Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2025 i Australian Wood Review

A mid-century master Schulim Krimper is one of the earliest 20th century Australian designer makers in wood to gain prominence, and yet I have a feeling his work is not well known to current makers. Krimper and his wife Elsbeth fled Nazi Germany and emigrated to Australia in 1939. He started a business in St Kilda and made furniture throughout the 40s to 60s earning a reputation as a top bespoke maker. While he made to commission, the design of the piece was always up to him! A recent exhibition of his work in Melbourne prompted the feature presented this issue, see p.24. Gay Hawkes is another who occupies a unique place in Australia’s creative landscape. From the 80s until present times, Gay Hawkes has continued to make and show…

Using a sharp saw requires a very delicate touch. I read somewhere that you need to hold the saw as though it was a small, baby bird, and that certainly does suggest the required feel. Woodworkers of my generation often grew up using blunt saws, which needed to be monstered to get them to cut at all, but if the saw is sharp even a small amount of excess pressure can cause it to take too big a bite and stop dead – particularly at the beginning of the cut. When cutting dovetails, it can also help to think about grain direction when beginning a cut. I start a push cutting saw on the front corner of the wood, pushing upwards, and a pull saw on the rear corner, pulling…

The piece shown here is part of a series of five pieces which share a similar form and embellishment. Although I’ve made them from different woods, it’s been mostly about getting the form exactly how I want it, always striving for perfection – and never quite getting there. My thought with the name was that this form represents a single flame, just one flicker of light, a single spirit. Over the years I’ve been lucky to receive commissions from people all over the world. Recently a collector in France got in touch with me and commissioned me to make a piece. I decided to make another Lone Spirit vessel which at the same time also pays homage to Jack de Vos, a mentor and friend. Jack and I attended workshops…

Diary listings are free. Email to: linda@woodreview.com.au Note: Listings are correct at time of publication but may be subject to change. It is advisable to check details with the organiser before visiting. For more events and news sign up to AWR fortnightly newsletters at: www.woodreview.com.au 25–31 AUGUST National Skills Week This year’s theme is ‘Explore ALL the options’. Showcasing career opportunities.. Raising the status of skills and vocational learning. Vocational Education and Training (VET) has been the foundation of Australia’s economy. www.nationalskillsweek.com.au 3–5 SEPTEMBER SCM Sydney Innovation Days Showcasing the latest in woodworking technology, including advanced CNC nesting machines, edge banders, and joinery machines 26 Peter Brock Drive, Eastern Creek NSW 2766 www.scmgroup.com/en_AU/scmwood 4 SEPTEMBER Maker of the Year, presented by Carbatec Entries close 11:59pm AEDT for Wood Review’s awards…

History is replete with examples of humans seeking to ride the waves, and wood has always been the primary material used. Archaeologists have found that the practice of riding a vessel with a wave was utilised since the pre-Inca cultures around three to five thousand years ago. Peruvian Moche people used the caballito de totora (little horse of reeds) with archaeological evidence showing its use around 200 CE. There are reports dating back to the 1640s of Africans surfing on long wooden boards. Captain Cook’s crew documented many times that locals in the Polynesian islands were riding wood boards from 1769, and then it was reported in 1778 in The Hawaiian Islands. In the 1900s Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku took surfing to the USA and Australia. Duke is considered the ‘father…

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As a child, I spent countless hours in my father’s woodworking shop. We crafted doors, windows, and furniture together, and I quickly developed the skills to handle chisels, planes, and dovetail joints with ease. It was a time of learning through doing – feeling the texture of the wood, understanding its behaviour, and appreciating the rhythm of creation. Later, when I left home to study, woodworking gradually faded into the background. But the feel, the scent, and the presence of wood never truly left me. Years passed, and I eventually found myself drawn back to the craft. I set up a modest workshop in my garage, a quiet space that allows me to step away from my primary profession as an information technology specialist, away from computers, formulas and software…

I met with Gay Hawkes at her home in late 2022. It was one of the most extraordinary few hours I’ve ever spent with anyone. I had planned to write an article about her and her work for Australian Wood Review. It’s an article I had set aside only to complete years later, but I’d like to take you back to that rainy day when I sat down with Gay Hawkes. 24 September 2022, Grand Final Day: It’s pouring with rain as I reach the top of the hill, I can see a dirt road ahead leading down to the ocean. The scene is wild and untamed. Marion Bay curves around and I can see spectacular steep cliffs either side, ghostly in the mist. There is an expanse of saltmarsh…

This jig makes domino sized mortises at an entry level price. It uses your drill with a special long cutter supported in the body of the jig which is moved side to side to make a mortise. It makes 6, 8 and 10mm mortises with the width and depth adjustable in workpieces from 13mm to 38mm thick although you can use larger workpieces by flipping faces. Initial set-up is straight forward fixing the jig to the shaped plywood base, attaching the lever and dust shroud. The supplied cutter is a beautiful tri-toothed spiral bit running in two bushes mounted on a sliding carriage. As you drill you sweep the handle side to side activating a clever ratchet system that increases the depth of the cutter about 1.6mm each time. The…

While other children played with toys, So Joong-Han played with the wood shavings that clung to his father’s clothes when he came home from work. From birth, wood and woodworking were part of his natural environment. Joong-Han’s father, So Byung-Jin is a master carpenter and designated as Korea’s National Intangible Cultural Asset No. 55. Joong-Han used to go to his father’s workshop after school and watch him work. Before he even understood what woodworking was, he remembers how he loved to watch his father’s skill. ‘When it came time to choose a major for university, I didn’t hesitate – I chose furniture design’, said Joong-Han. ‘I believed that designing everyday objects to be both beautiful and functional was deeply meaningful and inspiring.’ His formal training was a step-by-step process, starting…

No country combines technology with tradition, or beauty with function, like Japan. A telling example is the cedar industry in the Kitayama region north of Kyoto. Go there in the spring, and you’ll notice how the warmer Japanese May climate gradually gives way to the cooler weather of the mountains, to rain showers and wonderfully fragrant coniferous forests. Maruta tree production Since ancient times, so-called maruta (see glossary) logs of cedar have been produced here, specially designed for use in traditional buildings, tea houses and unmistakable tokonoma walls. A process that requires decades of care, but results in logs with an extremely smooth, straight and knot-free surface. ‘The tradition has existed for 600 years’, says Hiroshi Sumiyama at the small-scale Kitayama Maruta timber mill I recently visited. Production begins with…

Loathe it or love it, radiata pine is at foundation of Australia’s plantation and building industries. As a medium for fine furniture it’s not widely recognised however. Albeit on a relatively small scale, Robert Dunlop took it on the world stage with his 80s era Danish design inspired Squatters Campaign range. Over 20 years ago, this magazine hosted a competition titled Redesigning Pine which looked at understanding and valuing the resource more highly. Monterey pine is another name for this species and until early 2020, a Monterey pine stood in Walsh Street, South Yarra before the heritage listed family home designed by renowned architect Robyn Boyd in 1958. The tree was already mature when Robin Boyd bought the plot in 1957. In designing his family home, Boyd opted to preserve…