Riddles, griddles or sieves they can be all the same thing – but they have something more in common.
Only one man in the country makes them by hand any more !

Well, actually there are two – but Mike Turnock has just retired from the firm.
A firm which was founded early in the last century, and where he worked with his father, uncle and quite a lot of other craftsmen until eventually he was the only one left.
He nearly gave up looking for someone to take over, someone to carry on over a century of traditional craftsmanship.
What with all the training involved, the long hours of work and, most important of all, someone will to continue with his most exacting standards.
“ If it’s not perfect, it’s not right”

Then along came Damien Bramhall, or rather back came Damien, as he used to visit and watch the men making the riddles when he were ‘Now’t but a lad’ !

Damien knew what he was letting himself in for – but it was still a pretty intense, gruelling training programme ! http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/audioslideshow/2009/nov/27/making-a-riddle-mike-turnock Shows you some of the things he had to learn.

Seasoned beech is cut into ¼” strips, then these strips go off into a ‘steaming box’ ( homemade of course, like Kevin’s Trug steamer.)
After 3 hours steaming, these beech strips are rolled into circles using a large roll of concrete.

Then they’re put into a round brace to keep their shape as they dry.

( Are you tired yet – I am ! )

All this goes happens on the ground floor of an old, old stone factory that was used to house giant steamers for processing seaweed ( we dry our seaweed granules naturally.)
There are relics of time gone by all over the factory – an anvil is an axle from an old tram, a stove fed on offcuts ( reminds me of John and Graeme’s Rake workshop), and what looks like a Victorian sweep’s brush sitting on the windowsill.

The dried rims are taken upstairs for the next, really intricate, operation.
In a much lighter area, with a picture window showing the valley which leads to Buxton, rims are carefully drilled all the way around, it’s into these holes that the wire will be ‘weaved’.

The ¼” and 1/8” meshes come in huge rolls, but the ½” is ‘woven’ by hand.
First the wire is strung between two posts about 30 foot apart, then it’s fed through the holes using a specially made tool to get the cross mesh perfectly aligned.

A strengthening wire around the base rim holds the mesh tight, then another ‘top’ rim is forced over the base, and they are gripped tightly together using wire clamps.

Damien and Mike’s sieves - or riddles or griddles, sorry, but some people are so fussy - can be produced in sizes up to 24” diameter with mesh which can hardly be seen through.
( Good old imperial measures, don’t think all that new fangled Napoleonic nonsense is used here !)
Just let me know if you have a special order, I’m sure we can sort something out.

We concentrate on stocking the ones that we think are best for the garden, or the greenhouse.

Use them for everything from sifting gravel, removing stones from soil ( helpful if you are filling a raised bed ) gently cleaning vegetables ( and perhaps storing them) sifting compost, laying fine soil over seed ( really helpful when laying lawn ) ......

Oh, loads and loads of uses, I simply could not be without mine.

18” Diameter with 1/8” Mesh	£26.50
18” Diameter with 1/4” Mesh	£25.75
18” Diameter with Hand Woven 1/2” Mesh	£28.25
8” Diameter Seedling Sieve 1/8” Mesh	£16.50

We try to get your sieve ( or griddle or riddle ) to you by the next working day.
Sorry though, we do ask for £5.95 to go towards the cost.

All of this work, all of this craftsmanship and what do you get ?

A handmade sieve ( or riddle or griddle )

which will last for years, and years and ......