Why I Demonstrate and…
…It’s Outreaching We All Need
The people were from very mixed and diverse backgrounds as in Europe and the middle east as well as Britain. In many ways that makes the dynamic of demonstrating quite different for me because in fact they knew very little about working with wood the way I do it and so our campaign towards real woodworking using workbenches and hand tools seems very different to what they watch on TV or through YT channels.
I cut dovetails and dadoes and planed surfaces with a #4 Stanley bench plane and they couldn’t believe what they saw. Those that did know of me and follow my work enjoyed watching the faces of the other group as they passed the hand planed wood around from one to another. You have to understand—this is why I do some of the things I do. Whereas this latter group did indeed stumble upon us, you watched their faces as their fingers traced the surface of a hand-planed piece of wood for the first time ever and you visibly saw eyes widen and smiles spread as they realised for the first time what sharp planes are to a craftsman in achieving good results; that a dovetail joint can actually fit perfectly from a dozen or so sawn cuts with no further fitting or indeed any chisel work.
Where Have the Mentoring Craftsmen Gone?
Of course this happened for me the first time I worked with a skilled craftsman on the opening day of my apprenticeship. A mortise and tenon joint with stepped shoulders seated before my very eyes and I thought this man could pull rabbits out of a hat! From that minute forward he had me eating out of his hand and every time he said, “Sweep the floor.” or “Brew me some tea, Lad,” I jumped to it with hesitating. Respect often accompanies admiration and I admired my mentoring craftsman for as long as I was working under him and still respect the men who I served to this day.
Mentorship with Craftsmen
Over recent years I look back on life and realise that though we never called them that, men mentored, and they did it willingly and openly without any title. They were from an era where mentoring craftsmen simply assumed that as a responsibility from the lives they lived at work. I hadn’t realised that that’s what they were doing and neither did they. They fed me work that I developed through and ultimately it was these men that apprenticed me not the owners of the business who I think saw me and other apprentices and indeed the men working for them more as units or even chattels when I think about it.
My Work Today
My work today is the outcome of a very rich life as a maker people from long ago invested in that came by and through the discipline of mentoring. It was a strategy inscribed in the hearts of artisans; the men and women of the era who worked as masters of their crafts. It was not an odd hour a week but minute by minute interaction where warts were worked out in my character on the one side and the development of skill was being nurtured and fostered until I emerged as a skilled man working with my hands. It was not just me becoming skilled with tools and wood though. Through my apprenticing and mentoring I grew into relationships that built my character. How could I ever be anything other than grateful for the input I received? How could ever not pass it on?
Hi Paul, it was very nice to meet you at Abingdon after all the master classes I have watched and had a great time. I have to tell you I did travel 90 minutes each way to be there, and thanks for signing your book for me.
Ray Gale
I was glad you came and we got to meet. Thanks for making the journey. I really appreciate it.
Paul:
I’ve been building a wall-mounted hand-tool chest using an old pine shelving unit build many years ago by my wife’s grandfather. I’m using it as the body of the chest but I’m installing inserts, a plane ramp, drawers and doors with built-in tool storage. I spent most of the weekend happily puttering away on it, designing it as I went, using some thoughts from a Fine Woodworking magazine.
I was looking around my shop and I realized what an impact you’ve had on how I do woodworking. I’ve gone from a guy with one old plane in the bottom of a tool box that I didn’t know how to use to a guy who doesn’t have enough space for them all.
Most of us work away in our workshop as hobbyists and it’s sometimes hard to learn new skills. You have been such an inspiration.
I’m know you hear this all the time, but I really must thank you, somewhat anonymously from Vancouver, B.C., for your dedication to sharing your skills.
I tell everyone that you’re my “woodworking guru.” Thanks again.
It was men like yourself who taught me how to lay paint on a high end automobile with very little flaw using hand tools mostly, but also a air powered spray gun, but without their teachings I wouldn’t have a clue. I no longer do the same type of work, but if pressed I’m sure I could pick right up where I left off.. The boss, well he was a bit less than useless in these matters..
Hi Paul,
Nice post. When I lived in the UK, folks were perplexed that I would travel two hours on the weekend to do something and then not stay overnight. So different in the United States. Anything within about a 120 mile range is automatically considered a day trip.
My experience in chemistry at university was in some respects similar to yours in woodworking. It was more like an apprenticeship with lots of hours under the wing of one of the professors. In fact, he stayed on for an additional year before retiring so that I could finish under him. I was very grateful for that. I now mentor students at that same university much for the same reasons you and others do it in woodworking.
Oh, I got into woodworking about a year ago as it is a great replacement activity as I got promoted to the point where I no longer do work myself directly in the lab but manage others. If I knew then what I know now I don’t think I would have ever taken those promotions.
noblesse oblige – without the nobility.
I have to chuckle, I sometimes travel 400 miles a day as a consultant and still come home every night to sleep in my own bed and to have a home cooked meal. I am an exception I suppose but it’s not uncommon to have a job where you drive 30-50 thousand miles a year in the states.
We used to have apprenticeships, mine was in the metalworking trade but all those programs disappeared by the early 1980s. If you were willing to learn and asked intelligent questions certain people would help you and “take you under their wing”.
Then they downsized companies and got rid of the whole system of the trades and mentoring. Computers took over and skills were replaced by automation.
It really took the joy out of working and the feeling you got actually making something with your hands and intelligence. Put a part into a machine, push a button and tada a part appeared.
It’s getting worse, jobs are being “dumbed down” but motivated people are not satisfied with that.
I did a stint as a senior technician doing bench work on IT equipment. One of the great joys was teaching the junior techs how to troubleshoot. I never gave answers, only hints, allowing the techs to learn and remember the process.
It was also a learning experience for me in that I had to slow down and think through the steps that I was taking as a matter of course.
Teaching really is a two way street!
Hi Paul,
It was a great demonstration on Saturday and truly amazing to watch a true craftsman at work. My grandfather was a master carpenter and cabinet maker for theatre productions for 40 years and over the years I thoroughly regret absorbing all his knowledge when I was younger. He’s thankfully still alive and often shares stories of his time honing his amazing skill, and still has a raft of furniture around the house still in daily use, he is however now less physically able to show and share with me his knowledge in a practical way. Seeing you at work made me feel so pleased that great teachers are still spreading the skills that he valued so much.
I started my journey in woodworking a couple of years ago I took the “easy route”, and now more common route, of simply purchasing a number of large machines and using them for my projects. Although I could produce items, when I wasn’t tripping over big tool bases crammed into my tiny workshop, it always felt more like manufacturing than woodworking.
Since starting (very slowly) to migrate to a hand tool approach I feel so much more freedom in my working and also more enjoyment. As you allude to in your post if all the artisans stop spreading the message will all these skills disappear?
Until recently I was always nervous of turning to the simple plane, and my random orbital sander or belt sander was my best friend as wood was churned off the table saw. Since absorbing everything I can on the subject of hand tool working (mainly from your fantastic blog) the act of bench plane working is now a true joy and I look forward to using it and seeing the incredible results it produces; I discovered this type of work was the satisfaction I was missing in woodworking before.
I was grinning like a mad man at your presentation after watching you cut out a perfect dovetail joint in under 2 minutes, as it further reinforced the spirit of what I feel my grandfather was trying to instil. There is a better way! This simply puts to shame all the machine based time I’ve spent trying to master this joint that has caused nothing but a lung of sawdust and probably some deafness!
It was a joy to watch you, and I am eagerly saving to try and attend some of your course so I can learn at least some of the skill my grandfather holds so dear from a true artisan.
Jack
Paul, I watched hours of your videos on both You tube as well as Masterclasses. It would take hours to tell you what it has meant to me. My dad and I would spend hours talking about woodworking and looking at tool catalogs together. But we never did any work together but we did watch your videos in his last year and a half. He would say, “Your English guy,” when bringing you up. My wood shop class experience in High school was very discouraging, I always knew I wanted to work wood but until my down time with my father and you filling in those hours I never realized how much. You have been therapy for me and I know as I am a professional counselor. One of my fathers last statements in the hospital before passing confused me. He said, It will be beuatiful.” I hesitated and asked him,” What will be beautiful.” He replied that saw when you finish it. I had been working on building the frame saw you had “demonstrated,” how to build. About a week and half after he died I took time out to finish it, while thinking of both of you. It is beautiful. With much affection and thanks, and may what your doing continue to satisfy yourself and others as much as it has myself. Clark
Clarke as I read that I ended doing what a man is not supposed to do….as I thought of my father, my private thoughts.
Thank you for this, Clarke. I know that most of the time we miss the knock-on effect of the influences people play in out lives. All too often we hold on to negative things without realising that, yes, some people meant far more to us than we realised.
Fantastic, wish I could’ve attended. The Atlantic is a booger of a drive.
On the subject of excellent mentors I had one when I was an apprentice in 1975. His name was Mr Sadd and his enthusiasm for both the subject of blacksmithing and for his pupils was incredible. He was a proper entertainer who managed to pass on the facts with such zeal that all these years later I can still remember much of what he taught me. How impressive is that? I think that Mr S has hit the hand forged nail on the head when he talks of passing knowledge on for the good and benefit of all. Any fool can slip into an alcohol induced trance as they wobble into the pub night after night after waiting patiently at the door for ten minutes before opening time. A proper man keeps at it and brings others into his fold. Top man, well done.
Hi Paul I would like to do what you do I am a carpenter and joiner but its knowing where to start any ideas would be appreciated thank you regards Pete .
Here is the link to headers on my blog that will help you.