Quercus Pods for COLLECT.
Angus is making three new Quercus Pods for COLLECT. These vessels with lighting are made in Scottish oak (Quercus robur) and combine two signature techniques previously shown by Angus at Collect. Steam-bending as seen in the Forth Bench and building a curved cabinet with slats and beads of solid wood as seen in the Whisky Collectors Cabinet. This time both these techniques are combined with computer aided design added to the mix.
The oval Whisky Collectors Cabinet was constructed by slicing solid wood into narrow slats and connecting them with a bead slat (like tongue and groove) which allows the wood to expand and contract. Cabinets are usually constructed from a stable substrate such as ply which can be veneered (a thin layer of wood glued on top). Angus prefers to work in solid wood and is always pushing against the boundaries of traditional wood work practise. Creating an oval cabinet in solid wood was one test. In the Forth Bench the challenge was to steam bending a spiral from a single length of wood and then fixing it into position using hand turned spindles. It was challenging to glue this up and required lot’s of head scratching, manipulating the components on the bench and building up in stages.
Whisky Collectors Cabinet
Forth Bench
The Quercus Pods are constructed from bead and slat lengths of wood which have been steam-bent into curved shapes and which are then gradually built together to form a vessel. The vessels is a bit like an orange where a sphere is made from a number of curved segments. The computer aided design (CAD) makes it possible to work out the shape of each segment to be cut from flat planes of wood, and assists with the moulds for steam-bending and drying jigs.
Quercus Pods models
Creating CAD files
Slats in drying jig
Bent slats and beads
Rare photo of Angus smiling!
Building the form - each component requires adjusting
Losing his head!
We were fortunate that brilliant photographer James Millar has been back in Aberfeldy to capture these images of work on the Quercus Pods. A couple of years ago James spent a month in and around Aberfeldy and some of his landscapes were gathered into a book called A Winter Journey: Aberfeldy, Glen Lyon and Perthshire in photographs. This limited book is currently available from James’s website at a Special Price – see here.
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