Overview of Materials and Tools

1. A Little Overview of Brandenburg Woods
2. Seasoning and Processing
3. Ecological Wood Proofing
4. Finish
5. Overview of Tools

1. A Little Overview of Brandenburg Woods

Pine

• a simple, easily processed coniferous wood with a pleasant scent (content of resin)
• well suited for beds and children's furniture
• the cutting with the axe up to the finished timber is a great experience

Locust

• very hard and weather-proof
• has a beautiful light-brown to dark-brown grain when older, young wood is yellow to bilious green
• I use it predominantly for outdoor rough wood projects as well as rough wood or design furniture

Common Ash

• the grain from light, brown to slightly red is a feast for the eyes
• one of our most beautiful hard woods, appreciated for its elasticity and flexibility in chair and bow construction

2. Seasoning and Processing

• freshly cut wood, I season in the open air for at least 3 years until the furniture construction, preferably under a car port (for air circulation) it protects from the sun (cracking of the wood) and wetness (rot)
• as an alternative dead wood (a dead tree) or chamber-dried wood can be used immediately for furniture construction
• I try to do entirely without nails and screws in my objects, for wood joints I use, like in timber frame work, tenons which I secure with tree nails.

3. Ecological Wood Proofing

• to prevent the wood from being infested with vermin, mildew or rot I remove the cambium, which is underneath the bark, from the heart wood.
• the cambium or sapwood is the sap-bearing layer of every tree and inviting for every kind of wood-vermin because of its high content of protein

4. Finish

• hard wood furniture I finish with a formula of linseed, teak and hard resin oil
• coloured wax glaze looks good on pine wood

5. Overview of Tools

Importand tools for the wood constructor are:

• pencil and folding ruler
• drilling tools
• hand saw and drawknife
• different spokeshaves
• ripping chisel, mallet and sculpting iron
• draw bench and sand paper

If you attempt large objects, I recommend chain saw, broad axe and band-saw.