The Whittlings - Sourcing Original Mine Oak

Over 100 years ago, Oak and Steel was taken into the slate mines of North Wales to build the infrastructure for removing slate. Long abandoned, the steel rusted into the underground streams and the oak slowly naturally darkened and grew dense in the iron-rich water.

David White has salvaged some of this amazing material from deep in the mines, and made functional objects from the Mine Oak.

Watch how he sources the oak here.

The objects are strongly inspired by the industry of the mines and by the hard lives of the thousands of miners and quarrymen that worked in the Welsh slate industry.

The exhibition featuring items made from the Mine Oak and the film featured at Oriel Davies in Newtown recently, but you can view further examples of David’s work on his website - thewhittlings.co.uk