5,000 Students Later

Nine days passes quickly when the work is stimulating and you have a full worksop of students and staff. Tomorrow will be the ninth day. A week like this means something. I have had many like them but no two are ever the same and I suppose now I have trained about 5,000 people through the programs I have developed. That’s a sizeable number when you think that I was the lead teacher in every single one of those lives without exception.

I look back over the history of my training and teaching others and think how little things have changed since I developed the courses. It’s basic in concept but rarely would most men like myself have the opportunity to pass on so much skill to other people. Today we have online broadcast and YouTube to add into the equation and off course that has increase the amount of people i can now connect with. So why do I do what I do in holding workshop like this? Well, the fact of the matter is this. I don’t make stuff to sell to woodworkers and neither do I just have smart ideas or mere opinions. I only ever pass on what I know works best in my opinion after and only after long term use and thereby proof of efficacy of what I promote. What I give out in classes and online is what has worked for me for years. The #4 plane some might say is Paul’s fad. Fact is that it has proven itself through five decades of daily use for say two hours a day six days a week. Do I sell plane? No. Do I sell thick irons? No. Second fact is I have not a thing too gain from saying I think it’s possibly the best design invention in planes ever and 95% of that design makes up any and all Bed Rock designs no matter who claims they bettered the design or improved on it. My most prominent reason for holding classes these days is the same as it was 25 years ago. I want to pass on as much of my working knowledge to the upcoming generations and it is working. Another key reason now is that I learn so much more from them than they do from me. I learn about bench vises and bench heights, I learn about sawing techniques from women students in my class and from men too. I learn different strokes for different folks makes a difference. it’s not my opinion that matters much at all you see.  In a class of ten to twenty people the bench heights and the vises have to be right and they must maximise comfort as best they can. Woe betide me if I have a bench of 36″ or less.  Lighting has to be right too. You see I listen to the voice directly in front of me that says I can’t get this or do that are wrap my mind around the other and I listen when they explain why. If I don’t, then it just becomes my pig-headed opinion. My experience makes an untried alternative as a suggested shift and there and then I see if what I say works. In almost every case it makes a difference – big and huge difference. I write down my findings and I write thousands upon thousands of words and unlike say a magazine or an author or a tool catalogue sales outlet I give it away for free. It has become important to me and the importance of my work grows daily. The reason for the broadcasting and YouTube is my sphere of influence has been vastly enlarged. Do I do it for fame and recognition? I don’t think I do any more. I do it because I see smiles and comfort and peace in the outcome. I witness skill developed before my eyes and I see happiness.
It has been a lot of work to continue this increase and this week has been a stunning week for me. Tomorrow at 6pm I will flop into an armchair and meditate on the class for an hour. I will see where i fell short and where I feel we hit the mark. the pressure will be off until next Friday when I hold an introduction class for those who never really knew what it takes to become a real woodworker. I love that workshop too. But I have new friends this week. Some will come back and others will email me from time to time. We will stay in touch I think and I love hearing from those I trained. I still get emails from students from 20 years ago. They show me their work and their pictures of their children and grandchildren. My next major work will be the biggest and best yet. Wait for it and I am sure you will love the difference it makes internationally to woodworkers just like yourself.