Matt Whittaker

I have been working with wood and steel for over twenty years now. What first attracted me to these materials and the crafts of the Greenwood and Forge was their immediacy, the need for a very few tools in order to be able to create practical, everyday objects. Alongside this work I also operate a mobile sawmill that is used to cut both Farm and woodland trees into useful planks and beams. This feeds into another aspect of my work, building timber frames, from sheds to Barns.

Teaching and Craft
Alongside of the teaching I love to make for its own sake. The joy of something springing from hand and tool. I mainly work on a foot powered lathe and turn wooden mugs and bowls in the same style as the vikings when they came to these shores. The materials for most of my work come directly from the woodland at Abundant Earth; five acres or so of semi-ancient woodland that is managed in the traditions of coppicing.

Sawmill.
It is surprising how much wood in modern forestry is left to waste. The odd ton here and there does not make sense in the world of large lorries and machines. I started off with a chainsaw milling rig and over the years have progressed to a fully mobile bandsaw mill that along with our landrover can go most places on a farm or woodland to mill the log where it fell. This makes a lot of sense for the small woodland owner or the farmer for a small amount of timber. Priced by the hour, no job is too small.