We hope that you are staying safe and well during this health emergency, our online shop is closed and we have put the team on furlough, Marc is single manning the furniture workshop and we are taking on a low volume of orders (lead times have increased by 1 – 2 weeks)
Although we are very grateful for all of the support from the local council, NHS and essential workers helping us through, it has taken quite a bit of adjustment and stress here in the Wood household, as we know that it has for many of us.
We are enjoying spending family time on our daily walks through the Somerset countryside, which is on our doorstep (see our Instagram for more pics) and we can amuse ourselves with classic board-games from the loft, plus the boys got home haircuts last week!
We were very excited to launch our new shop space in the Ilminster Emporium at the end of March, we held a party in the shop with local small businesses and our friends and family, the Mayor even helped out by cutting the ribbon, marking the official opening!
After several great weeks in this very lovely iconic building in the old town centre we all made the decision to close up our shop just before the ‘lock-down’ went into effect across the UK.
Although it was sad to say goodbye to all the other lovely Emporium traders and our new friends on the committee, we all felt that it was irresponsible to encourage visitors into the town as the virus took hold across the country.
We will all be back with great new displays as soon as we can and we hope that you will be able to visit the Emporium on Silver Street on your next visit to South Somerset.
In the days before we made the decision to close the workshop we also completed our latest handmade pieces. A chunky modern rustic sideboard (seen here in it’s new home!) and our new design of ‘tall boy’ chest of drawers, which is pictured in our studio and is now in Scotland thanks to our dedicated specialist courier Barry Whitcher, who is still working hard ensuring that items get from A to B across the country.
Both of these pieces of furniture make use of our classic ‘cut out’ handle and we will be featuring the ‘tall boy’ and lots of other new handmade items in our online shop once we are open again.
This April we reached the milestone of 100 subscribers to our YouTube channel and we will be adding more videos in the coming weeks, find us under Marc Wood Joinery.
Woodworking tips & tricks:
This month we have an ingenious tip for smooth sanding around a curve.
It can be challenging to sand a curve and you often need your piece of sanding paper to be solid yet supple enough to carefully remove surface layers whilst fitting into the required shape.
Cover a flexible A5 notepad with sandpaper of the necessary grade for your needs and curve the notepad to fit into the curve of your wood then you have a very useful and study sanding pad.
If you place an edge of the sanding paper into the notebook, the pages will secure it as you apply pressure. Find out more about woodworking technique on this great easy to read blog.
