Oak Box Collection

Brief

To repurpose a four hundred year old oak beam into gifts for family members.

Inspiration

The initial conversation with the client went along the line of

Client: “What can you do with this Jon?”

Me: “Fire wood, burn well and would keep you going for a bit”

Client: long pause “Mmmmm no. You’ll come up with something”

Filled with confidence he left leaving me to scratch my head.

After a number of days staring at the rotten, weather beaten beams and but knowing under the surface there would be some interesting timber.

I wanted to preserve the caricature of the beam and the patena whilst at the same time creating items that would stand the test of time.

Every one likes a good box!

Construction

For their age the beams were reasonably  straight so my first task was to rip them down on the bandsaw into basic boards, this would give me a starting point. After a day of ripping and a couple of blades later (nails five v blades two).

The next stage was the design of the boxes. Looking at textures and pattens both on and within the timber. The other blast of inspiration was to only use hand tools so the bandsaw was the last mechanical process employed.

Cutting, dimensioning, mitred dovetails and finishing was all by hand.