If you've seen anything from us then you'll know it's not exactly text book stuff. Our approach comes from a heap of passed down knowledge finely blended with many hours of doing at the bench. Then there's the dash of weirdness that my mind adds in. I like to...
A good peg, is a lot more than a roughly ragged out bit of round wood. When you're draw-boring, or just reinforcing a joint, you need a peg that's strong. A good wooden peg should be straight grained, slightly tapered and preferably made up of a series of flats. In...
No, you don’t. As a hand tool woodworker you are fully self sufficient without a bandsaw. At least as long as there's tea in the pot. But if there's one machine that can aid the hand tooler the most, this would be it. When I shunted out my machines at the close of the...
A planing sleeve is a work holding method for things such as assembled drawers and open carcases, so you can plane or work on the outside faces. These are enormously handy when the carcase is too big for your vice, and knocking one up is as easy as fixing a couple of...
Today I wanted to share another work holding method that's as simple as it is effective (the best ones always are) and is suited only to those who've broken the fear of scathing their bench. 'The Bench Knife' is an old method certainly used...
Sorry if I sound like a feminist, but I feel that liberate is a good word to go with. I've been told it's ironic to watch my way of woodworking, whilst at the same time knowing that I build fancy workbenches. Admittedly I'm a bit rough and brutish using my own bench,...
For a simple woodworker when it comes to a problem in life the best bet is to hit hard with a hammer. It's an effective if not delicate approach and once you get in to the mind set there's little that can't be solved. If you find you're spending a lot of time at your...
You can never have enough space today, or surround yourself with enough things. Woodworking is no different. Where it used to be a man in his shed it now seems that only an air hanger and corresponding air field would be big enough to house all the machinery, jigs and...
What is a gnat's nadger? It's something very small. Smaller than a 1/64"? Smaller than I would care to measure. If you're getting any smaller then it's a gnat's cock hair. You may see this as being annoyingly vague, or perhaps it makes me sound a bit simple? I find...
I've never been a big jigger in my workshop. I'm stumped to find a value for anything more than my simple shooting board/ bench hook combo. And the odd stick. I think the reason is because I've never been precious about my bench top and there's no problem which can't...
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Next year is set to be very busy for us in terms of video projects, but we're also going to be starting out with something new, and tailoring our content to suit different skill levels. We're putting a more structured educational scheme together. It's something we've...
Wood has always been in my life. My old man did it for a living. I always remember the sawdust in his pockets, and even when he got home, the forgotten pencil lodged behind his ear. He also had a massive moustache. It feels very strange when I stop to think. Apart...
When people meet me they see the unkempt facial hair and questionable mop on the back of my head and they can weigh me up pretty well. Then I start to speak and it's confirmed - this is definitely a pretty rough chap. And I'm not one to try and mystify or tart it up,...