As with all my furniture, the timber used was reclaimed – in this case as oak offcuts generated from the first and second fitting business of a friend making stairs, windows, skirting boards and so forth. The trick is to somehow make the most of planks often full of “character” (aka “faults”).

The resultant pieces often have a degree of grain mismatch but this can be made part of the look of the piece.  A somewhat “agricultural” look is quite fitting for Cotswold Arts & Crafts pieces which were often derived from observation of the detail of wooden farm implements, carts and other actually agricultural things.

The diamond chip carvings are suprisingly easy to do, partly because they too can be “agricultural” rather than the summit of the carving art. In fact, many of the edges are finished with tools that avoid too much regularity – spokeshave, drawknife and rasp.

Another aspect that makes the Cotswold look is the over-engineering. That table is SOLID and has no structural need for a hayrake at all! And look at those thick legs ……

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