New DVD out now!

At last my new DVD Hand Applied Finishing is available. It comprehensively covers the vital aspect of surface preparations and includes tips on the usage of planes, scrapers, machinery and sandpaper. The second parts looks at at variety of hand applied finishes including shellac, oil, varnish, acrylics and wax and methods of application. Also covered is advice on matching finishes to certain woods and how and when to combine finishes. You will also learn how and why to mix your own shellac.
It does not include anything on sprayed or coloured finishes and I make no apology for that.
The DVD costs £19.95 inc postage to Europe and has been produced in HD and the PAL format for very best picture quality. Unfortunately PAL will not play in DVD players in the USA unless you have a multi channel machine.

My dovetail alignment boards are complete after three coats of Osmo Hardwax oil (matt). The fences have been attached with screws which allows them to be removed if tuning of the board is ever necessary in the future.

New You Tube Videos

You may have noticed from my video bar that I now have more than one video. The editor really pulled his finger out this time and all 10 films have now been posted.

Dovetail alignment boards

Yesterday I made some dovetail alignment boards to take to the Yandles show in April. They are made from quatersawn mahogany for its stability and reasonable price. If you want to see the board in action please see my video on You Tube, 'Hand cut dovetails made easy'.

The board above has been made using houndstooth dovetails which is not normal because of the extra time it takes, but it was the one made for a forthcoming You Tube video. The one below is the normal version with standard through dovetails.

You tube filming

Here are the two cameramen finishing off the cake sandwiches and tea, at the same time as trying to convince me that all the hard work happens on their side of the lens!!!

This is me edge jointing on the long shooting board. We managed 10 films in the day. The connection between my brain and mouth was severed on the 11th and we had to give up!
Look out for the films on You Tube in the coming 2 -3 weeks.

You Tube videos

The cameramen are coming to my workshop again tomorrow and we are hoping to film 10 or 12 short films for You Tube. My first film posted last month, has proved a great success both in viewings and sales of tools which have been posted all round the world.

Here are some shots of some of the props I've been preparing and using for rehersals. I'm going to get to bed early, its going to be a long day tomorrow!

Dansel Gallery

Yesterday I took some more stock of both furniture and tools to the Dansel Gallery in Abbotsbury, Dorset. It is a very picturesque village with the freehold for every building owned by one woman who makes sure everything new and old is kept in the same style. It is also home to the largest swanery in europe and half a mile from a glorious unspoilt sandy beach. All in all well worth a visit!

Heres a shot of the outside of the gallery which has been going for more than 20 years and is exclusively for hand made wooden products, very unusual.

Here is one of the pieces I took down, an oak chest with book matched spalted beech panels.

The batch of planes is complete, they took a total of 44 hours which is just over 2 hours per plane, not bad. The idea of using the old cast steel blades was to keep the cost down, they were £3 each instead of £20 for my specially made blades. The steel is very good but they took more time to prepare and sharpen. They will be selling for £89.

The finish I used was two coats of Melamine Laquer which was thinned 10% for ease of application and ragged on thinly. It smells awful so I wore a mask and kept the workshop door open. The coats dry within a minute and were left to fully harden overnight. I then rubbed them out with micro mesh abrasive working from 1500 grit to 3600, with a final coating of carnauba wax to complete the job. This produces a lovely gloss finish which paricularly suits the Kingwood.

These are really useful little planes and the curly walnut was smoothed with ease. The tight mouth and the 52 1/2 degree bed angle ensured there was no tearout to the reversing grain.

This one is in Bocote also known as Mexican Rosewood (although not a true rosewood).

I made two in Macassar ebony a very dense brittle timber.

Most of the batch were made from Kingwood a rare and wonderful rosewood. I hope I put it to good use.

I used gold in my name stamp for the first time and I think it looks good.