OUR STORY & PHILOSOPHY
Most of the spatulas are made from locally-sourced hardwoods, mainly Ash and Sycamore, with occasional use of elm, cherry and weathered holly. There's a local sawmill that I use a lot of the time, and natural falls and storm damage often provide wood. Working with the wonderful variety of timber is a large part of the joy of making wooden spatulas. Occasionally, something really special comes my way, and I spend far too much time and care in deciding how best to use it. If anyone out there has some laburnum.
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European Ash
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Considered the King of Trees by the Vikings, Ash is a tall deep rooted tree, with wood renowned for its lengthways strength and flexibility.
The wood is wonderfully varied, with the heartwood being much darker than the sapwood. And I use the pronounced grain as much as possible (see the Design section).
Sycamore
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Sycamore is the largest of the European maples, and has been growing in Britain since the middle ages, but is still thought of as a foreign intruder. It is light-coloured and has a fine and even texture, but is difficult to season properly.
I have recently bought some wonderful sycamore planks from a local farmer, Michael Swanson.
Holly
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It was holly wot started the spatulas in earnest - we have several old holly trees round the garden. They looked dead from the outside, but when I started to saw and axe them up for the fire, I was struck by how magical the wood was.
Picture of original duck spatula is coming soon, and with more pictures and info.
Cherry
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I would like to get hold of big bits of strong close-grained cherry, so if anyone near Haltwhistle has some . . . At the moment I can only buy thinnish bits, but cherry works well for the A68 Roman Road spatula because that is the only spatula that is ergonomically un-curved - because it's a roman road.
Tim Foxall, 2018