Last bit of 2022 into 2023

 

As the year ended Sales were up ...

 

... hugely on the Summer - well people are only human and there is only so long they can resist my amazing timber even with an economic crisis. Of course then, being a one man band albeit with a bit of help from my aged band of volunteers stock becomes an issue.

 

Elm is always a winner for me ...

 

... it's rare in the South of England now but still hughly popular with cabinet and chair makers. In 2019 I was lucky to get a beautiful Elm from an equally beautiful house and gardens that used to be a Vicarage a mile from the Woods. I wouldn't call Anthony the owner beautiful but he is a good looking bloke who is throughly decent and a pleasure to do business with. See Autumn 2019 blog for more about that log which is now dry and selling well.

 

So I was delighted to get a ...

 

... a text that Anthony was getting another dead Elm felled and was I interested? Yes, I was and was over like a rat up a drain pipe for a sniff. I was so quick that they were still felling it so I withdrew and came back a couple of days later.

 

In between telling me about his latest fish catch he showed me the latest beauty. You'll see the stump is rotten hence it had to come down but we think the rot only goes to the sprayed red line on the trunk ... well here's hoping..

Looking at the Yew ...

 

... that I sourced in last blog drying nicely and straight I had a hankering for some more. The last decent amount I had landed was pre covid and it has been selling quite consistently recently - especially book matched boards.

I left Mike and Tuesday Dave to cut half a dozen sets of pairs and these were so good I headed over to where I got them and bought some more!

A man wakes up in the hospital ...

 

... bandaged from head to foot. The doctor comes in and says, "Ah, I see you've regained consciousness. Now, you probably won't remember, but you were in a pile-up on the motorway.

You're going to be okay, you'll walk again and everything, but something happened. I'm trying to break this gently, but the bad news is your willy was chopped off in the wreck and we were unable to find it.

 

The good news is you've got £9,000 in insurance ...

... compensation coming and we have the technology now to build you a new willy that will work as well as your old one did - better in fact! But the thing is, it doesn't come cheap. It's £1,000 an inch.

The man perks up at this. So, the doctor says, It's for you to decide how many inches you want. But it's something you'd better discuss with your wife.

 

If you had a five inch one before ...

 

... and you decide to go for a nine incher, she might be a bit put out. But if you had a nine inch one
before, and you decide only to invest in a five incher this time, she might be very disappointed.

 

So it's important that she plays a role in helping you make the decision. The man agrees to talk with his wife.

 

So, says the doctor the next day, have you spoken with your wife?

I have, says the man. What is the decision? asks the doctor.

We're having granite worktops !

 

Shortly after looking at the Elm ...

 

... above I got a call from Antony that he had a digger on site that could load one of the bits. It wasn't going to be there long and the access from a public footpath was getting muddier as winter kicked in so I put it on top of the to do list and with some good directing into position was able to load it and get out without getting stuck.

 

This is the shorter length to the left of Anthony in the top picture and at just over half a ton about right for my trailer.

Instead of cash for the log ...

 

... Anthony suggested that from another bit of Elm nearby we cut him a couple of large gateposts that should hold his new gates in situ for almost as long as the Elm was growing in his Woods. I was more than happy with this. He actually bought back some Elm from the 2019 tree and had a very classy garden bench professionally made for his wife's birthday. He could easily have cadged it but isn't that sort of geezer.

 

It can take weeks for us to cut a new log but we put this straight on the saw cutting mostly1.25" planks including 4 book matched pairs.

 

 

The figure and colour is not very Elm like bit it's deffo Elm having seen it growing and was about 12 foot from the 2019 which looked identical bark wise but different colour.

As the year faded away I asked my mate ...

 

... Andy if he's like to sell me some dry Walnut. The 5 logs from summer were cut but obvs going to be drying for another year and my existing stock was shrinking due to the annoying habit of people coming and buying it.

 

You'll see Andy pop up quite regularly over the years and involves me getting quality hard to source stock from him. Such is my confidence in him when he agreed to dig out 20 cubic feet I sent the money over the same day secure in the knowledge that when it arrives not only will I be pleased but more importantly YOU my Walnut greedy punters!

 

You'll have to come and look at the Walnut as ...

 

... at time of going to print we hadn't sorted the move but it will happen! So instead to wet your appetite a bit of Beech finally extracted from Helmdon and cut for such a ridiculously inflated price that I shall have to look at other options.

 

 

Getting Beech that has heavily spalted as above that isn't rotten is fairly rare so these will fly away when dry.

 

Looking forward to seeing in 2023 the usual timber junkies and fresh victims who have passed my strict visiting criteria - having some dosh!

 

Regards,
Paul GOULDEN