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Students leave and we renew

Students leave and we renew

The shop was empty today, with all the students now returning home. John put the tools away in the drawers and I started building more storage cupboards to store the filming equipment and some of the recent tools I have acquired for the classes. I decided to include #4 1/

Craft training

Sports training, endurance and duress Talk to any sports psychologist and they will likely tell you that good sportsmen and women, those who know the highest limits of exertion and the accomplishment that that brings, train both the body and mind to accept the physical and mental torture it takes

Becoming a craftsman

Becoming a craftsman

Becoming a craftsman is a heart condition I have tried to deal with for twenty years. Not in my own life but the lives of others really. Whether it's me teaching others or others wanting to learn, it means on either part proactively engaging in change rather than

2nd day of the three-day

2nd day of the three-day

We were so busy today. My students, as usual, are thoroughly enthusiastic and never took a breather once apart from a half hour lunch break, which I had to insist they took. David and Judy are married to each other and watching them working is a treat. Their dovetails were

Apprenticing young men

Apprenticing young men

I watched John as he worked with me in class today. He moved gracefully from bench to bench, tweaking tools, arranging neatness to the student's worktops as he passed. Throughout the day his name would be called more and more by this person or that. The students gravitate

Sorby bench plane treasure

Sorby bench plane treasure

Not many finds in the way of tools turn up unknown planes for me. From Norris to Spiers and Gabriel to Mathieson I think I know of them all in some greater or lesser measure. That doesn't make me an expert so much as fortunate to have had

My creative workspace #24

My creative workspace #24

Imagine if you will a man gifted with his hands and having no ability to design. What piques your sphere of creativity as you work? Is it the wood or your workspace, the influence of other designs or perhaps the tools you use? I picked up a copy of Fine