Scorched larch

Yakisugi is a traditional Japanese technique of charring or scorching to protect the wood from the elements. This technique is popular for cladding, particularly scorched larch. It is also great for sutainable, contemporary, garden furniture as no chemical preservative treatment is required.

This larch bench has been shaped with drawknife and angle grinder in preparation for scorching. I’ve carefully followed the grain at the boundary between sapwood and heartwood to retain the live edge but remove the non durable sapwood.

The level of scorch is fairly shallow and will quickly fade from charcoal black to reveal the grain of the larch. Subtle marks from the saw chain, have been left as part of the story of the making process. These lines, parallel to the grain, will slowly emerge as the scorching fades over the next few weeks.

Time to make some legs….

To see what’s currently available to purchase visit the Furniture section of the online shop.

Big bench

The extended dry weather has given me opportunity to get to a large larch stem on the edge of the woodland pond.

Larch is a deciduous European conifer, naturalised in the UK in the 17th Century, and its heartwood is naturally durable. This makes it a great sustainable choice for use externally as it requires no chemical treatment.

Bigger than it looks from the photos, the slab is 8 foot long, 4 inches thick and weighs more than I do. Milo was too interested in rabbits to pose and provide some scale. The main photo shows it relocated to its temporary home for shaping, planing and sanding.

The plan is to make this into a substantial garden bench with a scorched finish. Scorching further protects the timber from the elements and is a traditional Japanese timber treatment.

To see what’s currently available to purchase visit the Furniture section of the online shop.

Chainsaw milling

In the woodland workshop today….chainsaw milling an ash tree felled last autumn to create 8ft long, live edge boards.

The mill is a simple attachment to the chainsaw bar which guides the saw. It’s simple, but key to the low impact method used for processing and extracting all the timber I use. Trees are converted to useful timber where they fell using only tools that can be carried in by foot. No heavy machinery, not even a heavy horse is used.

I haven’t decided what they’re going to be yet but there’s no rush….it will take 2 years for the moisture content of this 2 inch board to drop sufficiently….time to build a solar kiln.

To see what’s currently available to purchase visit the Furniture section of the online shop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the workshop

‘In the workshop’ gives a sneaky peak at what’s currently on the workbench….and the opportunity to influence it.

Live edge oak bench

AxoMan will be gradually moving towards lighter and more sophisticated furniture, reducing the frequency where I’m carrying big lumps of tree around!

This seasoned welsh oak bench is the first item from this slight change in direction and will be available soon. It utilises traditional joinery with hand cut joints featuring contrasting ash pins and wedges. All timber used in the bench is sourced from my broadleaf woodland, milled in the woods, air dried for 2-3 years and finally sawn, planed and sanded by hand.

This bench is now complete, to see how it turned out have a look here.

To see what else is currently available to purchase visit the Furniture section of the online shop.