Five generations at one bench.

The lineage

Five generations of the family

From a village bench in the 1880s to heritage restoration today: each keeper apprenticed young, worked beside the last, and left the tools in better order than he found them.

Fictional brand concept; characters and history are invented.

1. I

   c. 1884 – 1915

   Generation I · The founder's bench

   Thomas Korody

   b. 1862 – d. 1921

   A carpenter's son who chose the harder trade, Thomas set up a single bench and built the plain, honest wagon wheels a farming village depended on.

   1. 1876

      Apprenticed at fourteen

      Bound to a neighbouring wheelwright, he spends his first years sweeping shavings, splitting spoke billets and learning to read grain by hand.

   2. 1884

      A bench of his own

      Aged twenty-two, he rents a lean-to beside the family yard and fits a tyring platform outside the door. The workshop begins here.

   3. c. 1890

      Seasoning stack

      He starts laying down oak and ash to season for years ahead — a habit every later generation keeps, cutting timber for grandchildren's work.

   4. 1893

      A son, Walter

      His second child is born. By the boy's tenth year he is turning spokes on the shaving horse after school.

2. II

   c. 1915 – 1946

   Generation II · Carts, repairs and lean years

   Walter Korody

   b. 1893 – d. 1968

   Walter inherited the bench young and kept it alive through hard decades, when repair — not new work — paid the bills.

   1. 1907

      Formal apprenticeship

      At fourteen he enters his father's indentures properly, learning to mortice hubs and shrink iron tyres in the yard fire.

   2. 1915

      The bench passes on

      With Thomas's hands failing, the twenty-two-year-old takes charge in wartime, when materials and men are both scarce.

   3. 1920s

      Mending, not making

      Money is short across the countryside. The ledger fills with re-spoked cart wheels, new felloes and re-set tyres rather than new orders.

   4. 1921

      A son, and a loss

      Leonard is born in spring; Thomas dies that winter. Walter begins the family's first pattern book so his father's measurements are not lost.

   5. 1930s

      Making do

      Through the depressed years he trades work for timber and produce, and keeps the seasoning stack untouched.

3. III

   c. 1946 – 1975

   Generation III · Rebuilding as the wheel changed

   Leonard Korody

   b. 1921 – d. 1994

   Leonard reopened a run-down shop after the war and watched rubber and motors overtake the wooden wheel — then found the work that remained.

   1. 1935

      Apprentice at fourteen

      He learns the full trade from Walter, with a particular gift for truing dish by eye.

   2. 1946

      Reopening the doors

      At twenty-five he takes over a workshop short of tools and timber, rebuilding the bench and re-hanging the old jigs.

   3. 1950

      A son, Graham

      The fourth generation is born into a workshop that is still busy with farm work — for now.

   4. 1950s – 60s

      Rubber and motors

      Pneumatic tyres and tractors steadily replace the iron-shod wagon wheel. New orders dwindle; repair and specialist work become the trade.

   5. c. 1970

      The specialist

      Leonard becomes the man people bring the difficult wheels to — split hubs, loose spokes, wheels no one else will touch.

4. IV

   c. 1975 – 2014

   Generation IV · Keeper of jigs and joinery

   Graham Korody

   b. 1950

   Graham turned a dying country trade into heritage work, restoring carriage wheels and refusing to throw away a single old tool.

   1. 1964

      Apprenticed at fourteen

      He learns on cart wheels but is drawn to the finer, lighter work of carriage wheels.

   2. 1975

      Taking the bench

      At twenty-five he takes charge and turns the workshop toward restoration of carriages and horse-drawn vehicles.

   3. 1981

      A son, Gay

      The fifth generation is born. Graham starts a box of offcut spokes for the boy to practise on.

   4. 1980s – 90s

      Preserving the tools

      He catalogues, repairs and labels every jig, spoke dog and traveller in the shop, so each tool can still do the job it was made for.

   5. 2014

      Stepping back

      Aged sixty-four, he hands over leadership — but still comes in most mornings to check the dish.

5. V

   c. 2005 – present

   Generation V · Restoration and record

   Gay Korody

   b. 1981

   Today's keeper of the bench, Gay pairs inherited hand methods with careful documentation, so the craft can be passed on as completely as it was received.

   1. 2001

      Late apprentice

      At twenty, after time away from the trade, he joins his father at the bench and begins a full apprenticeship.

   2. 2005

      Working alongside

      Now trusted with complete wheels, he and Graham run the shop together, sharing the larger restoration jobs.

   3. 2014

      Leading the workshop

      At thirty-three he takes over, focusing on bespoke restoration of historic carriage wheels.

   4. 2010s – 20s

      Writing it down

      He photographs and measures each job and transcribes the old pattern books, building a working record of five generations of method.

   5. 2026

      At the bench today

      At about forty-five, he restores, teaches and documents — and still seasons timber for wheels he may never build himself.