Part of an occasional series focusing on our wonderful tutors.
Ruth Thomson was recently asked about the process of a chopping board she was making. She described it as this;
75-100 years to grow and then it fell and lay in the woods for a while
1 day to pull the fallen tree out of the wood, either by tractor or horse
1 or 2 days to cut it into planks and store it
3 years of drying in the barn
1 day to cut, shape and oil it
Ruth is always interested in all things timber. Holding any piece of wood is cause for wonder. It is unique. It may be a lot like the other planks in the pile, but its not. It may have characteristic knots that won’t appear in the same place ever again. The grain of the wood marks the history of its growth and sometimes shows the direction that the wind hits the tree. Different species hold qualities that others don’t. Wood tells its story if you know how to read it.
This appreciation of the material for woodwork continues through to the love of the hand tools to craft a project. One day Ruth was wistful of a tool that had gone missing. “A 4 inch Rabone engineer’s square”. She has other squares- that right angled tool for marking a line before cutting. “It’s the feel-’the right weight’ of it” she pondered. It showed up again- the day after she has replaced it with an identical one….
All this delicate finesse and wistful thoughtfulness belies Ruth’s professional background. She has worked as a site carpenter for many years and roars with laughter as she tells of escapades amid the construction sites where she earned the respect of many hard to impress builders.
When we moved to our current building in 2015, Ruth headed the conversion. The Goodlife Centre took over a 1956 cardboard box factory with a huge 2000 square foot ground space.
We sat at the wallpaper paste table which was our HQ.
Ruth wrote down a shopping list for over 2 kilometres of wood studding to build the studio partitions and a ton of plasterboard to clad them.
Because of the iron framework in the building that supports the roof, she decided to ‘wedge’ all the walls into place rather than drill into the cast iron beams.
Each frame is constructed flat on the ground and is followed by that classic sight of being raised into place.
Ruth tapped the frame and stood back. A perfect fit.
Whatever the size of a project, there are similar constraints when making it. The frame is a fundamental principle. Back in the day carpenter and builder meant the same thing. Your house was built as a frame. The doorway is a frame. The windows are in frames. Understanding how to make that frame rectangle or square follows through to tool boxes, tables bookcases and kitchen cabinets.
Our two-term woodwork course is a content rich way to learn the fundamentals of woodwork that you can then apply to everything you build.
Our learners range from home educated teenagers to retired professionals. Actors and world weary bankers find our cheerful craftiness a respite for their busy lives.
When Ruth isn’t working with wood, she might be found practising for grade 8 on the piano, playing guitar, roaring around France on her beloved motorbike or just just loving her life in Devon.
Come and join us while we wonder at wood. Every Tuesday 10-5pm.
Copious quantities of freshly brewed tea and coffee included. Oh, and the biscuits. Every builder needs biscuit.
