The Tamar Joinery Team
Nigel Harrison
Nigel’s woodworking career started many years ago when he was taken under the wing of a retired traditional coachbuilder, who taught Nigel how to build and restore traditional timber (usually Ash) internal car body frames in vintage cars. Nigel was involved in the restoration of many vintage and classic cars including Sunbeams, Aston Martins and Lancias, as well as the construction from bare chassis of the ‘vintage’ car used in the ‘Mummy’ films. For those interested, the Mummy car is not a Dusenburg but was entirely constructed in our workshop on a Leyland Sherpa chassis, with a Ford V6 Granada engine. A complete wooden frame was made from dry Beech which was skinned with aluminium shaped on Nigel’s English wheel/wheeling machine.
In the mid 90’s, Nigel’s imagination was caught by the strength, beauty, and extraordinary durability of English Oak traditionally built timber framed buildings, and he adapted his woodworking skills and started to learn how to build these wonderful structures. He has now been timber framing for over 25 years and is passionate about preserving traditional carpentry techniques and combining them with modern technology to construct durable, environmentally friendly, energy efficient buildings, using local sustainably produced, renewable material.
Tom Harrison
After ‘A’ levels, Tom completed an 18-month Heritage Skills apprenticeship and the Specialist Applied Skills programme with the Oak Frame Training Forum which is the training wing of The Carpenters Fellowship. This course required 25 days off-site training over 12 months, followed by 6 months assessment and Tom was also awarded an NVQ in Structural Post and Beam Carpentry.
Tom is now enrolled on the Heritage SAP Level 3 Post & Beam Carpentry course, again with the Oak Frame Training Forum. His natural engineering mindset, great joinery skills and attention to detail make him an extremely good timber framer who is very adept at finding solutions to problems.
Tom is also learning timber frame design and is, annoyingly, learning the intricacies of our Weto Viskon 3D CAD CAM specialist timber frame design software much faster than Nigel managed!
When he is not timber framing, Tom enjoys riding his Montesa trials bike and his classic Moto Guzzi SP 1000cc motorbike.
Nicky Harrison
You will probably speak to Nicky first if you call us. Nicky manages job schedules, book keeping, project management, training requirements, biscuit supplies, social media and makes us do risk assessments and method statements! She also manages the website, so if you find anything that doesn’t work or make sense, please give her a call. When she escapes the office, she invariably heads for the beautiful coasts which surround us in Devon & Cornwall.
Sascha Nitche
Our Master Carpenter consultant from Germany who has advised and inspired us with his extensive knowledge of timber framing, CAD CAM timber design, timber restoration, non-toxic building materials and Building Biology. He has a vast knowledge of timber decay and the methods by which this can be prevented.
Andy Morton
Andy worked for us as a timber frame carpenter for many years and now runs green woodworking courses in his Devon woodland. He can be persuaded to help out when we are very busy
His courses can be found at https://www.sallertonwood.org.uk
Simon Preston (The Professor)
Simon has his own joinery business; ‘Touch of Wood’ but is often willing to offer an extra pair of skilled hands when we are busy. He is also a dab hand at watching our cow mums at calving time! He was given the nickname ‘The Professor’ by lads on a Duchy of Cornwall building site and the title has stuck!
When everybody is busy and stressed, Simon can be relied on to quietly offer chocolate and soothing words!
Dave Gledhill
“If I lean back, will it make it more upright?”
Multi skilled woodworker, engineer, and mechanic.
Likes riding fast motorbikes and eating fudge.
Joe Harrison
Joe is doing A levels but is also making an early start with his heritage skills training! He has become very skilled at using a draw knife and sawhorse to hand make our dry oak framing pegs. These pegs are split from a block along the grain and need to be very accurately made, octagonal and with the correct taper, measuring measuring 19mm at the centre. It looks easy but is a skill which is difficult to master.
