Episode 4

In 2012, Rob Penn felled (and replanted) a great ash from a Welsh wood. He set out to explore the true value of the tree of which we have made the greatest and most varied use in human history. How many things can be made from one tree?

Over the next two years he travelled across Britain, to Europe and the USA, to the workshops and barns of a generation of craftsmen committed to working in wood. He watched them make over 45 artefacts and tools that have been in continual use for centuries, if not millennia.

With his family losing interest in the project, Rob decides to make something out of his ash that his children will enjoy - a wooden toboggan. Packing some logs into an old ski bag, he takes the train to Austria where he meets Christian Glasser. There are fifteen to twenty traditional toboggan manufacturers left across the Alps and Christian's firm, founded by his great-great-uncle in 1909, is one of them. He uses steam to bend the wood into runners, support bars and bridges - a technique which is recorded on an Ancient Egyptian tomb. A toboggan, or sled, is the oldest vehicle known to man, so Rob's children, and the 10 000 other people who buy a toboggan from Christian each year, are part of a rich tradition.

This is a tale about the joy of making things in wood, of its touch and smell, its many uses, and the resonant, calming effect of running our hands along a wooden surface. It is a celebration of man's close relationship with this greatest of natural materials and a reminder of the value of things made by hand and made to last.

Abridged by Jo Coombs
Produced by Hannah Marshall
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4.