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Lifestyle Posts

This is the lifestyle part of our blog, where we write about what we’re up to, what we’re thinking and how we go about earning a living with our hands in this modern world.

A Naff Day!

A Naff Day!

It's been a long day and we've not long got back and settled down. I've spent a good while now aimlessly stirring my tea and gazing in to the pot looking for answers. You see, today's been one of those days when you smash one of your favourite planes. I was just...

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A Change Is Good.

A Change Is Good.

This week I'm on web design duty as we've decided to make a few changes to the overall layout of the blog. I wanted to let you know as a warning because if you see any strange goings on on screen it will just be because I've played about with something and it isn't...

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The Joy of Being A Novice

The Joy of Being A Novice

Having a keen interest can often come with an ambition to turn it to a livelihood and take it professional. After all what better way to spend your days than doing what you love and being paid for it. I'm not just talking about woodwork here, it could be cooking,...

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Selling yourself

Selling yourself

Just a quick follow up to Helen's post this morning. The power of branding today seems to be pretty immense and I think it's fair to say that we judge the value of the product by its brand rather than its true qualities. For me it's a sad truth but its certainly isn't...

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For What It’s Worth.

For What It’s Worth.

It was a beautiful day on Saturday (read as " Richard and I were dripping with sweat"... typical Brits, never happy with the weather!) when we popped down to the open day at Peter Sefton's Furniture School. As I mentioned on Friday there was a large chance that...

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Out and About

Out and About

We've been busy this afternoon getting packed up and ready for a long trek out in the morning. Richard has gathered together just a 'few' tools and plenty of timber in preparation for spending tomorrow out at the open day at Peter Sefton's Furniture School. The plan...

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Workshop De-Clutterise – Part Two

Workshop De-Clutterise – Part Two

As planned we made a start last week at getting on top of the workshop clutter. If you've seen Part One of this saga then you'll be aware we had a pretty big task ahead of us and we've decided to attempt it in bite-sized stages; a little each week. We can only hope...

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Workshop De-Clutterise – Part One

Workshop De-Clutterise – Part One

I don't know about you but I've always found that if I have anything more than an ample space to work then the extra will just get filled up and cluttered - or as my Dad always puts it 'the bigger the van, the more crap you carry'. When we moved to this workshop a...

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What’s The Plan?

What’s The Plan?

I've always found that Helen and I make a good team and I'm certainly very lucky to have her many skills at my disposal. She's the sort of person who can put her hand to pretty much anything she needs to learn but her specific training was in design and technical...

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25% off all series throughout December!

 Use code  XMAS2023  at checkout.

Browse the projects here.

Related Posts:

The Making Bug

As a kid I wasn't a traditionalist, not by a long shot. I remember me and my brother banging out hundreds of hours competing on the Sega Megadrive. My earliest tool cravings weren't for hand tools either but for the ones with power and noise. I remember my Dad had a...

Observations On A Craftsman (Part One)

In our previous workshop time had allowed us to create a systematic approach to building workbenches. The fine tuned layout allowed the work to flow like a human driven conveyor belt; from timber entering through the door to passing over machines, and as the wood...

Happy New Year!

I've never been one for resolutions but there's no doubt that today marks a great opportunity to pause and consider what we've been doing for the past year, and what may lay ahead. I hate to sound ungrateful, but I'm making a sigh of relief to see the back of 2014. It...

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