Hand Tool Woodworking Myths Exposed!

Polmac (UK) Ltd manufactures custom-made, wood presentation boxes and packaging using traditional woodcraft techniques and semi-automated methods of production.

This means we use hand tools as well as power tools when manufacturing our wooden boxes. But why use hand tools when we have all these amazing, ultra-modern, fast, efficient power tools available to us? Well, when analyzed much of what has been said and written about hand tools are myths.

The first myth is that hand tools are slow and inefficient but the truth is that it's often the person who's slow and inefficient and not the tool. Hand tools have always been designed to be used quickly and efficiently but you need to pick the right tool for the job and use it correctly. 

Nailing A Metal Catch Using A Hammer

Polmac (UK) Ltd comes from a craft background, so Polmac craftsmen are expert in the use of traditional hand tools, that provide a degree of quality that power tools cannot match.

Both hand tools and power tools are very quick if used as they are designed to be. Once you understand what the tool is for and practice using it until it becomes second nature, then you'll work quickly and efficiently every time.

The second myth is that hand tools are less precise than power tools but this is simply untrue. A hand plane for example can remove wood to fractions of a millimetre and this kind of precision is something power tools again simply cannot match.

Furthermore, using a hand plane means you don't have to sand the surface to provide a smooth, even finish. With a power planer you invariably do, so the hand tool saves you time.

It's also important to realize that using hand tools doesn't need to be entirely freehand. There are many jigs and appliances available that can help to steady and guide hand tools. Many of these you can build  yourself, for particular kinds of work that you undertake regularly.

Another myth states that hand tools are unsuitable for complicated work. The truth is that hand tools often free you from using complex jig arrangements that are time-consuming to set up.

For example, if you want to cut a joint at a complicated angle it could take ages to set up on a jig. However, using a hand tool means you just need to mark out the joint and cut it - it's that simple!

To obtain the maximum benefit from using hand tools, the first priority is to discover precisely what they should be used for. It is true that power tools are fast and efficient and save you time but hand tools can too, if used properly!

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Wood Jewellery Delights - A New Story To Tell!

Polmac (UK) Ltd specializes in supplying customized, wood presentation boxes and packaging using craft techniques and semi-automated methods of production. 

Our wooden boxes derive from a craft heritage and we are always looking at new ways wood can be used. This allows us to learn new production and finishing methods and keep abreast of developments, which means we can continuously improve the quality of our wood boxes for your benefit. 

The use of specialized, wood decorative techniques in wood gift boxes and jewellery came to our attention recently as an innovative new way wood can be used. 

Wood Bangle Bracelet

From the earliest times our ancestors used wood for creating shelters, making fire, tools, utensils and weapons. They also used wood for decoration. At some point they learned to shape wood and realized that they could carve, pierce and decorate small wooden objects to create primitive jewellery.

When we think of jewellery today we think of precious and semi-precious stones, as well as gold and silver. We rarely think about using wood in jewellery. However, designers today are rediscovering wood as a material that can be used successfully in jewellery, even at the high-end of the jewellery market.

This reincarnation of wood allows us to appreciate the natural warmth and beauty of wood once more and the many uses it has.

Wood & Glass Mosaic Pendant

Many countries, particularly in the new world have fine wood carving traditions and these skills are being preserved for future generations. Traditional wood carvers are co-operating with jewellery designers to produce bold new designs using techniques that have been developed over thousands of years.

People are attracted by unconventional materials such as wood, in superior quality jewellery including bangles, bracelets, earrings and cuffs.

The special quality of wood adds an extra dimension to our visual experience. Polished rosewood and ebony for example contrast beautifully when used with faceted white diamonds!

A technique comprising pressed thin sheets of native coloured woods in rich, natural hues called 'marquetry' was recently discovered in Brazil and is now used in the manufacture of contemporary jewellery.

Many woods like the blue azul cavalho can be combined in marquetry with other materials such as mother-of-pearl and glass, to provide distinctive and beautifully textured designs.

Wood is a truly unique and versatile material and it seems today it definitely has a new story to tell!

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Euro Pallets - From The Sublime To The Ridiculous!

Polmac (UK) Ltd uses euro-pallets to ship its customized, wood presentation boxes to the UK and other European destinations.

The euro-pallet measures 800 x 1200 mm and is a block-style, uni-directional base pallet. Most European businesses prefer euro pallets because their warehouse systems are generally designed around them.

Shrink Wrapping Polmac Load On Euro-Pallet

Euro pallets are well made, stronger, stiffer and more durable than most other pallets currently in use and therefore last longer. Furthermore, using euro-pallets tends to incur lower product damage claims, due to stringent EU regulations governing their manufacture and use.

Alternative pallets used in Europe may be subject to delays and disposal charges.

The euro-pallet evolved in the 1960's when the European railways wanted a standard pallet type for use on the railway network.

It was found that loading euro-pallets on railway carriages took just 10% of the time than previously when non-standard pallets were in use. In 1968 a standard lattice box pallet design was specified.

Most European businesses quickly switched to the standard euro-pallet design for use with trucks, forklifts and high-rack warehouses, optimized for their size.

Agreements were developed for pallet exchange between organizations where goods would be delivered on euro-pallets and the same number would be given in return.

Today, there are literally thousands of surplus euro-pallets in circulation. One project uses wooden pallets, including euro-pallets to build cheap, environmentally friendly houses that can be turned into permanent homes for the needy!

House Made From Wooden Pallets

To create one house, measuring approximately 3m x 6m requires only 80 pallets. They are nailed or strapped together to form the walls and partitions.

Then, locally sourced materials such as stone, earth, wood and corrugated sheeting can be used to fill in the wall cavities and cover the roof, to create a permanent, water-tight and insulated structure.

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There's More To Birch Than Flogging!

 The birch is a true native of the Northern Hemisphere and grows to heights of 610m. It thrived well before the last Ice Age and was among the first trees to re-colonize the land in massive tracts of forest, after the ice retreated.

The birch is often the first tree to establish itself on a new site and is tolerant of adverse conditions, such as  severe weather, frosts and the polluted environments that we often experience today. 

Birch Trees

For many centuries trees played an important part in man's spiritual life, representing a new awakening each spring. It was often the custom for example, for girls to give their partners a birch twig as a sign of love. 

The so called "Besom Wedding" which involved the couple jumping over birch twigs was recognized as legitimate. On midsummer nights birch boughs were often hung over doors to bring good luck and ward off evil spirits.

Birch was also used in more practical ways. For example, birch bark was stitched together to make food receptacles, canoes for hunting and the pitch was made into glue to fix flint arrow heads and spears onto their wooden shafts.

Polmac Hamper Boxes Made From Birch Ply

In spring, birch sap was used to make mead and the fresh cambial tissue was used to make a nutritious bread. Birch tea is an ancient and powerful remedy used to combat such ailments as gout, rheumatism and arthritis.

The sawdust from birch wood was used for smoking fish and is a practice which endures to this day. The bark was used to tan hides and as a roof covering to keep the rain out, much like the way roofing felt is used today.

Birch wood is quite soft and fairly easy to work and has a wonderful, silver-bar like quality which is highly prized that Polmac uses for making customized, wood boxes where specified. The wood can also be pulped and used for making writing paper.

Birch is a tough, robust wood which is also used to make the best quality, narrow gauge plywood, which is ideal for manufacturing round boxes such as hamper and shaker boxes.

Birches are fast growing and are often used to screen less hardy species, especially on windy higher ground. 

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European Walnut - The Dark Knight Of Woods!

Polmac (UK) Ltd uses locally sourced linden and alder wood as our base woods, because they have good grain character, are readily available and are ideal for making custom-made boxes.

However, we also use other woods, such as beech, birch, poplar and pinewood and occasionally more exotic hardwoods such as European walnut.

European walnut is a truly amazing wood. It cuts and planes exceptionally well, has soft, silky dark mineral lines and a finish that positively glows.

European Walnut Slabs

Walnut is among the darkest of native European hardwoods, with rich dark and light brown colouration, filled with beautiful natural features such as knots, splits, cracks and shakes that give it that un-mistakeable robust, rustic quality.

A good cabinet maker will use walnut for furniture making and gun stocks. The dark colour, deep lustre and smoky pattern of the wood is highly regarded for the most high class of applications.

European walnut trees can grow to a height of over 25m. However, the maximum lengths of timber that can be achieved is 3.5 m, although longer lengths can be obtained from it's American walnut cousin.

The wood is generally cut into 40mm, 60mm and 80mm thickness live edge slabs. The remaining wood can be used for such things as kitchen worktops.

The timber is air dried for an an extended period and then carefully kiln dried to achieve an 8% moisture content, providing the desired wood stability.

Polmac (UK) Ltd recently used European walnut to manufacture bases for scale models of a certain proposed premiership football stadium in North London that we're not allowed to mention. 

The assembly is part of a sponsorship programme by the club to provide funding for the new stadium and there is no doubt the choice of European walnut will give it a winning edge!

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When England Joined The Euros!

The Euros kick off in Paris this summer to spark a month of exciting football, with 24 teams battling it out to succeed Spain as champions of Europe, starting with France as the host nation v Romania.

This time around there's a good deal of interest and optimism in the UK, because all the home nations excluding Scotland have qualified.

Polmac Euro 2016 Football Boxes

As ever, football fans in England are getting excited but for far too long England have approached the finals with lots of optimism but with very little else.

Their hopes always seem to be dashed by strange refereeing decisions, out-dated tactics and of course poor penalty taking skills. (We must surely be due a penalty shoot-out win by now).

Once again, England are pinning their hopes on an emerging generation of young gifted players.

They certainly have the talent but can they conjure a performance that gets the team beyond the usual quarter final exit. Many people doubt it!

However, Roy Hodgson's team enter the tournament unbeaten in the pool stages with plenty of momentum and with a favourable group-stage draw, including Russia, Wales and Slovakia.

Germany will go to the finals as favourites, as they have a very strong squad and are the world champions but they are not invincible as England proved recently.

The question is can England be as ruthless and consistent as Germany when it comes to high-pressure games in tournament finals? That's the question!

France will be a great place to hold the European football tournament even though the question of security has overshadowed the build-up.

Fans will enjoy the country's culture, food, wine, history and a lot more besides from the famous sights of Paris to the sun-soaked cities of Nice and Marseille in the south.

For those lucky enough to be going there, a brilliant summer awaits. Let's hope all our expectations are fulfilled!

Polmac (UK) Ltd has a link with the Euros albeit tenuous when one of our employees attended as a volunteer helper when they were held in Poland and Ukraine.

So, in celebration of England's participation in the 2016 Euros and in expectation of a long-awaited win, we've manufactured some multi-coloured, wood confectionery boxes containing chocolate footballs and including a printed English flag on the lid.

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Re-Cyling - An Opportunity To Save Resources & Preserve The Planet!

When the Council truck takes your household rubbish away, you're probably glad to see it go and not think about it again until the next time. But the story doesn't end there because your rubbish has to go somewhere and this could be to a landfill site or an incinerator.

Unfortunately, landfill sites are open eyesores. They also stink to high heaven, attract vermin such as rats and pollute the land.

Landfill Site

Among the worst features of landfill is that the energy and resources used to create the materials we discard are wasted. At least incinerators reduce the amount of waste that has to be buried and generate useful heat energy. The downside is that incinerators pollute the atmosphere which can affect climate change.

The problem is we live in a disposable society, so we have a tendency to buy new things rather than repair and re-use the old. This is partly due to the development of cheap materials like plastic.

For example, a lot of men nowadays buy disposable razors rather than the old style, re-usable wet razors and women buy disposable nylon stockings.

A few years ago I was involved in the refurbishment of an old Victorian building in London and was amazed to discover that the external wall cavities were full of site waste - broken bricks, pieces of wood and old newspapers etc. Nothing it seems went to waste in Victorian times.

We're all in the habit of throwing things away. But the disposable society we're living in can't last for ever because of the environmental problems we're storing up for the future.

For example, there's so much plastic waste in the oceans, it's now becoming part of the food chain with the potential for serious and long-term health problems.

Wood is a traditional material that can and has been re-used for centuries and we can learn from it's use. Waste wood can be converted to new wood products like wood flooring and garden decking. Old wood, railway sleepers can be used as building timbers.

Waste wood, with the addition of adhesive, can be shredded to make composite panel materials like chipboard, blockboard and mdf. It can also be made into garden compost or used as a fuel. Slivers of wood can be used as a cheap packing material (wood wool)

A recent study concluded that over half the rubbish we discard can and should be recycled. This means that we could be making a tremendous reduction in the amount of raw materials and energy we use and helping to preserve the planet at the same time.

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