We visit the workshop of pole lathe turner Mike Ashton, where he carefully crafts wooden utensils and furniture
Inspired by traditional techniques for making wooden utensils and furniture, Mike Ashton is slowly carving his place among a handful of professional pole lathe turners
Mike Ashton sometimes wonders whether he was born in the wrong era. Not because he harbours Luddite tendencies – far from it – but because his lifelong passion is based on skills and traditions that date back centuries. From an old stone-built workshop at the bottom of his garden in Lincolnshire, Mike has turned back the clock to create household utensils and furniture using the most fundamental methods.
It has been a long and winding road to get this far, but Mike is in his element. His cluttered workshop is a treasure trove of antique hand tools, which he has bought for a few pounds and restored; piles of wood in all shapes and sizes are propped against the stone walls; an old work bench fits into one end of the low-slung building and at the opposite end stands his pride and joy – an elegant and ancient-looking pole lathe, which Mike built himself.
‘I’ve always loved anything to do with wood: the texture, the smell, the beautiful grain,’ says Mike. ‘However, I’d always viewed green woodworking as a hobby, but the interest has grown to the point where I can now do it full-time.’
On rainy days he can spend hours in this compact little building, completely absorbed in the processes of transforming a humble log of wood into beautiful kitchen utensils, small items of furniture and, his personal favourite, Windsor chairs. On sunny days, he spills out into the garden where he chops, saws and planes, filling the air with the scent of green wood and carpeting the grass with curls of wood shavings, oblivious to the noise of traffic and 21st-century living.
‘What one person sees as a piece of firewood, I see as a detail in a piece of furniture,’ he says. ‘I never know what I am going to find when I split a log. So often what I had planned for it becomes something else. It depends on the grain: if it’s straight it could become a strong spindle for the back of a chair or be steam bent for a chair bow.’
Using a pressure cooker and wallpaper steamer as ‘prototypes’, he has even created his own steam box and former, for softening and then bending longer pieces of wood into elegantly shaped chair backs.
‘If there are knots and bends in the grain it can weaken the wood, so those curves and contours could be turned into bowls, cups, or the curved arm of a chair instead. You have to work with the integrity of the wood to get the best out of it.’
Mike has enjoyed making things since childhood, when he would go looking for flints and fallen tree branches to make spears, bows and arrows. ‘My mates and I used to play at being cavemen,’ he chuckles. ‘We made everything just as they would have done, tapping into those basic human instincts and using the nature around us to create practical, necessary things.’ Woodwork was naturally his favourite subject at school and it was almost inevitable that he would take up a career in joinery. ‘I loved working with hand tools and timber, but as time went on, and modern technology took the place of many of the skills I enjoyed, I became quite disenchanted by it all,’ says Mike.
His passion was rekindled, however, when he went along to a heritage day at Lincoln Castle and met pole lathe turner Tim Wade. Tim was a founder member of The Association of Pole Lathe Turners, an organisation committed to keeping the craft alive, and was running chair-making courses in Wales. Mike and his wife Gill, a civil engineer, signed up for the five-day course. It was a real eye-opener, not only in terms of learning more about the history of pole lathe turning, but also learning the intricacies of age-old skills that Mike could completely relate to. ‘The last people to use pole lathes commercially were chair “bodgers” – itinerant woodworkers, who worked in woodlands and only made legs, stretchers and spindles to supply to the chair-making workshops,’ says Mike. ‘At one time you would have a “bottomer” making the seats and a “framer” putting it all together. Today there are only a handful of full-time professional pole lathe turners in the country.’
Inspired by the course and determined to follow his instincts, Mike built his own foot-powered pole lathe and shave horse, then started collecting an impressive range of antique hand tools in various states of repair and condition from fairs
Clockwise from
left: Mike made the shave horse, which is a combination of vice and workbench, himself using traditional methods; the unseasoned green wood is easier to work with because it is softer; one of his beautifully crafted bespoke Windsor chairs and car-boot sales. ‘I repair them and make them usable again, even when I might be just buying a single tool part and rebuilding it,’ says Mike. ‘It’s hugely satisfying that everything is made using traditional materials and methods.’
With a rustic old workbench, traditional tools and a supply of green wood, Mike is realising his dream of becoming a full-time professional pole lathe turner and chair maker – making him one of just a handful of professionals doing this in the country. His range of artisan products now includes a whole host of household items, such as chopping boards, bowls, spoons, goblets, pestle and mortars, candle sticks and rolling pins, alongside small items of furniture and bespoke Windsor chairs.
‘I would love to develop my own skills and products but also reach a wider audience through demonstrations and teaching,’ says Mike. ‘Traditional artisan crafts are gathering momentum and one of the best things we can do is keep them alive and thriving by passing on these age-old skills to the next generation.’
To see more of Mike’s work, visit facebook.com/ michaelashtonpolelatheturner