LIBERON’S STUDENT CHALLENGE
As part of its promotional plan to increase awareness of its Pure Tung Oil Liberon recently challenged students from three colleges to create different wooden kitchenware and utensil using Tung Oil to seal the finished pieces.
When finishing items that are going to come into contact with food such as chopping boards, salad bowls and wooden kitchen work surfaces a premium, natural Tung oil with no additives is the right choice in order to seal and preserve the wood. Liberon’s Pure Tung Oil is hardwearing and provides a long-lasting matt finish. It can also be used externally on oak to help prevent black spots.
Burton and South Derbyshire College
This is the fourth year that Burton and South Derbyshire College has taken part in the initiative, which aims to teach students about the specialist woodcare options available to them, while asking them to be applied on imaginative items they have made. This year, Liberon called on learners on the college’s Level 2 Diploma in Bench Joinery course to take part.
Teams of students were given approximately eight hours teaching hours in total to complete the project. The winning team came up with the idea of producing a cheese and wine themed food platter, featuring a vertical section styled to look like a mouse’s face. A horizontal section provided space for cheeses and other ‘nibbles’ while the back of the vertical mouse-shaped element offered areas for housing wine bottles and glasses. The project saw the team working with Red and White Deal, Poplar, Douglas Fir and a small amount of Oak.
The entries were judged by staff at the college who agreed that the standard of work was high and that making a choice had not been an easy decision. The three members of the winning team each won a £25 Amazon voucher provided by Liberon.
Newark College
Students at Newark College took part for the second year running in Liberon’s competition to test their carpentry and joinery skills.
Course Leader, Richard Preece, added:
“The students produced some excellent bowl designs. They were each given Beech with which to work as this timber is naturally anti-bacterial. The project has been a good means of testing the students’ bowl-turning skills on the lathe, plus shaping abilities using the requisite hand tools. In addition, the competition looked at the students’ wood finishing techniques using Liberon’s products.”
The entries were judged by staff at Newark College, and the winner, runner-up and second runner-up each won a £25 Amazon voucher provided by Liberon. The bowl produced by Katie Reading, the competition winner, featured a beautiful, raised pattern on its outside rim, and was finished to a very high standard.
Photo at top shows competition winner, Katie Reading (middle) with 2nd place winner Julian Davis (left) and 3rd place winner Harry Newton (right).
Walsall College
Students at Walsall College’s Level 2 Bench Joinery course also took part this year. Course leader, Charles Jones, came up with the idea of asking students to create food chopping boards.
Students were given free rein to come up with a design, mostly using hand tools and working with rough-sawn Oak.
The winning design by Hayley Pitcher featured two parallel stripes of contrasting wood tone and was judged to have beautifully rounded corners and an excellent level of finishing. Two runner-up designs were also agreed by judges, which belonged to students Sulieman Rafi and Brody Garmston.
