An automaton can amuse and entertain using the simplest of mechanical technology and can be made by anyone using basic woodworking skills.
Woodworking
Mystery of the Moor—4000 years of woodturning
A Bronze Age burial chamber was discovered on Dartmoor, with the remains of a woman, and four lathe-turned ear studs. So began an archaeological experiment.
Mary Rose — making a sailor’s boxwood hair comb
I recently visited the new Mary Rose museum at Portsmouth. What a fantastic job they have done. I was so taken by the sailor’s boxwood hair combs that it was straight to the workshop to make a couple of examples.
The Wildwood Blog
This Chilterns Wildwood holds many secrets of our ancient ancestors, watch this space
Tree Felling in the Wildwood
It is time to thin the trees, to bring down some of the giant oaks, beech and more recent ash to allow those that are left more elbow room.
Stuart King on Time Team, Alan Titchmarsh Show, and Great Railway Journeys
Is TV showing more interest in traditional crafts?, Stuart King appeared on Time Team, the Alan Titchmarsh Show, and Great Railway Journeys.
Wizardry in Wood exhibition 2012
Wizardry in Wood is the worlds premiere show case for the craft, historical and contemporary, held every four years in the City of London.
Spoon making in Romania
In 1998 I was privileged to visit Ion Constantin in Romania to film him creating his range of domestic woodware including the spoon he is seen making from lime wood (linden). This is a true craftsman in action.
History of the Lathe: part two – continuous rotation
The wheel is probably man’s most important technological discovery. A Sumarian pictogram dated 3500BC is the earliest reference for the wheel. By 2000BC man was making spoked wheels yet the earliest pictorial reference we have of a wheel driven lathe seems to be from the 15th century.
