Ace North - Woodwork

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Woodwork

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Bowls

This little walnut bowl has proved useful for storing buttons!

Swirly bowl made from Quercus ilex (Holm Oak)

Crpinus betulus (Hornbeam)

Taxus baccata (Yew) goblet

Taxus baccata (Yew) goblet

Carpinus betulus (Hornbeam). This was the first bowl I made.

Acer pseudoplatanus (Sycamore) bowl with turned acrylic pen

I think this platter type bowl is Holm Oak (Quercus ilex), but not 100%

Carpinus betulus (Hornbeam, again!). My first attempt at decorating the plate/bowl, with the aid of a pair of compasses, a pyrography tool, and spirit paints

I think this is Prunus avium (cherry)

Taxus baccata (Yew) bowl

Another yew goblet, with captive rings!

Walnut (Juglans regia)

Creatures

My son and I made these plywood animals together to sell at a school fair – they sold out quick!

Little green alien pear man. He goes to international conferences, and has a magic head! Check it <a href='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7cR9FKHhws&feature=youtu.be' target='_blank' style='text-decoration:underline;'>here</a>

Newt, made from yew (body) and oak. He likes a beer!

Hen, made from yew (body), apple (head), ash (comb, feet and tail), and a bit of walnut (legs)

One time I got distracted in the shed, and made this curious spacey reindeer!

My first wooden mosquito. I made this when my son's (primary) school was having a competition to make vehicles using proscribed wooden wheels, for racing. I was under the impression that parents were also invited to enter and made this 'mosquito-on-wheels' or 'Mos-car-to' as it became known. At the competition it turned out I was the only parent entry! The Mos-car-to was not speedy but I won a certificate for 'Most Creative Design'. Take that, primary school kids! The body is yew.

My next mosquito and signature trademark! Made from yew (body), oak (legs and eyes), and hornbeam (wings), this is intended to be a female Anopheles gambiae - the most deadly malaria spreading mosquito in the world! I modified the design using little turned balls for the leg-joints, which makes them much stronger. I used pyrography to dot the eyes.

Upper view of mosquito

A curious catterpillar!

Another mosquito! This is smaller than the previous ones, made from oak and beach

Another one! Not a great picture because it is in a pub - looks like it has had one too many! I made this for my former PhD Student Ben Lambert, when he completed his thesis on - you guessed it – mosquito biology!

A vampire-bat-car! This was made in collaboration with my son, for the wooden car race (one year on from the 'mos-car-to'). See our video explaining how we did it!

Fish! Body and fins are Ash, eyes are oak

Others

Mouldy apple, made from yew with a maple maggot and cherry core. The puzzle is to remove the core – harder than it looks!

I made this bike shelter to live outside our house and stop the bikes getting wet while flowers grow on top.

How not to lose your pen

Cherry door handle

My son is a Viking enthusiast, and spent his pocket money savings on this drinking horn at a Viking festival in York. It is difficult to put down mid-drink, so I made this stand

Yew knobs! I made lots of these for our kitchen and some more for a friend after he saw them!

King Arthurs puzzle – can you remove the ‘sword’ from the ‘stone’?? Harder than it looks!

Baking board: rather than prepare biscuits on the kitchen counter, this board gives a contained space! Made from ash with cherry sides

Corner shelf for our new-look kitchen – made from ash (upper and lower) and cherry (middle shelves), with a bit of oak (struts)

Drying cupboard and corner shelves: this cupboard sits over the kitchen sink so washing-up can drip into it, and has shelf space on the side for plates, bread boards, glasses etc

A lidded box from Laburnum anagyroides (labernum), made with help from the excellent woodturning teacher Steve Giles.

I was told to make a clothes rail for my son to hang his pyjamas up in his room. Somehow I got snail-inspired;-)

Monkey Mouth! This is a one or two player game, where the object is to pull a marble from the bottom to the little monkey's mouth at the top, avoiding all the dangerous holes in the middle. If there are two players one can go on each side for a race! I saw a version of this elsewhere but adapted it and called it 'Monkey mouth'. It has proved very popular at local community events, school fetes, and general parties!

Full view of Monkey Mouth

Pens are fun to make, and I quite like making them a bit knobbly:-)

I love making tops, this one is from yew

Spot the wooden egg! This one is from a log from the firewood pile that I found, I think it is beech and it is very much spalted giving a lovely pattern

I've made shelves to fit specific spots round the house. This book-shelf is from ash, with oak supporting dowel

Another shelf from a big piece of ash

I made this trivet from a left-over tile. It turns out to be a good arena for battling spinning top contests!

I made this rattle for a friends baby, though it is also quite satisfying for percussion. Sycamore

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