In my creative workspace I make new pieces from old wood and old center-pieces complementary with new wood. Today I took the panels from my dismantled car-boot find to the workshop and started to patch up the fractured and missing inlays and refinish the surfaces as needed. In places the strings of checkered inlay were…
Here is another handcut dovetail joint I made this weekend at the Penrhyn Castle workshops whilst my class was going on. Turned out OK. The secondary wood is Oak and primary wood is Sapele Mahogany. I like the less showy and less stark contrast of oak with mahogany rather than the whiteness of maple and especially the…
To read more about the router plane on our Common Woodworking site, click here I have used this little hand router for many years. It replaced my old Stanley router #271 as it’s slightly larger than the Stanley model and finely made as is the standard for Veritas Tools. This one has no fine adjustment…
Recycling wood just got better… I hoped all week that the vendor hadn’t sold them and there they ere this morning. We struck a deal and so I brought them home to my workshop. …pass it on! Not too many pieces like this are around the flleamarkets and car boot sales, but in the four…
These are few pictures from my work yesterday. Thought you might like to see them.
The day flew by today. I drove to Richard Williams Lumber in Llandudno Junction here in North Wales to pick up more oak for the Foundational Course Part II class that starts Monday next week. I had to be back by 9 to start the last day of the Foundational Course Part I. We had a…
I cut these dovetails yesterday from mahogany and oak. Such simple saw cuts split the fibers to separate the waste from the wanted and tails remain. The second I trace, each with the knife’s point, and then, again, the knife, the chisel and the saw cuts define the remaining shape until two unmarried parts become joined inextricably, irrevocably,…
Just to follow up on yesterday’s post re hand cutting dovetails, which I eye-balled with no measuring, no jigs, no gauges using only a dovetail saw, coping saw, chisel and chisel hammer, knife and combination square. 16 minutes total including demoing and talking about dovetailing options. The more you rely on your eyes, the more…
This is the end of day two of our Foundation Course part 1. It was really a great day for everyone and we have a dovetailed box on each bench waiting for the bottoms to be glued on. Every so often I will get a phone call from someone wanting to book a class where…
We made good progress yesterday and this morning we will learn about the Bailey-Pattern No4 and No 4 1/2 smoothing plane, the smallest of the practical range of planes we call bench planes. Bench planes are used at the woodworker’s bench and they are used in a wide range of woodworking crafts. At one time…
