I’ve just finished making and fitting a new handle to this elderly trowel, for a friend. The original handle had rotted, and was, in any case, too thin to be held comfortably, as she suffers from arthritis. I had a long piece of yew which had been drying for the last three years or so, so I cut off a suitable length and shaped it for left-handed use. I’ve not done much work in yew before, but rather like it: I think I have sufficient straight length for a walking stick.
I didn’t go to the sort of school which taught useful things like woodwork, and consequently, I had to teach myself, as and when the need arose. My first major project remains the largest I have ever tackled: a full-sized cabin bed for my son. The removals men cursed me, as it was huge and heavy, even broken down into sub-assemblies. Coming from an engineering background, I designed the thing with a view to it lasting, and it did: my son used it from the age of eight to seventeen, then we moved it back up to Bristol (we trailered it behind the Land-Rover), and my nephew took it over for a further eight years.
Other woodwork projects since have included a boot rack that needed two people to shift it, various walking sticks, two catteries, custom-built kitchen units, work benches, several tool handles, a couple of large bookcases, and a double-sized ashes box. As my old Latin master used to say, as his excuse for setting another long homework, ‘It keeps you off the streets, boys!’
Posted by Philip Watson on 2011-10-22 18:56:53
Tagged: , trowel , handle , yew , woodwork , hand tools , gardening