Working with New Legacy New York staff

A New Legacy for New York and beyond

The work I began twenty years ago is my gift to both the US and Europe as well as the other continents too. It is a New Legacy for future generations. Those things passed on to me were not only for my good but for the common good and especially the common good of the next generations. So tomorrow is the continuation of something I began and will be deposited in my woodworking friends here in Greenwich New York and then in thousands of others through our hands. How about that!

I already feel like a native New Yorker. It may seem strange to my native Englanders, but there is such an affinity with our US woodworking friends when we gather around the bench. Their interests mirror ours, their concerns about the future of woodworking absolutely match our European concerns and yet in many ways they feel absolutely helpless to reverse the trend. Going to the show, I was able to reinforce the need and the drive for getting kids back in the shop. People watching my demo’s were enthralled that there was something happening along the vein we were chiselling into. While I am here I am on the RW campaign full bore. This past weekend was great in that there were parents and grandparents empathising with the cause and getting on board.  More than that. We found people who felt the same way we did when it came to the RWC so we signed them up too and swelled the numbers by another two hundred activists.

I rested today and took a walk through Schuylerville where I am staying. It’s a historic town full of history where the British were turned back and the establishment of the new independent nation fought its battles for freedom and new beginnings.  What we in Britain called the Great Rebellion, the Americans were calling the war of independence. Here I am investing in the USA and living in the very town that changed so much of the course of history.

Tomorrow we begin a new chapter in the history of Greenwich, NY where the new New Legacy School is to be based. I start staff training yes, but I am also starting the next generation of furniture makers in the face of this economic depression. At the end of the day we will have new-genre woodworkers right here in upstate New York. How amazing is that? The first projects here will be the cabinet I use for my woodworking tools. It’s similar to the one you watched me make in the UK on my previous postings. Like this one.

We will be using pine for the reasons I have stated before in my blogs, but the main one being its strength-to-weight ratio, which is excellent.  When tool chests are full of tools they weigh very heavy so we compensate where we can so we’re not lugging around half a tree. They can look stunning in oak or cherry though so if you are in a fixed place with your tools you might consider another wood. That said, I just love my pine and I do travel a lot of late so pine it is for me and everyone else here. We start at 8 am so I will keep you posted and then David and the others will keep you up to date on the New Legacy New York site after I am back in the UK. We also have some evening adult workshops planned for next week, after this coming weekend’s Springfield MA show.

New Legacy New England

If you do happen to be at this coming weekend’s Springfield, MA Woodworking Shows show my demonstration times will be as follows. We cover a wide range of issues ranging from inlaying to dovetails and setting up your hand planes blindfolded (f that’s what you want).

Show schedule of demonstrations for Springfield, MA

Friday: 12-1, 2-3, 4-5

Saturday: 11-1, 1-2, 3-4, 5-6

Sunday: 10-11, 12-1, 2-3

Look me up and make yourself known to me or stop by the booth and get acquainted with what we are doing on the Real Woodworking Campaign. I know that it will interest you.