more Images

The Stone images come from the numerous old buildings  left after the population decreased and farms and crofts were bought up but the buildings were no longer needed, on Orkney it is cheaper to build new than to renovate, although most are beyond salvation.

 

Sandwick, South Ronaldsay.

 

 

Eastside.

 

 

Images, Iron ,Wood & Stone

Sorting through files on the hard drive the other day I realised that most of the pictures I take spend their life hidden away never being shared with others, so today I decided to post a few and share them with you . One of the subjects I like photographing apart from the wildlife is what I call Wood & Iron, Orkney has an abundance of old cast iron winches, made in Victorian times and used to haul out the small open fishing boats, most are just left to rust away, On the mainland they would have been carted off for scrap years ago.

                                            Old Winch at Eastside , South Ronaldsay

                                                 

                                                          Sandwick , South Ronaldsay

 

 

 

The Wood images come from the old fishing boats left to rot on the foreshore and other objects scattered around the islands, although these are less frequent as most wood is used for firewood owing to the lack of trees on Orkney. 

 

Old Fishing Boats, Sandwick, South Ronaldsay

 

 

Old Cart Wheel, St Margaret's Hope.

 

Old Mahogany Chest

Jill returned last week from a three week trip down to Bristol to see family, While she was away we had four days of gale-force winds with sleet and hail, Down at Stromness at the wave energy site they recorded a wave height of just over twenty six feet which is a near record. Over the last few months Jill has been looking on the web for an old wooden trunk to put all her sewing bits and pieces in, unfortunately for her they are far too expensive with a price range of £200-£800+ ,so with her away I decided to have a go. So a few words with Billy my friendly neighbour ,Billy collects wood for his fire, everyone around here drops off wood for him, old furniture ,old beams, pallets anything that will burn, so a quick look around his storage shed produced a few old mahogany top’s off sideboards and cabinets . well after three weeks in a freezing shed I produced a storage trunk, it was meant to look old so only the old varnish & wax was removed leaving the old colour and staining. The handles and hinges were to bright so two days in the log burner reduced them to really old looking metalwork, the chest was treated with sanding sealer & five coats of wax polish applied with wire wool. As you can see from the pictures below it looks old with plenty of dents and cracks, all of which were in the original wood, I was pleased with the finished chest and Jill was impressed with my work.