May 25, 2009
Well, maybe I should have never told anyone how beautiful olive wood is – to turn and to look at! Low and behold I was asked to “prune” some trees in Covas – it seems like butchery when first seen (I will post some photographs of what this pruning looks like). The result was a whole load of olive to turn green and that has been keeping me very busy this past week – some of it I will leave to dry and some I am turning. Interestingly the wood is very pale compared to the dry wood. The centre of the heartwood is already dark, but not nearly as dark as it will be in a few weeks.
Turning a piece of green olive
May 15, 2009
I have spent a few days turning some small pieces of old olive wood and what a treat – it turns so well and these pieces are wonderfully marked. As well as the wood being very pretty, the pieces are cracked and wormy, which for me makes them even more interesting. Here are a couple and there will be many more to come over the next few days.
Beautifully marked olive - turned into small bowls, complete with their imperfections (≈ 9 cms wide x 8 cms high)
The same olive bowls - from above
My friends Eunice and Mark at Yavanna have just told me that they have some olive for me too, so I hope to be able to go and collect that in the coming days. Then Victorinho told me in the bar at lunch time on Sunday that he has some cork oak that has been wind blown – I went to see it and I am just waiting for the grass to dry – it is on a very steep slope and slippery grass and chain saws do not mix! Victorinho tells me there is an interesting law in Portugal that prohibits the felling of cork oak trees – windblown branches are fine. If you watch the link above you will see why.
Photograph showing the older cork bark harvested from the trunk of the tree
I read about a new film coming soon which I want everyone to know about – yes, another warning of how we are mistreating the planet, but one that suggests how we can remedy the situation too – it is called The End of the Line and from the trailer it looks very well worth watching.
May 6, 2009
What a wonderful month. I honestly don’t think I can remember a spring like this anywhere. It started in February when we had days when the temperature went up into the twenties and now we have had almost unbroken spring-like weather since then. Yes, too little rain and that his always a worry with the global warming trend, but we have done okay and the garden looks very good.
Wonderful colour in this apple wood - but I fear it may split very badly
It has been difficult to spend time indoors and although the doors have been wide open in the workshop, I have still spent too much time gardening and not enough time turning. I have had some very lovely apple wood from my friend Gerry, but sadly I fear that I will not be able to use it as well as I would have liked. I have finished turned some pieces and they have moved very inters tingly, but have also split despite all the care I have taken. I have also rough turned some pieces and I have more hope for these, but not very high hopes – we shall see.
As with all my wood it came form a tree that had to be cut – it was touching telephone lines. Even the pink ivory I brought back with me from Mozambique was not cut for timber - in this case, I knew someone who told me about a big tree that was cut when they widened the road near Nelspruit. It makes getting wood more of a challenge, but it is possible to avoid harvesting rare woods. I managed to get some reclaimed rosewood like this – they had been used as timbers in a barn and although it is now well seasoned, it still turns beautifully. My local sawmill also keeps pieces for me that they are unable to saw and the carpenter who made all out wonderful doors and windows even keeps the burls that would have been rubbish for him!
A variety of bottle stoppers - write to me for availability and for bulk orders please.
So, the month of April flew by in a blur of birdsong, gardening, asparagus and starting to organise the workshop, while producing my ever popular bottle stoppers. Now I have them made in pink ivory, rosewood, orange, local olive, wild olive form South Africa, local vine wood, beech, local oak – well – lots of different woods. These are always popular with guests to the area – easy to take back and easy to order. If you see some that you like, let me know – it may still be here or I can probably find one that is similar.
