ARCHIVE PAGE: this website is gradually being updated from April 2022
We provide bespoke handmade wooden trophies and items using woodturning and pyrography to create pieces based on customers' requests.
We are a small operation - just two of us, Dan and Steve Fearnley - aiming for quality rather than quantity.
Woodturning projects diary
Woodturning projects in December
Survivors award
An award requested by Jerry in Scarborough, for a colleague leaving work at the Scarborough Survivors, a registered charity and mental health and wellbeing hub, supporting the Borough of Scarborough.
The award is five inches in diameter, on a plinth, and is made from oak.
Have a look at more disc trophies and plinth trophies
Egg cups and tray
A set of 4 egg cups personalised for Daisy, Ethan, Jay and Isla. Ordered by Stephanie in Consibrough. The egg cups are turned from sycamore, the tray is made from yew.
More kitchen items.
Snowmen
We usually make a few snowmen at Christmas time. These were for Debbie in Bracknell. The taller hats are Dan's take on the snowman model. Steve's snowmen this year went in the Ryedale Woodturners sale.
School trophies
Awards for Malton School's annual Celebration Evening, for the students in Key Stage 4 and 5. These are individual awards for students to keep, for excellence in subjects and school activities.
Pedunculate oak
A selection of notable and interesting trees in and around Thornton le Dale have been added as a page in the woodland section. There are 4 trees in the village that are on the Woodland Trust's Ancient Tree Register, all close to each other, on the path between the car park and Dog Kennel Lane. This is a large oak, with retained leaves lit up by December late afternoon sunlight.
Chunky oak cheeseboard
A chunky burr oak cheesboard made for Andrea in Nantwich. It is twelve iinches in diameter, and is finished with three coats of food-safe oil. It just requires a light wipe with a damp cloth after use. The cheeseknife and fork have oak handles, and stainless steel blades.
Have a look at more wooden kitchen items
Pinch pots
A pair of "pinch pots" on a stand, for salt and pepper. "A dash of pepper" is pyrographed onto the base, "a pinch of salt" is on the reverse side. This is one of a range of ideas on this theme of serving salt, pepper or other spices on the table. Have a look at some more designs for pinch pots.
Woodturning projects in November
Wormwood bowl
A bowl turned from heavily wormed lime, tunneled in all directions. It has been microwaved, chemically treated, then sealed with Danish oil.The inscription says: "Time could only be seen in the falling leaves, a wound that healed, a woodworm's tunneling, rust that spread, and hearts that grew weary." (Felix J Palma). More bowls.
Ryedale Woodturners weekend sale
Despite horrendous weather caused by Storm Arwen, Ryedale Woodturners held a successful exhibition and sale in Thornton le Dale this weekend, at which our work featured prominently. More pictures are on the Ryedale Woodturners website.
Wall clock
A wall clock turned from a plank of spalted beech. Spalting is caused by fungal attack after a tree is felled. Once dried and seasoned the fungal spread ceases and the pattern stabiliises. Hence the quote: "Fungi are the great recyclers of the planet, the interface between life and death". (Angie Langevin). This clock is for sale.
More about clocks
School house trophies
Rebecca in Hertfordshire requested three trophies for sports achievement, music achievement, and an eco-award. These three large oak trophies are the result. The houses in th school are named after five different trees, Sycamore, Hazel, Rowan, Ash and Horse Chestnut, which in turn are represented by five carved wooden leaves. The winning house leaf can be hung on the trophies. More about these school house trophies
Acorn keyrings, hollow
Emma from Clacton on Sea wondered if we could make acorn keyrings that were hollow, for putting a small message inside. The answer was yes, using some small brass threaded rings to join the two pieces together. More wooden keyrings
Yarn bowl and mice
A yarn bowl made for Veronika, for holding a ball of wool while knitting or crocheting, made from oak. This one is 8 inches in diameter. Veronika also asked for two mice and some cheese to go with the bowl, all as Christmas presents. More on hand turned wooden bowls, and wooden mice.
Individual trophies
The annual Celebration Evening at Malton School this year required slightly fewer trophies, with no sports trophies being awarded due to curtailed activity during the lockdown. This batch was for Key Stage 3 students, awarded at the beginning of November. More on hand turned wooden trophies
Yarn bowl and needle cases
A yarn bowl made for Ruth, for holding a ball of wool while knitting or crocheting, made from spalted beech. This one is 9 inches in diameter. Ruth also asked for two needle cases to go with the bowl, all as Christmas presents. More on hand turned wooden bowls
Woodturning projects in October
Wooden eggs in various timbers
A bowl of eggs, turned from a variety of timbers: ash, iroko, lignum vitae, padauk, rippled ash, sapele, sycamore and western red cedar.
Eggs made from 30 different timbers are shown below. If available, they can be purchased individually or as a batch, with suitable bowl. More on hand made wooden eggs
oldfern bespoke woodturning and trophies
Wooden eggs in various timbers
Scots pine
More pictures from Scampston Hall gardens and their Capability Brown parkland, following a very enjoyable visit last week on a sunny, cool autumn day. For the autumn collection, some walnuts from an American black walnut, papery cones from an Atlas Blue Cedar, chestnuts from the 250 year old sweet chestnut - which sadly has lost a large branch since we last visited. Could make some interesting turning?
Pictures of the trees at Scampston Hall gardens.
Memorial chess trophy
A chess trophy made for Norwich Dons chess club, in memory of a former member. Also another trophy, available for sale. The first is made in Brazilian mahogany and oak, the second in box and walnut. Both are 6" diameter, 10" tall.
More chess trophies, and trophies on plinths.
Atlantic oak woodland
A recent holiday on the Isle of Mull saw us spending lots of time in the oak woodlands along the side of the sea lochs where we were staying. As well as being delighted to spot otters and fish eagles almost every day, it was equally delightful to look more closely at the woodlands and their wealth of curiosities, from contorted forms to lichen, fungi and mosses. Isle of Mull woodlands.
Porcelain cast from a wooden model
Ceramic artist Paddy Hartley commissioned a wooden spinning top to use in creating a cast for limited edition porcelain replicas. Very precise requirements. Read more about this fascinating project.
Woodturning projects in September
Castle keyrings
Craig in Kent requested four of our castle keyrings, pyrographed with the text "An Caisteal", which is Gaelic for "a castle ", and no doubt refers to a place visited by the four recipients of the keyrings, probably the Munro (Scottish mountain) near Crianlarich. Oak with gold plated keyring kits, about 4½ inches tall. More keyrings.
Wedding day platter
Josh in London requested a platter similar to the Old Malton Priory platter, but with a little more in the way of dedications. The result is this 12 inch sycamore platter, with a pyrographed picture of Youlgrave Wesleyan Reform Chapel in the centre, along with date, bride and groom's names and a message from the bible.
More pyrography examples.
Exhibition and Sale
Just some of the items we made for the Ryedale Woodturners sale this weekend. Held in Thornton le Dale's Hill Institute, it proved very popular, with 12 members of the woodturners' club exhibiting, and 122 items being sold over the two days.
More on Ryedale Woodturners' sale
Laced vase
What do you do when you have a really nice piece of elm, but it has developed a crack in it? Well, one idea is to make the crack larger and make a feature of it. There are many ways of doing this, and I take no credit for this being an original idea, with zips and laces being used in a similar way by woodturners such as Dave Lowe and Emma Cooke.
More goblets and vases.
Golf trophy
Eileen in Cambridge requested a trophy for her golf club. Made from olive ash, 8 inch diameter, with a plinth left blank for a metal engraving plaque to be fixed for recording winners.
More on sports trophies and trophies generally.
Woodturning projects in August
Golf - cricket trophy
Kate in Cheshire requested a golf trophy for a cricket and golf club, in memory of her father. The design took shape through a number of emails, which resulted in this life-size cricket ball turned in rippled olive ash, plus two golf tees in plainer ash, on top of an oak post. The trophy is 4 inches square by 11 inches tall.
More on this memorial trophy, sports trophies and trophies generally.
More additions to the gallery of trees
Iron tree - Ai Weiwei
More pictures and information for the growing tree section of this site - this time trees, and a few statues based on trees, from the Yorkshire Sculpture Park at West Bretton, near Wakefield.
The park is well worth visiting as much for the trees and parkland as it is for the sculptures. At times the boundary between the two is very thin, many trees being very sculptural.
Sweet chestnut
We had an enjoyable visit to Scampston Hall (near Malton, North Yorkshire) last week. Its parkland has many fine specimen trees. This Spanish chestnut has been there since the reign of George III - over 250 years old.
More work on the woodlands section of this website means there are quite a few new additions to the Scampston Hall page. Also an example of a turned sweet chestnut trophy cup.
Woodturning projects in August
Oak bud vases
Some bud vases turned from oak offcuts. Three to five inches tall, these vases are suitable for displaying dried flowers and grasses. They do not have a glass reservoir in them for plants needing water.
More vases and goblets
Six yarn bowls
A collection of six yarn bowls, five of which are available for sale (one is already sold).
All the bowls are made from spalted beech - spalting is patterning which is created by fungal attack after a tree is felled. Once processed, as with this wood, the fungus is no longer active, and the pattern (and the wood) remains stable.
More yarn bowls and other textile craft items
A gallery of trees
Cedar of Lebanon
I am gradually improving the section of this website devoted to trees. Eventually trees I have visited and photographed will appear on alphabetically labelled pages, and places with notable trees will have their own page. Breezy Knees, Constable Burton and Raby Castle have been added recently.
Woodturning projects in July
School trophies
A set of 20 trophies commissioned by a primary school in Bishop's Stortford, to be awarded to individual students. The school logo has an oak tree as its theme, so naturally the trophies are all made from oak.
More about these trophies, similar trophies, and trophies generally.
Bowl selection
A set of bowls made for serving food - salad bowls and platters. All made from ash, with varying elements of olive colouring and spalting. All finished with food safe oil. The fruit or bread bowl is 13" diameter, the finger bowls 5" or 6" diameter (some for sale, some sold).
More about these bowls and other bowls.
Corner coat stand
A corner coat stand, built for Jane in Staines, Surrey, based on sketch she sent for the design.
The framework is made from turned spindles abouot 3 inches thick, simply tapered with minimal decoration. These screw together and locate into holes in three shelves, about 12 inches in radius. At the top are some Shaker style pegs. All in oak, finished with beeswax.
Have a look at more furniture items.
Environment trophies
Two trophies made for Heather and Phil in Yateley, who requested trophies to be given to their schools on their departure.
The discs are 10" diameter, made from oak. A small acorn and leaf were requested to sit on the base.
Inscriptions and school logos have been burnt into the wood using pyrography.
Christening stools
Two stools made for Tim in Lancaster, to commemorate his grandchildren's christening. Made from oak, with angled Windsor style legs using wedged through-tenon joints.
The seats are 8 x 12", and the legs are 9" long.
Inscriptions have been burnt into the wood using pyrography.
Ash golf trophy plinth
A large golf trophy base requested by Andrew in Leyburn, North Yorkshire, to complement a metal sculpture he had commissioned. The theme is "Farming vs Finance", presumably to be played for between these two different sectors of the community.
Have a look at more sports trophies and trophy plinths.
Woodturning projects in June
Burr oak wall clock
This burr oak wall clock is similar in design to the one below ( 8 June) but does not have the same degree of decay and spalting. It uses an AA battery operated quartz movement.
The Roman numerals and quotation are pyrographed on the face. "You can't make up for lost time. You can only do better in the future." (Ashley Ormon). This clock is for sale.
Have a look at more wooden clocks.
Oak finial
Although we are meant to be taking a break from turning finials, Kevin in Hove's request appealed. Because it was on the smaller side (4" diameter acorn, 10" base), an acorn, and in oak which I had in stock, I decided to make it rather than pass it on. We can still be tempted to make small finials, especially in oak, mahogany and/or opepe, if the wood is available.
For current arrangements for finials, see the finial guide page.
Fascinating tree features - fungi
Laetiporous sulphureus
A bright yellow fungus growing on the trunk of an old yew tree in "Squirrel Wood", by the pond in the village of Thornton le Dale. The tree seems healthy enough. The fungus is edible, though it may not agree with everyone's stomach, and is sometimes known as chicken in the woods because of its flavour and texture when cooked.
Have a look at more Tree features spotted in woodlands on our travels.
Maple vase with spiralling
A maple vase with spiral decoration made for Christine in Leeds on her 70th birthday. Turned from a favourite maple tree that was felled in her garden some years ago.
Have a look at more wooden vases and goblets.
Burr oak wall clock
This wall clock was turned from a heavily spalted piece of burr oak. Roman numerals and the quote "Decay is just as wonderful and rich an expression of life as growth" (Henry Miller) are pyrographed into the wood. Three coats of wax to finish. 9" diameter, 2½" thick.
This one is currently for sale.
Have a look at more wooden clocks.
Cricket ball key fob
A cricket ball keyring, two inches in diameter. This is turned from an exotic wood, padauk, which has a rich reddish colour reflecting the colour of a cricket ball. A gold plated keyring kit mounted on a through brass tube. This is the Australian version - it comes with a free sheet of sandpaper.
Have a look at a gallery of keyrings.
Sequoia cone keyrings and top hat keyrings
4 June 2021
On the left a keyring actually made from cedar, but pyrographed to imitte a sequoia cone (giant redwood). Next to it is an actual sequoia cone.
On the right three variatioins on the top hat man, mounted on gold plated keyring kit wih a central brass tube stem. Smiley face, no face, and face with nose. Have a look at a gallery of keyrings.
Woodturning projects in May
Sycamore
6 trophies made for the Woking News and their Crest 21 Business Awards.
The awards are all to do with sustainability, so the trophies are made from English sycamore, with a hexagonal shape reflecting the honeycomb motif which the competition adopted. All are pyrographed with the winners' name and details of the award and sponsors.
More about these trophies, and trophies generally.
AWGB Competition success
AWGB pyrography competition winner
The Association of Woodturners of Great Britain held a "Show and Tell" competition in April with pyrography as the theme. I entered this 14 inch pyrographed platter of Robin Hood's Bay - and won! Many thanks to AWGB and Chestnut Products for the £100 voucher which was gratefully exchanged for a range of Chestnut adhesives, sealers, polish and abrasives.
More about this pyrographed platter and other pyrography items.
Final finials
Two cedar acorn finials for Russell in Alcester, and Sue in Wroxham.
After 8 years and hundreds of finials, we are taking a break from turning finials to concentrate on other projects. We have made arrangements with some other woodturners to take over orders for finials - there are details on the finials guide page.
Moon catching stone cases
Jessica in Swansea requested some egg boxes - hollow eggs - in spalted beech for holding "Moon Catching Stones", that is, the black egg shaped stones in the second picture. Apparently very useful if you are a witch wanting to catch someone's visage and then enclose it!
More about eggs and egg boxes.
Spalted beech
Some different kind of trees to the one pictured below. These were made for Beverley in Gosport, to her preference for solid single cone shaped trees, in spalted beech. They range from 5 to 8 inches tall, and 2 to 4 inches wide.
Fascinating tree features - burrs
Lime burr
A visit to Beningbrough Hall, concentrating mainly on spotting some of their Champion Trees, as listed in the National Tree Register. This lime is covered in burrs - hopefully it will make some beautiful woodturning one day. Have a look at the burr lime clock below (15 March).
More about some of the trees at Beningbrough.
Woodturning projects in April
Summerhouse finials
More finials from recent orders. I think the sunny weather encouraged some summerhouse refurbishment projects. A pair of globe finials in cedar for Rosie in Bishop's Stortford, An onion in larch for David in Eastbourne, and a skittle in larch for Giovanna in London.
More on finials and a finial guide
Summerhouse finials
We have been finishing up our cedar stocks before taking a break from turning finials. These show similar but different versions of two acorns and two balls, with slightly different bases - the acorns are on an 8" and 9" diameter,the balls are both 10" diameter bases, one octagonal, one circular. The necks are slightly different - the one on the right not as long as the other. For James in Romsey, Robert in Liverpool, Taj in Leamington Spa and Paul in Stoke.
More on finials and a finial guide
Summerhouse finials
A couple more finials made in the recent finial fest. For Lisa in Wigan and Chris in Ferndown (Dorset). Unfortunately the one on the left had to be made twice because Hermes managed to lose the first in transit. To be fair to them this is the first time in hundreds of parcels I have sent, but it is still annoying, and their response "help line" was very matter of fact, automatic stock replies and unhelpful. The right hand acorn is larch on a Scots pine base - its colouring shows why this is often called redwood.
More on finials and a finial guide
Darning mushrooms
Sophia in Harrogate requested some darning mushrooms. An old idea, but as useful as it ever was. Cloth is held in place with a rubber band which grips into a groove around the mushroom.
These are in spalted beech, 3" diameter.
More about these darning mushrooms and other textile craft items
Mahogany finial
Fiona requested a large ball finial in a hardwood. By large we mean 9" diameter, on an 11 inch square base. A 9" ball is over 3 times the volume of a more standard 6" ball - and produces a lot of shavings! This was made by gluing 6 blocks of mahogany together.
More about this large finial and a guide to summerhouse finials.
Police Trophies
Jane requested this commemorative trophy for the Metroplitan Police, along with ten smaller trophies to be awarded to individuals.
The trophies are all oak, with the small ones about 5 inches in diameter, the larger 10 inches. The plinth has engraving plaques on the rear to record annual winners.
More about this commemorative trophy and other disc trophies
Woodturning projects in March
Roof boss
Debbie in Bracknell requested a roof boss to finish off the inside of her summerhouse roof. A roof boss tidies up the area where all the roof struts come together, and because it is inside can be made from any wood desired.
This one is turned from ash, and has a 7" diameter base with a 5" boss. More roof bosses and a guide to summerhouse finials.
Ancient trees - the Birnam oak
The Birnam Oak
I have been adding a few pictures of trees to the Woodland section of this website, and creating an index to the different trees shown there. They have a lot to offer us, while growing and in their uses once felled.
This picture is of the Birnam Oak in Perthsire, around 1000 years old.
60 cedar post cap ball finials
George in Bicester, Oxfordshire, requested 60 cedar post caps. These are 4" diameter, 5" tall.
More finials and a finial guide
Burr lime mantel clock
A clock inserted into a burr lime block with impressive figuring. The clock has a 70 mm white dial with Roman numerals, and operates on a quartz movement. The wood has been finished with oil and wax to bring out the colour and patterning to its best. Made for Peter in Paignton.
More clocks
Trophy plinths for a precision engineering retirement gift
One of a pair of Brazilian mahogany plinths made for Nicola at Metaltek in Glenrothes. They hold engineered bronze cylinders about 4½ inches diameter, representative of the kind of work Metaltek do. They will be presented as retirement gifts. Quite a tricky operation cutting and carving out the circular depression to hold the cylinder. No turning involved, apart from making a 4½" diameter sanding drum.
Pali da casada finial
A finial based on a Venetian pole, or 'palo da casada', for Malcolm in Chipping, Lancashire. (It is pretty wet in Lancashire after all!)
Turned in Lawson cypress and larch, 10″ diameter, 13″ tall, designed to fit on top of a 6″ diameter, 3 metre tall pole.
More on finials and a finial guide
Salad bowls
A set of four salad bowls requested by Frieda, all in ash with varying stages of spalting, and showing the merits of a simple, straightforward bowl design. They are finished with mineral oil which leaves a matt finish, obviously food safe. Their diameter is 7½ inches, and they are about 3½ inches high.
More bowls
Yeoman's disc trophy
An oak trophy made for Kirintec, a specialist manufacturer of electronic security and anti-terrorist devices. Bespoke pyrography on the disk and plinth, with a centre insert provided by the company, and space for plaques to be attached on the rear. Made with a bowl profile rather than flat to give it a little more character.
More on disc trophies
Woodturning projects in February
Dovecote finial
Eddie in Thornton le Dale asked if we could turn a finial to top off the dovecote he made for his garden. Once made he introduced a pair of doves, which involved netting them in for four weeks until they had homed to their new house. Now they fly back by themselves, happy in their new home. More on finials; a finial guide
Ball finial
Two globe finials of similar size and shape, but one has a hexagonal base, the other octagonal. The hexagon is designed to fit on an unusual copper clad roof
Have a look at a finial guide and finial gallery and the repairs gallery.
Decorated eggs
The wooden eggs made for Lynn in Guernsey (26 January) have now been decorated by her, and Lynn was kind enough to send a couple of photos of the finished articles. They were for her mother's 90th birthday, hence the design.
More on ornaments
Needle cases
Three needle cases requested in this style by Sophia from Harrogate. Made from zebrano, bubinga and yew.
More on textiles craft items
Figurine plinths
Rob in Grantham requested some plinths for the detailed die-cast figurines he paints. These are quite small - the plinths are only 3 to 4 inches wide, the figures less than that. Burr oak with bark retained, walnut, scorched oak, and stained dark oak were used to accommodate Rob's quite particular design requests.
More on plinths
Summerhouse finial
A large globe finial for Peter in Poole, Dorset. Peter requested a 7″ diameter ball, which meant that it had to be turned from three blocks of larch glued together. The base is also large at 14″ square, and made from two blocks. 7 kg in weight altogether. This one has a spike on top, which acts as a bird deterrent.
More on summerhouse finials
Yarn bowls
Three yarn bowls made for Diana in Coventry to choose from. She went for the lighter coloured 8″ ash version in the middle, making the other two available for sale - oak at the top, ash at the bottom.
Woodturning and textiles crafts seem to go together well. A page of items made for textile crafters is available, as well as a gallery of yarn bowls.
Woodturning projects in January
Mice in cheese
The cold weather sems to have brought an invasion of mice in the workshop. They have been nibbling through blocks of cheese made from padauk, amarillo, sycamore and spalted beech. The mice are yew, with leather ears and tail and turned blackwood eyes.
More on wooden mice
Wooden eggs for painting
Lynn in Guernsey requested some wooden eggs that she could paint, but she wanted them to have a ″ built in″ stand. The result is these eggs, more or less real egg size, with the cup polished, but the egg left as bare wood.
More on ornaments
Replacement clock finial
Patrick requested a replacement finial for his clock. He provided an existing version, and we produced an exact replica, with a small dowel at the bottom added - from a single piece of wood.
More on furniture items
Left: A batch of shutter knobs. Right: New and old versions
Robbie requested 16 bespoke knobs to replace old ones for a restoration project in a Georgian townhouse in London. We made these from ebony, copying one of the old knobs sent to us by Robbie. More on doorknobs
Restored wall plaque
A restoration project on an oak wall plaque made back in 2012. It is inside a shelter erected at Malton School in Oliver's memory, but had become faded with water damage. Fresh pyrography and half a dozen coats of Osmo UV protection oil. Hopefully this will keep it in good condition for some years to come, and honour Oliver's memory.
More on this commemorative wall plaque.