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I was having a chat with Rob Stoakley last week about dovetails, specifically the beautiful aluminium sided drawers in the L'Orchidee desk by Marc Fish: Rob reckoned that you couldn't teach someone how to cut this joint in one weekend, I disagreed, and the obvious outcome prevailed. Details...

We received our first delivery of Clifton block planes yesterday, so I thought I'd share some photos and initial impressions. As you can see it's a very handsome looking thing indeed, with very clean and elegant flowing lines. The next thing you notice is the mass, at nearly 1kg (just over...

There's a lovely series on BBC 4 at the moment called 'Handmade'. It's like a documentary but with no words and no music, just highly skilled craftsmen and highly skilled film makers doing what they do best. Dates and times: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05ttnd7/broadcasts/upcoming Clips...

Going under the hammer today, the Chris Schwarz Anarchists Toolchest is lot number 678 at the David Stanley tool auction and there are lots more rare and exceptional tools in the online catalogue here: http://www.the-saleroom.com. You can sign up and bid online from the comfort of your own home...

This is a passaround for the new Quangsheng Luban No.92 Shoulder Plane. We send out a brand new plane to the first person, when they have finished trying it out, they pop it in the post to the next person and they have a go with it for a few days, two or three ideally to keep things rolling...

If you have ever wondered about the process of converting sawn or riven timber into workable boards by hand, this is a comprehensive and well informed summary of the basic principles. preparing-wood-with-hand-planes Preparing timber by hand may not be as fast as a planer thicknesser for large...

3/4" Narex Paring Chisel Passaround How a passaround works: A passaround is a minimal cost way for people to try out a new tool in the comfort of their own workshop and then share their experience of it with others on the forum. To join the passaround you copy and paste the list into a new...

Just a quick heads up, Michael Huntley (former head of restoration at Sothebys and big cheese of F&C) has started a new facebook page to share his knowledge of antique restoration with a broader audience here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Restoration-of-Antique-Furniture/217891328309345 After a...

Just spotted this 'coming up after the break'.

Just spotted this humdinger of a debate about the US Govt making sawstop mandatory. It seems simple to me, if you took a room full of amputees and asked them for a one off payment of £65 to have their digits returned in perfect condition - I suspect there would be a very high percentage of...

One of my mates has a fabulous little lad who was diagnosed with a brain tumour just over a year ago. I cannot even begin to imagine how scary that must be for anyone, but for a kind, loving seven year old with his whole life ahead of him it is just not on. Now that he and his family have got...

Laughed 'til I cried, check this out. http://dontevenreply.com/

We have been asked for a passaround of the new Narex chisels and having had quite a few questions about the original ones vs the new versions it seems appropriate to include both kinds so that the participants can compare the two. Top to bottom: 16mm 8116 Cabinetmaker's Chisel 16mm 8105 Bevel...

Just saw this on the LV website: http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=65138&cat=51&ap=4 If they just left the flippin guards and riving knives on and learned to use routers for non-through cuts they'd be fine. The expression "guard removed for clarity" makes my skin crawl. </rant>

This is out and out the best burnishing tool I have ever used, within two minutes I can have a brand new scraper producing shavings (like big curly plane shavings - as opposed to 'well if you look at it really closely it's not technically dust' shavings). The heads are angled correctly so that...

One of these: Copy and paste the list adding your name to the end of it and PM your address to the person before you so that they know where to send it. Usual rules apply; recorded mail only so that there's no confusion about who has received it and who hasn't. Postage for this one is...

We're going for a few items this time to make things a bit more interesting, all reasonably light stuff to keep the postage costs sensible. How it works: For those who haven't come across the concept before, a passaround involves us sending out an item (or in this case several items) for you...

After 21 years on TV the New Yankee Workshop is calling it quits. It's the end of an era for woodworking icon Norm Abram.* In an unexpected announcement Abram admitted that he can achieve better results in less time with well maintained hand tools than he can with a workshop full of fancy...

I've been thinking that it's a while since we did a passaround, but what to do??? These are gorgeous and very light to post. These have only been in for a couple of months and again the postage would be cheap. Or perhaps an example of Mr Kell's workmanship? Other ideas suggestions most...

Hi folks, We have recently received a nice lump of cash from HMRC (all the VAT we paid on our current stock) and the bank manager took a look at our figures and gave us the thumbs up for a business expansion loan, a rare treat in the current climate! So I am looking to expand our range of...