It’s hard to say how many planes I’ve taken from rubbish-looking to fully operational models. Hundreds, I know. Unlike the modern day clones of Bed Rocks, where they are all equally well engineered and perhaps, dare I say much less characterful than their Bailey-pattern counterparts, each basic and feisty Bailey-pattern bench plane as in the […]
It was an old bench, made of pine, too low for George on it’s original legs so he’d jacked it up to where it was tall enough for him but too tall for me. That was before I came on the scene. The bench was a good 8 feet long at least and two sided […]
On my present project I’m using a combination of joints alongside one another to grow everyone’s development and skill in joinery. Doing this makes for skilled woodworkers and so preserves the craft for the ensuing generations. I hope too that it leaves an archived resource for those who see the value of adding hand tools […]
“Over here!” George said to me. “That’s where you will be working when you’re on bench work and I’ll be keeping my eye on you.” He pointed to the vise on the opposite side of the bench he worked at. His side was loaded with hand tools while my side lay empty. He […]
If you’ve read passed blogs you’ll know I often use two tools alongside one another at the same time meaning saws, planes scrapers and such. Using two planes alternately and then two or three card scrapers and even two #80 scrapers in quick succession one after the other leads to economy of time and effort, […]
Ducking my way through the latch gate I knew nothing of what was on the other side, nothing. Crossing the high step was my first step into work life and a radically different lifestyle than anything I had ever known or seen. It was a world of men and manliness. A world of former military […]
It starts with a prompt; a kind of nudge from someone I don’t know, never met, never heard of who made something for his home–his family to use–to dry clothes or air them after ironing. This someone made something decades ago and its useful but not nice looking. I see its potential beyond its bare […]
I have had a busy week with lots going on behind the scenes. The video on perspective sketches seemed popular so I am glad we did that and put it out via YouTube. I am never sure whether some things are helpful or not but I did want to encourage people to start drawing. This […]
Yep! Launched it yesterday so please join in and follow the link below if you want to enter my latest giveaway. Thank you all for your continuing support and for taking us over the 300,000 subscriber mark on our YouTube Channel. I love that our woodworking community continues to grow and that we are able […]
It was not all easy Gradually the workshop has, well, fallen into place. The motivating factor all along was to be able to work efficiently and create the extra time we needed to not only make efficiently but film too. Filming pretty much triples my time because not only do I have to make a prototype, […]
