Q: We saw your demonstrations and they were great. I wondered if you could guide me on which saw to buy for making dovetails? A: A problem I saw (no pun) at the show is that most people there are divided into two categories: On the one side you have people looking for information, while…
Q: Recently saw your demo at ally pally and it was great, thanks. Just a question on chisel sets and what you would recommend as a good low to mid range set to purchase? A: In a recent blog I recommended the Aldi chisel set, but not just as a starter set. These are serious chisels that…
Slipping the tools up the ramps and into the workshop I became aware of my working space again. I recall my travels over the years and whenever I have spent more than a few weeks in one place the first thing I’ve done is create workspace where I can whittle on wood, photograph my work…
I unloaded the van at the Penrhyn Castle workshops this morning and then rested by taking a ride in the crisp cleanness of Anglesey and Snowdon. Winding along the Welsh roads I was struck by the brightness as I drove to return the van to the hire company. Snowdonia with it’s light frosting of freshly laid…
You may not know this, but there is phenomenon in London you don’t see in capital cities around the world. It surrounds a unique tree that thrives in inner cities called the plane tree. Here in London the trees shown here have been ‘docked’, pollarded if you will. They are not there to provide shade…
I’m back in North Wales with blue skies, a few puffy wisps of cloud and the same essence of inner contentment I get when I’m on the verge of finishing a new piece of furniture or carving a spoon or building a shed or something like that. I demonstrated to several hundred fellow enthusiasts all…
I hope that by now you can string these posts together and discover that your workspace has critical elements that go beyond the sterile kitcheny look depicted in most magazines and videos. I’ve made it clear that orderliness is important and having a place for everything means it and you have a sense of belonging….
We made it in five hours, hit London and, as always for London, started running ahead of myself to try to catch the pace. We had a safe passage all the way from the beautiful Snowdonia mountains to the epicentre of woodworking commerce and had no problems with traffic hardly at all. Unloading at Alexandra…
I’m looking forward to the Alexandra Palace Get Woodworking Live Show even though I have been to too many woodworking shows to count. I usually find something new to pique my interest and raise my bemusement levels, but generally what’s usually offered as new is a change in the color of the plastic handles and…
I think of my workspace as a creative place in which I spend a great deal of if not all of my time. It’s not comfort I in any way crave so much as a place to create, which to my mind is seldom comfortable. Design and developing designs from two-dimensional images to three-dimensional reality…
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