Today's the Day I Make

I milled my wood on Thursday last week, oak. It's a new design with a drawer built in, tapered legs and such. It's something I have made by machine in the past, not something done purely with hand methods so I am looking forward to it. Actually, I doubt anyone has seen this done before. Anyway, I am looking forward to the prototype this week.

Last week Izzy and I made, photographed and filmed and of course I made yet another spatula and three-legged stool for the two series on common woodworking. Every time I work on stuff for Common Woodworking I get excited, not because of the project making but the fact that hundreds of people will use the work plan to develop the ever important skills I've relied on throughout my life. Anyone new to woodworking, that means those who have never made much with their hands and almost all wood machinists, is in for a pathway to discovery. It's that that excites me the most. And then I am fully cognisant that many who have come to adulthood and have never taken a lump of wood and shaped it into something useful and even beautiful are in for a unique experience. To go from this...

...to this in just an hour

and then from here...

...to here is no small thing. Remember we live in an age when almost everybody will actually know no one who actually crafts anything with their hands from wood. More amazingly is the reality that with less than ten lifetime hand tools you can do this...plus a workbench or workmate. Then, more amazingly still, it takes exactly the same tools to make the three-legged stool. How about that for unlocking the inhibitions caused by fear of failure.

So this week we will be filming again and catching my working on video. I have a couple of ideas. The ever present thoughts I have for the house furniture we will be building is prefaced by the work we have already committed to on Woodworking Masterclasses and Common Woodworking and then too YouTube. It's working!