Woodworking Plans & Projects Blog

Anthony Bailey

26 July 2012

At last, at last the sun, the heat. One day it’s wet and dull and almost the next we are roasting and complaining about that! Still, apart from a short spell in the office I’ve managed to stay in the GMC workshop with all the doors open from end to end creating a tunnel effect with the consequent light cooling draught to keep me from expiring. In fact it’s so pleasant today we (the family) are going to take the short run down to Eastbourne this evening and sample the delights of the pier and the seafront ice cream parlours. Tomorrow evening of course, Friday that is, there will be the spectacle of the Olympic opening ceremony featuring a rural idyll as created by film director Danny Boyle. Of course there are many aspects to rural life some of which at least won’t get into this spectacle. Like our magazine workshop throbbing and humming with activity, extraction system at full pelt and me dancing (not literally) between machines as I am busy creating the various articles for the next issue. It is a fact of life that there are many small businesses working away in farm units and I suspect it is often forgotten how much we rely as a country on such businesses. Anyway I’m not going let the state of the economy worry me overly, I think I’ll just drag out the deckchair and catch a bit of a tan. And then I’ll do some work...

Anthony Bailey

Simon Frost

20 July 2012

Hi all, hope you are all well out there in the world of wood!

For me this week has dragged a bit – I can only blame the naff weather, but apparently it’s going to be a different story next week, so onwards and upwards!

We had the fabled torch come past our offices the other day, I nipped outside for the full three seconds and loved all three. It’s amazing what gets people out of the house. I think I would have been less underwhelmed if the torch runner wasn’t preceded by a convoy of sponsorship buses playing cheesy music – less is more as they say, but then I suppose it doesn’t pay for itself! As it passed, three children came running alongside on the pavement and disappeared with it up the town, and I think they had the right idea – if you want to make the most of a procession of one, that’s the way to do it.

But anyway, enough cynicism for one blog! What do you all think of WPP70? I hope you are enjoying what’s going into the magazine, please don’t hesitate to let us know what you think, whether good or bad. Keep your work coming on the forum gallery too – it’s a completely free resource with a huge number of woodworkers on hand to give pointers and praise, you may well find it a handy way to improve your work, and you’ll get to know other woodworkers too. Give it a try!...

Happy weekend, Si

Anthony Bailey

17 July 2012

Well, something worthwhile has just happened and I don’t mean the Olympic Torch convoy passing a mere 100 yards from the workshop door... sorry sports fans, I’m more of a ‘dyed in the wool’ woody. No I’m referring to the Peter Sefton School of Furniture Making ‘Open Day’ this Saturday 14th July just gone. Derek Jones, ‘Furniture & Cabinetmaking’ Editor and I both set our respective alarm clocks for 4am on Saturday morning and tiptoed from our respective houses ready for a lengthy drive to Upton Upon Severn in time to unload all our kit and displays along with the other exhibitors for the ‘10.00am off’. Thanks to Peter and Sarah for making us welcome, there were plenty of visitors through the doors during the day and I was kept on my toes revisiting my very rusty demo skills to an interested audience. There were demonstrations of French polishing, Peter Sefton cutting joints by hand and me of course using routers and jigs. There were plenty of tools and other kit to buy and our magazines of course and an exhibition of the students’ high quality furniture pieces. All in all a successful and pleasant day out for everyone punctuated by the inevitable downpour every now and then. Derek and I are looking forward to a return visit next year but in the meantime wish all the best to Peter and Sarah Sefton and the rest of the crew including all his students!

Simon Frost

06 July 2012

Hi everyone, hope you’ve all had a good week. We’ve been busy wrapping up the last bits of another issue of WPP, but there’s no rest for the woody (as they say), and work has already begun on the next! Anthony and I will be heading to Chichester College next week, actually I’ll barely be back from Chichester before our visit – I went to uni there and I’m heading that way at the weekend to catch up with friends. I’m positively buzzing to be going back – it’s a special place for me, and it’s not often that so many of my friends are all drawn back there at once.

The next WPP has just landed on my desk, which means that WPP 69 doesn’t have long left on the shelves! Issue 70 is out on Thursday, so if you haven’t got your current copy yet, don’t forget!

The Market Cross in Chichester, a meeting place and an iconic landmark close to the Cathedral, slap bang in the middle of the city. You can see the spire of the Cathedral from pretty much anywhere in town... which is handy if you manage to get lost!