Oak Garden Bench

In Cumbria there’s a long tradition of harvesting oak bark for tanning leather and last spring I took part in a group day with the local Coppice Association to harvest bark from Moss & Height’s Spring Wood. The bark is sold to a tannery in Devon and the funds used to help finance the Coppice Associations work.
While we were there I was asked to build a bench from some of the peeled poles as part of a garden makeover. I spent a good while selecting the right pieces for a look which would be natural but not too wild and making the most of the curves in the wood. One thicker pole was cleft to make matching back legs with longer cleft pieces used to make a solid and comfortable seat. I like the texture of the peeled oak and the bench is looking good already in it’s new home, it’ll be even better as it weathers.