Stuart Somerscales
Unfortunately the estate didn't have any oak timber available for the project, so all requirements had to be sourced further afield. I put the cutting list to a number of sawmills within the UK with a poor response. David Williams, Head Forester on the estate, suggested that a sawmill at Keelby, near Grimsby. At this time I had a contract to make some oak seats for the new Library at Lewes in Sussex, so I contacted the sawmill owned by Stuart Somerscales, placed and order and visited them to collect. I was able to meet Stuart and we had the first of a number of meetings to discuss the bridge. Drawings were placed before him, many cups of coffee and sucking on pipe. He could do it and all would be well in 6 weeks for delivery. This was back in April 2006. The oak beams didn't arrive in Northumberland until July 2007! Stuart was invaluable for many reasons as he knows his stuff about wood and once he is enthused and cajoled a bit the results have proved positive!
On 15th June, 2006 I collected all the green oak required for cutting out the noggins which were to be used to separate the seven beams. I was also to return to collect the mature oak to be used for the balusters. The summer of 2006 was unusually hot, and as such is not good for green oak as it makes it dry out too quickly. Had the beams arrived during that heatwave I would have anticipated major problems associated with twisting and cracking.
As it would happen we needed to dip the end of the noggins in hot wax and cover them in wet sacking to prevent them drying out too quickly. This photo shows Damian Fison and myself doing just that.
The Balustrades needed to have their paper templates transferred onto plywood before they were matched against the oak boards, marked and cut out. I was ably assisted by Hugo Saunders who has continued to give valuable advice and support.
