There is no easy start I realise the difficulties of deciding a future when you are locked into systems according to culture. I’m not sure if people realise what a normal workday for me involves but I like to put in a good day’s work six days a week most of the time. I think it…
In a given week we have a few hundred people come into the workshop and I started to do that way back in Reagan Wells in Texas back in1988 when we built our home and workshop side by side. At that time the www was introduced more as a concept and the computer I knew…
Your hands matter greatly. I know you know that but sometimes things need saying. Sam is my apprentice and he’s been with me now for about five months of training. We apprentice for free but we don’t pay but neither do we charge. The system works. Apprentices make their own pieces according to my designs…
You recall that I promised a video on making winding sticks when we hit 100,000 subscribers on YouTube which happened this morning so here are two of them. Thank you for nudging us over and being such a support to our Real Woodworking Campaign. You are the reason we do what we do. This video…
Just to follow up on the last blog where I answered the question on setting your bench plane and in this case a Stanley #4 smoothing plane, we put together a quick video to help everyone work through the steps and to see what someone like myself as a full-time, lifetime, lifestyle woodworker has disciplined…
Question: Paul – I really dread having to remove the irons from my hand planes for sharpening as I have so much trouble getting them back in so that they make consistent shaving both in thickness and width (i.e. square). So far it takes me at least 30 minutes (sometimes longer) testing on a scrap…
This week I think ten people asked how much my oak clocks cost. I think that eight would have bought one for £120 each. Four people asked how much the chairs cost and I think two people would have bought one, two or a set of six. People ask these questions all the time but…
I know from the responses that what I say about becoming a lifestyle woodworker touches a few nerves for whatever reason. I think I most likely understand this more than most. I suppose the word reason is indeed a choice word here because it’s used to somehow justify not becoming a woodworker rather than becoming…
Sharing your work with people looking for hand work Finding customers that support craftwork like mine is essentially your primary work once you’ve made your pieces and established a portfolio. Your customers are not someone you barter with as such, or haggle over the price of your work, but someone who respects what you’ve made….
Here is a method for making square pegs for draw-bore mortise and tenon joints. This video takes you step by step through a simple process to make square ends to round pegs by hand. We used this method for the online broadcast series for making the trestle dining table a few weeks ago and pulled this part from…
