This project was perfect for batch production; the pieces are simple and can be cut in multiples. BUT, the coolest part of all is that when it was done we put our carriages together and created a train of inspiring proportions. 
Here are the parts of our back scratcher. As with most of our work, fixing is achieved by belting 6mm dowels into 5.5mm holes. The handle is well suited to batch production but the body of the scratchy bit took a while. Each had to be individually marked out. It was the least efficient part…
A workbench is a personal statement. In a concrete way it expresses needs, resources and interests of the person who made it. Many boasts are to be found that an author/woodworker has intelligently created superior responses to the needs of a workshop. Here is another entry into that crowded arena. However, what follows makes no…
Good Ideas Don’t Need to be Complicated Serving Tray For an object to complete the journey from initial musings to touchable reality requires a certain fidelity, on my part, to the original idea. Discouragements take the form of excessively complex prototypes. It is difficult to let simplicity rule. The journey of the serving tray couldn’t be shorter….
Candle Sticks These candle sticks are my response to a gig at a conference for intellectually disabled people, Having a Say.Our activity was to involve ten attendees and their helpers. There were no requests for my work to follow any themes. Attendees could be dexterous, or not. Helpers may be anything from ex-tradesmen to multi-thumbed…
These oversized wooden blocks make a lovely plonking sound as they fall! It is all about fun.
Another rescued lathe stand. This steel construction makes a rigid scaffold on which to mount a work top. The surface is an oregon timber beam removed from a house during renovation. There are splits and twists, but to remove them would have lost 20mm in thickness and 70mm in width. After judicious machining, the bench…