Gallery

One of my more unusual requests here...A new customer wanted me to make a display stand for a model locomotive.  This is a piece of Sapele, 22 inches long and 6" widt to accomodate this beautiful model.  I also engraved the brass plate!

Brooks WoodShop offers a personalisation service where you can purchase one of our "blank" cheeseboards, cutting boards or charcuterie boards and then personalise.  These cheeseboards have the "standard" 100mm X 100mm square two initials inlay (Walnut on Beech Cheeseboards).  

I had never seen a nutcracker like this until approximately 2 years ago...at which stage I said "I've got to have one of those".  There is sufficient wood in the bowl part to make it a year-round ornament...and if all your visitors are as ignorant of this style of nutcracker as I, then it also becomes a talking point!

My first foray "commercially" into wood.resin combinations.  Hopefully not the last...I've got loads of ideas!

The wood for this small Potpourri bowl came from a Yew Tree in my garden, which I had to fell due to disease.  It was at this stage that I discovered how beautiful and diverse Yew is.  Beautiful in terms of the colour, and diverse in terms of the variety of colours in a single trunk.  Yew varies greatly from very light “tan”, to deep oranges and browns, with a really interesting grain pattern.  

I love the "three-dimensional" properties of Laburnum.  Once polished when finishing the pen, the grain is really "deep".  The "Antique Brass"-coloured hardware also set off the colour of the Laburnum.  

One of the first bowls I turned, 5 years ago.  I instantly fell in love with Sapele (African Hardwood, similar to Mahogany, but with a much "deeper" (almost 3D grain).  

My first attempt a few years ago at something a little different and creative.  The woods chosen were Walnut, Beech and Cherry, which when cut in individual diamond shapes are formed to make a 3D Box effect.  I am calling it an Escher Bowl, as it has that “perpetual” quality that the artist of the same name paintings do!  I am planning lots more “3D” projects, as I really enjoy the complexity, challenge and overall effect.  

Using renowned "Crust/Grind" Mechanisms, these Salt and Pepper Mills allow extensive design potential, as there does not have to be a screw thread and nut on the top.  The grind intensity is set at the base and they are filled simply by pulling the tops off.  

The Crush/Grind Mechanisms also come in various sizes.  These are the 19.5cm, making the overall height of the Mill 23.5cm.  

A variety of the type of bowl I turn.  from the left, rotating clockwise:  Beech 18cm (7") diameter bowl, Spalted Beech 15cm (6") bowl,

Small Purple Heart Bowl 10cm (4") and Blue-coloured Small Beech Bowl 13cm (5")

The bowl at the front is what is known as Pomelle Sapele.  This is the most beautiful example of this wood type, it gives the wood a 3D "Quilted" look, which comes to the fore when the bowl is rotated in the light.  

Coloured inside by initially coating with black stain, then sanding back to leave the grain more visible, then applying a green/yellow stain, finally finishing with a food-safe lacquer.  

I got fed up of having to make two journeys with my teapot, milk jug and cup...so I made a Sapele Tray with indents routered into the surface to take my teapot and milk jug, so they wouldn't slide around the place.  Then sanded and applied a high gloss lacquer.  

Zebrano is a highly figured/grained wood (being somewhat "Zebra-like"(?).  It is also a very hard/dusty wood, but the effort is worth the reqard once a gloss lacquer is applied and polished to a high gloss finish!  

Zebrano also makes really interesting Pens

House number sign, inlaid coloured (slightly glow-in-the-dark) resin on a chamferred Oak board with brass chain fittings.  Finished with Acrylic Lacquer