I designed a new one to embrace more modern concepts and unite them with the hand tools I use which of course are those I’ve relied on for well over half a century. I actually made three of them in quick succession to perfect the ideas for you to follow. Oak, ash, pine and sycamore…

…So many buildings, so much history, too much to seen in a day. I blogged before about the doors of Oxford. How people just walk past them, through them, mostly oblivious to their constructs, the men that made them and what it’s taken to adapt them to ever-shifting decades and centuries of culture shifts. But…

Gent’s saws are basically smaller back saws that generally range from around 3″ on up to 10″. I’m writing this blog to simply say no woodworker should be without one. The 10″ is my favourite size and what cuts a lot cuts a little so I have little use for the smaller versions. All of…

There are hammers to live with and hammers you can live without. My work tells me which one to pick up. Outside of these three I keep a couple of claw hammers for heavier work, construction projects and such. The first claw hammer, the Stanley 20 ounce, I bought when I was 16. It is…

“Don’t dismiss the journey!” I told them. “It’s most important, perhaps even more important than the final piece you make.” These are my apprentices I talk to in the early days of their training. Someone has to create an alternative perspective than the one they were trained in school and university or college. It’s mainly…

Yesterday was a good day. I spoke up for the Men’s Sheds meeting at the University of Worcester as per planned and met many interesting people passionate about growing the recognition that men in particular need a space to share their lives after work. Men’s Sheds helps in many areas and that also includes unofficial…

Sheds are of course important whether you have a garden needing garden tool and equipment stowage or not. For the do-it-yourselfer, be that gardener, repair person or woodworker, it’s place to work, keep a bench and fix up bikes. For most it’s a place to store task-appropriate maintenance equipment. For me its essential because it…

When I started working more online it became an alternative to hands-on training, and that led to even a replacing it. I was sceptical, I had no idea demand would develop to such an extent and that made me excited because I had worried that my background teaching from the perspective of a craftsman would…

I should explain about my cheap door a little more, perhaps. Some of you picked up on the lack of grooves or rebates (rabbets), perhaps wondering why they were missing or suggesting that the simplified version is lacking in some way. Eliminating the built-in moulds and rebates is ideal for a quick door-making project and…

I started to think about buying the side door and was intrigued by the way I almost unthinkingly chose that path well traveled, which is of course to just to buy one in. Anyway, us DIYers have many good readers for doing it ourselves and mine is manyfold for this door. I could have bought…