Woodcraft

The traditional products of underwoodsmen working beneath the canopy of the trees.

John Surplice

John is a retired NationalTrust woodsman who carves semi-decayed tree roots found in the woodland surrounding his home.
Working with the natural form of the wood each piece is painstakingly ‘cleaned’ with woodcarvers chisels and gouges to reveal the sound wood beneath the decay, a process that, with some of the larger pieces, represents several years of work.
The beauty of the pieces lies in the lack of distinction between the work of John’s hand and that of nature.

The attached images show a range of John’s work over the past few years. For details of pieces currently available to purchase or to discuss a commission please contact me.

Pimps

‘Pimp’ is the traditional Sussex term for a bundle of 25 bundles of kindling sticks, each of which is 10” in circumference and 10” long.
Made of Birch twigs, which have a high natural oil content and therefore ignite easily, mixed with larger kindling sticks of Birch and Hazel, the wood is collected in December and then dried under canvas for a year before being bundled together and tied with tarred string.
The oil within the Birch produces a wonderfully sweet and fragrant smell when burning. The derivation of the term ‘pimp’ is unclear but may derive from ‘pimple,’ meaning small, in the context of it being the smaller relation of the ‘faggot’ - a bundle of larger fire lighting sticks 24” in circumference and 36” long

25 bundle Pimps are available for sale at £65 each including p & p to UK mainland.
Please ring or email if you would like to place an order.

Bread Boards

From time to time I make single board bread / kitchen boards from unusual pieces of timber or ‘offcuts’ of the larger boards used in furniture and cabin projects.
Please ring or email for current availability of these.