JOINERY

St Blaise’s joinery is renowned for its quality

St Blaise invested in a joinery department when it was asked to repair the William and Mary dry rot ridden panelling of Bettiscombe Manor in 1989

The repair of the architectural carving and joinery of the state rooms (1755 et seq) at Uppark House (£1M & more) proved St Blaise’s competence

There is little that our joiners cannot do, and what they can do, they do exceptionally well

The rods they draw are works of art in their own right V&A Period Rooms and St Blaise is blessed in that some of the West Country’s best joiners work for the company

We work traditionally, and tend to confine our work to the home grown hardwoods, Lime for carving, imported softwoods from the Baltic States and occasionally from the Americas for Columbian, Oregon or Southern Yellow Pine, Douglas Fir, Pitch Pine, and Honduran or Cuban Mahogany. These are the woods of British architectural joinery. We always seize the opportunity to demonstrate our craft in any material specified and have worked in most timber, even ebony. We never use unsustainable wood unless it is strictly for the conservation of existing buildings in minute quantities

St Blaise has shown that it is still possible to obtain good quality, naturally grown softwood (Pinus Sylvestris), but only by selection, from the Kara Sea/ Archangel areas of Russia, coded “star- crown-crown- star” and that they are durable for external joinery if properly treated and painted

Our joiners are familiar with all periods of British joinery. They can make, repair and conserve “rough” medieval and sub-medieval joinery in English oak. They understand the Caroline, William & Mary, and the Queen Anne traditions of Renaissance and Baroque joinery, in the softwoods increasingly imported. They are unsurprised by the “crudeness of eye and rawness of mind” that hides behind the dignity of “smooth” Georgian and Neo-Classical joinery. They admire the sophistication and inventiveness of “High Victorian” and the ultimate perfection (sometimes in its blandness) of Edwardian and immediate post war joinery

Our joiners have worked in every tradition 29 The Mint The Merchant Taylor’s Guild and continue to work in ever more demanding traditions

WE ARE EXCELLENT JOINERS

Joinery Case Studies