Colin Waters
Colin prefers to work to his own designs and reflect the type of furniture that he likes. Some of the pieces below are designed by Colin but, if not, the source is indicated.
Colin makes his furniture for friends and family and does not take commissions.
Glass Top Coffee Table
Ford Model "T" Tradesman's Van
Corner Cabinet
Arts & Craft style end table
Small Kitchen Table
Table Lamp
Coffee Table
Dining Table
Dining Chair
Chopping Boards
I made this piece in 1975 in the style of a G Plan coffee table that my in-laws owned and which my wife liked. Teak was very popular in the 1970's for furniture although, as now,it was very expensive. I could not afford to to make the table in teak so it was made in oroko. I had absolutely no power tools or machinery at that time (except for a hand held electric drill) so the piece was made completely with hand tools. The top is part glass and part tiled onto plywood. Some years ago, my mother-in-law gave the original G Plan table to another family member and I recently gave her our table!
Ford Model "T" Tradesman's Van
Made in 1983 for my son when he was 2 years old from a design by Richard Blizzard, who at the time, had a television series (the design can be found in the booklet "Top Toys from Pebble Mill" by Richard Blizzard - ISBN 0950778117). Mostly made in mahogany and other off cuts in the workshop. As can be seen the toy is well used and in need of restoration - I still have the broken off-side mudguard in anticipation of a rebuild!
By 1987, when this piece was made, I had become much more committed to my woodworking hobby. I was now enthralled by James Krenov and Alan Peters and inspired by Alan's book (The Professional Approach to Cabinet Making). My corner cabinet was my first major design and, in a very poor way, tried to emulate the style of my two idols. I was living in Preston at this time and the wood, which is wych elm, was supplied by Will Tyers who was young cabinet maker working in rural lancashire. Will planed all the wood to thickness for me. By now, I had a router, radial arm saw and pillar drill - so I had progressed a little into the machine age.
We needed a small coffee table for a static caravan that we owned. So I made this table from a design by Andy Shultz (the design can be found in his book "Classic Arts & Craft Furniture You Can Build" published by Popular Woodworking Books - ISBN 1-55870-490-6). I made my table slightly smaller than Andy's design and made it in white maple rather the traditional oak of Arts & Craft furniture. The piece was made in about 2000 and by now I had a planer thicknesser so was able to buy sawn boards.
Made in 2006 to fit in our new kitchen. At the time I was in the middle of building my workshop and had limited access to my workbench and tools so this piece was a bit of a nuisance. It had to be finished to the schedule of the worktop templaters for them to make the template for the pseudo-granite top. The wood is maple with a paduk drawer front. The table is finished to the height of the unit work surfaces and just seats two people comfortably on high chairs. I was very proud of the retro Arts & Craft drawer handles but all my friends and whole family think they are hideous - they all lack taste of course!
When I had completed my new workshop I equipped it with a Vicmarc lathe although I had no experience of woodturning. Greg Moreton, a professional woodturner, came to my workshop and gave me a two day one-to-one course and I made this lamp and bowl in olive ash as a result.
I am still very much a novice turner and have not devoted enough time to the craft although I have also made this apple my friend Richard Cox - it is in the form of a gavel.
The next three designs have been made for my son and daughter-in-law for their home. Each piece has legs which taper outwards at the bottom. All are made in white ash or ripple ash.
The dining table needed to be compact to fit their small lounge/diner. So we chose a drop flap design. The thickness of the top, to echo the thick top on the coffee table, was 30 mm which needed special hinges which I also made.
As this would be my first set of chairs I decided to use a proven design and after much discussion with my son and his wife we chose a design by Mark Ripley. The chairs are described by Mark as breakfast chairs and featured in an article in Furniture and Cabinetmaking in 2007 but are reproduced in Mark's book "Making Furniture - Projects and Plans" published by GMC in 2008 (ISBN -13: 978-1-86108-560-3). I altered the design slightly by making the rear legs thinner and accentuated the taper of the front legs to echo the dining table. Also I used a shaped and tennoned crest rail. The wood was a mix of white and ripple ash with tiger oak splats. The image shown is lacking the seat which is currently at the upholsterer's workshop. Four chairs have been made.
Unfortunately, for my family they get additional presents at Christmas which I have made. I made a series of a dozen chopping boards in beech in several different sizes. Here is an example of two of them. They became an exercise
in hand planned finishes and spokeshaved ends. The idea came from the breadboard that the Barnsley apprentices make in their first year.