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James Mursell writes: " I have been making and using my travishers for the last 10 years and have yet to come across a wood that the travisher will not shape with ease. Sometimes the grain is wild (e.g. elm) and you must skew the tool and hunt around for the best direction to work in. Other woods are very hard, but if you keep the blade sharp the tool will make short work of the hollowing. I have used travishers successfully on: elm, oak, chestnut, ash, mahogany, cherry, tulip, walnut, sycamore, maple and holly. If the wood that you plan to use is not in this list you can be sure that the tool will work, but I have just not used it before!

James Mursell runs The Windsor Workshop in Sussex, England, making chairs, running chairmaking classes and producing and selling specialist tools.