It’s not only where I make my wood work, it’s where I lift my body to work, where my mind becomes engaged to the work I do and unites my heartbeats throughout the day with my intent. When it beats faster I feel purpose-driven with the kind of meaning that matters; it’s so much more […]
You can watch the 3rd episode of building the plywood workbench on YouTube now and the 4th episode on woodworkingmasterclasses as well. I hope you enjoy both. Both are of course free. The plywood workbench has really hit the mark. To those who are following and making I will gladly show pictures here if you […]
It’s one of my favourite times. Working through last week’s filming I ended up with a bout of conjunctivitis – both eyes bright red. With a week of very blurry vision I couldn’t really present so I took an enforced break resting my eyes as much as I could over five days. This week we […]
Another most undervalued and underestimated tool I often wonder if spokeshave is something of a misnomer, spoke, spindle, spike and so on serve only to tell of a small facet of what this tool capably makes. In the former world before the chair bodger’s demise it simplified the making of simple vernacular chair pieces ideally […]
Oh, it was such a sick, sinking feeling in my spirit. My student’s Irwin Record #4 smoothing plane sat bright blue atop his workbench awaiting my critique. He was proud of it but couldn’t get it to cut at all. I thought to myself, ‘well, it can’t be much, I’ll get it working!’ and I […]
Perhaps I should say, “Who Are You? Periodically I wrestle with the terms adopted to describe a certain category of woodworking and then other crafts generally too. Somehow it’s an effort to slot people into a more suited category, you know, to match their skill sets. On the one hand you have professional and master […]
My workbench has always anchored me. It’s the epicentre of my work, the hub from which all of the pieces I ever made came from. The designs for US senators and then too even a US President and the Permanent Collection of the Whitehouse pieces I designed came from no place fancy at all. Mostly […]
Today times are changing. People have questioned my using plywood for a lifelong workbench but believe me, plywood is a well proven material. I have total confidence that a well made plywood workbench will stand the test of time. Would you believe me if I tell you that Plyscrapers are currently under design in Japan […]
The weeks pass quickly as I make, write, film, draw, plan and design. Behind the scenes other things go on too. I design for other situations too. A birdhouse here, possibly other simple things for others to make there. Across from me someone is making a table, beautifully, like poetry. Someone else new to woodworking […]
Why Common Woodworking came about is because I felt we needed something that could build yet another bridge. I wanted to span the ever-increasing gap between those who only ever reach for the on/off buttons and those who’ve discovered skilled methods of working wood that are not in any way primitive or out of date. […]
