Williams & Cleal Furniture School

A few moments from the workshop recently.

It’s been another busy few weeks, with the students making steady progress on a wide range of interesting projects! Here’s a look at what they’ve been working on.

We had the big task on Friday of turning and restacking the oak boards milled from a tree that came from the nearby Stogumber churchyard.
The timber has been air drying for the past 15 months, and it was time to carefully flip the boards and restack them to allow the timber to continue drying evenly.

Naturally, we chose one of the hottest days of the year to take on this mammoth job!

A huge thank you to Billy and Andy from , as well as Anna and Iona, our workshop helpers, for all their hard work and effort in getting the job done.
And, of course, a special mention goes to Bramble the dog for providing essential moral support throughout the day!

See the process here of creating the tambour for Sam’s drinks cabinet.

First each piece of Valchromat was cut to size before being lacquered along the edges and then veneered with walnut burr with a walnut balancer on the back.

The shoulder and track were then routed, and the tambour was carefully test-fitted before each piece was individually separated and cleaned up by hand, using a hand plane and chisel to tidy any glue squeeze.

After the walnut burr received its final lacquer, the tambour fabric was applied and the completed tambour was fitted into the cabinet.

A very thorough process with a fantastic result! We can’t wait to show you Sam’s finished cabinet soon.