Woodturner Andy Coates Finds Two-Year-Old Shed Branch Sprouting Back to Life

A garden branch that Suffolk woodturner Andy Coates cut two years ago and left in his shed has defied expectation by throwing out vigorous new growth, prompting a wave of engagement across the woodworking community.

Coates, a professional turner working from Cobweb Crafts in Beccles and a contributing author and Technical Editor for Woodturning Magazine, shared photographs of the sprouting branch on social media. The images showed unmistakable new shoots pushing out from wood that had spent the better part of two years sitting in shed conditions, the kind of storage most turners associate with the slow seasoning of blanks rather than biological revival.

The discovery carries real practical weight for anyone with a timber stack. Rather than send the revived branch straight to the lathe, Coates planned to pot it and let it establish itself as a living specimen. Whether it eventually becomes a mature tree or a future source of green-turned material remains open, but the post generated substantial discussion among woodworkers about the hidden vitality of stored timber.

For turners who work predominantly with locally sourced native species, the episode sharpens a tension already present in the craft: the line between raw material and living organism is less fixed than a seasoned blank might suggest. Coates, who has long favoured locally sourced native woods and reclaimed character timber in his decorative work, was alert enough to recognise the branch for what it had become rather than consigning it to the drying pile.

He holds registration on the Worshipful Company of Turners of London and has served as Chairman of the Association of Woodturners of Great Britain, credentials that give his posts a reach well into the professional and advanced amateur end of the craft. A find that might pass quietly from a lesser-known account became a genuine community talking point, with engagement figures reflecting just how widely the discovery resonated.

Fresh shoots from two-year-old shed timber have a way of making even experienced turners reconsider what else might be quietly stirring in the corner of the workshop.