23 April 2012

Ahh, Bond...'For Your Eyes Only'

Having just finished off one project a few days ago, which has been stamped TS, I've just this minute finished off another one, which is again... Most Secret and as is the nature of these things, can only be revealed in thirty years (or should it be fifty?) when the mandarins at the Home Office tell me that national security won't be compromised....which means that you, dear peruser of this blog, won't see any pics for at least a couple of months!

Suffice to say though, that it's not too shabby and I hope the recipient (as in the first little item) will appreciate it.

In order to find the material for this little trinket, SWIMBO and I paid a visit to Yandles where I spent a pleasant half-hour (spending any longer was fraught with danger, as there was a baleful glow developing...) browsing in the wood shed.  Most of what was there in board form (and I was after some more elm) was plentiful, but of dubious quality. Last year at one of the shows, I came away with a pristine board that was about 75mm thick...no shakes, knots, splits or even worm, but this time even picking over the boards there wasn't much that was worth having, until...

...I turned over one or two boards in a bin and came across a couple of shortish lengths of air dried, quarter sawn English Oak, each around 30mm thick.  One of the boards was very old where one end was gnarled and split, but both cleaned up beautifully and have now been salted away in the timber store at home.

Much of what is in the wood shed at Yandles can tend to be a bit poor and sub-standard, but just occasionally, you can find a gem...

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