Magazines

The internal structure of Cressing Temple Barns and the throng of people gathered there for the European Woodworking Show, serves to illustrate this Special issue of Good Woodworking admirably: we’re focusing on big timber-based structures and also on the fun to be had with wood. Woodworkers down in the West Country are still using methods that this ancient barn would have been built with, and, what’s more, are finding a market for their skills in an economically depressed area. All over the country architects are coming up with schemes ranging from the grandiose but emotionally moving, to the practical and, in some instances, cost-saving. And forget any idea you might have had that turnings are usually dainty, small things: when Les Thorne was asked to construct a couple of pillars he didn’t hesitate. And that brings me to fun: Eleanor Lakelin escaped the rigours of furniture making to experience the freedom of turning what she wants, Peter Benson came home from the States inspired to make a Greene & Greene lantern, and Iain Whittington finds magic in the forest, which is where it all begins, really…

Andrea Hargreaves, Editor Good Woodworking