Rigidity is not strength. If you strike a seasoned log with an axe, it splits. But a sapling in a gale survives because it knows how to yield. It bends, finds a new shape, and holds its ground.
At Northwood, we apply this law of nature to our rings. We don’t fight the wood; we respect its natural resilience.
The Problem with "Cut" Rings
To understand why we do things differently, you have to look at the grain. Imagine a log as a bundle of microscopic drinking straws. Most wooden rings are mass-produced by cutting a circle out of a flat board—meaning you are essentially cutting right across those straws.
The result is "short grain." Two sides of the ring are strong, but the other two are incredibly brittle, held together only by the natural lignin between the fibres. This is where 99% of wooden rings fail; they aren't built to handle the pressures of daily wear.
The Bentwood Solution
Bentwood is a heritage craft used for centuries in boat building and fine furniture making. It’s about working with the material's strength rather than forcing it.
Instead of cutting a circle out of a board, we take a thin strip of wood—cut to the thickness of a veneer—and steam it until it becomes pliable. We then wrap this single strip around itself, layer by layer, creating a continuous spiral that follows the direction of the grain.
The Straw Analogy: Think again of those drinking straws. If you try to bend one, it kinks. But if you flatten it and wrap it tightly around your finger in a coil, you’ve created a reinforced cylinder. You haven’t broken the structure; you’ve reoriented it to be strong from every angle.
Beyond Machines: The Human Touch
This is a process that refuses to be automated. While mass-produced wooden rings are often cut out by machines in batches of thousands, a bentwood ring requires a pair of hands.
-
Hand-Selected: We choose each piece of wood for its character—looking at the transition between heartwood and sapwood and how the colour will sit once it is finished.
-
Hand-Wrapped: We wrap and laminate the wood little by little. This meticulous, manual process ensures there are no gaps, creating a thin, dense, and incredibly strong spiral.
Why the Spiral Matters
By choosing the spiral over the cut, we achieve a level of craftsmanship that mass-produced rings simply cannot match:
-
Blocking the Elements: End-grain is designed by nature to draw in water. By using a continuous spiral, we keep those "straw-ends" tucked away, naturally making the ring more water repellent. We also add a final glass-like finish to protect the wood from gouges and scratches.
-
The Maker's Eye: A master furniture maker would never use end-grain for a cabinet door; they want the beauty of the wood on display. Our process ensures the most beautiful part of the grain wraps entirely around your ring.
-
Zero-Waste Craftsmanship: We respect the timber. We use exactly what nature gave us, strip by strip, leaving no wasted off-cuts on the studio floor.
From Our Studio to Your Hand
We have been perfecting this technique since 2011, originally in Canada and now from our studio on the UK canals.
Many rings on the market—even some made by other artists—rely on a brittle, cut-out core. While setting this core into a metal base does give it strength to last longer, over time they are more likely to break and need replacing. As artists who take pride in our work, we chose the longest lasting, most beautiful way to craft these rings. It takes longer and requires more hands-on time, but the end result is something we are proud to ship to our customers.
We work closely with our customers and want to provide a product that is made for a lifetime, not just until the warranty has passed. A Northwood ring is built to be lived in. It is a piece of the forest, re-imagined with the strength to stay with you, wherever the path leads.
