Grandfather tutors chip off the old block
When Eva Cloake discovered the cost of furnishing her first flat, she asked her grandfather if he would make some furniture for her.
The 19-year-old, in her first year studying to be a nurse, said she had been planning to move in with her partner Sam Pearce at the end of last year so stated looking for furniture.
‘‘Furniture was so expensive, and I knew how talented granddad was, so I thought he could help,’’ she said.
But rather than doing the job for her, her grandfather Mervyn Cloake taught her how to do it herself.
The first item she purchased was an $80 dresser and he showed her how to put a nice rimu top on it.
Next Eva realised she needed a desk for her study, so Mervyn demonstrated how to make it from scratch, in his fully kitted-out home workshop. ‘‘He would show me, then get me to do it.’’
‘‘Some of the techniques are hard, and it’s hard to get everything exact. It’s difficult to make four legs all the same,’’ she said.
She said her granddad did the woodturning part to start with as it took skill and was time consuming.
Eva spent much of her time over the summer break and term break learning, and returns to the workshop every weekend.
After completing the desk she said felt a sense of achievement.
‘‘I’m proud of the desk. It took two months. It’s quite rewarding. It means more because it’s a one-off.’’
Now she has almost completed a blanket box as well, and plans to keep making furniture until her home is fully furnished.
Her new interest prompted her partner Pearce, an apprentice aircraft engineer, to take up joinery too and now Mervyn is helping him to make a coffee table.
Mervyn, who is self-taught, said his granddaughter was learning fast.
The retired beekeeper said he used to make his own bee boxes, which was the start of his joinery journey. He went on to make his own joinery when he completely rebuilt his house over many years, and is now building a kauri bedroom suite.