A Woodworker's Christmas

If you’re anything like me, and leave Christmas to the very last minute, perhaps this will be timely.

If you are buying tools use one of the great independent online stores like The Woodsmith’s Store. They have a fantastic range of tools, books and related stuff, and Maurice who runs the website is a thoroughly decent, supportive and knowledgeable bloke.

If you don’t know what tool to get, try a jewellers loupe! A fabulous little gadget that gives x20 magnification. Great for seeing what is really going on with your “sharp” edge. If you do get a loupe, the next thing to get might be a place on my Sharpening Course!

For a good read last year I recommended The Hidden Life of Trees for an extraordinary insight into how trees behave and communicate. This year I read the thought provoking novel The Overstory - here is the interview with its author Richard Powers which persuaded me to read it.

For something a little lighter, for younger readers:

Harvey’s workshop is a bit messy so he decided to build a toolbox to store his tools in. It is a sweet book, and in the back are plans to make a simple toolbox, just like Harvey’s.

My workshop will be open in the run up to Christmas - please let me know if you’d like to visit - there is a rare display of my work, including various handmade furniture and handmade wooden lamps, and of course my bird boxes and bee homes.

My courses are booking up early this year - look out in particular for the amazing work that came out of this years Creative Seating course, where people really pushed the boundaries of what can be achieved in 6 days with a load of wet logs. Follow me on Facebook or Instagram if you’d like to keep in touch with the commissions I’m working on, or the courses I’m running, or better still, sign up to my mailing list to hear first about shows and exhibitions I’ll be attending next year.

My daughter and I have been working on Bunny high Chairs, which have proved amazingly popular, allowing a well-behaved bunny or teddy to sit at the table with the family. I keep threatening to run a children’s workshop like this - contact me if you’d be interested.

That’s all for now, have a great Christmas, and stay away from Amazon! They don’t deserve your money.

Peter