Some of my stuff...

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35
Location
London, England
Over on the shop tours page someone asked what I make. Well, the answer to that is almost anything from small boxes and cases to garden furniture so here are a few pictures:

KLBMY-IncraCase.JPG

Incra rules case.

MMSUY-TDC-16.JPG

It will fit!... A drawer for the bench.

Tablesmall2.jpg

And a table for the garden.

Ralph;)
 
Hey Tyler,

No, it's not Norms, it is all my own design, that's the fun bit for me.

You can download a free pdf file here of the drawings. I'll leave it there for 24 hours. Anyone who wants a copy can download it for their own use but please don't use it commercially without asking or I might just have to send 'The boys' round...:D

NOTE: The pdf says that there are three pages but the third one is only white space so you only need 2 pages...

Ralph:D
 
Those are cool. That Incra case is a good idea. I just noticed a few days ago that my little 3" Incra T-rule has picked up a little kink somewhere along the way. Probably wouldn't have happened if I had it inside a case like that.
 
Great looking work there Ralph. We need more conversation with our brothers across the sea to find out how much is different, as well as the same, so that we can learn more from eachother. Just curious but, what are the most commonly used woods for DIY woodworkers over there and about how much does a BF run?

Thanks,

Chris
 
Thanks for all the nice words guys.

Chris,

Woodworking here in the UK is very different from what goes on on your side of the pond. Until some ten years ago woodworking here was something that was mainly carried out by men in sheds using a few hand tools. Although I had a circle of friends that were 'woodworkers' we were thin on the ground. Power tools were limited and specialist shops were almost non existent.

Then Norm and his NYW show came to our TV's Via the emerging cable and satellite networks. He made it look like all you needed was a workshop full of tools and you could make anything. At that time most of the tools Norm was using were not readily available in the UK. Nail guns were something that were only used by tradesmen and nobody had a compressor. Routers were available but there were very few places to buy them and even less places to buy router bits.

All of a sudden, within a few years of the American WW remodelling shows being broadcast here in the UK, the market was being flooded with power tools and small machines, mostly of poor quality. The have-a-go woodworker was born. Needless to say this has lead to a lot of disillusionment… it is not just a case of buying a few machines. The end result is a surplus of imported tools, a loss of interest and a selection of magazines that now have circulation figures in freefall and the advertising revenue going the same way.

Wood is another problem. Most people here will be using poor grade softwoods purchased from the DIY stores. Hardwoods are not readily available and have to be sources from specialist suppliers. I try to tell people that working with hardwood will make a better job and that cutting joints is easier but it is hard work.

For me I am from the old school. I had a formal training in woodwork that started at the age of 11 years. I went to a school that had woodwork as a compulsory lesson for the first two years of my ‘secondary’ schooling. 40 years on and I have never stopped learning and, in turn, trying to pass on ‘good practice’.

I have nothing against the Norm school of woodworking, in fact I like to see it. The problem is that it was unleashed on a UK public that had little or no knowledge of basic woodworking principles. Formal training in woodwork is non existent in schools these days and has been absent for years. A lot of this is due to Health and Safety regulations that have gone mad. I heard a chap talking on the radio a few weeks ago saying that he was intending to teach young kids the basics of woodworking. My ears pricked up and I thought that something was happening at last… then he said “Of course we will not be using chisels or anything the children can hurt themselves with” The age of the kids? 14 - 16 year olds! It is that attitude that is killing woodworking in the UK and why people like me are writing for American publishers and spending time on forums like this one.

Sorry for the long post but some things set me off and I get my soap box out :eek:

Ralph ;)
 
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Thanks Ralph!

I was hoping for just the kind of commentary that you provided. I buy several woodworking magazines that are published in the UK and have indeed noticed the differences you mentioned. I also have a rudimentary understanding of the exchange rate and find that tools advertised in these magazines appear to be 1/3 more in costs to similar tools available in the US. Additionally, I have also noticed the near complete lack of truely commercial quality tools advertised in same.

When I was a postdoctoral fellow I had a director from the UK and once he visited me while I was working on some projects around my house; he was astounded. He seriously questioned my sanity for performing jobs "best left to the trades" and I got the general feeling that he was infering that I might be whatever the English version of a "redneck" is secondary to his comments. He was one of those chaps that could say the most sarcastic things but, it usually took me several minutes to figure out it was an insult.

Thanks for you posts and keep up the good work.

PS: Shop or "industrial arts" as it is often called here is almost non-existant as well. Between litigation risks and a lack of value as perceived by many school administrators, these programs are rapidly fading into history...
 
I would echo all that Ralph says about the state of woodworking in the UK. Education seems to have abandoned the idea that young people can gain knowledge of all kinds of things using practical techniques. I went to school with a generation that did "woodwork" and "metalwork" and made stuff and had the way things got made explained to them. I have a nephew who helped me out in my workshop for a few weeks a few summers ago. My first words to him were along the lines of "This will be a bit different to the workshop that you have at school". His answer - "We don't have a workshop at school". This was a 16 year old lad who had never set foot inside a workshop of any kind. I nearly cried. I can remember cementing lessons from Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Maths, Geography etc, etc by applying them to real situations in a woodwork classroom. Oh well:(

As to the woods used Chris? The most common timber used by DIY'ers is probably MDF followed by Melamine faced chipboard. The real stock that is available in our "Borgs" is generally pretty low quality whitewood construction material. I have yet to find anybody but a specialist timber merchant selling hardwoods. One of the best organised timber merchants for hobbyists is S L Hardwoods (http://www.slhardwoods.co.uk). I did a quick peek and cherry at 6" widths works out about $12/bdft by the time you have added sales tax but before shipping. American White Oak about $6.50/bd ft. European Oak (usually French/German/Polish) works out around $11/bdft. Needless to say the volume sellers are keener priced than this. I buy European Oak in an ok'ish grade at £21 cubic foot. Thats around $4.50 bdft but I buy about 2000 bd ft at a time to get that price. I caculate that I get about 70% of that volume as useable timber at the grade I want.

As to the "best left to the trades" attitude. Still alive and well and living in England. I make my living with my hands because I enjoy it, not because I don't have a choice. It brings me into contact with all kinds of people and some (not many) of them become pig ignorant when they see somebody wearing overalls. Because of the belief on this island that we can all somehow make a living selling insurance policies to each other it is assumed that if thats not what you do you are either to be pitied or ridiculed. I do my best to ignore them and move on.
 
This would be for both Ian and Ralph. Maybe a little off the topic. I lived in the U.K., courtesy of the U.S. Air Force, for about three years, many year ago (1960-1963). I remember one of my favorite pub stops in London was near a furniture factory. If I got there at the right time in the afternoon, I would see some men come in for a beer who were wearing a type of covering, or vest, over their chest that was made of wood slats. As I understood it, this was a symbol of recognition for having achieved some type of mastery in woodworking. I don't know any more than that. Could you explain, please? And, is this still done?
 
Ralph and Ian,

"As to the "best left to the trades" attitude. Still alive and well and living in England."

Don't worry, that one's still alive here too, it's just that the terms are different. And yes, it takes amerloques a little while to understand we've been insulted. Case in point, this article came out a few weeks ago, in which a certain other forum was mentioned

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118670860592593818.html?mod=todays_us_nonsub_weekendjournal

So what happens? Nobody gets it! They all say "hey, that journalist got the price of tools wrong!" or "Hey, I'm not rich!" Nobody understood the point of the article, the man-bites-dog aspect, was "Here are these rich guys doing things 'best left to the trades.' ;)

So much for the class-less society... ;)

Thanks,

Bill
 
as a person who has worked in the healthcare feild (paramedic) many moons ago, i can feel very comfortable saying i`d much rather deal with onery boards than snooty hospital administration.....at least when i get in a tussle with a board there`s a chance something pretty will come of it...
and after being in the "trades" for so many years i also feel comfortable saying that there is a tiered billing schedule, one level of pricing for folks who have callouses on their hands, another for those who don`t but aren`t too good to associate with the working class, and finally the one where a fellow can make some money.....tod
 
Hi Tod,

You have hit the nail on the head. I live and breath with the masses of gentry to which you refer and you're spot on. Sadly, most folks have no idea how to fix anything (had a co-worker ask if it was necessary to bring out a "tradesman" to change their AC filter or if they could do it themselves). I could barely contain my laughter. I grew up poor and had to learn to fix cars and repair abodes as a matter of course of survival. Administrators are the worst of the lot (whoops, I married one!). I once had one "follow" me during one day of seeing patients and such only for him to ask if everyday was like that? If only he had seen a really bad day...
 
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