Fine Woodworking – Rugged Simplicity
We teach how to build stuff out of wood.
It’ll be strong and it’ll be beautiful – proper furniture to last several lifetimes.
But you won’t need anything too fancy.
Small workshop? Tiny budget?
They’re not problems, because the truth is, woodworking by hand is simple.
Accessible, Productive Hand Tool Woodworking
The English Woodworker takes a minimalist approach to woodworking, making a basic kit of hand tools all you need to build well, and build quickly.
We show how to build posh stuff without any arsing about.
For the one man band we believe that hand tools are the fastest, most efficient, and by far the most enjoyable way to build.
Our Hand Tool Approach
No doubt you have your own view on hand tools.
Our approach tends to be a little different.
Working efficiently by hand is at the core of how we teach.
You can build tremendous things with just ten ‘ish’ tools.
It’s a minimalist approach all about practicality and not faffing.
Systems are built in to ensure that the methods are accessible, so anyone can pick up, follow and get building in any size of space.
Hand tools are modern and relevant.
To make sure we’re on the same page, here’s a couple of things that we’re not:
We’re Not Re-Creating The Past
We don’t care for the sentimental rose tinted shite that tends to come with hand tool woodworking.
Don’t get me wrong, we respect history.
But we’re not bound by it.
Replicating history is limiting and much of the time it’s a best guess. Plus let’s be honest everybody had their own unique approach back then, just as they do today.
Keeping an open mind lets us learn from the past, but our thoughts are always with finding the best approach for the here and now.
We’re Not Slow
Hand tools can keep up with machines.
If you disagree then you’ve just not approaching things with the right mind set.
Working productively by hand isn’t about racing and sweating to the finish. It’s about understanding your tools and knowing how to make every shaving count.
Learn Hand Tool Woodworking Online.
For a weekly dose of woodworking banter you can follow our blog.
We put out articles on hand tools, techniques, projects and maybe the odd bit of ranting.
If you’d like to keep updated you can subscribe by email.
You can also join us in our Online Membership Site.
We produce detailed educational videos working step by step through the methods of hand tool woodworking.
The teaching is provided through project builds and each series includes PDF plans, so you can build your own items of furniture as you learn.
We teach you in manner aimed to get you going in the simplest and most cost effective way, and we believe that education has to represent value as well. We’re proud to offer a great quality of production, but we’re also keen to keep ourselves accessible. That’s why an entire course can be bought for about the same as a crate of tinnies and a pack of fags.
You are also free to use the plans and sell the furniture you make to help recoup your educational costs.
Who Are We?
The English Woodworker is small and personal.
There’s just the two of us and run we everything between us.
Richard Maguire
Richard has earned his reputation for his incredible speed and lack of faff to do even the most complex and mundane woodworking tasks, with no more than basic hand tools.
As a professional hand tool woodworker, Richard found hand tools to be the far more efficient solution for a one man workshop.
Along with building fine furniture, Richard is most known amongst woodworkers for taking on the stupid task of building the world’s finest traditional workbenches.
Richard learnt woodworking through a traditional apprenticeship with his father.
His time is now spent educating on hand tool woodworking through the online courses, alongside building furniture for commission.
Helen Fisher
Helen is formally trained in design where she worked within both commercial and domestic architecture, specialising in interiors.
From sustainable compact living, through to joining a small team on an award winning Children’s Hospice. Helen enjoys the challenge of tieing in everyday needs with a practical beauty.
Through producing The English Woodworker educational videos, Helen brings along a quality to the edits ensuring the videos are both a pleasure to watch and perhaps more importantly, the projects are easy to follow and learn from.
Please Note
Neither of us are blessed with great spelling or grammar – we hope you’ll be able to forgive the odd mistake.
And we also ain’t posh. Our videos may include the occasional slip of somewhat industrial language (though we promise it won’t be overly strong).
