Few people on this forum will have known, or even have heard of Brynley (Bryn) Edwards. Bryn was a member of Mid Wales Woodturning and of the AWGB, and attended our club meetings very regularly at Carno, in Mid Wales. He was a jovial, friendly sort of guy who never spoke ill of anyone and sadly, he passed away several months ago, leaving the task of clearing both his home and his workshop (and sheds full of stuff!) to his cousin, Gareth, who contacted me to ask if I'd take over the task of sorting and disposing of much of the contents of the workshop, sheds and garage....and what a task that was.
The amazing thing about Bryn was that his level of physical disability was such that he could turn with only one hand, but that didn't stop him excelling. Bryn made replicas of just about every little project that the professional demonstrators made when visiting our club, and much of Bryn's work was of a high enough quality to sell through a local specialist craft outlet.
Bryn was a hoarder who lived alone and indulged himself in his hobby. He had just about every tool, jig and gadget imaginable, most of which we disposed of in a sale at our club meetings. Then there was his timber; tons of it, amongst which was a hefty lump of spalted beech, measuring 500x250x250 mm (20x10x10"). By rights, the spalting had gone a little too far in some places and as it had been sat on a damp garage floor, one end had suffered badly, but I fancied making something out of it as it clearly had been a lump of timber that Bryn had valued enough to hold onto.
So here's my tribute to Bryn; an alchemist's jar, as a reflection of the alchemy that Bryn brought to his work! The vessel is a single piece of beech, split, hollowed and glued back together....the stopper was from a similar piece of beech which I added in.
C&C always welcome, Les
