Paul Sellers’ Blog

It is all too easy to use the word shrink as a catchall for all wood movement. To say you understand that wood shrinks and swells according to atmospheric moisture levels surrounding that particular section of wood only describes a small percentage of what happened, what is happening and then what can ultimately happen. Wood…

I have never really gone back and forth on my methods for prepping stock from rougher slabs, planks and boards without relying on the use of too many machines. I am happy with the evolutionary processes and shifts to date that add tactics to enhance my work and at the same time make my hand…

There are some things that you need to know about wood. When the masses need mass-made to keep down costs there is always a price to pay. We lose massive sections of forests in a day or two and we plantation-grow studs for stick-frame building that never mature much beyond a stud-size section that is…

I’ve covered this from time to time but having just flogged off the wood from six bandsawn strip-panels made from 24 spruce studs, and I can tell you that the #4 did the lot with the greatest ease and the best workout a man striving for fitness and aged 71 can get. Furthermore, I might…

I’m not altogether sure what makes for a purist. Some have cast me as a man that hates machines, someone that refuses to accept progress, eschews the use of machine methods for working wood. These are the assumptions of those who know little about me or indeed prefer to cast doubt on the efficacy of…

When we venture out on our woodworking adventure for the first time, when there is a seriousness ordering our steps, we at first make forays along paths well-trod. Going into the big box stores in search of tools, equipment and our raw material, wood, can be like entering the unknown. It can also be disappointing…

My Warrington cross pein hammer has been with me since 1966. It’s from the days when it cost 30 pence and what was then 7 shillings and 6 pence (£0.7.6p), the simpler days when we had 20 shillings in a pound and 12 pence in a shilling, things cost half a crown, two bob, and…

I’m so happy to let you know that we just reached 500,000 subscribers to my YouTube channel! As a thank you, I will be giving away one of my rarest Router Planes to one lucky winner! Visit https://paulsellers.com/youtube-giveaway/ to find out how you can enter! This giveaway is open worldwide. T&C’s apply. The winner will be picked…

In business as a full-time woodworking furniture maker, I relied heavily on machinery to take care of the donkey work and also those masses of repeat cuts on products I mass made on a more commercial level. My product line was developed to make money and though I was careful with every piece I ever…

I am never sure if it’s a unique phenomenon to woodworkers alone or whether it is an element that only affects them, but for some reason upcycling a plastic-handled throwaway saw costing £7 to become card scrapers somehow gives credibility to an otherwise limited tool, a tool that’s lost the point. I suppose salvaging the…