Hand crafted staircases

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A Carpenter Oak staircase is a unique hand-crafted collaboration of timber framing and high-grade joinery. These stunning centrepieces can become integral to the structure of your building. A stair of this type is a significant statement and can provide a real focal point within your house. As such it requires as much time and care at the design stage as the house’s framework itself.

Imagination is the limit when it comes to what is achievable, whether it be fundamental to the frame, self-supporting and free standing or more conventional – give us a challenge, it’s what we thrive on.

Visit our Show Home

If you like modern materials, take a look at our Show House where we incorporate stainless steel, glass, joinery grade timber and characterful air-dried oak posts.

Meet the team

Thorsten Busse

Senior Carpenter

Joined Carpenter Oak: 1996

Interview with Thorsten

What is the best project you have worked on and why?
Nags Head in Hargrave, North Hants, 2006. We built an extension to this 15th Century pub built in harmony with the original building and using huge pieces of timber. It was a highly satisfying job building such an old fashioned frame.

When not in the yard, what do you enjoy doing?
Being leisurely.

Biography
Thorsten completed a traditional apprenticeship as a Journeyman in Germany, he then relocated to Devon and became a self-employed carpenter/ timber framer for a few years. When Carpenter Oak relocated to their current dwellings, Thorsten was asked to complete a couple of frames with them and then became one of the very first employed carpenters in the spring of 1996. Thorsten has always been into carpentry, he has fond memories of his childhood days, always with a knife in hand to do a bit of whittling with whatever wood he could find, he enjoys working hands on with amazing material, and working in a traditional way. This brings about a general feeling of happiness and satisfaction within the job. He is really happy to be working at Carpenter Oak with great and extremely skilled people, that’s what makes the job: running big jobs with great people who all share a passion for building beautiful structures out of natural materials.

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Muna Sono

Team Leader

Joined Carpenter Oak: 2013

Interview with Muna

What music are you currently listening to in the workshop?
Stormzy, Bonobo, The Black Seeds, El Michels Affair, Midnite, Boris Brejcha…

When not in the yard, what do you enjoy doing?
Brazilian Jiujitsu!

If stranded on a desert island which three people would you take and why?
Bob Marley for positive vibrations, Hermes Trismagistus for the knowledge and wisdom he could share and Bill Hicks for people conscious comedy.

Biography
I graduated from university with a degree in politics with economics and was preparing, like so many of my peers, to begin a finance-based career in the city. However I experienced a synchronistic chain of events, which would culminate in a major shift in my world view and send me down a path of self discovery. I spent the next two years helping teach bread making at a cooking school and working as a chef. All the while I was absorbing vast amounts of material on the esoteric, the occult, spirituality, consciousness and philosophy. Whilst volunteering at Embercombe, a social enterprise in Devon, I did some carpentry for the first time since school and felt a deep connection to the craft. After this I knew I wanted to make a profession of woodworking but was unsure how. I spent some time helping Mike Abbot run green wood chair making courses and discovered timber framing, this was a eureka moment, I knew I was going to be a timber frame carpenter. After completing an apprenticeship in site carpentry, I was offered a position to train with Carpenter Oak. I feel blessed to be working with highly skilled, capable people with enormous amounts of experience. It feels fantastic to have found my path, creating incredible frames with wonderful people.

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For me, the stand-out feature of this project is the tower, which gives 360° views of the surrounding countryside - it was quite a spectacle watching this element of the build being crane-lifted in

Mick Dandridge, Lead Carpenter

It was so good to see the frame going up at last and the weather was kind while we were there but we heard all about the gales and rain of the day before and as we left the sky darkened yet again! Your guys did an excellent job in the conditions and thank goodness it was last week as we and the site are now under a blanket of snow. I think the oak frame was the talk of the village and quite a few cars stopped to see what all the fuss was about! It has been a pleasure working with you, especially when we had initial problems on sorting a builder etc. and I would recommend you to anyone wishing to build with a green oak frame.

G Kirkpatrick, Client

The Carpenter Oak experience was, as expected, a sturdy and robust service, with style and enthusiasm, a team of skilled workers who truly cared about the journey of this sensational building.

Peter O’Brien

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“Everyone communicated and worked well together, so there were few problems and the whole process ran extremely smoothly”

Homeowner, Victoria Von Holstein.

View project

Esther and I would like to pass on our thanks for all the hard work, commitment and effort that you put into our project. Out of all the builders and various trades that we have had to deal with your company has been the best on every front.

Hand crafted staircases

Visit our Show Home

Meet the team

Thorsten Busse

Senior Carpenter

Interview with Thorsten

Muna Sono

Team Leader

Interview with Muna

Mick Dandridge, Lead Carpenter

G Kirkpatrick, Client

Peter O’Brien

Homeowner, Victoria Von Holstein.

Robert and Esther Shipp, Clients

De Glanville

Painted Douglas Fir Frame Coastal Home

Building on a slope, an oak frame solution

An oak framed home for a steep riverside site

Tigh Darach

Self Build Guest House

Awards

Expertise

Hand crafted staircases

Visit our Show Home

Meet the team

Thorsten Busse

Senior Carpenter

Interview with Thorsten

Muna Sono

Team Leader

Interview with Muna

Mick Dandridge, Lead Carpenter

G Kirkpatrick, Client

Peter O’Brien

Homeowner, Victoria Von Holstein.

Robert and Esther Shipp, Clients

De Glanville

Painted Douglas Fir Frame Coastal Home

Building on a slope, an oak frame solution

An oak framed home for a steep riverside site

Tigh Darach

Self Build Guest House

Awards

Contact

Expertise

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