The Man Who Made Things Out of Trees: The Ash in Human Culture and History

by Robert Penn

Overview

Out of all the trees in the world, the ash is most closely bound up with who we are: the tree we have made the greatest and most varied use of over the course of human history. One frigid winter morning, Robert Penn lovingly selected an ash tree and cut it down. He wanted to see how many beautiful, handmade objects could be made from it.

Thus begins an adventure of craftsmanship and discovery. Penn visits the shops of modern-day woodworkers--whose expertise has been handed down through generations--and finds that ancient woodworking techniques are far from dead. He introduces artisans who create a flawless axe handle, a rugged and true wagon wheel, a deadly bow and arrow, an Olympic-grade toboggan, and many other handmade objects using their knowledge of ash's unique properties. Penn connects our daily lives back to the natural woodlands that once dominated our landscapes.

Throughout his travels--from his home in Wales, across Europe, and America--Penn makes a case for the continued and better use of the ash tree as a sustainable resource and reveals some of the dire threats to our ash trees. The emerald ash borer, a voracious and destructive beetle, has killed tens of millions of ash trees across North America since 2002. Unless we are prepared to act now and better value our trees, Penn argues, the ash tree and its many magnificent contributions to mankind will become a thing of the past. This exuberant tale of nature, human ingenuity, and the pleasure of making things by hand chronicles how the urge to understand and appreciate trees still runs through us all like grain through wood.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393354126
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	07/25/2017
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	545,502
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Robert Penn is the author of the best-selling celebration of craftsmanship, It’s All About the Bike. A writer and journalist, Penn wrote and presented Tales from the Wild Wood, a television series about British woodlands. He lives in a wooded valley in South Wales with his family.

Table of Contents

Prologue - Venus of the Woods 1

Chapter 1 Ashes to Ashes 23

Chapter 2 Hafts and Helves 49

Chapter 3 Keep Cart on Wheel 68

Chapter 4 Against the Grain 93

Chapter 5 The Devil's Finger 118

Chapter 6 I See You Baby, Shakin' That Ash 140

Chapter 7 Clash of the Ash 158

Chapter 8 Crack of the Bat 182

Chapter 9 Green Ebony 208

Epilogue - With Gentle Hand Touch 221

Inventory 229

Postscript 237

Acknowledgements 243

Editorial Reviews

"There is no greater debt than that which mankind owes to trees, and Robert Penn proves this brilliantly—a highly readable account of the multitude of uses one single ash tree can provide."

Lars Mytting

"[Ranges] freely over intellectual territory—masculinity, nostalgia, identity. . . . Fascinating."

The Times (UK) - Books of the Year 2015

"A well-crafted tribute to the ash. . . . Penn has made a lovely book: part elegant history, part anxious lament."

Guardian

"A beautifully figured and multicolored ode to our love affair with the invaluable ash tree. I swooned. Penn’s paean to the many uses of the ash is so well-wrought that I am compelled to take up hurling."

Nick Offerman

"The appeal of Robert Penn’s enchanting narrative extends far beyond tree enthusiasts, woodworkers, and fanatic loggers like me. It is a book-lover’s feast. Penn’s wonderful prose and compelling research put The Man Who Made Things Out of Trees right up there in the league with such classics as John McPhee’s The Survival of the Bark Canoe."

Rinker Buck

04/11/2016
Journalist Penn (It’s All About the Bike) was clearing some of the trees around his home when he noticed that many were of the ash variety. Ash is one of the world’s most hardy and versatile woods, used to make everything from ladders and looms to fishing rods and umbrella handles. Intrigued by the species, he decided to have the tree professionally felled and processed at the local sawmill, and set out to determine how much one tree can produce. Penn charts his delightful quest, introducing readers to artisans specializing in all manner of highly specific items, including John Lloyd, the latest in his family’s line of axe handle manufacturers; Phill Gregson, a wheelwright (“an almost extinct craftsperson”); and Brian Hillerich, whose great-great-grandfather established Hillerich & Bradsby, proud makers of baseball bats. Penn also encounters bowl-turners and toboggan-makers, among other artisans. In each case, Penn manages to deftly weave the story of the wood, the product it yields, and the craftsperson into a fiendishly fascinating story as he explains the hows and whys of seasoning timber, proper wood-chopping technique, and the ash tree’s archenemy: the emerald ash borer, a type of beetle. The tree ended up producing the material for 44 objects in all; Penn doesn’t go into the details of each one, but the items he chooses to highlight give his story arc and momentum, and readers are sure to come away with a deeper appreciation for trees and the artisans who craft with wood. (July)

Publishers Weekly

06/01/2016
Journalist Penn, who has written for the Observer, the Sunday Times, and Condé Nast Traveller, and who wrote and presented the BBC documentary Ride of My Life: The Story of the Bicycle, does for the artisan woodcraft industry what Michael Pollan has accomplished for the food industry. As Pollan follows meals from field to plate in Omnivores Dilemma, Penn tracks woodcraft from ash tree to axe handle, bowl, and as many other objects as he can make from one tree. Employing a conversational tone, the author goes on a hunt for the perfect tree, laying out each step in the process to construct a finished object. Readers will feel as though they are in the workshop or the forest with Penn. Woodcrafters will appreciate Penn's care in telling the story of this hobby, while readers of all types will enjoy learning about the effort and fine craftsmanship it takes to go from tree to handle. VERDICT This work of light investigative journalism on a topic the author is obviously passionate about will appeal to the artisan, the crafter, and those who like to know how things are made.—Dawn Lowe-Wincentsen, Oregon Inst. of Technology, Portland

Library Journal

2016-05-04
A lifelong nature lover explores the versatility of the ash tree. Journalist and avid cyclist Penn (It's All about the Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels, 2011) grew up beneath the shadows of an ash tree and developed an uncanny connection to it: "the gatekeeper to my dreams." In adulthood, the author lives in a small woodland area in the Black Mountains in Wales, where the ancient, self-propagating ash stands as the third most common broad-leaved variety. Penn celebrates the ash's usefulness as the building block for ladders, flooring, crutches, shovel handles, and a wide range of furniture; its leaves are also medicinal for humans and nutritious for livestock. Noting how it is supremely practical yet historically undervalued and "reduced in our minds today to a material you burn," the author comprehensively acknowledges the ash through diligent research, examples of the tree's historical and social significance, and a series of interviews with master artisans. Penn provides profiles of village craftsmen who use and respect this particular species, including a bowyer, bowl-turner, Austrian toboggan maker, baseball bat manufacturers, and, most fascinatingly, a wheelwright. The author also oversaw the professional felling of a nearby ash in order to execute a "zero-waste policy" in his discovery of how many uses could be achieved from a single tree. Infrequently but no less interestingly, Penn also touches on the more intimate relationship he shares with trees and nature; he regularly enjoys the healing, stress-relieving, and spiritual properties of "forest bathing" (strolling among old growth woodlands), something which soothed the grief of his father's sudden passing. By the conclusion of his project, Penn found 44 uses for the ash he'd felled. With an arborist mindset and smooth, poetic prose, the author reflects on the usefulness and the living splendor of trees, which he believes "summon us to witness nature; they are closest to its heart." An appreciative, environmentally sound reminder of how trees benefit and cultivate life on Earth.

Kirkus Reviews