Farewell to the Summer

On October 31, 2016 By Mike AbbottIn Making chairsLeave a comment

Bishops Frome versus Trafalgar Square

For the last couple of years we have arranged a disco/party to celebrate the ‘Return of the Sun’ and to raise a few quid for some good causes. This spring it didn’t happen, a major reason being the clash of dates with the Anti-Trident demo in London. Leaping about in the village hall would have been much warmer than standing in an icy wind in Trafalgar Square but I’m glad we had been there to listen to some inspiring speeches about the insanity of spending a fortune on something that no sane person would ever envisage putting to use.

Alright Now

Doing my best to ignore the crazy world of politics, I actually enjoyed a very successful summer of courses in my new shelter at Greenwood Cottage. So to celebrate, I took it on myself to organize ‘Farewell to the Sun’, as one last fling before winter set in. Stevie and his young crew were happy to run the disco. I tracked down AleWrightNow (I only just got the play on words relating to Free’s big hit), who were happy to lay on a licenced bar with all the works plus 3 staff if we could reckon on about 80 adults. As the date grew near, I realized I had been a bit lazy with publicity and invitations, on top of which lots of people had planned trips and other events to coincide with the half-term hols.

Dashing away

The evening arrived and I turned up having collected a couple of friends, Emily & Paul from the train, to find the AleWright crew chomping at the bit, waiting for the previous kids Halloween party to vacate the kitchen. One benefit of this quick change-over was that we inherited a load of pumpkin and bat decorations to compliment the colourful bunting that Tamsin brought along – having dashed back from a day with her artist friends at the opening of the latest fabulous exhibition at Twenty Twenty gallery in Bridgenorth.

graham-arnold — Graham Arnold with his artwork at Twenty Twenty

Our first guest was Felicity, the recently retired mayor of nearby Leominster with her husband Pete, after whom a steady trickle of both expected and unexpected friends and guests slowly dispelled my fear of the event being a damp squib. A selection of 70’s disco was followed by some electronic music and when the rock playlist kicked in, the place started buzzing. When the last few guests arrived, they were greeted by a sweaty, frenzied but very happy old greenwood chair-maker, of whom I’m sure Philip Clissett would have been proud. Enough friends stayed on to help clear up – many thanks to Lois & Ben and especially Jo & Colin. This just left Tamsin, Paul, Emily and myself to find/wind/wend our way through the broccili field back to Greenwood Cottage for the night.

A good old fry-up

After counting up the £300 takings to be shared between the two charities, Practical Action and Peace Direct, the following morning was spent enjoying a mild morning in the garden around our splendid fire pit (made for us by Andrew Findlay). A huge fry-up was donated and cooked by old friends David & Smiffy. This brought back fond memories of many such morning breakfasts in the woods, stretching back beyond Brookhouse Wood to the days of Clissett Wood.

Breakfast the morning after — David, Emily, Paul & Smiffy (and Linny looking for leftovers)

Thus fortified, Paul leapt into action helping with my earthworks, extending the lawn below Tamsin’s ‘creative nest’ at the top of the garden, much to the delight of Tamsin’s ‘familiar’, ZaZa.

It’s now head down for me to get some chairs made for Hereford Contemporary in a couple of weeks, while Tamsin creativity is unleashed in fulfilling the many demands for her work in the run up to Christmas. – see Tamsin’s website for more details.

Some serious chair production

On October 24, 2016 By Mike AbbottIn Making chairs1 Comment

With a picture in my mind of mornings in a spacious workshop and afternoons on the beach, I had agreed to spend a week or two in West Wales this summer helping my colleague Peter fulfil his order of 40 chairs to go to a hospice in Denmark. The best laid plans and all that…………

By the time we had reached early October, we agreed that I should do my bit in my workshop in Herefordshire, then just spend a couple of days delivering my produce and assembling a few chairs together in his workshop. I spent a week making and bending a load of crests, cross-rails, laths and back legs, then loaded them along with some more ash logs into my van and drove over to Pembrokeshire. I arrived to find Peter and Nikki working away in what he had referred to as a barn – not some romantic timber structure but it did have a roof, 4 walls and a pair of doors that opened wide. On my arrival we carried the fruits of my labours into his workshop for Peter’s inspection.

Peter selecting a log outside his barn

Peter checking my bent bits.

For somebody who had just spent 6 months assisting running courses, Peter had established an impressive chair-production workshop, with an eager team of co-workers, Nikki, Merlin and Alec, who all spent various lengths of time gaining invaluable experience in a production situation. Alec was now back home and Merlin was away for the week, leaving just Peter and Nikki, so the three of us spent the remainder of the day assembling back panels. Most impressive to me (and well-placed in the autumn sunshine) was the work-bench, made out of a fire door that he had bought for £5, with a leg in each corner and a little bracing – simple but effective. At one end hung his F-clamps, within easy reach when needed. (When I arrived home to my own workshop, I put this idea to use by adding a rack for clamps to help hold down my bench when steam-bending.)

Peter enviously eyeing up the fancy chisels I brought with me.

Easily reached F-clamps holding down my own lightweight bench

I stupidly left my camera tripod in Peter’s workshop, so was unable to take a decent photo of the spectacular collection of 24 chairs, which Peter and his gang had already assembled. Some of them had already been seated, using knitted polypropylene cord, making for a very light, attractive, comfortable and long-lasting seat.

Two dozen lath-back chairs — Chairs stacked in Peter’s spare room

Seeing these chairs stacked and ready for shipment brought to mind Philip Clissett’s contract for 100 or so chairs for the Art Worker’s Guild in London in the late 19th Century. Could it be that Peter’s project is the largest single order for hand-made greenwood chairs in the last 120 years?

The following day we returned to the ‘barn’ where we squeezed together numbers 25,26 & 27, briefly assisted by Britte (sorry if I got the name wrong), the lady who had placed the order.

Peter and his team now have 3 weeks to complete the chairs before they set sail for Denmark, after which he & Louise with their Welsh-born baby daughter, Gwen re-locate to Sweden on the next phase of their remarkable lives. I look forward to seeing some pictures of this collection of chairs in the hospice ……………..and to following the progress of this inspiring young family.

The first day’s bending

On October 17, 2016 By Mike AbbottIn Making chairsLeave a comment

After diving into a lovely ash log on Saturday, I spent yesterday morning removing the dry old bark then cleaving the 5 best sections to yield the back legs (and a pile of lovely kindling wood).

The legs have to be marked about 1cm away from the stained wood beneath the bark.

Half the legs have been shaved yielding a good pile of shavings

This morning I checked through the inner sections and found a couple more leg blanks. The rest were cut to length to yield crests and cross-rails.

Inner sections cut to 45cm — These were cleft to give produce the crests and cross-rails

Another section was cut into 30cm lengths, then cleft using a ‘push-knife’ giving the blanks for the laths.

This lath was split from both ends

Laths cleft, shaved and ready for steaming

When I had enough bits prepared, they were loaded into the steamer.

The steamer loaded — 4 legs, 4 crests, 4 cross-rails and 4 sets of laths ready for steaming.

The laths only needed 30 mins in the steamer, then after about an hour spent bending everything, they were loaded into the dryer, where they shall receive about 20 hours in a circulation of warm air (about 30 degrees C).

The dryer full of bent bits — 2 pairs of back legs plus all the components for 4 back panels

The plan is to bend the same again for the next 3 days to complete the bent components needed to finish Peter’s 40 chairs.

Peter’s last legs

On October 15, 2016 By Mike AbbottIn Making chairsLeave a comment

I got back an hour ago after helping my mate Hamish and a bunch of his mates erecting a chestnut cruck framed shelter. I found a message from my Danish friend Peter with a list of steam-bent pieces he needs to complete his order of 40 chairs for a theraputic centre in Denmark. I could see the clouds gathering, so after a quick cuppa I got the chainsaw and cut a metre length of ash, 28cm diameter that Toby had delivered a few weeks ago.

A perfect length of ash among my firewood pile — The upright section looks just right for 16 back chair legs

With maul and axe, I split it into two halves and barrowed it to the cleaving break. With the Ray Iles mega-froe, I split it into quarters then with the lovely froe that I was sent this spring (lost the guy’s name but I’ll post it sometime) I cleft these into eights, then a tangential split on each to give some lovely straight sections to produce the 16 crests & cross rails on Peter’s list plus what should turn out to be the blanks for 16 back legs tomorrow. Then I need to cleave and bend him 80 laths. Watch this space!

7 inner sections just as the rain started

It’s party time again

On October 3, 2016 By Mike AbbottIn EventsLeave a comment

A September evening sing-song at Brookhouse Wood

It is just over a year since my farewell gathering at Brookhouse Wood last year. Readers of this blog will know that the winter was spent planning the next phase, while spring was spent erecting a new shelter at Greenwood Cottage. June was a bit wet but after that, running courses in our sunny garden made a pleasant contrast to the leafy woodland canopy. It was only when my old mates, Tom & Owen dropped in for an evening last week, that I realised the one thing I did miss about the woods was the evening campfires with their raucous sing-songs.

The new shelter working well for dispensing party food

Having said that, this summer has not been devoid of evening entertainment. Tamsin’s birthday party in June managed to find itself one of the few dry June evenings with over 100 guests filling our blossoming garden.

So before the year is over, we’re planning one final blast, much the same as the two springtime parties we have held over the last few years. After the initial Valentine’s Disco in 2014, we got together with Toby & Aly of Say it with Wood in 2015 to put on The Return of the Sun. With support from other local businesses we managed to raise £333 for the local Green Party and £170 for a charity called Practical Action. This autumn we shall again be collecting for Practical Action, encouraged by the delightful thank-you card from them after the last event.

practical-action — The thank-you card from Practical Action after the last event.

The other beneficiary will be a wonderful charity called Peace Direct, having attended an inspiring talk by their founder Scilla Elworthy earlier this summer. We won’t be providing food this year but Alewright will be running a fully licenced bar. The music will again be provided by Stevie Bean and his family, who are keen to try out their new speakers, playing ‘an eclectic mix of soul, rock, disco and more’.

Farewell to the Sun will be held in Bishops Frome Village Centre on Saturday 29th October, from 8pm to midnight and tickets will cost just £5 on the door. Just like at the supermarkets, you will be able to choose which charity receives your money, or you can split it between the two, or if you are feeling really generous, you could give them £5 each.

We are looking forward to another great evening, getting together with friends old and new, to network, to chat and to dance the night away. We hope to see you there.

Mike Abbott's Living Wood

Month: October 2016