we have proudly just made our first coffin from homegrown dicky meadows and harrisons purple willow,along with a bit of musgrove willows buff willow.we like to use buff willow in constructing the frame and uprights,wailing and boarders of our coffins because where the bark has been removed by the boiling and stripping process,the willow without bark is less likely to slip and be unstable whereas a whole coffin made with willow with the bark on could be a bit unstable,what i mean by that is that the coffin wont fall apart,or anything like that,its just a wee bit sturdier using buff or white for uprights etc.
so we like to use the barked willow for bannding around the middle .the willow takes 3 years to be fully established to use but we have used our 2nd years crop as it has been abundant this year,
It is very satisfying to be able to provide our own materials for our products,we hope to grow ash and hazel in the next few years for the coffin and basketmaking
