Our closing year – success ahead

In a year of austere measures and struggling economics we started our second USA based school in New York and from day one that school went from strength to strength. So to our UK closes with full classes and people asking for the 2013 schedule asap. At 63 (Jan 4th) I am thankful that the work is capable of being continued by others without me and so we consider the possibility of a Nigerian woodworking school with a difference and thoughts meld with friends in south America too at similar possibilities.

Working wood is where my life is and of course we train people from all courses of life. There are many things about to unfold, so this is more a news update before we get back to working wood today. The next few days should be interesting. Today I mill wood and sharpen 20 saws to test out the new Grobet files that will hopefully fill the void left by the now struggling Nicholson Company (who abandoned their roots and obligations in the USA in pursuit of low-grade product and cheap labour).

American Woodworker writes about the New Legacy New York School

I just heard that John Kelsey’s article on the New Legacy New York School of Woodworking is out in the USA. This coincides with my concluding this years series of US workshops and marks the anniversary of my establishing the New York school in the USA.

Online Broadcast

We are planning the year’s schedule for next year as I type and will be posting them on the New Legacy website shortly. As we expand the schools and reach globally further through our new online broadcast, we will be undergirding our more advanced classes with solid foundational teaching the like of which has never been done before. The new-genre artisan in woodworking will be able to get the basics from my proven work that reaches back for 25 years. I used to teach these courses through Woodcrafts stores in Texas and we hope to do that again in the future. The first 3 joints, ten hand tools concept started in 1989 and that was the basis for my curriculum,  books and handouts and it really has worked throughout those wonderfilled years.

On tour in the USA

This coming year we go on tour with The Woodworking Shows starting on my birthday 4th January 2013 with the Baltimore MD show, which I so enjoyed last year. The full schedule is set and you can find more details here. One thing I so enjoyed about the shows is the diverse differences between attendees. The usual barriers and groupage of age, gender, job type and such all seem totally diminished as people seek to deepen their knowledge of wood and its workings and find the critical elements they need to produce fine work.

Last season, earlier this year, reminded of my first working with The Woodworking Shows back in 1995. The aisles were swarming with people back then. They were of course looking for bargains and the shows were unchallenged by the online world of sales and competition. But the show offers a greater educating influence these days and that’s why I am there. My demonstrations help people to understand what Working Wood as a working artisan is all about and showing just what can be done is important to show the versatility of hand tool work in woodworking.

Our closing workshops of the year

This coming month of course we begin a long course following the same one we completed in August in the US, which was extremely successful. The class is full and this means that people from different continents will unite to master the more advanced skills we teach on this course. We love the concept of compressed teaching and so they will make a very fine tool box, an oak coffee table and a Craftsman-style rocker, again in oak with an upholstered leather seat.

In December we hold the closing workshops of the year with two three-day Foundational Courses Part I. We have offered an earlier overspill workshop to cater to demand and avoid disappointment so please sign in as early as possible. It looks as though this class could fill too.