Clik here to view.
Benches in Furniture Shops
Time and again I see people struggling to make in impossible conditions. Doing it on a Black and Decker Workmate, with a workbench as flimsy as a kitchen door is heroic, but stupid. I see benches...
View ArticleClik here to view.
state of education
Hello David, I would like to take issue just a little with your standpoint expressed in your last mail [Post Industrial Design....] … Amongst some of the finest ‘Woodies’ that ever lived I would...
View ArticleClik here to view.
more on those steel bananas
Good morning to you David. It is refreshing to hear what a useful review should tell you all of the time, warts and all. It has baffled me for some time why the remaining British manufacturers just...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Plane Common Sense
I was 10 years old when I picked up my first plane. It was a wooden hand plane in the school workshop, made with an oiled beechwood body. I remember how heavy it was in my puny arms. But most of all I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Greetings from Down Under
Hi David, Greetings from Down Under. I agree with everything you have said about creativity and inspiration. I do my best to design and make furniture – I have use of a workshop (sadly for only four...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Modern British hand tool manufacturers just don’t seem to “get it”
Good morning to you David, It’s refreshing to hear what a useful review should tell you all of the time, warts and all. It has baffled me for some time why the remaining British manufacturers just...
View ArticleClik here to view.
No holds barred censorship
Thank you, David, for these no-holds-barred email newsletters. I agree with you regarding the Lee Valley/Veritas planes. I made the mistake of posting your comments, along with mine, on a popular US...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Upcoming Exhibition – Furniture With Soul at Gallery Naga in Boston, MA, USA
Work from the ten best furniture making workshops in the world are to be exhibited in Boston Throughout June and July 2012. Based on the book ‘Furniture With Soul’ – Gallery Naga have collected work...
View ArticleClik here to view.
An article about carbon steel
CARBON STEEL I Know! I Know! when it comes to tools I become a reactionary, disgruntled, old fart, a description for which I, regrettably, can not apologise. When I am asked to review modern...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Chisels in Australia
Hi David, I read your emails and blog with great appreciation – for your honesty, insight, generosity and humour. I have yet to buy a single Lie Nielsen product but I am eyeing a few, probably a block...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Anarchists Tool Chest- Lost Arts Press
An Open Letter to Christopher Schwarz I am having the honour to commend your efforts in producing “The Anarchists Tool Chest” and encourage everyone to read this excellent book. Although I buy lots of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Japanese Plane Secrets 6 .
Japanese Plane Secrets 6 Soo…. now to getting the damn thing to work. The task is to bring these three components, the plane body, the blade and the back iron together. Having fitted the blade in the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Makers Year
A MAKERS YEAR This is a very scary e-mail for me. Have you ever hear the expression “Hung by the tongue” well that is what I am about to do to make a promise that scares the life out of me. I am vowing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Makers Year no2. The Blithering Idiot
THE BLITHERING IDIOT I think I’ve come to rate family and friends as the most important things in life. Someone once told me there are six handles on a coffin. Six good friends, then you’re doing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A maker Journal No 3
Moving house Somebody once told me that moving house is part of the most stressful times of ones life. I’ve not been moving house, but I have been moving the studio. And right now it just feels like...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Makers Journal 4 China Watching
CHINA WATCHING Even though our exhibition in China is several months away, I’m now planning the exhibition stand. I have a stand five meters wide by three meters deep and I’ve drawn it out on my...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Makers Year. 6: Buying Burr Black Walnut Veneer.
This has become a day of “doing the rounds” of suppliers. I first called in at my veneer supplier near Bridgewater. Munday’s veneers have been providing me and the students at Rowden with veneers for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Makers Year. 7 Collecting the Drawings
And then I went on to speak to Rachel who represents the client. I was picking up samples that we had made to sell the idea to the client and I was anxious to get back my original watercolour...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Makers Year: 8 Buying Walnut
I’m still off on my buying trip, but I have now gone up to the Midlands to Whitmore’s Timber in Leicestershire. Again this is a supplier we’ve used for most of my working life. It’s a big ol’ timber...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Makers Year 9 Becoming Unplugged.
1st September Becoming Unplugged. Caroll and I have only just returned from a weeks holiday in Cornwall. A wonderful, refreshing and for us a luxurious week. We’ve not had a holiday for several...
View Article
