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Winter's warmth

Winter's warmth

Cold snaps overnight this week have changed the leaves to wonderful patchworks of yellow, orange, russet and red. Soon the leaves will fall and winter will set in for three months. This is often my favourite time for working in the woodshop. When I lived in the USA I stoked

Hope Chest – creating the panels

Hope Chest – creating the panels

I started choosing the wood for the panels of the chest today. They are 3/4 “ thick so that I have enough thickness for the raising and enough to fit in the grooves. My earlier post alluded to the selection of wood but in practical terms here are some of

Car boot squares

Car boot squares

On Sunday morning my students and I met at 8am to check out the local car boot sales. There wasn't much there, but I found two squares for £1.00. As I sanded away the rust from the combination square the name of the maker emerged and I

Choosing wood - where to begin

Choosing wood - where to begin

People often ask me where I source my wood from, whether it's locally grown and how I make certain its dry. Reality hits here because there is no stock answer. In the US, wood is readily available in a variety of ways and so options are more varied

Real Woodworking Campaign at Harrogate

Real Woodworking Campaign at Harrogate

I am always going to address issues surrounding false impressions and information in woodworking because it's an importan aspect of real woodworking. I have said this before and I’ll say it once more because it troubles me so. The purpose of a hand plane is not to

Hope chest and the closing class

Hope chest and the closing class

When I think of all the friends around the globe working wood, I wonder how trees keep up with supply. George is here from the USA with his friend John and they tell me of storm-dropped trees 4’ in diameter pretty much for the taking. People owning Woodmizer resaw bandsaws

From Hope Chest to Discovery Workshop - A day in the workshop

From Hope Chest to Discovery Workshop - A day in the workshop

The class went well all day and from the start the enthusiasm was highly infectious even to the point of being contagious. My class starts always begin with sharpness. Without this, hand tool woodworking is impossible.WIthout hand tools in working woodwork, artisanship cannot exist. Here we are beginning something.