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In the 'tradition' of my last birthday , Axminster Tools and their free next day delivery got the better of me - again! I treated myself to a few 'shiny things' ... as I've said 'It's an addiction!'. Firstly, a Lie Nielsen no#4 Iron bodied smoothing plane . I decided against the Bronze body as this more than meets my needs for a smoother. It has the standard A2 blade and I have the option of a high angle frog at a later date if needed. My 'beater' Stanley no#4 will be kept set rough, as that's all its capable of anyway to be honest.  Secondly, an imperial Lie Nielsen Dowel Plate . I have some riven Oak and Walnut  stock that will make nice draw bore pegs for Mortise & Tenon joints and dowels for boxes etc.. The other items include, a really posh Cap Iron screw driver which is lovely to hold and prevents scratching up your nice new premium planes as the brass collar captures the large screw head. A joiners Scratch Awl which unfortunatel...

Just a quick gloat  post...  A member of my girlfriends family discovered these pieces of very old Oak while clearing out his garden shed and kindly 'donated' them to me. Apparently, it was an antique chest of drawers that originated from the very house I now live in.  While most of the pieces are a bit scarred, cracked and holed, with some careful trimming and planing and general TLC, I'm sure I can get some good use out of them. It's not every day I get work with woods other than Pine and this Oak already has built in 'character'.  

Just a quick Blog update ... Not much wood working action recently as indicated by the lack of posts. I am busy preparing to deliver a nice little J92 racing yacht from the UK across Biscay and through the Gibraltar straits to the south coast of Spain.  I will be gone for a few weeks but there will definitely be more projects when I get back. See you all soon...

Wow 2000 page views - another 1000 in just over a month!  Now I feel really guilty due to my lack of posts over the past few weeks. So what's been happening? ... Not a lot on the wood working front to be honest. I have been spending my time doing a little DIY around the house, building the raised beds and getting the garden ready for Spring. Lots of digging, collecting of manure and compost preparation etc. I The new ' Timber ' has been stored away in the garden shed as it's a bit wet, not 'tree wet', but rain wet. It was soaked on the day of delivery, probably due to being stored outdoors at the wood yard, so I'm giving it time to dry out a bit. This could take some time with our damp weather over here in the UK, once Spring arrives and the sun starts to heat things up a bit I'm sure things will improve. I did bring a board or two straight indoors to see how they might handle being dried faster due to our central heating. I had rough cut a 6ft board int...

My first post of 2012 and I'm already breaking my ' Work with more hard woods'   New Years Resolution .  OK - I'm not breaking it literally but it seems very likely given what's posted below... We (the girlfriend and I) have been discussing having some raised beds in the garden to grow vegetables for some time and with wood being expensive - a lot more expensive than  vegetables  anyway, the whole project seemed like a waste of time and a false budget.   Until I found an advert on Ebay selling 13ft long x 225mm wide x 36mm thick scaffold boards at £200 for 25 boards. That works at just over £2 per meter! According to the dealer it's  Scandinavian  Redwood - to me it's Pine! The wood I used for my large coffee table top (also Pine) of almost exactly the same dimensions cost around £12 per meter! So, the 'plan' is to build some things to sell and thus (hopefully) get the wood for the raised garden  vegetable  beds for essentially fre...

I am still away from home and my tools until next week. Therefore, aside from lots of reading, I have been thinking about the New Year ahead and how it relates to my personal wood working aspirations... So ... My wood working New Years Resolutions, Aspirations, Hopes & Goals for 2012. Take my quality of working to the next level. Attend at least one (1 week)  wood working course. Improve my finishing skills (including patience). Work with more hard woods. Have the confidence to try more complicated & challenging joinery. Work on longer term larger projects. Sell some of the things I make. I'd be really interested in other peoples goals for the year ahead especially those beginners like myself. Happy New Year Everyone!..

Had to share this  quote: Working with hand tools is a much more eco-friendly way to work. It’s a deep part of the human experience, working with that blade and the wood. It’s much like when Obi-Wan Kenobi gave Luke Skywalker the lightsaber and said, “This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or as random as a blaster. An elegant weapon for a more civilized age.” Roy Underhill - 2008.