Side by side before and after
Here are the befores and afters side by side.
Trash to treasured chest
My Creative Workspace A short time ago I posted about a shabby looking mahogany box I found at a car boot sale here. I say found but a better word might be rescued had the abandoned box had any life left in it really. As pulled the box from other junk surrounding it a…
Anglesey, Isle of open spaces
I know, it is not woodworking, but I took a break from the woodworking school this evening and went over to the other side of the island to see what was flying around on the wild side. I parked up for a minute to rest and realized that this week the swallows had just come in from…
How to apply shellac as practical wood finish
Brushing on Shellac: A Glass-like Finish I use shellac for all of my projects; either as single sanding coat before painting or varnishing, or as a full finish. Many sanding sealers are nothing more than thinned shellac. It is fast, easy to apply and it gives good protection regardless of what manufacturers of other finishes…
My creative workspace #20
We worked a great deal on workshop projects over the past week: Everything from saw restoration to my new mahogany box, working with students and friends to finish up the new projects. My work is all about changing lives and welcoming changes in myself. New challenges come hard some times, but compelling ideas take compelling…
A walk in the woods
Last night I walked through the giant beech trees on my way home from the workshop and then again I spent some time in the woods on my way to the castle. It is a good and practical thing to reflect on the substance of what I work with before the great reduction takes place…
Handmade #151 in bronze and others
The #151 has been made by many manufacturers since the patent expired. Even some of the cheaper ones work really well and I think for two reasons: One, the throat is wide open and allows unfettered shavings to rise into and through the throat with no grab by the body of the spokeshave and; two,…
The Stanley #151 Spokeshave
Three years ago a woodworking guru in a British woodworking magazine gave advise to a new woodworker because he had asked why he couldn’t get good results from his Stanley #151 The tool kept digging in and gouging the wood. The guru gave no remedial advise to the writer. He actually stated that you cannot…
Completing another Foundational Course
We had a wonderful day at the workshop today. Course it is Easter weekend in North Wales and our region is noted internationally as a region of outstanding natural beauty, but we opened our New Legacy woodwork school doors for visitors today just so they could sample what real woodworking is all about and we…
My creative workspace
Every artisan must develop and then own his or her sphere of creativity in which to produce their works. My creative workspace holds all of the essentials I need to work productively and the more people working with me in that sphere the more the sphere of creativity increases in potential. A…