Liberon polishes up student woodworking competition

Liberon carpentry and joinery competition winners, from left to right: Brandon Sweeney, James Hall and Tom Woodyet

Students at Burton & South Derbyshire College have been put through their paces by Liberon as part of a carpentry and joinery competition. The woodcare experts called on learners on the college's City & Guilds Bench Joinery course to design, build and finish a stool for children, using Liberon's Wax Polish Black Bison Paste.

Teams of students were given a total of 15 teaching hours to complete the project. The winning team came up with the idea of incorporating a cartoon-like rabbit theme, with eye-catching ears forming a back rest and highly appealing bunny face seared into the main stool surface. For the majority of the project, a European softwood was used, and Douglas fir to create the bunny ears, with the latter being taken from former local church pews, which had been salvaged by the college.

A laser was programmed to sear in the facial features and the legs were turned on a lathe. The design went through several iterations, with the students finally settling on an endearing flopped-down style for one of the rabbit’s ears. A feature of the ears was a contrasting central section, created to resemble those of the real-life animal. This was achieved by inlaying Douglas fir and smoothing it off.

 

Richard Bradley, Liberon Marketing Manager, said: "The students’ designs were wonderful - a real testament to their skills. We'd like to congratulate the winning team, and wish all the students on the course the best of luck in their future carpentry and joinery careers."

Course leader, Ian Vanes-Jones, added: "All the students should be very proud of what they achieved in this competition. I've been so impressed with the way they've worked together in teams. Being asked to design, build and finish a project within a tight time-frame has brought out the best in them. It's great that it's introduced them to new skills such as using a lathe and laser. I've always been a strong advocate of Liberon's Wax Polish Black Bison Paste, which really brings out the beauty of wood, but this competition has highlighted its attributes even more."

The entries were judged by college staff who agreed that the standard of work was high and that making a choice hadn't been an easy decision. The three members of the winning team each won a £25 Amazon voucher provided by Liberon.

Waxing furniture has been carried out for hundreds of years, and while traditional beeswax has its place, it's advisable to seek out a solid wax with a modern formulation, which makes it more hardwearing. Liberon recommends choosing one with a good content of carnauba wax, which is found on the leaves of the carnauba palm and native to north-eastern Brazil. It's known as the 'Queen of Waxes', and contributes to the superior durability of the complete wax formulation, making it ideal for nourishing and protecting all types of wood, including lacquers and French polishes.

Liberon's Wax Polish Black Bison has a good content of carnauba wax and, being highly lustrous, makes wood look simply beautiful. Made from a blend of waxes, it provides good resistance to finger and water marks, and is ideal for small surfaces such as chairs. Known for its high quality and pleasant, distinctive aroma, it feeds, polishes and helps to prevent wood drying out, and has traditionally been used on antiques.

For further information on Liberon and the company’s extensive range of woodcare products, visit www.liberon.co.uk.

.

 

COMPANY INFO
Liberon Limited
Mountfield Industrial Estate, Learoyd Road
New Romney
TN28 8XU
01797 367 555

X