Stephen Finch ditched the desk job to pursue a long-held dream of making a living as a craftsperson

Well, join the queue. Or, take inspiration from craftsperson Stephen Finch, 37, a member of Real Wood Studios, who turned his passion into a day job when he helped establish this furniture collective last year. He and six others bought a majority shareholding from Borders Forest Trust, to reconstruct Wood School (a company originally set up in 1997 by late artist Tim Stead) as a cooperative.

"Working with wood was something I did when I was younger," says Borders-based Finch, originally a graphic designer. "But that was before I'd been through the academic process. It was only after working in an office for a while that I suddenly realised that sitting at a desk wasn't what I wanted to do. Everyone else who I work with at Real Wood Studios has a similar story."

The staff at this place, which is situated near Jedburgh, include an ex-gallery director, a former post office accountant and a painting graduate. One of them does boast an impressive beard, but otherwise none of them particularly fits the lumberjack stereotype. They all pitch in with various aspects of the organisation, using skills that they've accumulated in their previous 9-to-5 careers. Finch says: "Because we're a collective and run the business ourselves, everyone's background comes in really handy."

They also have individual working methods.

"If I go into our showroom I immediately know who has made each of the pieces that are displayed there," Finch says. "I can tell by certain design elements or finishing touches. It could be as simple as the edge profile on a piece of wood: whether it's sharp or slightly rounded. Or just the shape of a chair leg, which might be curved or straight."

Although much of their job involves creating bespoke furniture, they also work on larger commissions. For example, they've recently created a reception desk with matching utility furniture, all made from honey-coloured solid oak, for Borders College in Galashiels. One of their designers, Neil Morris, is currently working on a commission to create a dining table, which will be made from a monkey puzzle tree that his client had grown in their garden.

The latter job might be trickier than it sounds, as this company mainly works with Scottish hardwood, such as oak, ash and elm, all of which are Forest Stewardship Council-certified and supplied from within a 100 mile radius.

According to Finch, you become familiar with the personality quirks of specific materials. As he says, "You have to be able to 'read' the wood. The longer you work with it, the more you learn how to do this."

However, there's no question of grabbing a tree trunk and setting to work immediately.

"When we process the logs, we cut them into whatever size we need. Then we let them sit in the yard in stacks, with what we call 'stickers' separating each piece," says Finch. "That's so they can dry slowly, which takes around two years in total. Then there's a kiln-drying process to make sure that the wood has a moisture content that makes it usable in a centrally heated house."

If they didn't perfect this part of the process, then this material might end up shrinking or swelling in-situ.

Being a craftsperson is harder and more technical than you might imagine. It can also be dangerous.

On a day-to-day basis, the studio is full of the sound of roaring machinery, with the Woodmizer LT40 mobile wood-mill buzzing outside. However, despite the ominous noises, there hasn't yet been a major disaster.

"Obviously, in the machine shop we're fully compliant with all the health and safety regulations," says Finch. "There are common-sense rules, like don't run and never tap anyone on the shoulder when they're operating machinery. It would only take a slip of concentration for a millisecond and you could do serious damage. Touch wood, there's never been a serious incident. We always expect splinters and nicks with chisels, but nobody has lost a finger."

After all the adrenalin-boosting sawing and chopping, it's later on in the process that furniture-making turns into a "flow activity", of the sort you might crave if you work in an office.

As Finch says: "When polishing and oiling the piece of wood in front of you, that's when you slip into that Zen-like state of mind."

Any negative aspects are outweighed by job satisfaction provided by moments like this. Not to mention the overall sense of creativity.

"When you've made something the customer often says: 'Oh wow, that's exactly what I want,'" says Finch. "That's something I didn't get in my previous job."

www.realwoodstudios.com,

www.stephenfinch.co.uk

When Stephen Finch ditched the desk job to pursue a long-held dream of making a living as a craftsperson, he finally found a way to make his life go with the grain

Quote:

Gaby Soutar

• This article was first published in The Scotsman on November 6, 2010