Forrest Bespoke

Forrest Bespoke I design and make bespoke fine furniture,including marquetry and specialist veneer work

Picked up a few wooden planes recently from .The jack has been setup with a heavy cambered blade and made quick work of ...
21/06/2026

Picked up a few wooden planes recently from .
The jack has been setup with a heavy cambered blade and made quick work of removing the high spots from this piece of tulip.
A few passes with the try plane on a face and edge, and then even despite needing some repairs to the mouth closer, the coffin smooth did a nice job on dressing the face, you can see how well the sole burnishes the timber and that’s without me really doing much more than a very quick blade clean and sharpen.

All planes also had a basic wipe down with white spirit and then some wax on the sole, anymore effort on otherwise solid bodies is a waste of time imo.

I’ve now removed the old patch that the smoother had been fitted with and have glued in a new one to try and bring the mouth in for a finer shaving.

Every now and then I come across a piece of furniture that captivates me.This English marquetry commode, dating from aro...
20/06/2026

Every now and then I come across a piece of furniture that captivates me.

This English marquetry commode, dating from around 1773, is one of those pieces.

The more I study it, the more details reveal themselves; the subtle shape of the case, the restrained use of marquetry, the delicate floral sprays, and the incredible understanding of proportion throughout.

After being recomended the book ‘Catalogue of Commodes’ by Tim Garland I’ve been spending some time producing my own measured drawings and interpretations of the cabinet, trying to understand not just how it looks, but how it was actually made.

As and when time permits between client work I’d like to build a full reproduction using traditional materials and techniques: hand dyed veneers, hide glue, period-style construction and marquetry cut using my frame saw.

Half round fan added this week to my table.I used some horse chesnut instead of holly, it’s much easier to source and ve...
06/06/2026

Half round fan added this week to my table.
I used some horse chesnut instead of holly, it’s much easier to source and very cost effective , it also shades nicely.
The leaves are two contrasting greens, surrounded in boxwood.
The foliage was packet cut on my frame saw, and the rest with a knife, then taped on the rear and glued down to a mounting board, once dry it was trimmed to a template and used to cut around the background veneer.
I’ll probably add a 1mm string inlay around the perimeter of the fan where it meets the Anigre.

Veneers from

.

Question for fellow makers/cabinetmakers.After closing my LTD company last year, I’ve mainly been doing site work and th...
21/05/2026

Question for fellow makers/cabinetmakers.

After closing my LTD company last year, I’ve mainly been doing site work and the odd smaller furniture piece while reassessing the direction I want to take things.

Historically I never struggled for work and had a good network of clients and designers but most of it was fitted furniture and larger projects.

I’m now working as a sole trader in a more traditional way, with the aim of focusing more on fine furniture, veneering and marquetry work alongside smaller bespoke cabinetry.

What I’ve found though is that the market for one-off furniture pieces seems much slower, and a lot of my old leads have dried up. It almost feels like starting from scratch again after years of building contacts.

For those of you making a living from standalone furniture commissions, where are you finding the work these days? Designers? Instagram? Word of mouth? Galleries?

Would genuinely appreciate any advice from people already doing it successfully.

The beginnings of an English style workbench (Sometimes known as the Nicholson bench) from cost effective Redwood/Scandi...
16/05/2026

The beginnings of an English style workbench (Sometimes known as the Nicholson bench) from cost effective Redwood/Scandinavian Pine, which also means it will be soft and protect work pieces.

The main structure simple 2 sturdy trestles , joined via the front and back apron. The wide apron will also provide strength to the 50mm top, a far cry thinner than say a thick Roubo bench top.

The trestle joints are glued and nailed with oval nails.

Everything needs a good plane to flush off surfaces and then the aprons can be fitted.

The final image shows an English bench made by

Any long time followers of mine may have noticed a switch in my content over the last 6 months or so. Since closing my c...
09/05/2026

Any long time followers of mine may have noticed a switch in my content over the last 6 months or so.
Since closing my company last year and working now on smaller client pieces as a sole trader and for other joiners, it allows me the freedom to post about the things that I like, the areas of furniture and history that don’t necessarily earn me money but provide me a source of enjoyment vs MDF furniture and keeping up with the trends.

This post shows one of my favourite paintings.

‘Ebeniste’ /‘Ebenisterna’ (The Cabinetmakers) by the Swedish painter Elias Martin, c.1768–80.
It shows two men at work in a London workshop: one fret sawing marquetry pieces, the other using a small inlay knife and hammer to cutout the corresponding piece of ground veneer.

Elias Martin was born in Stockholm in 1739 was part of a circle of Swedish cabinet makers/Ebeniste’s working in Georgian London — including own brother Carl Gustav Martin, Christopher Fuhrlohg (later Ebeniste to the Prince of Wales), and Georg Haupt.

There seems to be various sources stating the identity of the two men, but it’s likely that one is Georg Haupt and the other probably Carl Gustav.

Either way, the painting although a little bland to some really resonates with me. Despite being 250 years ago, in many ways not much has changed.. simple hand tools, a messy workshop floor, less than ideal conditions. And yet these men were behind the golden age of furniture in Britain.
A subject and period I find fascinating and wish I had begun learning about years ago.

Slowly chipping away at this Demi lune table top. Some weeks I may only spend 10 minutes on it between other jobs. In th...
07/05/2026

Slowly chipping away at this Demi lune table top. Some weeks I may only spend 10 minutes on it between other jobs.
In the background you can see my hammer and inlay knife used to let in the marquetry pieces into the background veneer.
I decided to use individual leaves , which will be engraved and filled with a wax/pigment mastic after polishing.
I wanted to use figured satinwood but my pockets weren’t deep enough so I opted for figured Anigre to get a similar ish colour once polished.
Once I finish the laurel swags I will link these two elements with some kind of stem, and then look to work on the half round fan.
The marquetry has been cut on my handmade frame saw with a 2/0 blade.

Marquetry keepsake box designed for my son in burr walnut and sycamore.
04/05/2026

Marquetry keepsake box designed for my son in burr walnut and sycamore.

01/05/2026

Starting to use my treadle frame saw more recently. Being foot powered means you instinctively get a feel for the speed for the stroke, plus it’s cool that it just relies on human power over modern electrics saws!

I’m using a 2/0 Pebeco blade here, through maybe 6 layers of sliced veneer.

Thanks again to for the blade holders he made me!

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Faversham

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