It was a sort of pocket nothing more than a sort of sphere really but he lived in it lived for it was made for it  and he loved the way he was surrounded by it Embraced day in and day out  in the envelopment of his working less by the shop in bricks and…

As it is with many things simple they become the more complex as joint numbers increase around the same corner. Corners can present the greatest of considerations and especially on slim wood. As an apprentice piece set by the other men, I had to make a fish-tank corner from three pieces of solid 35mm by…

. . . it can stymie your work! There are so many things woodworking that are taken for granted and my posting the picture below on my Facebook with a short, almost invented conversation sparked off almost 3.7 million views in just four days with 2,000 comments and 440 shares too. The preconceptions people had…

Oxford’s a place that will never be built again. Streets paved with educational gold, one street after another built of solid stone, stone on stone clad above by slate roofs draining rain into lead gutters, catchments and drainpipes. The carved handwork in stone and wood takes the eye in every direction and even then you…

I own three but it seems now that the one I always reach for has become my favourite and that’s the Veritas from Lee Valley version. I like the way it’s designed and made and the presets with Allen keys to set the cutter laterally in relation to the long axis of the plane body….

Something I always did when working on more tedious work was timing myself and seeing how I could improve production. The decades passed and coming off the conveyor belt allows you to take better control of life in a more wholesome way. Back in my mass-making days in various businesses I started, I would count…

My recent blog post surrounding plough planes and the weaknesses I spoke of reminded me of the energy I put into writing Essential Woodworking Hand Tools. For that work, I wrote over one thousand pages, cut it to just under a thousand myself and then I and Joseph distilled (it’s called editing) that down further…

Recovery The opening days of my woodworking School and School Woodworking Part 1 How it all began What happened to the turned rolling pin I’ll never know. It’s 60 years since I first pushed the well-worn green button on that massive Dominion lathe in the school woodshop and saw the wood suddenly start spinning full-pelt…

. . . some things. A commenter once watched me tweak the knurled setscrew to my plane fence using pliers. His comment said, “It’s bad practice to use pliers on a knurled nut because they will damage the knurling.” Of course, even when being used carefully, as I was, they can, and long term they…

Question: Paul, the last picture which is the close-up of you using the card scraper, shows you using the heel of your hand to help bend and push the scraper. I love using the card scraper. It’s one of my favorite tools to use. But I’m having a hard time now due to arthritis at…