Bark Edged Bedfordshire Burr Elm with Aluminium Kintsugi

This piece of Burr Elm came from  the village of Colesden in Bedfordshire where this tree stood for more than three hundred years. Sadly it became dangerous with pieces of dead wood falling into the road as it succumbed to the dreaded Dutch Elm Disease and in January 2017 the borough council said it had to be felled.

The massive 5' (1500mm) diameter trunk was sold to a furniture maker and I was fortunate to be offered all the branch wood, the biggest of which were 24" (600mm) diameter. Burr Elm is one of my favourite timbers, it is full of character, rich with features and no two pieces are ever the same.

This cross grained bark edged piece was rough turned and left to dry and stabilise then taken back to the lathe and re-turned both inside and out.  All the drying splits, burr eyes and voids have been filled with aluminium epoxy making a feature of them. The whole piece is then sanded to a very fine finish and four coats of very durable eco friendly hardwax oil is applied over a period of two days.

The English Holly finial lid has a 12tpi handcut thread with a corresponding English Boxwood collar fixed into the neck ensuring a secure closure.

It measures 235mm H x 230mm D (9 1/4" x 9") and has a capacity of 3.4ltrs (207 cu in)