Searching for Hens Teeth
It seems that nowadays finding good, sap free, American walnut it a bit like looking for the proverbial hens teeth. As I need some for my router skills course I have had to do a bit of searching. This has prompted me to ask why is it so hard to come by?
The chair making course – really motoring now!
The chair making course has been running for about four weeks now and we are building to a climax! All the jointing has been done, there is some final shaping and fitting to be completed before glue up and soap finish application. The next session at the workshop will see us finish the chairs by weaving the Danish cord seat.
Metric and Imperial
I work in metric on all my woodworking projects. But now find that I need to convert to imperial for US woodworkers. Quite frustrating.
Ebay Plane Problems.
Recently a few planes I have bought on Ebay have arrived damaged. Here’s a bit of advice for Ebay buyer and sellers.
VM Chair Project VI
The final task in the VM chair making project is to weave the Danish cord seat.
VM Chair Project V
With all the jointing and shaping finished I glue up and apply the soap finish to the VM chair
The VM Chair Making Project IV
Having completed the fitting and shaping for the crest rail as described in my previous blog on the VM chair the main jobs left were the fitting and shaping of the arms and the back splats. If you like what you’ve read or know someone who would,please help me spread the word by using the […]
The new router skills course – lessons learned.
A couple of weeks ago I taught for the first time my new router skills course, it went well, no one routed their fingers off! If you like what you’ve read or know someone who would,please help me spread the word by using the buttons belowThankyou, Chris.
The VM Chair Making Project III
As I said in my previous blog I found the shaping of the chair parts to be more complex than the jointing. A lot of the subtlety of the chair comes from the play of light on various curves and facets. The flow of the grain on the crest rail is also important. If you […]
The VM Chair Making Project Part II
The Vidar Chair Project has progressed well since my last blog about it. There have been a number of interruptions; a couple of courses and Christmas and I also broke off to start work on a new version of Grid IV with Christine Meyer-Eaglestone. However all the jointing is complete, I am now working on […]
The VM Chair Making Project.
Some time ago I was shown some pictures of a chair made by Vidar Malmsten back in the early 70’s. The chair has a minimalist elegance with a strong touch of Chippendale about it. Vidar Malmsten was a friend of James Krenov, a Swedish furniture maker and teacher who has an almost god like status amongst […]
A new hand made dovetail saw.
At the recent Northern Woodworking and Power Tool show in Harrogate Shane Skelton of Skelton Saws came to my stand to show me his new dovetail saw. Shane has taken the bold step of setting up as the only handmade saw maker in the UK, challenging the US dominance in the market. I must say […]
Elegant solutions are the best.
They say that the simplest solutions are the best. This was brought home to me when gluing up the legs on the table mentioned in my previous blog. The legs were a complex shape, curving in towards the centre. I thought I would be able to clamp up just using clamps positioned vertically. On the […]
Creating a new course – router skills
I’ve been working on developing a new course this week. On various of my courses we use a router for particular tasks, but I don’t have a course specifically devoted to routing techniques. Many students have said that they have a router but are not confident in using it, so I have decided to introduce […]
Thinking about chairs
I’ve been thinking about chairs a lot recently. This is partly because I am developing a course based around making a copy of a chair designed by the Swedish furniture maker Vidar Malmstein. The design is similar to a traditional jointed chair; one could almost say it’s a Swedish minimal take on Chippendale. The […]
March of the Makers
The ‘March of the Makers’: I don’t know whether you remember this term, coined by the esteemed George Osborne in his 2011 budget speech. His idea wasn’t new – that ‘Made in Britain’ and ‘Designed in Britain’ are phrases that should ‘drive our nation forward’. Not world-shattering perhaps, but his use of the word ‘makers’ […]
What we do on a bench making course.
If you like what you’ve read or know someone who would,please help me spread the word by using the buttons belowThankyou, Chris.
Refurbishing a plane for Africa
On my tool sharpening & maintenance course and beginners woodwork four day course we spend some time refurbishing planes. Often students come on the course without a plane to fettle, to cater for them I usually buy planes on ebay. On my last beginners course I ran out of ebay planes, so there was no […]
On furniture and central heating
Sitting at home on our first really dark evening, with the central heating on, makes me think it’s a good time to write about why your solid wood furniture doesn’t like central heating ! The wood in your solid wood furniture is, clearly, no longer alive, but it retains many of the properties of the […]
Waste not, want not.
Wood working inevitably involves some waste. At the start of a project I calculate the timber required for the job then add an allowance for wastage. Often, depending on species, this allowance will be over 50%. Surely you can be less wasteful than that I hear you cry! However when you look at the waste […]
