The Man Who Made Things Out of Trees

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It is this well-established ecosystem that makes ancient woodland so effective at carbon capture. The Woodland Trust says woodlands in the UK hold 213m tonnes of carbon, and ancient and long-established woodlands hold 36% of that, even though they make up just 25% of all woodland. “Yet only 7% of our woodlands – ancient and modern – are in good ecological condition,” adds Fox. “We’re calling for ancient woodlands to have buffer zones around them, which could be newly planted woodland, or just land left for natural regeneration, so it’s protected from noise, pollution and buildings hard up against it, which can compact the soil.” These trees are the most powerful on the planet for capturing carbon, he says. Unlike other conifers, such as Douglas fir and Sitka spruce, whose growth plateaus at a certain age, giant sequoias continue to grow and accumulate wood beyond maturity. “So their value for carbon capture keeps going for a millennium.”

My favourite part of the book has to be Robin Wood and his bowl making, he uses a pole lathe, no electric lathe with CNC programming or big kilns for drying the wood, this is all done with man power. I've seen a pole lathe in action before and it is mesmerising, the fact that the wood worker can't see what he is doing as the wood turns and yet somehow create something smooth and beautiful is insane, I own a Spurtle (porridge stirrer) that was made on a pole lathe and it is a thing of beauty. The Woodland Trust details numerous ways in which people can get involved. It runs several preservation initiatives, from recording the health of veteran trees in their area via the trust’s Ancient Tree Inventory, to helping map urban tree cover, which can then be used to lobby councils for more trees or better protection for existing ones. This should be called The Man Who Didn't Make Things Out of Trees, or perhaps, The Man Who Got Other People to Make Things Out of Trees For Him. Robert Penn, as far as I can tell doesn't take part in any significant part of the process of making useful items from the tree he gets other people to select, fell, mill and process the timber for him. He meets, among others, a hurley maker, a bowl turner, a toboggan maker and a cabinet-maker, in a journey that takes him two years and includes visits to Austria, the US and Ireland (the hurley maker, unsurprisingly). Many of the craftsmen are in family businesses and are in the main a dying breed. Penn writes that Tom Mareschall, an arrowsmith, is one of only six men left in the UK who can draw a longbow. It’s a long way from Agincourt, where clouds of ash arrows unhorsed ranks of French knights.He never mentioned the sex lives of the ash tree which is quite varied. They are bisexual, some in all senses of the word, while others are straight, though this can change as well with time as can their sex. They are not alone in this, but are perhaps one of the best documented. This book is very informative but also has very little to do with the title. The author makes nothing out of trees, and instead has a tree felled with the intent to make as much as possible from that one tree.. then often doesn't, because the different master crafters he takes stuff to have very specific or very high standards that his particular tree don't meet. The title is misleading -- Penn does not personally make most (if any?) of the items produced from his (singular) tree. This of course makes sense, as many of the artefacts he desires are specialised items, fashioned by expert craftsmen who in most cases have spent most of their lives honing their skills. An amateur would have no hope of replicating that sort of work. However, the overall narrative of the book is somewhat disappointing due to the combination of this and the fact that this is not quite the romantic mission it first appears. When you read that Penn has his own small wood, the expectation is that he is going to describe how he makes (or gets others to make) useful items from its products. Instead, Penn describes specifically searching the country for an 'ideal' ash tree, surveying woods and coppices until he finds one that meets his industrial criteria, and then felling it, sawing it, and canvassing a number of craftsmen around the world to get them to make curious items from his lumber. In many cases, his wood is still no good -- the industry prefers fast-grown ash to his hundred-plus-year-old slow-grown timber -- so these chapters describe craftsmen working with their preferred material (the descriptions of this still worth reading) and sending Penn away with a curio. Rob Penn felled a single ash tree and set out to make as many things as possible from the wood. He travelled widely to visit master crafters who took parts of his tree and made it into over 40 items including: a desk, kitchen worktops, spoons, a tobbogan and axe handles.

A eulogy to the importance of ash throughout human history . . . Fascinating (Tobias Jones Guardian) A soothing, somewhat rambling read that floats in the aether between something like travel writing and meditations on woodworking. Broadly inoffensive stylistically, and contains a number of tidbits of trivia about wood, woodworking and other related subjects. Reflections on the honest pleasures of craftsmanship make it all pretty easy to digest. Over the next two years he travelled across Britain, to Europe and the USA, to the workshops and barns of a generation of craftsmen committed to working in wood. He watched them make over 45 artefacts and tools that have been in continual use for centuries, if not millennia.That's being a bit harsh. It was OK. I just got far less from it than I had wished being misled by the cover and title. I should say this book was bought for me though. I was hoping to get some cool whittling or woodworking tips from the book but the author doesn't actually know any of the crafts he discusses. Nevertheless he has skill as a wordsmith. kept a more consistent depth among the various "technical" bits (sometimes it's very technical, sometimes you feel it could have been more exhaustive) If ash’s past significance is undeniable, its future is less certain. Though Penn’s new items bring him a lot of pleasure, it is hard to argue that they are essential in the way they once were. His ash – as exemplified by his bespoke writing desk – is a luxury. Wood’s essential mystery – even today, scientists are only just starting to explain why different varieties have different characteristics – can also make it expensive and unreliable for mass production. An ash bowl is doubtless a lovely thing to have, but they will not be flying out of Ikea for a pound. What a fascinating read, just like Robert Penn and his Ash tree I got so much from this book. Penn one day decides to find the perfect ash tree, chop it down and see how many things he can make from it. Each chapter is based around an item being made, from Axe handles, to bowls, and even a deadly arrow. In the chapter you find out the history of how ash wood has been used to make that product, a history of it's use, how it is made and the person who Penn has located to make it. So many interesting little things to learn about. But he does talk about his passion, ash trees, with encyclopedic depth and you can feel his reverence for this particular brand of tree. It's a bit much at times, in a "we get it, ash is very useful and has been forever" kind of way, but the best bits of this book are the points where he meanders through an unkempt history of the way ash was used in such and such country or region, and it is overall interesting and informative.

No one obsesses like the English. In this book, Penn gets it in his head to find a perfect Ash tree, cut it down, and have as many things possible crafted from it. You get to follow him through the woods of Wales where he resides, looking at stands of Ash trees, none quite right, until he finds his perfect 100 year old tree. What a great book! Written with a great insight and a delicate balance between the scientific and biological and the utilitarian dimensions of the life of a tree, it offers the reader a chance to paradoxically (at first sight) experience awe and admiration before the miracle of life that a standing, living tree symbolises, and the intimate knowledge with which mankind has learned to exploit this most valuable natural resource to its full extent. The detailed descriptions of the author's meetings with many diverse craftsmen and artisans emphasizes a truth that we are all aware of, to varying extents, namely that craftmanship indeed does stand for an intimate knowledge of nature and man's full participation in its processes, knowledge and role which are in many cases on the verge of extinction, alas. This is a tale about the joy of making things in wood, of its touch and smell, its many uses and the resonant, calming effect of running our hands along a wooden surface. It is a celebration of man's close relationship with this greatest of natural materials and a reminder of the value of things made by hand and made to last. I don't think I'm the first person to react about halfway through the book with the thought that this book should have been named 'The Men who made things out of A Tree'. The author is a good writer and talks to lots of interesting people and does cover a lot about woodworking. But the only thing he actually makes is firewood, so.... Out of all the trees in the world, the ash is most closely bound up with who we are: the tree we have made the greatest and most varied use of over the course of human history. One frigid winter morning, Robert Penn lovingly selected an ash tree and cut it down. He wanted to see how many beautiful, handmade objects could be made from it.

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Robert Penn cut down an ash tree to see how many things could be made from it. After all, ash is the tree we have made the greatest and most varied use of over the course of human history. Journeying from Wales across Europe and Ireland to the USA, Robert finds that the ancient skills and knowledge of the properties of ash, developed over millennia making wheels and arrows, furniture and baseball bats, are far from dead. The book chronicles how the urge to understand and appreciate trees still runs through us all like grain through wood.