Checking a Fence Is Parallel
I remember a lad back in my teaching days, a bright enough boy, but he had this habit of cranking up the speed on a table saw whenever his cuts started wandering. He thought more power would force the wood into submission, but all he was doing was fighting the machine. The truth is, if […]
Machine Maintenance by the Month
I remember standing in the back of a college workshop back in the nineties, watching a lad try to force a dull jigsaw through a piece of seasoned oak. The machine was screaming, the wood was smoking, and the cut looked like it had been made by a drunk man with a hatchet. Most people […]
The Jig You Made and Cannot Find
I spent thirty years on job sites and another ten in a classroom, and if there is one thing that gets under my skin, it’s the way modern woodworking shops are being sold. You go into a shop now and see people spending hundreds of pounds on fancy, plastic-moulded drawer systems and high-tech modular units […]
Designing a Jig for One Job
I remember standing on a site in the nineties, watching a young lad struggle with a massive, expensive biscuit joiner just to line up a simple rebate. He was fighting the machine, sweating through his shirt, and still coming up short by a fraction of a millimetre. It struck me then that we’ve been sold […]
Two Jigs Worth Making First
You can spend a small fortune on fancy, cast-iron clamping systems and heavy-duty vices, but if you don't know how to make bench hooks and shooting boards, you’re just fighting your own timber. I remember my first year as an apprentice, trying to plane a straight edge while the workpiece skated across the bench like […]
A Cutting Table From a Sheet and Some Timber
Most folks think that if you want a decent workspace, you need to go out and spend a fortune on a heavy-duty, factory-made workbench that’s built to last about six months before the joints start wobbling. That’s a load of rubbish. I spent thirty years on sites seeing men struggle with flimsy, overpriced gear that’s […]
Breaking Down a Sheet on Your Own
I remember a Tuesday morning back in '94, standing in a cramped hallway with a single sheet of 18mm MDF and a back that felt like it was being split by a wedge. I had no mate, no lift, and no business being there, but I had to get that board up the stairs. Most […]
Storing and Moving Plywood Alone
I remember a rainy Tuesday back in '84, standing in a cramped workshop with a stack of birch plywood leaning against a wall like a row of drunk soldiers. Every time I reached for a sheet, the whole pile would shudder and groan, threatening to come down on my head or, worse, snap a corner […]
A Workshop in Two Square Metres
I remember a job back in the late eighties, tucked into a tiny utility cupboard under a staircase in a terraced house in Leeds. I had a massive, heavy-duty circular saw and a dust extractor that looked like it belonged on a construction site, but there wasn't enough room to even swing my arm without […]
Putting a Machine on Wheels
You don't need a fancy, pre-fabricated kit from a big-box retailer to get your heavy machinery moving; in fact, most of those plastic rubbish bits are a waste of good money. I spent years watching apprentices struggle with machines that felt like they were bolted to the bedrock, only to watch them buy a flimsy, […]