Saturday 2 August 2014
Test crimson moon
Sunday 6 April 2014
1914 songs list
Friday 22 November 2013
Wood samples from the Garden
Wood from the Garden
These examples have all been cut from trees within the Garden over the last few months. They have been sliced using a bandsaw, then put through an electric planer to remove most of the saw marks. They were then lightly sanded and coated with a single coat of clear varnish to keep the planed surfaces clean. Machine marks will exist on most of the examples.
1. Ash - Smooth grey bark. Grain tends to run parallel. The wood is strong and flexible. Related to the olive. Known as the Queen of trees, and brings good luck and wards off witchcraft.
The name is believed to come from an Anglo Saxon word for "spear"
Used for golf club shafts, inexpensive 'country' furniture, as a veneer, bentwood furniture, axe handles (it is strong enough to resist the shock of the blow but also cushions the shock to the user ), cart shafts, walking sticks, boat paddles, billiard cues, cricket stumps , spears, arrows, ladders, chassis of Morgan motor car, and before the development of light alloys ash wood was used for the construction of aircraft wings, including the famous Second World War De Havilland Mosquito.
2 Holly - Smooth bark, mainly white wood, heavy, very fine grained and even. It stains and polishes well and is prized for inlay work on decorated furniture. Holly has been used for making chessmen and the butts for billiard cues, shuttles for hand-weaving, small tools, 'turned' articles, inlay patterns on furniture.
The berries repel witches.
3 Hornbeam - heavy, grain does not run straight. Greyish brown bark. Hardest British wood. Quicker to grow than oak.
Cogs in wind and water mills, anything needing a screw thread, musical instruments, butchers blocks, furnace fuel (because it burns very hot)
Can blunt some tools.
4 Hazel - great toughness and elasticity -bark is light brown (tan) and shows characteristic "Freckles" . Walking sticks, fishing rods, baskets, golf club shafts, pegs for thatch. This is the traditional tree of wisdom - eating the nuts will make you clever! Magic wands are oftenmade from hazel.
5 Oak - knobbly bark a bit like crocodile skin! Very hard wearing (durable). Known as the King of trees in mythology. (the word "Druid" means "oak-man") Grain varies within a single piece. Occasionally has :"watermarks" going across the grain. Most furniture up the 18th century, deckchairs, boats and ships, (particularly 'men-of-war' for the Royal Navy) ,wooden frame houses, carved work esp. Jacobean, tanning leather, wine casks, field gates, charcoal.
6 Sycamore - grain wide spread. Grey bark, lightweight. Not particularly strong. The example has stains at one end due to fungus when it was on the ground. Sometimes wood is deliberately left to develop the start of a fungal infection before the fungus is treated - it adds colour and pattern to the wood.
Uses have included rollers for domestic mangles, plates and food utensils, snuff boxes, Welsh love spoons.
7 Willow - doesn't normally grow to any great size. Lightweight. Lots of spaces in grain. Uses have included house building, coracle frames, and charcoal manufacture. Willow's ability to absorb shock without splintering is still utilised in the making of cricket bats and stumps (note also the similarity between 'wicket' and 'wicker'), and the Dutch traditionally make their clogs from willow wood. The wood is good for turning. Wickerwork is what willow is probably most famous for, using the smaller osiers and coppiced or pollarded willow. Before the advent of plastics, willow was widely used to make a variety of containers, from general basketry to specialised applications such as lobster pots and bee hives.
Willow sculptures made by planting willow twigs then training them to grow in different shapes.
8. Cherry - hard, fine-grained, multicoloured reds in grain. Often has smooth bark. Ornamental uses. Turning, especially the large burls with unusual grains which can appear on the trunk. It is also used for making furniture. In mythology home to the Vilya - beautiful woodlands creatures of Eastern Europe.
9. Eucalyptus - close very irregular grain. Because of fast growth there are a lot of stresses in the wood. Skill is needed to identify the best way to season each piece or it will split. Can be used for furniture, often used for biomass fuel.
Splits easily when drying.
10 Hawthorn - White strong, close-grained wood, Larger pieces of wood tend to split when drying. Belongs to the rose family. Used for walking sticks, mill-wheel teeth,veneer for furniture, carving, tool handles. hedging. Associated with death -botanists have discovered that the chemical trimethylamine present in hawthorn blossom is also one of the first chemicals formed in decaying animal tissue. Notwithstanding the above taboo, the leaves were eaten and were commonly referred to as bread and cheese, the blossom and berries were made into wines and jellies
11 Beech - lightweight white and very hard wood bentwood furniture - often used as drawers - takes paint well and often used for gilded furniture - spinning wheels, Sheraton (furniture maker) turned beech to make imitation bamboo furniture - carpenters tools, esp. mallets and handles. Tends to warp when wet
12 Pine, light colour, wide grain, used extensively for floors, building frames, decking, because it is fast growing and cheap. Masts of ships. Because pine can split easily where there are holes cut in it, ship builders would strengthen the areas around holes with rope lashings.