Woodworking Plans & Projects Blog

Simon Frost

28 June 2012

Hi all,

On Monday I spent another afternoon at the workshop with Anthony, this time we were assembling some Bosch kit – a compound mitre saw table and a table saw which we’ll be testing soon. It caused a bit of head scratching at times, but we got there in the end! Anthony is off until next week now, but there’s plenty for us to be getting on with here in the office, and while you’re getting through your shiny new copies of WPP 69, we’re now making steady progress on Issue 71.

Remember, it’s not one-way traffic – we want to know what you’re making too! Why not get on the forum and share something you’re proud of, or perhaps a project you need some help with?

Best not to mention the football now! Coming to think of it, if you are interested, have a look at this blog from someone who has a lot more to say about it than I do! See you next week.

Simon Frost

22 June 2012

Greetings from a blustery Lewes! Apart from the wind rattling the window frames, it’s all a little quiet here at the moment – with just myself, Tegan and Derek holding the fort in the woodwork office while everyone else is away on holiday, on work trips or in the workshop. Ah, the life of woody publishing!

I’ve noticed the stream of your projects getting posted to our forum’s gallery is running a little dry at the moment (apart from charlton8’s excellent maple and walnut boxes). If you’ve got anything you would like to share with us and the forum members please do. We love to see your work, you’ll get some helpful feedback from the other members, and you might even get your work into an upcoming issue of WPP! Speaking of which, have you got your copy of WPP Issue 69 yet?

Got to mention the football quickly – don’t worry it’ll all be over soon. Another England game this weekend, a difficult one for me as my mum is Italian... up until now I’ve managed to avoid this battle of loyalties as England and Italy haven’t met in a tournament for as far as I can remember. I thought I might just cop out and accept an express queue-jump to the semi-final; that was until I saw who the winner will probably play in the next round. Sorry Mum, but there’s no game of football like that game of football.

Happy weekend all!

Painful. (PHOTOGRAPH BY ALLSPORT)

Anthony Bailey

21 June 2012

Oh dear, it’s all gone horribly wrong. British weather at its worst and the Axe Vale Show, Devon cancelled.

I was due to be there this weekend along with my colleague Derek Jones Editor of Furniture & Cabinetmaking magazine but it was not to be. Of course GMC attend a number of woodworking or woodworking related shows throughout the year but this one was significant because it is Axminster Tools’ 40th anniversary and really quite important to them and therefore to us as well, so our commiserations to everyone at the company. We have posted the cancellation notice here on the Woodworkers Institute website for anyone who may not be aware of the situation.

Everyone was told to be careful and not waste water... and the hosepipe ban, that looks pretty irrelevant now! Well, I’m back in my own workshop this weekend making some glazed doors for a large display cabinet so it should be pretty productive despite circumstances. I hope you will be busy too and ignore the weather if the sun refuses to come out and play.

Until the next time, Anthony Bailey

Simon Frost

15 June 2012

Hi all,

This week at work has been a healthy mixture of writing in the office and trips out for one reason or another. On Wednesday I went to the workshop with Anthony to get the lowdown on handsaws and a bit of hands-on practice with tenon saws and Japanese pull saws. I have to admit my cuts were a little iffy – the saying goes “measure twice and cut once”, well I think I must have only measured once. Of course everything in the magazine goes through Mr Bailey, so rest assured although I’m not quite Thomas Chippendale yet, every aspect of the magazine is in safe, woodworker’s hands!

Yesterday we went out on the first of two or three visits to the subject of another upcoming feature. We’ll be going back to see different stages of construction in what is a long and complex process, in an area of woodworking I suspect many of you will not know much about. I’m afraid I can’t say more now, especially as this one will take a little while, but I hope you are enjoying the monthly features. The huge variety of specialist disciplines in woodwork makes it such a rich subject to write about month-by-month and I always enjoy taking the time to find out about something new – hopefully this transmits!

England play Sweden this evening, I think I’ll nip out to the pub for this one. There always seems to be a strange mixture of hopelessness and expectation in England during a competition, and the balance has generally tipped negatively this time, but I’m going to stick my neck out and say 2-0 to England. Carroll to score. We might not have the best team ‘on paper’, but it’s certainly not the worst, and I think the manager will prove himself to be the best we’ve had in a long time. I could go on but I’m sure enough people will have chewed your ear off with their opinion already, so I’ll leave it at that!

Hope you enjoy the weekend, until next time.

Anthony Bailey

13 June 2012

Yes, it’s sunny for a while, the whole of today hopefully, it fair lifts the spirits what? Just about to leave the office and its splendid view of the South Downs beyond the town and head for the GMC workshop with my deputy Simon. He needs to get a bit of woodworking practice in and take a bit of the load off me in the process. I also need to get ready for the Axe Vale Show in Devon on 23rd-24th June, with Derek Jones F&C editor and myself doing a little light demonstrating and meeting our public. So all the handtools, wood and dinky new bench have to be readied for the off when they get collected this Friday. Anyone who has ‘done’ a show will know how much preparation is involved to make sure everything is delivered, setup and got ready.

In the meantime I need to getting for the mag again and making the odd (not literally) project. Maybe its warm enough to sit outside the workshop at lunchtime? I’ve had too much of living a mole-like existence dodging rain clouds and stuck indoors.

Hopefully see you at the show? If not do keep reading WPP and checking out our fantastic website as well!

Simon Frost

08 June 2012

Hi everybody,

I hope you all had fun with the extra two days we had thanks to her majesty Liz. Whether you’re a fan of the monarchy or not, I think everyone was thankful for the double weekend – why don’t they do the same every year?... I managed to squeeze a lot in, catching up with friends and family, although must admit I didn’t see any of the celebrations on the box. I don’t really watch much telly, although with international football on almost every day for the rest of the month, that is more than likely to change!

Things got a tad hectic here last week and the blog slipped my mind, but now things are a little calmer; I’m in the process of writing an upcoming feature today which I’m really enjoying and I’m looking forward to seeing the piece get turned into another visual feast by WPP designer Janice Morgan. As I said last time, I’m not one to give much away, but will just say that this one has a nautical theme, matey.

A few copies of the shiny new Issue 69, which will be on sale from Thursday 14 June (that’s next Thursday) have just this second arrived at our office, and at a quick flick through it’s looking very good, you’ll enjoy this one – of course it also means that if you haven’t yet got your copy of WPP68, you‘d best get to the shops sharpish!

That’s all for now, I hope you all have a great weekend, tarrah!