How much is that doggy going to cost me?

It's said that a dog is for life, and not just for Christmas. Though that can sometimes be a rather trying experience, patently.

I was contacted by a new client, who had recently acquired a new puppy, as well as inheriting an antique desk. Lovely little things, puppies. Until they develop teeth and a taste for antique furniture. In this case the young pup had taken a liking to a knob, low down on an antique desk.

Obviously it can be difficult to source replacements, and the desk is a much-loved heirloom. So the knob (much chewed and damaged) along with an undamaged version were sent over so I could have a look at them.

Whilst the desk itself was pretty much certainly made of Walnut burr, the tiny knobs look like old oak. First up was to identify some suitable timber, and in this respect I was lucky. Following renovations to our previous cottage - a 500 year-old listed building in Eversley - some old oak beams were (sensitively) removed, and the woodworker in me meant I'd stashed them and they made the move with us when we came here. The beam was at least 500 years old then, and in fact possibly rather older, given a fair few in there were old ships' beams, recycled after the ships were broken up in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.

It had been attacked by much woodworm over the years, but the damage was ancient, and I'd guess it had been treated a long time ago, so in fact the beam, whilst being pitted on the surface, remains smooth as well as hard just a few mm under the surface. Removal of a few old square nails and it's a lovely piece.

The small size of the knobs presented another challenge - despite their relative simplicity, the trough in particular was too small to use the majority of my turning tools. But a couple of years ago I acquired a hobby set of gouges and skews for just such a job, and it was great to be able to break the set out and at last use it on a real turning job.

Once I'd turned a short length of the old oak to round, and carefully checked for more ancient ironwork, turning three knobs (my client thought it prudent to commission a couple of spares) took me a pleasant morning in the workshop, and with the weather having turned more clement recently, my fingers remained thawed and mobile in there. The resulting knobs have been delivered ready for staining and fitting, as well as hopefully being protected from further canine attention.