this process the timber is ready to be used in making furniture and fine joinery. Central heating will further dry out a piece of wood, so it is advisable to store prepared timber awaiting use in a similar temperature to the anticipated environment.

This unique garden seat, designed by the famous furniture maker, Viscount David Linley, was commissioned by a private client as a wedding anniversary present for his French wife, whose family lived in a chateau surrounded by oak trees. The instructions were to design and make a seat in two halves, which would encompass one of the oaks and create a tranquil seating area. The design was greeted with a great deal of enthusiasm; however the estimate for making this seat was not! I was then approached to quote and ended up making the seat for a third of the price quoted by Viscount Linley - sometimes fame can work against you, but none the less it was a privilege to create a piece by such a famous designer.

Oak was the natural choice of timber for the seat, which had to be made into two identical halves and linked by a mechanical connector. Construction was by very traditional methods of tenon and mortice joints with dowel pins and the slats were rebated into a groove in the horizontal frame. To commemorate the occasion the clients names and date were carved into the frame. On this occasion no oils or preservatives were applied as a natural weather effect was required.