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Traditional English Woodwork, Dorking (2026)

16/10/2026

So, what wood goes into making a riven oak ark? Here are some step-by-step shots of a small one made for The Shakespeare's Birthplace Trust that has popped up in a couple of recent posts.

Riving timber, splitting rather than sawing it from the tree trunk, is easiest over the shortest lengths possible. Having cut the round log to an appropriate length, it was first split through the centre into two semi-circular halves. The halves were then split again through the centre into quarters, and the process repeated again and again, reducing the pieces into ever thinner ‘cake slices’ until roughly useable dimensions were reached (pics 1 & 2).

Wide boards were required for the front and back horizontal rails and side panels, roughly the full width of the available material (pic 3). The four vertical ‘legs’ were narrower and needed reducing in width. Splitting the legs to width was far quicker than sawing. The split was started in the appropriate place with a cleaving axe (pic 4) before being opened up with a froe (pic 5). The cleaving axe has a thin tapering edge that finds its way easily into the fibres of the wood. The froe is driven into the resulting split, rocking the handle ‘to and froe’ opens it up and continues the split down the length of the board. The narrow off-cuts from each leg were retained to use for the side rails (pic 6).

The front and back of the ark are each made up from one wide horizontal board that will be joined, between two narrower vertical legs (pic 7). This three board construction is known as a ‘clamp-front’ – the front clamped between the legs with a long mortice and tenon joint. Chests of this construction are known as clamp-front chests. It is a technique common in the medieval period but less so as time progressed and large trees yielding the wide boards required became increasingly scarce.

The boards for the sides and top of the ark required reducing in thickness and were once again split with the froe. Controlling these wide splits requires the straightest grained timber possible and keeping similar amounts of wood either side of the split to help ‘balance’ it and prevent it running off in one direction or the other (pics 8 - 11). Once split, the two halves can be opened up like a book with the grain matching identically in reverse on either side (pic 12).

The top of each ark required three riven boards held between two end pieces. The clamped front and back required three boards each and were joined together with two wide side boards (pic 13). A couple of narrow rails help secure the sides, and with the addition of a wide board for the floor, and that’s pretty much all the materials sorted – sixteen pieces riven by hand, ready for preparing and joining by hand. More on that to follow.

13/10/2026

A recent post introduced riven oak arks, a couple of which we had the pleasure of making some time ago for The Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust. It was a great project and we will share some step-by-step shots of their construction over coming posts, but to set the scene, here are few more shots of the finished articles.

The arks, one large and the other smaller, were both made with removable lids to double up as both kneading troughs and trays for carrying the proven dough to communal ovens, features found on many period examples. The riven oak is split rather than sawn from the round log, by first halving it into two semi-circular sections before halving them again into quarters and then continuing to halve the resulting segments again and again until the required thicknesses are reached. It is a process that produces distinctive ‘cake slice’ tapering boards displaying the distinctive large light medulary rays of the oak at their best. It also results in particularly stable boards unlikely to twist or cup. All these features can be clearly seen on these arks.

Its fascinating to compare the newly finished arks to them when popping up more recently online via the The Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust after a number of years of ‘living history’ by the hearth in Mary Arden’s House. A great example of the colour change oak goes through over time and use.

11/10/2026

Ironwork - it locks, latches, hangs, hinges, holds together, decorates, and does those things that wood sometimes simply can't. We have been celebrating all that in recent posts on some great collaborations with some great blacksmiths - do check them out for loads of info on oak and iron coming together.

09/10/2026

Chips and shavings – amazing how the piles build up working by hand!

This heap was generated making the small ark shown behind it using just hand tools – a great project for The Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust working alongside the late Victor Chinnery who did so much to further the study of early oak furniture. Made from riven timber, split from the tree, as many period arks were, it’s a project that deserves a few more posts – so stay tuned or follow to see how some of those shavings were produced.

Arks were used to store dry food produce like grain, the tops often detachable and reversable to double up as troughs for kneading and proving dough, and sometimes (as our example) shaped to accommodate 'stretcher' poles for carrying the dough to communal village ovens. There is a link to more information on the period examples shown that are owned by the Trust in the captions and comments.

02/10/2026

Oak and Iron 8. Fixings

Sometimes ironwork gets to share the spotlight with oak but more often than not it quietly performs functional tasks. Maybe simple things like nails holding boards together, as in this boarded box for Shakespeare’s Birthplace, or the boarded door shown for Smallfield Place. And, sometimes iron performs like the practical hook holding the star of the show, like a cup on a dresser or delft rack.

But even the seemingly simple can involve more than it appears. Check out the delightful detail that’s been put into the cup hook shown – the delicate taper of the tang that will drive in and bind easily, the twist to the shaft, and the gentle diminishing down into the delightful little ‘piglet tail’ at the end. The hooks are easy to miss on the finished Cumbrian dresser they were used on.

There is often a lot more to nailing than meets the eye too. Nails on boarded constructions will often be ‘dovetailed’ – deliberately driven in at opposing angles rather than straight, a technique that prevents the joined boards pulling apart by the nails pulling out. Simple, but effective. It can be seen in the detail of the Stratford box showing the nails ready for driving home. The nails can also be ‘barbed’ by forming nicks in the shank that the grain of the wood will compress around and bind the nail in securely – the equivalent of modern ‘annular ring’ nails.

For even greater security, nails can be clenched – a technique used on the Smallfield door, where deliberately overlength nails were driven right through the vertical boards on the front of the door and the horizontal braces on the back, then clenched by folding them over in the form of a staple. The clenched nails shown are older ones salvaged from similar doors we replaced at Bisham Abbey.

30/09/2026

Oak and Iron 7 (OK, or not Oak and Iron 1): Ash Table.

This latest in a series of blacksmith collaborations is slightly different to the others to date. Its ash rather than oak for a start, and a bit more of a contemporary than traditional commission. The top came from a stunning ash tree we have used most of in various projects. The older growth at the centre of the tree has darkened, something that often happens in ash trees of a substantial age, the wood often being referred to as ‘olive ash’ as it does look quite like olive wood. The later growth is white with a stunning ripple and figure. You can clearly see the transition in the top, two thirds of which is formed from a single plank, the remaining width made up from an adjacent plank book-matched through the lighter wood before transitioning back into the darker heartwood again towards the outer edges on each side of the top.

The ash top sits on a purpose made iron base commissioned from James Davies at Forest Green Forge, a great collaboration. The ash chairs were part of the same commission. The ash tree has yielded at least four other tables to date, all of more traditional style, and a stunning desk. They deserve being shared together at some point. There are still a few table top boards remaining - so speak up if you fancy one!

23/09/2026

Oak and Iron 6: Parchemin Panel Gates with custom made strap hinges and fittings, Little Mynthurst Farm, Surrey.

Another ‘oak and iron’ commission, this pair of gates and matching single gate formed part of a courtyard garden project at this delightful Surrey house. The heavy oak gates were hung on custom made hinges supplied by Richard Quinnell at Rowhurst Forge, Leatherhead, the home of The Fire and Iron Gallery and a major centre for blacksmithing and creative metalwork.
https://www.fireandiron.co.uk/

19/09/2026

Oak and Iron 5: Snipe Bill Hinges

Sometimes projects have brought oak and iron together in elaborate collaborations and we have shown a few lately. Sometimes they come together in delightfully simple but highly functional fittings. These ‘snipe bill’ hinges are a great example of the latter.

They are formed from two simple pins tapering from the middle towards each end and bent back on themselves, then interlocked with each other through an eye formed at the bend. The name comes from the similarity of the pins profile to that of the head and bill of the Snipe (a marsh and moorland bird) though historically they are often referred to as ‘Gimmel’ or ‘Gemini’ (as in twins) hinges.

These hinges secured the lids of countless chests, coffers, trunks, and boxes through the Middle Ages and Early Modern period and we have used them on various replica commissions. Shown here are a boarded chest and box made alongside a number of other items through Victor Chinnery for projects at Wollaton Hall and Shakespeare’s Birthplace.

Whilst the concept of the hinges is quite simple, with one of each interlocking pair of pins fitted to the lid and the other to the back, the process of lining them up, driving them through their respective boards, folding them over and clenching them back into the wood requires a delightful degree of crude precision that takes a bit of a knack. Hopefully its captured a bit in the images of these two examples being put together.

Sometimes these hinges have come from hardware suppliers, sometimes they have been hand forged to order. The large pair shown here were forged by James Davies at Forest Green Forge.

11/09/2026

Oak and Iron 4

Single gate for Smallfield Place, Surrey. English oak with purpose made ironwork.

Another collaboration with Burrows Lea Forge this side gate was one of many commissions for the extensive refurbishment of this delightful house, one that saw it painstakingly brought it back into a single property having formerly been sub-divided https://smallfieldplace.com/ .

It’s the sort of project that flourishes on collaboration with different trades. These simple shots of just one small corner of the garden capture the work of masons, bricklayers, blacksmith, landscapers, (and us), from what is instantly visible. Whilst our speciality in working wood informed the choice of stable oak ‘on the quarter’ for the frame of the gate and how to allow for seasonal shinking and swelling of the panels, the other trades contributed countless tips, techniques, lessons learned the hard way over the years, and cunning ways passed down the generations for getting things done, in relation to their trades. Its lovely when it all comes together.

It is possible to make things entirely of wood – we have shared posts of projects using wooden hinges and nails in the past https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CTC4HoB8x/ but when all is said and done there are good reasons that didn’t evolve to be the norm 😊

06/09/2026

Oak and Iron 3

Medieval Oak Chests for St Thomas’ and Wakefield Towers, Tower of London.

Copied from a chest in the Musee de Cluny, Paris, the chest shown was one of three commissioned for a refurbishment of the towers in the 1990s. One of the three was double fronted as the original in Paris is, with a second matching tracery panel the other side of a central muntin and measuring in at around nine feet in length from memory. The other two with a single front panel were around half the size as shown here. We made a number of window shutters for the towers at the same time and were privately commissioned to make a copy of a table placed in the Wakefield Tower as part of the scheme.

It was a great project to have been part of, travelling to Paris to measure the original, making one faithful copy, and adapting two others. It is questionable that it was the most appropriate chest to have been chosen for recreating the thirteenth century interior of the towers as the apartments of Henry III and Edward I and the towers have been rearranged and reinterpreted in several ways since the project, but the chests were hugely enjoyable to make. The corner straps, locks, hasps, nails, and hinges were purpose made for us by Charles Normandale at Wheely Down forge and work so well against the oak.

https://www.charlesnormandale.com/

Traditional English Woodwork

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