Graeme Skinner

Box #4 – Hugo

Graeme Skinner — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 11:02:42 +0000

I didn’t think a month after making a box for Kai’s ashes I would be making one for our Hugo’s ashes, I’m calling this his temporary ashes box as I struggled making this one – dodgy arm meant I had to do a lot of it left handed and it was awkward Anyway, the top insert is made from Maple with a footprint inset into out of resin, the sides are made from Oak. The inside of the lid has a laser engraved detail

Stepping up

Graeme Skinner — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:05:39 +0000

A little step to help folk onto a massage table, the top is Elm and the legs Oak, logo was engraved with the laser do da.

From Little to Long Meg

Graeme Skinner — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 13:18:39 +0000

We’ve searched for Little Meg Stone Circle a couple of times and walked past it without seeing it so the other day we decided it was the time to find it at last. Luckily it was nice weather for a wander and we found it easily (it helps to look up the location before you head out). It’s quite a small group of stones, and the prehistoric rock art was difficult to see, but it was still worth visiting.

We then left Little Meg behind and walked round to St Michael & All Angels Church which I’d not visited before.

We found a hobbit listed there

We then headed off down the footpath and ended up at Long Meg…

Box #3 (Kai)

Graeme Skinner — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 09:24:12 +0000

When a friend lost their beloved pooch I decided to make a little box to keep some of his ashes in, I ended up making a personalised lid with a dog tag on, and made a sliding lid for a change.

Lid is made from Wenge and the sides from Ash.

In reference to…

Graeme Skinner — Sun, 15 Mar 2026 16:03:42 +0000

I was in need of some crashy wave reference photographs, and as it was windy and the tide was in we headed out. Sadly when we got there it was also in pounding with heavy, icy rain so we only spent a couple of minutes out of the car.

A drop of snow

Graeme Skinner — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 09:19:54 +0000

Couple of pics from yesterdays wander.

Box #2 2026

Graeme Skinner — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 09:05:32 +0000

Made from Beech, Steamed Pear and Burr, with Sapele splines in the mitres.

Shall I prepare the guest room…

Graeme Skinner — Sun, 18 Jan 2026 14:48:11 +0000

Well, the best laid plans and all that I decided to have a practice making a box using mainly hand tools (I’ve still not sourced a planer thicknesser that I can use/afford) so I shaped an off cut of Elm for the lid which was good fun, then dimensioned some Maple for the sides by hand and shaped the sides. The workshop was rather cold when I wanted to glue it up so I ended up using a large cardboard box and a fan heater pointing into it to keep the glue at a reasonable temperature to work/go off. Sadly I was rushing too much and didn’t check the box was square when I clamped it up and stuck it into the cardboard box, so when I returned today to finish it the box wasn’t square and the lid didn’t fit correctly. Still, you live and learn

Fun with a plane

Graeme Skinner — Fri, 26 Dec 2025 09:54:30 +0000

We thought it would be a good idea to make a charcuterie board as a Christmas gift, I had some nice timber that was waiting for the right project but I still don’t have my planer/thicknesser working which meant the timber had to be planed and dimensioned by hand….

The Oak was really nice to plane…

Though it wasn’t as fun to plane as this Maple….

In the end we had a nice pile of shavings to get the fire started for a few days

Laying out the timber we decided not to use the maple and went with some Oak, Ash, and Walnut. Once it was glued up, scraped to a nice surface, edges rounded over it was time to zap it on the laser…

Serving board, I forgot to measure it before we wrapped it, however the longer edge was around 42cm

It was finished in several coats of food safe mineral oil and rubber feet added to the bottom.

Nice start…

Graeme Skinner — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 13:41:49 +0000

It’s nice to start the day with a sky like this….