MASTER C R A F T S M A N By Andrea Louise Thomas Photos Yanni
T
here are very few people in Australia, or anywhere else for that matter, who can do the kind of work Richard Amy does. Most probably they wouldn’t even try. Though he would balk at the suggestion, Amy is a master craftsman in every sense of the term. To say he could make virtually anything from timber is a fair statement, but then he’s been working at it for over four decades. Without so much as a shop drawing he can visualize the finished project and then build it, provided the timber cooperates. He works with rare and recycled timber, which makes his work all the more interesting.
His love of woodwork began in high school. Academic subjects weren’t really of interest to him. He preferred woodwork, metal shop and sport. Working with wood particularly intrigued him. His
E ssence
20 | PENINSULA
December 2017
first woodworking project was the family dining table. He started making other pieces of furniture in his Dad’s garage and this was the start of a lifelong passion. “Wood is a great medium to work with. The grain never ceases to amaze me,” Amy says. He especially likes to work with reclaimed or recycled wood. Timber that people typically burn in their fireplaces is just the sort of wood he likes to rescue and breathe new life into. “The types of timbers I’ve been blessed to be able to use just through recycling are absolutely amazing - really beautiful - better than the stuff you buy at the timber yard. A lot of it is irreplaceable. Many of the sizes that people are burning are just not available anymore", he says. The techniques he uses today he’s learned predominantly on his own, but he also did an early apprenticeship in cabinetry. He