British Hardwoods at Crosshills between Keighley and Skipton is just down the road from my house so I am a fairly regular customer, purchasing much of the wood for my courses there. Recently the company has expanded into an adjacent vacant unit. This has allowed them to extend their operations, so as well as manufacturing flooring and mouldings they now board and dry their own timber. Many local woodworkers also know them as a friendly and helpful retailer of temperate hardwoods. As part of the expansion they have also allocated space for a teaching area, the British Hardwoods School of Woodwork, the aim being to provide courses for the many leisure woodworkers who buy materials from them.

The spacious teaching area is currently being kitted out with benches and tools to cater for up to five students. I am pleased to have been asked to run some of the first woodwork courses to be held at the site. I have decided that these courses should focus on hand tools, so plan to run my popular basic skills trilogy of beginners weekend woodwork courses there. The trilogy consists of:

• Tool sharpening and maintenance weekend.
• Basic jointing weekend.
• Dovetailing weekend.

These courses provide a firm foundation in the essentials of woodworking; sharp tools, precise measuring and marking technique, accurate sawing and planning and the development of a meticulous approach. From this basis sound woodworking technique can be built. Mixing this with the “woody” environment at British Hardwoods should make the courses an interesting and stimulating experience.

For more information about British Hardwoods please visit their website.