Both have worth but not all worth is equal of course and sometimes lesser worth is worth all the more. This week I bought three secondhand planes for teaching the school classes as we often restore one in the classes each time. It’s not just that they are cheap or old but that they have…
I made this in 1963. It was my first venture into furniture making and pivotal to the decision to become a lifestyle woodworker at 13 years of age. 52 years have passed and I have no regrets standing within two feet of a workbench and vise working with hand tools since then. We postpone decisions…
Hi Paul, I really enjoy watching your Youtube series, its amazing to watch a true master of his craft at work. Im amazed at the possibilities of woodwork, from making everyday items to building complete workshops. It looks really daunting but I would love to learn the basics and build on from there, hopefully fulfilling…
A student showed me how joinery from a woodworking class in 1962 started out. Later he showed me the writing desk he made. He went to grammar school and was channelled away from something he loved to do something more acceptable. Manual labour for him was frowned on because “academic abilities” trumped manual labour meant…
This is the introduction YouTube video to making my dining chair for those who want the adventure to begin. It’s a video series you can join in with if you are or become a paying member of woodworkingmasterclasses.com and this membership also gives you access to hundreds of woodworking videos we have produced over the…
Another class finished and I made deposits in many lives over nine days in different ways and I was exhausted as I drove home this evening but I have to say it was worth every minute. As I watched yet another batch despatched with their new skills to use for the rest of their lives I…
It’s not so easy a question to answer these days because those who did at one time teach woodworking were once craftsmen who changed occupation to enter the teaching realm with their craft skills as working men. That changed when instead of teaching aspects of life to equip young people to engage in adulthood they…
I receive more and more requests from people, young people mostly, those who have gone through normal state educational channels, looking to apprentice with me. These young people see the well intended but flawed perspectives offered in government-led and funded apprenticeships because they seek something much deeper than becoming employable at mere levels in existing…
The Stanley 13-030 Three-blade Plough Plane Stanley made a series of less complex planes by shifting from cast ferrous metals to alluminium in the 60’s. Extruded in long lengths in shaped sections meant a 12 foot length of alluminium could be chopped to length and refined by milling to receive cutters depth stops guide rods…
A discussion breaks out at the end of the day and we talk evermore about wood. I’m on the periphery listening, but generally the whole day seemed to me about how to make this or that using this or that wood with this or that hand tool. The banter goes back and forth and the…
