I teach people in the Heritage Crafts sector to maintain and sharpen their tools.
18/06/2026
The skill in tool use ..
Nothing unnecessary, no wasted effort, skill "hard wired" in the days before anything was wired .. it was just plain hard. I have some of these BB best beech planes. The best of the best of all the "Factory Made" in my opinion.
Moulding Plane Maker - Norman Bayliss (1962) Norman Bayliss was the last beechwood moulding plane maker at Willi...
18/06/2026
The play off is .. too wide you are tempted to carry too much heavy cr@p .. too narrow and you can't get all your second fix bits in ..
How much is too much?
18/06/2026
OK .. I may live to regret this!
In my apprenticeship days, we ALL built as a project. A tool box, your first set of dovetails "in anger" .. it was designed to be your "site kit".
The big burning question is!
How wide should the board be? How deep does the box need to be?
Answers on a post card to Don't Bleed on the Wood Competition .. Oh, wait, that was Blue Peter.
17/06/2026
For more than 100 years the firm had thrived on a simple and seemingly eternal truth. Every Joiner, every Carpenter and every Cabinet Maker needed fine hand tools and the finest came from Sheffield.
A truth as solid as the steel itself.
Marples was not built on Industrial muscle. It was a craft house built on a name
. William Marples & Sons ..
and a reputation literally forged into every single item.
Bench Plane Maker - Albert Bock (1965) Albert Bock, who retired in 1966, was the last wooden bench plane m...
17/06/2026
An older sawn rail ladder .. wired under every rung.
A Thatching Ladder and a "standard" ladder wired every six ..
The woodturners are a vital trade to keep alive .. as a Joiner I wouldn't attempt to turn anything.
It is .. as you can see a "Black Art" .. the countless years of repetition to learn this skill makes it far more beneficial and cost effective for a Joiner to have a working partnership with a Turner. He's the best I know still in production .. we had a "tame" Turner in Oxford who sat behind GOD in Primary school. That was in the 70's! If you need round bits, do yourself a solid and call Steve.
16/06/2026
Let's take a closer look.
The rungs are spaced to accommodate the individual.
He will, in all weathers, be kneeling on the rungs and rail meetings ALL day. If the contact is metal to bone .. believe me .. it gets old really fast. YES .. buying a "one trick pony" might seem expensive. When YOUR knees are shot to ribbons trying to earn a living .. the one time expense is more than worth it.
16/06/2026
The ladder on the ledge is a Thatching Ladder .. the curve inward. You can use it like a ruler to keep courses straight, but more importantly it is kinder to your knees ..
15/06/2026
On the strength of the Thatching Ladder post .. here are some ladders.