Almost all of the wood I use comes from a handful of arborists and tree surgeons within a twenty mile radius of where I live.  Over a period of years I have developed relationships with them so that they know what I’m interested in and like to use.

The timber is almost always from domestic jobs where time onsite is at a premium, quite often I’ll get a text message with images of the felled tree and something next to it to give scale, either a boot or a person and a message saying something like: “If you want it you need to be here within the hour otherwise it will be cut up for firewood”.

To be fair, the arborists I deal with would rather see the wood used to make something rather than it either becoming firewood or chipped for biomass.
When those texts arrive I grab my chainsaw and safety gear, a bunch of sizing discs and spend the rest of the day cutting urn sized blocks and bring them back to the workshop.  

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All of my urns are handmade, hand finished and unique.

Urns are made in three formats:

Single - made to accommodate a single set of ashes.

Companion - made to accommodate a two sets of ashes.

Keepsake - used for smaller quantities.

All of my urns are hand made by me, the process I follow is one that I have built up over the years I have been turning, the process allows me to produce a top quality product reliably.

Naturally everything starts with the tree, you can read more about my timber sourcing and selection here.

Once in the workshop the process is broadly as follows:

• Final trimming/Preparation. The sections of harvested wood are cut to slightly longer than the finished urn, this is to alow for the spigot I will create to hold in the blank in the chuck. I use various diameter plywood discs to mark out the blanks then cut them out. 

• Initial turning and hollowing. This next stage is to what is termed 'roughing out'.  Each blank is turned to the desired shape then hollowed out using very specialised tools to remove the interior of each form leaving a unform wall thickness so that the piece can dry evenly. If the wall is too thick the stress and tension created while it dries could be enough for the piece to split apart and if the wall is too thin there won’t be enough wood left to be able to remove the out of roundness. Judging how thick to leave the walls comes from years of experience working with green wood. 

• Drying. When I've finished roughing out a piece it is weighed and dated to be able to keep track of the drying process, I have built up a stock of 150-180 roughed out pieces, normally freshly roughed pieces are ready to finish in 4 - 6 weeks while others can take up to a year before they are ready to be taken back to the lathe to be finished. 
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• Second turning. The dried pieces are taken back to the lathe to be re-turned 
• Dealing with voids/cracks and splits from the drying process.
• Application of colour - not in every case. The only reason I apply colour to wood is to enhance the natural beauty hidden in white or pale coloured woods. 
• Fitting of the lid.  The lids and corresponding inserts are custom made for each individual urn, they are usually made from a very dense hardwood such as African Blackwood, English Boxwood, Holly but it's not esssential. Boxwood and Holly are my favourites to work with as they cut beautifully and have a wonderful workability. What is important for me is that the lids blend with the overall form, complimenting it rather than appearing to be an afterthought, they all have a handcut 12tpi thread which ensures a secure closure.
• Application of finish. The quality of the finish on my pieces is very important to me, I use two types of eco friendly finish, either a  waterborne lacquer or a hardwax oil both of which are industrial grade finishes which need no maintenance other than the occasional dusting. 

In addition I offer a number of customisation options which would be fitted into my process as needed.