We Teach How To Build Stuff Out Of Wood.
By Hand.

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.
Here’s ours:

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.

Working Efficiently By Hand.

You can build tremendous things with just ten ‘ish’ tools.
It’s a minimalist approach all about practicality and not faffing.the methods are accessible, so anyone can pick up, follow and get building in any size of space.

Hand tools are modern and relevant.

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.

Join Us In Our Member's 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 tha 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.
We run everything between the two of 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 fascinated with the simple pleasures and beauty in life, and values that bit of magic that happens when people step towards exploring their unique passions.

Through producing The English Woodworker educational videos, Helen brings along a quality to the edits ensuring the videos are both a delight to watch and perhaps more importantly,the projects are easy to follow and learn from.

Her interest in reaching towards more joyous and sustainable lives has led to the  launch of her second business We Are Carbon

Start Learning Right Away

By creating a free account for our membership site you’llget immediate access to watch ‘The Plane Build’ video.

These in depth video takes you step by step through Richard’s accessible approach for building a laminated hand plane.

The design is traditional in appearance but accessible & dependable to make.

We include the PDF plans & will also send you a follow up video teaching you how to set your wooden plane so you can put it to good use!