Workshop Heaven one in a million sale!

On the first of December, workshopheaven.com broke into the top one million websites on the internet globally and at the time of writing is now ranked 925,780th. To put that into perspective, if the entire internet were a metre rule, it would be less than a mm from the top.

For our small team of dedicated people this is quite a milestone, and I am immensely proud of Adrienne, Susannah, Herby, Tilly, Graham, Kate and Ginny.

In celebration and as a special thank you to all those that continue to support us and help us to grow, we have temporarily increased the number of items on special offer from the usual 15 to over 150.

There wasn't enough room on the normal specials page to fit them all on, so we have created a new one here:

Open Me!

Japanese White Paper Steel and Blue Paper Steel

My good friend professional bladesmith Chris Grant has very kindly sent me a link to this informative video to follow up from a conversation we had some months ago about Japanese steels. 

It is a wonderfully eloquent explanation by master smith Murray Carter (who served a full Japanese apprenticeship and then made knives in Japan for another 12 years) of the difference between Hitachi white paper steel (as used in Mr Fujikawa's chisels) and blue paper steel. 

Chris knows more about steel than I ever will, he has worked extensively with a range of high grade steels, including blue and white, and his heat treatments are just out of this world. I'm in the process of getting to know one of his remarkable MaChris woodcarving knives at the moment - more on that shortly, but it is certainly stretching my perceptions of what is possible. 

I find it completely fascinating that really good smiths, through technique alone, can exceed the innate properties of the materials they work with. I have experienced the benefit of it, had it explained to me both from a craft perspective and a scientific / metallurgical one, and yet it still feels like total witchcraft.

A tool kit for fine woodworking

Putting together a beginners tool kit for people who want to get into fine woodworking isn't as straightforward as you might first imagine. Lots of people have asked for one though, so I've had a read through several tutor's recommended tool lists, scratched my head and put together a Workshop Heaven Fine Woodworking Starter Set.

I have intentionally avoided setting a budget and trying to work within it, as this can often lead to poor decision making. Instead I have prioritised that every pound should be invested as wisely as possible in high quality, versatile tools that won't need replacing.

There needs to be enough in the kit that you can complete some basic projects and practice pieces - getting boards flat and square, dovetailing two boards together, constructing a simple box, lap joints, finger joints, mitred joints and so on.

I have also considered that people may be working either in a college environment, or at home, or both. Of all the fine woodworking schools that we work with, I can't think of any tutors that would be disappointed to see you walking through the door with this standard of kit.

Here's a list of the tools that made the cut and why:

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Narex 8116 Cabinetmakers Chisels - Boxed Set of 6
These are the most affordable proper cabinetmakers chisels on the market, if they were twice the price they would still be a sensible purchase. The steel is good, the backs are flat, the bevels are ground close to the back giving good sightlines and access. Ours have smaller handles than standard on the 26mm and below, so they are comfortable and well balanced. The boxed set is easily transportable for those attending college, evening classes etc.

Rotring 0.7mm Propelling Pencil
A cheap item but an important one to get right, so I am throwing caution to the wind and being prescriptive. Most clutch pencils are 0.5mm, which is too thin for writing on wood, a normal wooden pencil will make a line of variable thickness depending upon when it was last sharpened. This 0.7mm rotring functions reliably, the leads are less prone to breakage and it produces a consistent line. You will probably want to add a proper marking knife at some stage, but will continue to use pencil to note face side and edge, grain direction, saw balance marks etc.

Gyokucho 651 Blue Hard Japanese Ryoba Saw
I've gone for a Japanese saw because you'd need to spend three times as much to get a western one with similar performance. The ryoba saw gives you more versatility than any other, with the rip side you can resaw a small board, make cheek cuts for tenons and bridle joints etc while the crosscut side will take care of sawing accurately to length and cutting shoulders. The crosscut side is just fine enough to bridge the gap until you can get a dedicated dovetail saw. A dovetail saw should be high on the list of things to get next, but since you can't do stock preparation very effectively with a dozuki, the ryoba made a better first choice.

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Quangsheng Marking Gauge
You need to be able to cut a gauge line with reference to a prepared edge in order to lay out joints. The wheel marking gauge produces a crisp line, whether across or with the grain can also be used as a depth gauge. This isn't the cheapest gauge in the world, but it is rock solid, easy to use and deadly accurate. Most makers end up with three or four, so the settings can be maintained throughout the project. Until you reach that stage, marking an accurately planed block of scrap each time you make a setting will enable you to revert to your previous settings.

Starrett Student Combination Square
A small square of some kind is on everyone's kit list. I've plumped for the small Starrett because it is remarkably accurate (to two thou!) versatile and affordable. The blade can be seperated and used as a rule / mini straightedge and the ends of the rule are adequately square to mark out from. The stock can be sat on the workpiece and used as a reference for chopping cuts, as well as functioning as an external 45, 90 and 135 degree square. Reassembled, the sliding square is ideal for checking joinery because you can move the unused portion of the blade out of the way. For around £40 and given the number of situations it can get you out of, it's a no brainer.

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King 1200/8000 Japanese Waterstone
Sharpening is very subjective, the reason I have gone for a combination waterstone is twofold. A combination waterstone will give you a properly sharp edge at a reasonable price, and using a waterstone teaches you more about honing than any other medium.  This is a honing stone, both sides are used to prepare the small honed bevel at the tip of the chisel and polish the underside of the cutting edge. If you need to reshape a blade I would recommend either 100 micron microfinishing film stuck to a piece of float glass.

General Purpose Workshop Leather
You could get by without this, but it has so many uses that I just had to pop one in. You can use it as a strop, a vice liner, a working surface, protection for the workpiece, cut pieces off to line the jaws of clamps or holdfasts for extra grip....

Quangsheng Low Angle Block Plane (single iron)
A block plane is regarded as an essential for almost all forms of woodworking, so I have included our most popular model. Additional cutting irons are available to increase the versatility of this plane, but for the mild timbers like beech, poplar, or reclaimed mahogany that beginners should ideally be using, the single iron is sufficient to begin with.

Choosing your Bench Plane

I have intentionally avoided prescribing a bench plane in the kit, although you will need at least one. Choosing the right one is an important individual investment decision and deserves a little bit of consideration.

A No. 5-1/2 (pictured above) is the traditional recommendation, and in most cases it is a wise choice, assuming that you are of average build and have access to some half decent machinery or pre-prepared stock.

People of slighter stature may prefer to start with the narrower, lighter No.5 jack plane.
Those that like the idea of bevel-up planes might choose a No.62 low angle jack plane.
Some will prefer to go for a longer No.6 fore plane and one of the smoothing planes - perhaps a better combination if your boards have more than a mm or two of cup, wind or twist.

Whichever planes you choose, we have included a discount code in the kit that gives you the same discount on any other items (not just planes) that you purchase in the same transaction.

Suggested Additions

The following is a non-exhaustive list of other tools that might make logical additions to your tool kit, if anyone has any suggestions for things that could be included, please add a comment at the bottom of the page.

Knew Concepts 5" Screw Tension Jeweller's Saw

For sawing the waste out of through dovetails rather than chopping it. For dovetailing I recommend either the No.5 DPR blades for thinner material and the No.9R Reverse Skip for thicker stock. Stretching to reach the bottom rung of the Knew Concepts ladder is a better investment than the steel framed saws. If you can get the lever tension version, so much the better.

Ashley Iles Marking Knives

Marking out with a knife defines a clean shoulder that is then preserved as you chisel back to it. If your intact knifed layout line IS the end of the finished component, there can have been no loss of accuracy in the making process. The left and right bevelled knives are to allow you to work comfortably off a reference surface to the left or right, not whether you are left or right handed.

Richard Kell No.2 Honing Guide

A honing guide allows you to repeat the exact position of the blade and re-polish the existing secondary bevel in a few light strokes. They save time, steel, stone and frustration. Richard's guides are designed with respect for the relevant engineering concepts (referencing off the back of the blade only, wheels outboard of the blade so the guide dictates square to the edge) and manufactured with great precision. The No.2 guide is easy to get on with and can accommodate all parallel sided blades you are likely to encounter.

Gyokucho 303 Tatebiki Dovetail Saw

Japanese saws are easy to learn with and produce accurate results with very little effort. If you are used to using a western saw they may take a few cuts to get used to. The scalpel-like precision of a dozuki makes it possible to saw within a couple of shavings of a knife line. The 303 is optimised for 12mm stock (+/- 6mm), if your material is typically thinner than that, then the 311 Sun Child might be a better option.

Brass Chisel Hammer

A small hammer or mallet for making chopping cuts. For fine work the most aggressive we tend to get is pinching the neck of the chisel between finger and thumb and lightly tapping the top. A medium weight round carvers mallet or chisel hammer are the ideal tools for the job.

Kinex Absoute Zero Digital Caliper

If you want to work to a tenth of a mm, it is important to be able to measure to a hundredth. Cheap calipers are awful - you are honestly better off with a good rule and a bright light. The one I'd recommend without a moment's hesitation is the Kinex Absolute Zero, this instrument is about twice the price of the really cheap inaccurate ones, but it has the reliability and performance that you'd normally only find on calipers at twice the price.


I'm already thinking that we should offer a choice of the metric or imperial versions of the Starrett square, but if anyone can think of any additions to the list of supplementary tools, or other options that we could add to switch out items within the kit itself, please let me know.

DVD Review: The Secret Mitre Dovetail - David Charlesworth

I must preface this review by saying that I have watched David's new DVD once, from beginning to end; but this is not how I prefer to enjoy them. A Charlesworth DVD should be savoured slowly, a little at a time, interspersed with visits to the workshop to try the techniques for yourself and reinforce your understanding of them.

The first word that springs to mind after watching is richness - The DVD for its richness of content, and the man for his richness of experience and his well practiced ability to share such deep knowledge efficiently. This effortlessly smooth production has been a lifetime in the making - savour it, give your brain time to absorb the finer subtleties and nuances.

Like most of us, I have several woodworking mentors and admire them for different things, for example I find Tom Fidgen's working rhythm particularly graceful and Mark Fish's creative vision awe inspiring.

For me the thing that marks David out as a teacher and a woodworker is his application of academic rigour to the process of 'making as perfectly as possible'. He explains the thought process behind his approach to each task, then demonstrates it, explaining clearly what you should be looking out for at each step.

There is also a humility that is a characteristic common to both good craftsmen and good academics, David is laying his course of bricks in the cathedral of knowledge that is the craft, with openness about his own strengths and weaknesses and full accreditation to those who laid the previous courses - Robert Wearing, Alan Peters, Ernest Joyce et al.

With very few exceptions the filming and editing are of BBC documentary quality throughout the 2-3/4 hour run time, the DVD is conveniently edited into chapters so you can use it as a reference text.

Nominally the DVD is about cutting a secret mitre dovetail, but if that is all that you glean from it you have missed about 90%. All of the techniques demonstrated have much broader application and along with their entourage of analytical thought processes, will enrich your woodworking enormously.

The DVD costs £29.95 and is available directly from David's website here: The Secret Mitre Dovetail - David Charlesworth

Clifton Planes

Click images to enlarge

OK, I admit it, I was somewhat surprised when Thomas Flinn & Co  took over ownership of Clifton last month and immediately replaced the classic British racing green colour with graphite grey.

From a future historians perspective it will certainly provide a clear demarcation of which planes were made on whose watch, but surely, Clifton without green.....?

I have had a long affinity with Clifton planes, they were one of the first brands that we stocked and I have visited the factory and chatted with the guys that make them, written magazine articles about their manufacturing methods and so on.

I also have a long standing relationship with Thomas Flinn & Co, who manufacture our Pax saws and (coming soon) Dorchester saws. They too are a highly professional outfit with an unquestionable passion for Sheffield toolmaking, so I made the decision to reserve judgment until I had the opportunity to physically hold the product in my own hands.

That day has come, so it's time to put my beloved original 2001 No.6 alongside its 2014 descendant and draw some conclusions.

The first thing I noticed was that the lettering is much more visible on the new lighter colour, the surface is considerably smoother and it is clear that they have taken expert advice and invested in a premium quality finish.

But what of the colour choice itself?

For me the green was reminiscent of 1920's vintage Bentleys, soaring around the banks of brooklands with a screaming supercharger hanging out at the front, good old British engineering giving all comers a proper thrashing!

The graphite strips all of that away, it is utilitarian, industrial, almost naked, really beautifully done but devoid of any emotional message at all.

At the same time though, that very nakedness forces you to look beyond distractions like colour schemes or suggestive marketing and appreciate the tool for what it actually is - modern British engineering - still giving all comers a proper thrashing!

Personally, I'm a convert, and my enthusiasm for the new colour scheme is growing by the minute, the graphite colour brings the product range up to date but in a subtle, refined way that accentuates their world renowned quality.

Rumour has it that there are some very interesting goodies in the pipeline from Clifton, but it would be a bit premature to comment on those just yet...

The first Graphite Cliffies are now on sale, the remaining green ones are available at specially discounted prices in order to help us achieve a nice efficient switchover. As soon as we have a complete set of graphite ones we will update the listings with new photographs, pricing etc, but in the meantime please assume that non-discounted ones will be supplied in graphite.

http://www.workshopheaven.com/tools/Clifton_Planes.html

The No.8 Jointer Plane

Lets not beat about the bush, the No.8 Jointer is a big handplane. Twenty four inches long and just a pinch over 3 inches wide with a broad 2-5/8" cutting iron. It is also one of the most widely misunderstood. If you try to use a No.8 like a 'go-to' everyday plane for stock removal you will end up exhausted and frustrated in a matter of minutes. Like the smoother, it a dedicated tool for a specific task, in this case, accuracy (and therefore speed).

With its wide blade, the No.8 is wonderful for getting large surfaces truly flat, but to understand why, it is easier to consider it's main function - edge jointing.

Irons from No.4 (top) No.7 (middle) and No.8 (bottom)

Imagine you are planing the edges of a pair of ten foot long boards to glue them up for a tabletop, wardrobe door etc. You have the boards in the vice back to back, or face to face, in order to eliminate the need to worry about keeping the edge square (if there is a low side on one there will be a corresponding high side on the other that cancels it out), so all we need to do for a perfect fit is get them straight in their length.

You always approach flat from concave, so we need to hollow the surface by taking stopped shavings, beginning with the cutting edge on the surface and lifting off before you reach the end. When the hollow becomes greater than the depth of cut over the length of the sole, the plane will cease to cut.

Switch to full length cuts and the plane will take a shaving only at the beginning and end of the board, successive pairs of shavings will get progressively longer until they join up. With the first continuous shaving the edge is straight.

The advantage of a really long plane is that it produces a shallower hollow, so you can straighten an edge or level a surface more accurately, and in fewer passes, than you would be able to with a shorter one.

The image above is a complete hoax, I planed the edge with a No.3 smoothing plane and then a low angle block plane to make the hollow big enough to see (about 1/8" or 3mm), but it illustrates the point. With a finely set No.8, the light gap under the sole would be two or three thousandths of an inch. Because the reference points at the toe and heel are further apart (forming the chord of a bigger circle), the hollow created is shallower and therefore takes fewer passes to establish and fewer to remove. The longer the board, the more time you save - exponentially.

In a collective workshop you could easily get away with one jointer plane as a workshop asset between half a dozen makers, and even then it wouldn't see daily use. But when used appropriately and with due respect for its size, the 'big gun' can make extremely short work of getting large surfaces very flat, and pairs of long edges up to 5/4" thick, very straight indeed.

Click for further information

New English Workshop Summer School with Christopher Schwarz

Today I visited Warwickshire College and the first ever New English Workshop Summer School, where 18 worthy souls are building 'the Anarchist's tool chest' under the expert guidance of Christopher Schwarz.

Despite 30 degree temperatures, the team spirit and general camaraderie of all involved was overwhelming; people are waiting at the door to get cracking in the morning and have to be reminded to stop and eat!

The tool chest is a wonderful project, nothing incredibly complicated, so any one element is straightforward to grasp and master. However, it is the way that those individual processes build upon each other that is so important. It teaches you how to develop your working rhythm, working steadily and hard, but taking enough time that you don't make mistakes. Concentrating on the task at hand, but maintaining an overview of the build - it is a complete process.

I was lucky enough to get a chance to get my hands dirty, helping out with shooting some boards to length and cutting a few dovetails. It was interesting to get a feel for what it is like to work in a crowded bench shop - hot, loud, but hugely rewarding.

 

Chris's reputation as a teacher is is well deserved, he has a habit of explaining something perfectly in nine words that most people would struggle to get across in ninety.

This example from Paul Mayon's blog:

"Chris uses the three terms, Baby Bird, Locomotive and Hovercraft to describe how you should be sawing: hold the handle as you would a baby bird; strong enough to not let it get away, gentle enough not to crush the bird. You move the saw just as a steam locomotive’s wheels are driven and finally, when beginning the cut you hold the weight off the toe of the saw by using the lower horn to lift the toe (when starting a cut). All of this leads, ultimately to better controlled cuts for our dovetails."

The concept of New English Workshop is to bring together the best that the craft of traditional furniture making has to offer and give people an opportunity to dive in boots first and give it a really good try. The 2014 courses sold out in a heartbeat, but there are some seriously fantastic courses planned for summer 2015.

If you want to get a place on one, visit newenglishworkshop.co.uk, sign up for more information and start saving. Once the 2015 courses are announced they will will be snapped up, so you'll need to be prepared.

Small Fish, Big Ocean

Britain's crafts industry may not be regularly slathered in the obscene dollops of thick creamy funding that is applied the arts, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Exposure to market forces makes craftspeople stand on their own two feet, they become sharp, streetwise, attuned to their economic circumstances, and critically, better able to adapt when those circumstances change.

In the years since 2008 our economic circumstances have changed enormously. The banks currently borrow our taxes from the government at 0.5% and lend it back to us at 12% or more (as long as you are willing to bet them your family home that you can pay them back that is). If the price for putting a roof over your business and the price of oven ready chickens had kept pace with each other over my lifetime, chickens would now cost just under £50 each. This isn't just the normal ebb and flow of markets, it's a full on sea change. So how are the people who make high quality useful objects responding?

It is perhaps fitting that craftspeople are reverting to type and following nature's example. If you feel like a small fish in a big ocean, you do what the small fish do - swim together!

Collective workshops are now undoubtedly the future of the British craft industry.  Vale Lane Workshops in Bristol are a perfect example of the direction the industry is now taking. Ten exceptional craftspeople sharing one workshop, with shared access to wonderful kit, bench space, each other's enthusiasm, and a single beautifully presented and promoted website with everyone's work on display. They have divided all the costs and multiplied all the benefits - finding genuine economic and creative synergy in the process.

The way in which craft businesses are funded is also changing massively, peer to peer lending is rapidly taking over from the high street banks as the first port of call for small businesses. You typically get a much better rate, you are helping individual savers to achieve a realistic return on their savings, the interest you pay is determined on a case by case basis by auction, and to an extent you are also gaining exposure to potential new customers.



For centuries the key to success in the crafts has been patronage, clients who will give you a one word brief and trust in your vision and creative spirit, then having paid for the piece, allow you to borrow it back again to exhibit and drive further commissions. It can go wrong, (Thomas Chippendale being the oft quoted example) but for the most part this arrangement works for both parties. The patron becomes the owner of a famous and widely exhibited piece of furniture, and is admired for having spotted the potential of the maker. Whilst the maker gains exposure, both through the patrons acquaintances and through exhibiting their past (and paid for) work to the public.

Designing Exceptional Furniture

If you want to understand how to balance form, texture and colour to absolute perfection, study the work of Irish designer maker John Lee.

The difference between good furniture and truly exquisite furniture is the way that these three factors work together. In the example above, the oval form of the table and the highly detailed carved texture on the outer surfaces are very strong. To balance the strength of these two elements, he has bleached the colour out of the timber and incorporated crisply finished plain surfaces as a foil for the intricate carved work. The result is a perfectly mixed cocktail for the eyes.

Form is used again in John's wave sideboard, but this time the figure of the oak, enriched by fuming, provides all the surface interest you could ever need. The sweeping curve in the grain of the top panel leads the design, careful selection and orientation of the timber for the doors and sides harmonise with it, and the flare through the drawer fronts brings the whole design to life. The surfaces are all smooth though, no texture, no drawer pulls, just form and the natural figure of the timber.

Choosing two of the three elements to accentuate and then downplaying the third will make your furniture more aesthetically appealing. Scale and proportion are also important considerations, but these can be achieved mathematically. Following the work of one or two really good designers and seeing how they carefully balance the different elements to maximise the visual return from both materials and making time is the best way to develop an understanding of how good design works.

The last of their kind...?

If you thought a Messerschmit was an aeroplane and a Fassbender was an actor, think again.

The fantastic Bayerisches Fernzehen (Bavarian Telly) series 'Der Letzte seines Standes?' is now available on youtube. It's all in German - naturally, but you don't need to understand the words to enjoy the skill and craftsmanship.

The series is a feast of handcrafts, with different episodes covering everything from knifemaking (messerschmied) to Coopering (Fassbinder).

Grab a brew and enjoy...

Cheating death with a Moxon.

I recently acquired a secondhand demountable moxon vice with the intention of doing away with the back part and installing it permanently in place of my traditional front vice. It may not be as pretty as David Barron's beautiful benchcrafted version, but with a bit of common sense and elbow grease....

The first job was to treat the woodworm to long cool drink of Rentokil. In fairness I think they were probably long gone already, but with the dreaded beetle grubs it always pays to be safe. A quick soak in the bucket of Restore Rust Remover brought the metal parts up nicely.

Not so lucky with the wood though, a few swipes with a plane revealed that a little bit of rot had also begun to set in to the beech components, which caused me to have a bit of a re-think about how best to proceed.

By the end of the first cup of tea I had reasoned that installing it in place of the current front vice was folly, none of the holes lined up nicely and I didn't really want to block up any dog holes. By the end of the second cup it occurred to me that if I installed it on the other side of the bench instead, I could:

1, Bury the manky beech components inside the bench top.
2, Make a nice smart new jaw of whatever length I wanted.
2, Keep the front vice too.
3, Fill in that flippin' 'tool well' for good.
4, Gain an extra 3 inches of work surface.

Out with the oak! This piece of oak comes from a stack that my Grandad acquired from his neighbour who died before he could use it. Grandad never used it for anything and then died, Dad inherited it, never used it, and then he died too; leaving it to me. Dad's brother (who pointed this pattern out to me) made a nice garden bench out of the bits he got from Grandad and he's still very much alive and kicking...  Hmmm, I wonder?

With the oak planed up and trimmed to length, I set about tidying up the tool well, (another shoulder plane job that isn't a tenon shoulder). You can angle it down so that the nose of the plane gives a reference for square against (in this case) the bottom of the well, and just trim away until the bump is removed.

The holes in the jaw were drilled on the drill press (with a bormax, naturally) and then clamped in place and used as guides to position the holes in the back of the tool well.

First trial fit with the original wooden components screwed in place to reinforce the back. I will probably need to thin them down a bit to make space for a reasonable thickness of top surface. I've got a lovely thin board of elm that would be perfect for that job if I can only remember where I've put it.

The ability of the Moxon vice to accept wide boards, grip like a Yorkshireman holding a fiver and only rack horizontally when you want it to, makes it a valuable addition to your clamping arsenal. With a nice leather lining and the bench filled in behind it I am sure it will do valiant service.

I now also now realise how much I like having a vice that finishes flush with the right hand end of the bench for sawing. Am I the only one who finds that the traditional front vice on the left arrangement works better in theory than practice?

Anarchy in the UK

New English Workshop is not a company, nor is it a charity or a guild, it's one of those wonderful collective momentum things that just happen because enough people think it's a brilliant idea and offer their support.

The concept, to enrich the craft of fine furniture making by promoting and encouraging traditional methods through training and education, is entirely wholesome and the more I learn about it the more convinced I am that it will be an unparalleled success.

They are not going about this lightly; the first New English Workshop project is a summer school to be headed up by hand tool woodworker, author and teacher Christopher Schwarz from the United States and centred around his book The Anarchists Tool Chest.

The venue, Warwickshire College, is centrally located, well equipped and has an admirable reputation for producing first rate furniture makers.

The summer school is scheduled to run from 21st - 29th July.
21st - 25th Anarchist's Tool Chest
28th - 29th Dutch Chest

If you would like to register an interest in attending, or be kept abreast of new developments, follow the link below to the holding page and drop them an email. You may not get a reply immediately but will be contacted as soon as further information is available. A facebook page and New English Workshop blog will follow shortly, we will be adding links from this page as soon as they are published.

http://newenglishworkshop.co.uk/

Updated 28/01/2014

Here are the links for the N.E.W. website and blog: 

Website
http://newenglishworkshop.co.uk/

Blog
http://newenglishworkshop.wordpress.com/