ABOUT MY DAD AND HIS WOODCRAFT
I’ve been playing with wood for as long as I can remember. As a child, in post war London it was one of the few raw materials available to make the things we played with. We made swords, billy carts, cricket bats and a host of other things not available in the shops. My father taught me some basic skills with the hammer and saw and I was fortunate to have some truly dedicated teachers at school in the woodwork shop to add the finer details with planes, chisels and other tools. As I lived in a council flat, the opportunity to do much more than very simple things was not available. It was not until after I married and came to Tasmania that I had the space and resources to indulge a love for working with wood.
Australia has some truly wonderful timbers and Tasmania in particular, abounds in native and introduced species that are a joy to work with. My first efforts were mostly involved with house renovations but I gradually acquired tools and skills that allowed me to make some furniture and other items. The acquisition of a wood turning lathe in the early seventies was a turning point in more ways than one. I became fascinated with beauty revealed in turned timber. Huon pine, Blackwood, Sassafras, Myrtle and many other minor species present a variety of colors, textures and workability that allows your imagination to discover the shapes patterns and forms that lie hidden in the timber.
For many years during my working life as a scientist and a family man, my workshop was the place where I relaxed and although my self taught skills have never reached the master craftsman level, over the years I have produced some work that give me great satisfaction. Annie grew up with the sound of machinery coming from the downstairs workshop and a high school student, often came down to chat about homework and other things. She could not avoid learning about the appearance, figuring and smell of the timbers I used and is, if anything more passionate about wood than I am.
A few years ago, after she married and had children of her own, she started buying and selling finger puppets. I made some stands for the puppets for her to sell and as my grandchildren were growing up, made toys for them. Annie persuaded me to make some for her to sell and her children became our quality assurance team. If they liked it, didn’t break it and played with it, we could sell it. Annie is an advocate of the natural materials school and the things we make and sell are made without nails or screws, finished in natural oils and waxes and made from reclaimed and recycled timber. Most of the wood I use would otherwise be burnt or chipped. I take great satisfaction from locking up carbon in children’s playthings and the knowledge that my grandchildren and other kids are having fun and learning through the things that we make and sell is very rewarding.
We now make and sell a range of things. Trucks, fire engines, cars, helicopters, dolls house furniture, bridges, trains, music boxes and anything the grandchildren, ( or Annie) suggest. We don’t make a lot of money but we get great joy from it and most important have fun together.
BELOW ARE SOME SAMPLES OF MY DAD'S WOOD WORK...
WOODEN PEGS FOR MAKING CUBBIES AND DENS..
SMALL TABLES AND CHAIRS FOR DOLLS HOUSES OR GNOME HOMES..
BABY CRADLES
ROLLING PINS FOR CHLDREN
GORGEOUS LARGE WOODEN TRUCKS
SMALL TRACTORS AND TRAILOR TRUCKS
LARGE SASAFRASS MILK TRUCK
LARGE TRACTOR
TRAIN SETS
WOODEN FARM GATES AND TRACTOR SET
SMALL WOODEN ANIMALS
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