Down-Under D Wood

Woodturning Legacies Down-Under D Wood

shburton could justifiably call carefully maintained premises just south itself the woodturning capital of of Ashburton, the Lynn Museum opened A New Zealand. The township, fifty to the public in the late 1990s to display miles south of Christchurch, is home the collection of woodworking tools to two significant turning enterprises: amassed by Bob Lynn. Lynn’s interest in Ashford Handicrafts Limited and the the trappings of woodwork started when Lynn Historical Woodworking Museum. he was apprenticed as a carpenter and Bob Lynn, 2003. Bob was an avid turner well Ashford Handicrafts, established in joiner when he was fifteen years old. into his eighties and a life member of the Society of Ornamental Turners in London. 1934, was innovative for its kitset wooden furniture and toys: Walter Ashford’s A woodworking career concept, “make it yourself and save,” In his memoir, Woodworking: My First the War he was part of government initia- enabled the mailing of small items, like Seventy Years, published in 1992, Lynn tives to increase and improve New Zealand stools and rocking horses, to a national described how his father sent him off to housing. Eventually his focus became market. In 1940, Walter was asked to his first job, the construction of a farm- Lynn’s Hardware & Joinery Limited, a design and make its first spinning wheel house, with “a hammer, square, saw, nail- business that was responsible for all the with the aim of spinning wool to clothe pocket, and a pair of grey blankets.” Lynn joinery (1969-1979) for the Executive New Zealand servicemen and prisoners was “the boy” as well as the cook, and Wing of the New Zealand Parliament. of war. Despite a downturn after WW II, his days lasted from 5:30am to 9:00pm, In the meantime, Lynn’s tool collec- renewed interest in spinning in the 1960s when he laid his exhausted body onto a tion accumulated in backyard sheds. He provoked the revival of Ashford’s kitset mattress made of two chaff sacks filled visited farm and garage sales, attended spinning wheels; the subsequent devel- with chaff. His five-year apprenticeship auctions and was given estates. By the mid opment of a range of wheels and looms saw him making dye vats for woolen 1970s, with intensified focus on acquir- resulted in its products being exported mills, shafts for horse-drawn vehicles, ing lathes, he engaged an agent who bid around the globe. Today Ashford’s turned wheelbarrows, and components for on his behalf at major London auction components are produced in a highly farm equipment, in addition to domes- houses. Since moving to the present loca- mechanized environment. Nevertheless, tic joinery. During WW II, his deafness tion, the Lynn Historical Woodworking the tradition of woodturning is still prevented enlistment, but his skills were Trust has increased its holdings in order to essential to the spinning of fibers and in demand for the construction of the “stimulate, preserve, foster, facilitate, and evident in the wheels’ designs. Ashburton Airport and a major army encourage public interest in and knowl- Not far from this heritage-based barracks. He started his own business in edge of woodworking, woodturning, and industry is lesser-known evidence of the 1943, beginning with construction and commercial turning.” The Trust also has a heritage of woodturning. Housed in joinery for the Ashburton Hospital; after library of more than 2,000 books, includ- ing the historic operating manuals that accompanied ornamental lathes, plus other sometimes-rare publications.

The Lynn Museum collection I lucked into one of Bob Lynn’s museum tours in 2009. He died in 2012 at the age of 97. Now, Lindsay Holland, a trustee, ably fills his father-in-law’s shoes as a guide. Holland believes he is a guard- ian of “one of the best collections in the world” of a range of woodworking and turning equipment. While museums Bower Rose Engine lathe c. 1825. Detail of the head of the Bower Rose Engine lathe. like the Hermitage in St Petersburg, the

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(Left) Interior of the museum with small lathes in the foreground. (Middle) Epicycloid geometric chucks for the Bower Rose Engine lathe. Museum personnel made objects using these chucks to demonstrate their capability. (Right) Interior of the museum with glass cases containing Stanley tools in the background.

Louvre in Paris, and the Smithsonian When the purchaser’s son inherited it, trades that flourished in more agrarian in Washington, DC, have significant corroded and filthy in an open farm and nation-building times. The collec- ornamental lathes and other wood- shed, he offered it for sale to the museum. tion‘s gleaming American Stanley tools working equipment, they are seldom, The lathe has more than 300 individu- also attest to the care that workmen took if ever, on display. By contrast, the col- ally shaped cutters used in cutting frames in the instruments of their trade. The lection in Ashburton can be accessed and was intended for complex engrav- quantity of museum-quality tools and simply by phoning for an appointment. ing on curved surfaces such as watches equipment accumulated by Bob Lynn is The holdings include two Holtzapffel and silverware. By means of a Maudslay a testament to the handcraft skills and and Deyerlein (H and D) lathes from spiral screw attachment, it could also ingenuity that constituted artisanry. The about 1824 and seven Holtzapffel five- produce some of the first metallic screws. intricate outputs of the early lathes and the inch common- and screw-mandrel lathes Holland’s research has shown that it was intellects that produced them challenge that are between 85 and 180 years old. probably made in London in 1825 by our twenty-first century beliefs that the The very existence of these lathes is note- John Bower for the Earl of Harborough. computer is the epitome of human intelli- worthy since only 2,900 Holtzapffels— A restoration team took several years gence. The Lynn Historical Woodworking each was numbered—were manufac- to bring the rose engine lathe back to Museum is a worthy destination for wood- tured and half of them were melted working order and figure out how each of turners keen on learning about their fore- down for their brass and bronze during the accessories was used. bears, and those who respect the legacy World War I. Lathes were the “toys” of American lathes came to New Zealand necessary to get from then to now. the nineteenth century and wealthy via the Sears Roebuck catalog. The D Wood earned an MFA in furniture design New Zealand farmers, made rich by the museum has a Barnes utility lathe from from the Rhode Island School of Design export of agricultural products to Europe, the 1870s that may have been purchased in 2000 and a PhD from the University of consigned such luxury commodities by mail order. Unlike ornamental Otago in New Zealand in 2012. Her research to the returning ships. Fortunately, the machines that were used for luxury and into studio furniture situates New Zealand Holtzapffels that made their way to the decorative goods, the Barnes facilitated practitioners within the context of craft and the international community. southern oceans were not repatriated for the manufacture and repair of farm the smelting pot. equipment. Early metalworking lathes One of the treasures of the Lynn are represented by the British companies, Museum is an ornamental lathe sent for Drummond and Myford. Several home- the British Pavilion at the New Zealand grown lathes confirm New Zealand’s and South Seas International Exhibition reputation as a country of adept do-it- in Dunedin in 1925. It is similar to yourselfers. The Lynn Trust continues to a Holtzapffel Rose Engine Lathe but consult auction catalogs and visit estate marked “J. Bower,” and was accompanied sales in hopes of finding unique historic by Spanish mahogany cabinets with two lathes to add to its collection. geometric chucks and attachments, 120 The rows and rows of turning chisels, H and D hand tools with ivory inlays, wood and metal planes, spokeshaves, and many extras. Following the exhibi- This undated photo shows Bob Lynn showing rulers, gauges, squares, levels, saws, off some of the 1,200 wooden planes in the tion, the lathe stayed in New Zealand. and braces tell silent stories about the Museum’s collection.

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