Chris Holmes Cabinetmaker

Or- What’s happened (so far) with the Meadows Elms?

The first pieces made from the Meadows elms were on display in the Scottish Furniture Makers autumn exhibition at the Dovecot Gallery. Edinburgh.

All photos are high resolutiom and can be displayed full screen simply by clicking on them. I’m sorry that some of them will display on their side but you can use your own software to correct this. Further information on individuals can be obtained via the SFMA website.

If I’ve inadvertently missed a maker out , I apologize. Get in touch, with a JPEG, and I can include you.

In no particular order (as they like to say), we have

Tom Cooper. Side table

the tripartite burr top is composed with sycamore spokes

a

Dave Powell: small bookcase with solid bac

Chris Scotland: dining table

and a view of the grain of the top

rob thomson:bench, table  and chairs

michaela huber: revolving bookvase

jonathan lassen: glsss-topped occasional table

jack rootes: rocking chair

and,finally, for something that wee bit different,

Adrian McCurdy: (van Goghian) day and night

A brief update.

The half of the planking that came to Gogar was dried down to 10% (maybe the odd bit of the odd plank as high as 12%, which is not a bad performance?) by early July and planks were collected by those SFMA members who (a) had helped with the processing of the logs and (b) are proposing to make a piece with it for the forthcoming Dovecot exhibition in October.

REMINDER  On this and all earlier posts, a high resolution version of any photo can be obtained simply by clicking on that photo within the post. It can then be dragged to your desktop (whence you can do with it what you will).

Anyone interested in commissioning a maker or purchasing an exhibition piece should contact our association at www.sfma.org.uk. Meantime those SFMA members who are actively making their exhibition pieces with Meadows elm can leave a comment  to this post and thereby direct people to what they are doing. Go on, what’s the worst that can happen?

For the record, the other half of the Meadows elm is air drying under the stewardship of  Tom Cooper and will be similarly distributed to makers once drying is complete next year. I hereby give notice that I am spitting on a couple of the very fine burr planks that one of the Melville Drive elms produced.

Due to ill-health, I am unable to do a piece for this years exhibition but hope to make a comeback next year. It is my intention to use some of the Golf Tavern planking to make another cabinet in the manner of my Royal Botanic Gardens “Edinburgh Skyline” (see e.g the picture that heads my whole blog) but this time depicting the view of Salisbury Crags and Arthur’s Seat as seen across the Links  from the Golf. I have laid aside some beautiful Golf Tavern elm planks for this purpose. Should the tree itself figure in this view? Presently I’m thinking yes – a nice self-referential slant to something that no longer exists.

My other rambling thought on using some other of these golf elm planks (since I counted the rings at 120) would be to depict the Forth rail bridge which, like the tree, dates from 1890………….

The following posts depict the felling of some of these elms, their conversion to planking and the kilning of these planks.

This probably constitutes a a unique record in terms of the provenance of the furniture that gets made therefrom!

A couple of weeks ago, over a 2 day period, the Scottish Furniture Makers elm logs were converted to planking at Edinburgh Council’s Inverleith yard using  the Woodmizer mobile sawmill operated by Real Wood Studios of Ancrum by Jedburgh, Keith Threadgall at the sharp end. The cost of converting the logs worked at approximately £3.50 per cubic foot with members providing the the labour.

Woodmizer sawing Wheatley elm

brushing saw dust off sawn plank

From L to R, Jonathan lassen, Tom Cooper, John Johnson, Micheala Huber and chris Scotland,

Half the timber, amounting to approx 150 cu. ft. has been put into stick for air drying at Tom Coopers workshop. The other half has now been transported to my workshop and will soon be going into my dehumidifying kiln for drying (“the last lap”) in time to be used by members to build pieces for the Association’s Dovecot exhibition in October. It is hoped drying will be complete by the end of June.

unloading at Gogar

From L to R Chris Scotland,John Mackinnon, Rob Elliot, Jonathan Lassen, John Johnson and Rob Thomson

Timber for kilning, converted at 40mm and 30mm thicknesses, includes the Golf Tavern elm, the big wych elm from the western end of Brunsfield Links and its neighbouring Huntingdon elm.

Or more exactly, the last of the six Meadows/Bruntsfield Links trees the SFMA are getting was taken down on the 10th Feb, Nick Tooley doing the honours.

At approaching three tons, this is the biggest of the lot and posed some problems with the uplifting.

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Finally, marking the end of phase one of the project, the logs at Inverleith yard with their ends painted and awaiting the sawmiller. the log in the foreground with its yellow end just visible is the Golf tavern elm. Photo, and most of the paint, courtesy of Tom Cooper.

the end of a very damp painting session...please can we go home?

tree prepared for felling

Wednesday 2nd Feb, about 10.00am

removing wedge

starting to go

...on its way down...

...and hitting the ground...

(upper limbs have been left on to break the fall)

bottom end of bole, very clean (sound, no rot)

Green in the rings suggests wych elm. A rough ring count indicates a tree about 120 years old. What was happening in 1890? Well, lets see….the Forth railway bridge was opened, Stan laurel was born and, on a personal note, Gogar Church, my workshop, was rebuilt.

starting to tidy up

the 14ft log ready to lift

This was taken saturday 5th feb. Stump has been stripped of bark to prevent spread of Dutch elm disease.

Substantial progress on the SFMA/CEC meadows elms project!

Having been alerted by the council, I wandered down the meadows this morning (25/01/11) and at the extreme east end of Melville Drive found the tree squad as they were just about to fell the first of the six elms destined for the Scottish furniture makers.

The pictures show what happened in the next 5 minutes; the tree surgeon at the centre of the action is Nick Tooley who spoke to me afterwards but, before the event,quite rightly said he needed to focus on what was about to happen.

The girl walking on Melville Drive (last 3 photos) seems remarkably relaxed about the whole proceedings.

Tree, limbs removed, is ready to fell

large wedge removed low down on the side towards which tree is to fall

second cut on opposite side of tree and slightly above the wedge cut

just starting to go...

......really starting to go.....

.......going.......

.....gone

This was a seriously tall tree. The main bole provided two very clean logs (first cut and second cut) each about 10 ft long and 2 ft diameter which you will see as the white painted logs and planking in later posts.