Making a sturdy trug - a useful basket for for gardening

A trug is a sturdy sort of basket, often used to carry tools and other heavier items. They are sometimes made of wood and a classic design is known as a 'Sussex trug'. 

Image from https://www.thenewcraftsmen.com/product/royal-sussex-garden-trug-no-7/?gclid=CJ-Gyt-ym80CFUWNGwodfLIE6g

Proper good-quality Sussex trugs are made by skilled crafts people using sweet chestnut for the handle and rim and cricket bat willow for the laths making up the basket.

I haven't trained in Sussex trug making and don't have the moulds to shape the timber. An important birthday was coming up and the recipient is a keen gardener, so I decided to make her a tough workhorse of a trug which would also be a lot more affordable than a good quality Sussex-style one.

The trug measures about 65 cm (25.5") from end to end and is actually a lot lighter than it looks, as well as being able to carry any plants or tools used in the garden. It is made from European larch with an oak handle.

The handle uprights and the laths going across the basket reused scrap wood that had been used to space timber as it seasoned. I chose pieces with as few knots as possible, so they were stronger under a load. 

The larger side bits were offcuts that were destined for the fire. With a bit of cleaning up they look great. They would also be pretty durable outdoors, although the fixings are not stainless steel which would have been my preferred choice if the trug were to be left outside (as a decorative planter, for example). 

I chose not to put any kind of finish on, as it will only look better when a bit used and worn. The larch timber will naturally go a grey/silver colour over time and doesn't need to be treated with preservative.

The finishing touch was her name carved into the side with a Dremel, so no other gardeners can walk off with Cath's nice new trug!

A kuksa (wooden vessel for food or drink) from Finnish Lapland

My Finnish friend Mika came to visit and had brought along his kuksa. A kuksa is a traditional Scandinavian vessel used for some foods and for drinking.  They are interesting to make and very comfortable to hold.

Mika's kuksa had been made near Raudanjoki (which means 'iron river') in the middle of Finnish Lapland. 

He described to me how a traditional kuksa is made from a burr (or 'burl' in the US) of birch (Betula sp.) that has grown in the far north of Scandinavia. Birch timber has no strong taste and is not toxic. These northern trees also grow more slowly and have denser timber than their more southerly-growing relatives, which makes them ideal to use.

A burr is a rounded growth caused by the tree dealing with an irritant or disease. It would be detached from the rest of the tree and then peeled to reveal the timber, which is then shaped using knives to create the kuksa. The rounded shape of the burr means that the grain travels in a curve around the bowl of the vessel, so it is stronger. The dots of dormant buds held in the grain pattern of the burr also help, as they break up the grain to reduce lines of weakness in the kuksa's bowl and so prevent damage to it.

Mika also told me that the first thing to be drunk from a new kuksa in Finland is usually good cognac. I was surprised, as it isn't a drink normally associated with Scandinavia. He explained that cognac is considered to be enhanced by being drunk from a kuksa and it also improves the vessel too, in a way that more traditional Scandinavian liquors such as aquavit or vodka don't. He used his to drink mainly coffee now and only washes it using water (not detergent) in the traditional way.

Francis Austen, keen woodworker and brother of Jane Austen the novelist

Jane Austen's House museum can be found in the pretty village of Chawton in Hampshire.

The novelist lived there, with her mother and sister, from 1809 until her death in 1817. She did a lot of writing and editing of her novels whilst living at Chawton and the house contains many items that Jane would have known; her jewellery, a rare example of her actual handwriting and clothing and even the table at which she is thought to have written.

Now less well-known than Jane were her brothers Francis and Charles, who were successful officers in the British Navy. Some of their possessions are on display in the museum, including a sword presented to Charles by Simón Bolivar the famous revolutionary. 

Francis lived from 1774 to 1865 and, according to an information panel at the museum:

'from a boy was hard-working and resourceful, and as a man was known for keeping strict discipline on board ship... Both were known for their genuine decency, love of family and active Christian faith.'

Francis was also a keen woodturner, joiner and carver and is thought by many to have inspired the character of Captain Harville in the novel Persuasion, being a good example of Naval characters being treated very sympathetically in Austen's novels. The museum has a few items of woodcarving known or thought to have been made by Francis Austen and I thought it might be nice to show them here.

This toy chest was made by him for one of his children:

There are also two cases for letters and writing equipment that are thought to have been made and carved by him on display:

They may not be the most amazing examples of early nineteenth-century carving that can be found, but they definitely have their own charm and I'd say that the writing cases in particular certainly show some skill in carving. It's interesting to see the creative output of another of the Austen family.