The past couple of days are indelibly impressed in my inner being having watched John work on his toolbox to create something so uniquely him. There’s a saying we hear often, “You have to see it to believe,” but I might favour a slight shift and say, “It’s got to be seen to believe it.”…
From pocket knives to kitchen knives and just about any knife you care to name, a simple method to use is a piece of 3/4” piece of wood on the benchtop and an EZE-Lap diamond paddle. By placing the knife on the piece of wood with the edge just overhanging the edge and placing the…
Knives often seem problematic to many both in the holding of them at the right bevel angle and to maintain bevel angle consistency. I have made different types of guides and jigs for students to use because of this but generally freehand my own because it’s quicker and I can. With this jig we hold…
Another class concludes today and then in another short week’s time I hold my last foundational course for this year. Nine more woodworkers are freed from the constraints of mass-making because they now know sharpness to levels they never knew before. Truth sets people free and when you know it you know it. When the…
Question: I very much enjoy reading your blog Paul. I went to college to train as a furniture maker after I left school but was unable to find suitable work so re trained as a carpenter (don’t worry I don’t sharpen chisels with a belt sander) your blog is like a window into my dream…
The days pass fast with the class and already we are half way through with four days left. Last night we all ate Chinese at the Eastern Orient and today we completed the third project, so tomorrow it’s table making and all that that entails. The conversations we had were interesting. There is much soul…
To use the dogs By preparing the edges in the usual manner of two boards side by side and face to face in the vise, plane the edges jointly. You can create a long but very shallow camber, a slight taper from the centre to one outer edge, or two straight edges in readiness for…
They are not really used much any more but at one time they were a mainstay in the workshop of many woodworking trades ranging from boatbuilders to furniture makers and joiners to coopers. That said, they are very handy to have around and well worth making half a dozen. Some timber dogs were 2 feet…
Today I demoed hard. I didn’t sweat in a polo shirt but I was breathing harder after five minutes of full-stroke ripcutting. I carried on more. In the UK it’s less easy for me to sweat no matter how hard I work, run, ride or whatever. Anyway, then I planed hard and breathed harder still as I…
In 2007 I met John Winter and he came to my house over a number of days to build his workbench with his dad. His dad is a paediatrician and was working at the hospital in the town near where I live. John came into the castle workshop at 18 for a year to apprentice…