It’s not really that early but I leave home at around 6.30. With the front door gone but boarded up I’m using the back conservatory door and it is just about coming light when my hand hits the latch. With the mix of rain and showers I take advantage of every opportunity to kick start…

The front living room is now gutted and skim-plastered over. I hadn’t expected that but removing picture rails and fireplaces leaves holes to be patched and then surface cracks in the existing plaster means filler and such; it was more efficient and more work effective in getting the pristine, clean and fresh beginning we wanted…

Question: I like turning and have wanted to make spindle chairs, but I’ve come upon so many that are falling apart that I’ve held back out of concern that the form is intrinsically weak, at least if not built right. People say they are strong, but then there’s my pile of degenerate chairs. I can…

My work all last week quite mixed. It’s been something of a strain really. I always feel this way when a new design hovers within my radar and I don’t know what I am thinking of doing to make something come together. In my peripheral vision other things hover too and I have been able…

We worked near to each other, him one side and me the other. I gave him his first lessons in restoring and sharpening saws, Jack. He listens attentively and learns quickly. By doing it it becomes experiential learning. Much better than with books I think but when a book is done well be a crafting…

There are lines I won’t cross in my woodworking. Using a router for dovetailing, MDF for tabletops and boxes, things like that. I was never beguiled by such. I think perhaps one of my proudest accomplishments will be never having accomplished making dovetails using a so-called power router. I find it humorous the way disempowering…

I have clamped saws in a vise for four decades. This method holds the saws and keeps the plate firmly rigid to prevent flex and it works just fine. One thing that is irritating when it happens is that last split-second slippage when all three components slip the grasp of the vise as you cinch…

I don’t know if another maker did it but it was a good idea. We often fail to realise that contrary grain gluing can indeed constrain wood to prevent it shrinking or expanding and it can do that without the grain splitting. You see using thin wood like with veneering and also narrow components allows…

I must have bought it years ago, this 1960s 14″ tenon saw. Probably a find in a car boot sale or something. Anyway, I pulled from my shelf of abused subjects and thought unkind thoughts about the brute that just wore it down to this condition. My first thought was did they cut concrete blocks…

I think that there is a direct correlation between pricing your work and the amount by which you might perceive your own worth. I have known those new to woodworking and selling what they make to highly overvalue what they made and then too truly undervalue it sometimes too. All too often we tend to…