David Keys Sustainable Woodworking

David Keys Sustainable Woodworking Sustainable Woodworking is all about sustainable design, reducing waste, and creating quality products from unwanted materials.

Wood as a material is very sustainable if it is harvested and replenished responsibly, and it takes very little energy to recycle or repurpose it compared with other materials such as metal or glass. I only use waste or surplus wood, however I view sustainable woodworking as much more than just recycling a few old pallets. My workshop is almost zero waste, I generally only use hand tools to save e

nergy, and I make my own natural stains and polishes. I love what I do, and I take pride in making products that are environmentally friendly, useful, and beautiful.

Creative Coffee Tables. We had so much fun recently on this 'Creative Coffee Tables' course. A seriously brilliant group...
13/03/2026

Creative Coffee Tables. We had so much fun recently on this 'Creative Coffee Tables' course. A seriously brilliant group of people came together over four weeks at the Eco Centre in Omagh. We started out with some pretty ropey pieces of cedar, and that was part of the process, to identify what pieces could be used for a coffee table. This in turn led to some very creative and clever ideas, and as you can see, every table is unique, and in my eyes, every one is a work of art.
Everyone did so well, and there was only one mistake made, which was actually me. Very embarrassing when you're the one who is supposed to know what they're doing, but it was an opportunity to demonstrate that it's a fact of life that mistakes will happen, and it's very rare that it can't be fixed. In this case, it led to a really nice feature.
Huge thanks to Omagh Healthy Living Network and the Arts Council for their help in making it possible.
Well done everyone 👏

How depressing. I was preparing a nice slab of cedar for a coffee table, and noticed what looked like a piece of plastic...
17/02/2026

How depressing. I was preparing a nice slab of cedar for a coffee table, and noticed what looked like a piece of plastic inside a void. A bit of further investigation with a screwdriver, and I discovered that it was actually the top of a plastic bottle. This section of cedar came from a junction in the tree, so my guess is that someone tossed it many years ago, and it nestled in the crotch. Over time the tree grew around it, and it was stuck in there like a time capsule. It must have been a long time ago, as this wasn't a small slab of wood.

It was a real pleasure to spend eight weeks with the newly formed Dromore Men's Shed. Such a great bunch of lads, and ha...
18/12/2025

It was a real pleasure to spend eight weeks with the newly formed Dromore Men's Shed. Such a great bunch of lads, and hard grafters. In the time that I was with them, we made mug tables, a group sign, and a load of stuff for them to sell at a craft fair to raise funds.
And sell they did. They had a couple of pallet wood Christmas trees, a massive herd of log reindeer, a crowd of wee snowmen, and a decent village of Scandi house fridge magnets. The local community were so impressed with their work that they bought almost everything! They also have commissions for more work.
Seriously well done guys on raising a good lump of cash that will go towards your shed. It's a brilliant start, and you have a bright future ahead.

Business In The Community Environmental Benchmarking Awards. Every year, the design of the awards is planned out to be a...
05/12/2025

Business In The Community Environmental Benchmarking Awards.
Every year, the design of the awards is planned out to be as sustainable as possible. And that means that every step, from start to finish is considered. It's not just about using reclaimed wood, reducing energy by using hand tools, using locally sourced natural beeswax and flaxseed polish, and making use of any waste materials are some of the measures employed.
So I made a batch of pendants for the staff at Business In The Community using the offcuts from the mountains. And I have been bringing the rest to my 'Creative Recycling With Wood ' workshops where participants have used some to create Christmas trees, and beautiful dragonflies.

Business In The Community Environmental Benchmarking Awards. With all the sawing and planing complete, it was just a cas...
03/12/2025

Business In The Community Environmental Benchmarking Awards.
With all the sawing and planing complete, it was just a case of assembly. It's usually quite a stress free process. I'll line everything up in batches, and it's just a case of rinse and repeat. The engraved plates always arrive with adhesive tape already on, so I just set up a jig to make sure they go on centered and level.
I always get an invitation to the awards ceremony, but this is the first year that I've had the chance to attend. It was held in the Titanic building, and hosted by the wonderful who I was honoured to meet. Have to say, the staircase is mightily impressive too.

Business In The Community Environmental Benchmarking Awards 2025. Next up was cutting out all of the mountains. By hand....
01/12/2025

Business In The Community Environmental Benchmarking Awards 2025.
Next up was cutting out all of the mountains. By hand. With a coping saw. With over 40 awards, and five mountains for each, I worked out that if you added up all of the cuts, it came to the same height as the Europa Hotel in Belfast.
To help make the cutting a bit easier, I used a bench pin. These are commonly used by jewellers for fine cuts and filing. The advantage that they offer is that your workpiece is supported underneath, and if you have the blade in a coping saw with the teeth pointing towards the handle, it cuts as you pull the saw down through the hole in the bench pin. A wee rub with soap also helps to lubricate the blade and reduce friction.
Then they were all planed. Also, if you like numbers, by the time that I had planed all of the mountains, spacers, uprights, and bases, I reckon that I planed over five times the length of the Titanic.

Business In The Community Environmental Benchmarking Awards 2025.It's that time of year again, and I've been beavering a...
30/11/2025

Business In The Community Environmental Benchmarking Awards 2025.
It's that time of year again, and I've been beavering away on the awards for the good folks at . Like previous years, our design this year takes inspiration from our beautiful landmarks here in Northern Ireland. We loved the idea of including the highest peak in each of the six counties. Although it actually turns out that this means five peaks, as Sawel straddles two counties.
The silhouette of each peak is represented in a different wood in order to create a contrast, and layered on top of one another in rank of height. The woods for the awards came from a range of sources, old fencing boards, a bed, offcuts from a tree surgeon, ceiling boards from a linen mill, and lots of bits and pieces from the workshop.
With 41 awards this year, it's the highest number of organisations to achieve platinum level. That says a lot about how businesses here are taking their impacts on the environment more seriously, which is to be applauded. It also meant an awful lot of wee mountains to be cut out by hand. More on that to follow.

I always love working with this lot. Absolute legends every single one of them. The Granaghan and district women's grou...
27/11/2025

I always love working with this lot. Absolute legends every single one of them. The Granaghan and district women's group are the best of craic, seriously hard workers, and an impressively artistic bunch.
We have spent the last few weeks working on this beautiful cedar sign for their community garden. The letters are all cut by hand with coping saws, painted with linseed oil paint, and the amazing vines were hand painted. I'm so proud of them, they really did put in a massive effort.
Oh, and in case that wasn't enough, they created the most beautiful set of fairy houses from pallet boards.
Well done 👏

Update on a couple of projects from the Kilrea group who did the recent Creative Wood Recycling couese. They are amazing...
20/10/2025

Update on a couple of projects from the Kilrea group who did the recent Creative Wood Recycling couese. They are amazing. Well done 👏

Creative Wood Recycling sessions in Kilrea. I had the privilege of hanging out with this great group of women in Kilrea ...
17/10/2025

Creative Wood Recycling sessions in Kilrea. I had the privilege of hanging out with this great group of women in Kilrea recently. A really creative bunch with loads of energy and willingness to learn.
We made a wide range of things from a big pile of waste wood that I brought along. There were coasters, stirrers, bird feeders, many great Christmas themed decorations, and one of the best Mug tables that I've ever seen.
It was seriously good fun, and I hope we'll work together again.

When I carved the handle of this flax brake, I figured that Charlie Mallon would be the most important person who would ...
17/10/2025

When I carved the handle of this flax brake, I figured that Charlie Mallon would be the most important person who would ever use it....
I'm so proud of Helen and Charlie who had some very important visitors to their farm the other day. Their work in breathing life back into the linen industry in this country has been massive, and they have done it in a sustainable and nature-friendly way.

Causeway Giants Wheelchair Basketball Team. I spent an amazing day on Saturday working with this amazing group of people...
15/10/2025

Causeway Giants Wheelchair Basketball Team.
I spent an amazing day on Saturday working with this amazing group of people. The brief was to make a sign for the team to take to games, and I'll be honest, I had absolutely no idea if we could do it. Not only did we do it, but we did a superb job.
I absolutely love the design that we came up with. The back board was just some scrap plywood that I covered with blackboard paint in advance. This was then signed by each member of the team with different coloured chalk pens. We incorporated an old wheelchair wheel, and mounted the orange basketball on to it with a bolt. The basketball was originally a bit of my Mum and Dad's old kitchen, again I had painted that in advance too.
The letters are cut from a wind felled cedar tree, and are painted with linseed oil paint, and the Giant's Causeway stones are made with oak barrel staves from the local Bushmills distillery. (There was a great smell when cutting them!) I especially love the wee basketballs that were hand-carved by one of the team, just using a few needle files and a Shinto rasp!
It was such an amazing day. Lots of laughter, and we achieved so much in a matter of hours, all down to teamwork and determination. I'm now a lifelong Giants fan.

Huge thanks to the good folks at and The for hosting us in their fantastic space.

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Moneymore
Londonderry
BT457QP

Telephone

07894727633

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