This week I’ve completed what may be my last few ‘Empire’ workbenches. The Empire is a model that I designed to allow me to offer a solid bench with a lower price tag and it’s been in production for a couple of years. The design was heavily influenced by the typical traditional English benches that … [Read more...]
The English Woodworker Videos – Online
We announced last week that we're working on some new online woodworking videos and we want to give you a taste of what they're all about. Bench building keeps us busy, no doubt there. But we’ve always felt that if you’re going to do something it’s worth doing right. Building workbenches gives me … [Read more...]
Start as we Mean to Go On.
It’s now time to look forward and share our outlook for the year ahead. There’s plenty of workbenches to be built, but then that goes without saying. The following sums up a few points that will make this year different to the last. Maguire Vices - We’ve a couple of new projects under wraps at … [Read more...]
A Fond Farewell
Once we get past the first week in January it’s usual for Christmas to be long forgotten as we try to throw ourselves back to the grind, and for the most part we hardy recall having a break at all. This January though we’ve decided to take a small glance back at 2012 as it’s been an interesting and … [Read more...]
You May Cringe!
Don’t worry, I haven’t hit myself in the nuts or cut off a finger… but to some of you I’m sure this might seem far worse! For the past 4 or so years I’ve been using this hefty lump hammer as the sole ’mallet’ in my workshop. I always used a wooden mallet prior and my last one lasted long enough … [Read more...]
The Saw Donkey
Before I delve deeper in to the subject of workbench design I’d first like to draw attention to one of the unsung heroes of my workshop. My Saw Donkey’s (as I like to call them) are my more humble yet resilient version of a saw horse. Alongside a well designed workbench I don’t think that any … [Read more...]
Solo Shafts
We’ve had many enquiries recently about whether or not we will be selling the Shaft System for our Pin Less Leg Vice entirely on its own. At the moment the shaft is used in my workbenches and sold for your own installations as a kit together with one of our wooden screws. We’re currently working at … [Read more...]
All Style and No Substance??
Whenever I’ve taken my workbenches out to a show I’ve always enjoyed lovely feedback and appreciation. One line that I can guarantee will come up at least a dozen times though is “it’s too beautiful to use!”. You’ll think I’m mean but it’s always that line that leaves me feels somewhat deflated - … [Read more...]
Little John’s Flying Along!
This is just a quick post today to say that we’ve been having a great response to the new 'Little John Workbench' and we would like to thank you for all of the support. Update: At the present time we're not building any workbenches for sale, however we have many resources on this website that … [Read more...]
My Dog’s Too Tall!
The Veritas Inset vice is a real gem which is why I chose it for our Little John Bench. There’s nothing excessive about it and its qualities lie in its simplicity; simple in design and simple to use. Compared to the wagon vices we're now more familiar with this one is very compact and so you only … [Read more...]