Square legs have their place in furniture pieces, yet shaped ones define styles. It’s a challenge to come up with new ones and keep them as yours. Imagine a style if you will. We have lots to choose from and too many to list. Today I shaped the legs of my new Hope chest using…
Dawn is later now. The winds have died down and the rain has gone as I prepare for the day at Penrhyn Castle. I would that I could walk this morning but that wasn’t going to work this time. John is a live-in apprentice with my family and we drove in together. The road is…
My friend Marty. While I was in New York I spent a few hours with my friend Marty who makes violins and mandolins. Very beautiful instruments. We talked about his work mostly, and other aspects of woodworking generally. He and I have a lot in common as do many of my friends there. Our children…
Veritas Plow Planes Running a groove like this takes under five minutes to make and there is no danger to me or to the work at all. Think about it for a moment. You are making one chest. Two legs have 2 grooves, the other 2 have one. 6 grooves, 5 minutes = 1/2 an…
There’s something about holding workshops and having people come to learn. The age range varies markedly and I’m grateful for that because my craft is not age specific, gender specific but for everyone who chooses the master it. I’m half way through a three-day workshop at Penrhyn Castle and it’s going well. Student boxes stand…
Mortise in oak in 4 minutes OK, I hope you will take my word for it, but a 3/8″ (12mm) by 1 1/4″ deep by 2 1/4″ long mortise hole generally takes me about 4 minutes to chop in solid oak using my system and skill, a Marples blue chip bevel-edged chisel (not an Irwin…
More sunshine this morning. All the red leaves on the castle walls are gone, save for a few on the eastern side by the entrance. Everywhere lush and green and sheep and cattle graze down to the shoreline below the workshop. There are many impressions from around the world that fashion our views of…
Yesterday I prepped my wood for planing and crosscutting and today I sized them further using the bandsaw and a series of hand planes including a Stanley #4 with the cambered cutting iron, my Sorby #5 ½ and my low angled Veritas jack plane in that order. It’s important that every stage is checked for…
I’m making a hope chest from oak for the next book due out in the new year. I’m working with the bandsaw on this one so there’s a lot to work through as we are principally using the bandsaw for al of the donkey work and following through with bench planes for surface planing and…
Veritas Gent’s saws In the history of things made, gent’s saws are common, small scale saws made for more refined gentlemen who enjoyed working wood. A range of different saws were designed for the enjoyment of class-separated woodworkers of distinction and the most common of all was the classic type shown here. Fine saws can…