I was working at Waihi College over the university summer break. I was tasked with the demolition of an old bike shed. After taking off the roof and walls I moved onto the wooden battens that held the bikes up. Turns out that the battens were made out of Rimu.
For those who don’t know Rimu is a fantastic wood. Colour, grain and texture are stunning. So I had a whole pile of these battens that were supposed to be destroyed but you just can’t do that to Rimu. Wayne Briely, the property supervisor at the time showed me a project he was working on. He made chopping blocks out of rimu battens and strips of wood. This gave me the initial idea. Wayne had never made something as big as what I was proposing but I was keen.
After prepping all the battens, gluing them together, forming the basic shape, routing, Paua inlay, resin, sanding, sanding and more sanding the board was complete. As I was flatting at the time I had nowhere to display the board so I “loaned” it to my parents… I don’t think that I will be getting it back.
