This site is intended to inform, educate and entertain those who believe that traditional skills and mastercrafts are worth hanging on to. Bygone Country skills such as, spoon carving with woods like birch, sycamore, willow, ash and rowan using an axe and knives. Bowl and plate turning, as well as chair parts made on a foot powered lathe. Trug basket making with chestnut/ash and willow, using the cleaving, trimming and steaming process. Ash, hazel and willow clothes pegs. Basketry from willow and the hedgerow. Gypsy flowers and Hobo flowers from elder and hazel woods. Cups and containers made from ash, birch, hazel, pine and willow. Boxes and knife sheathes from birch bark. Making charcoal from willow. Troughs and trenchers made from cherry and ash using an adze, axe, knives and chisels. Tent pegs from ash using a froe, drawknife and shaving horse. These are some of the items I make, along with the woods I use and the tools and devices I choose to use. What follows over the next pages is a selection of photographs and videos of all the above 'bygone country skills' from 1999 to the present. Although it is my aim to pass on my skills and preserve our heritage, I still have to make a living, so you will also have the opportunity to buy my work or commission me. You might even like to attend a workshop or book me as an attraction to your event.
I have £5,000,000.00 Public Liability Insurance, an enhanced CRB disclosure, a risk assessment has been carried out and is reviewed regularly.
