• Hi all and welcome to TheWoodHaven2 brought into the 21st Century, kicking and screaming! We all have Alasdair to thank for the vast bulk of the heavy lifting to get us here, no more so than me because he's taken away a huge burden of responsibility from my shoulders and brought us to this new shiny home, with all your previous content (hopefully) still intact! Please peruse and feed back. There is still plenty to do, like changing the colour scheme, adding the banner graphic, tweaking the odd setting here and there so I have added a new thread in the 'Technical Issues, Bugs and Feature Requests' forum for you to add any issues you find, any missing settings or just anything you'd like to see added/removed from the feature set that Xenforo offers. We will get to everything over the coming weeks so please be patient, but add anything at all to the thread I mention above and we promise to get to them over the next few days/weeks/months. In the meantime, please enjoy!

Richard Maguire aka The English Woodworker

Blackswanwood

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Robert
I don't know if any members used to follow Richards blog/vlog.

He's been quiet for a few years but is back posting if anyone interested. It appears he is in a new workshop and while still "matter of fact" his latest video style is a bit different.

I guess anyone who used to follow him will have had the same email alert that I received but if not ...

www.theenglishwoodworker.com

How I Sharpen My Chisels. [Video] - The English Woodworker

It’s been a while – more on that later. I want to get back into the swing with some new content, kicking off with this demo on how I sharpen my chisels. There’s plenty of info in this video to help you pick up my swift sharpening method. If you’re like me and want to […]
www.theenglishwoodworker.com www.theenglishwoodworker.com

ps He's discussing sharpening but doesn't claim his way is the only one!
 
If I recall, he took a no nonsense sort of approach to woodwork, which was quite refreshing, but he also tried perhaps a little too hard to monetise his output. I wish him well with this comeback, but I'll never watch anyone sharpen a tool, or discuss sharpening a tool. I'll keep an eye out for other videos on a more interesting subject.
 
If one MUST bother watching a YouTube woodworker then P Sellers has at least served a proper traditional apprenticeship so has gone through the woodworking mill as it were and has a pretty much no nonsense approach for 50 plus years.
 
Raymedullary said:
If one MUST bother watching a YouTube woodworker then P Sellers has at least served a proper traditional apprenticeship so has gone through the woodworking mill as it were and has a pretty much no nonsense approach for 50 plus years.
Click to expand...
Didn't realise that Peter Sellers was a woodworker? Much more preferable (IMO) to the Paul variety :ROFLMAO: - Rob
 
Something does not seem right with him or am I alone in this regard. I have watched his old videos from past years and see a big difference.
 
duke said:
Something does not seem right with him or am I alone in this regard. I have watched his old videos from past years and see a big difference.
Click to expand...

He looks stressed. Also, this is a poorer topic choice to make a comeback with since it is unlikely to grab the attention of those who want to learn to build. It is not creative - and Richard can be so - and suggests being a little burned out, which may have been the reason he stopped before. I like Richard and wish him well, and am concerned that there is none of the energy and sparks of life that were his hallmark.

Regards from Perth

Derek
 
I'm pretty sure Richard was trained by his father. Whether or not it was a formal apprenticeship, it was learning on the job, under supervision by an experienced tradesman.
 
Never heard of him before. The video has a really odd start. When he finally gets around to the subject I wondered if he was trying to do a Fred Dibnah impression. I detest swearing in YT content and that is enough to put me off. I only skimmed it for a few seconds as funnily enough I know how to sharpen.
 
I’m not interested in sharpening, but I watched the whole thing in the hope that it would encourage him to produce more videos. I’ve enjoyed his previous videos which have been more tightly edited than the latest.

His content is chiefly aimed at people starting out in woodworking or early in their practice so I don’t think you’ll get too much value from it Adrian. He has a more earthy persona than other presenters which I’m neutral on, but I really like that he’s a low ceremony, get it done kind of guy, so I’m overall very positive about his content.

It’s a bit of a surprise that the sharpening video ended up so long given that his actual approach to sharpening is quite straightforward.
 
Judging by the comments on his blog many share the view that it’s good to see him back.

I think @Windows is right in that he’s most useful for those at the earlier stages of learning than many on here. However, just as I always learn something from the people who kindly do WIP’s on here (and probably don’t acknowledge enough!) I always seem to pick something useful up from his videos.

My hope is that @derekcohen is mistaken about him being stressed (Richard does appear to have lost his mojo a bit and I’d have preferred a different topic) but if not hopefully starting to do videos is a route back to good health. Encouraging people to take up woodworking and make stuff (which is what he has done for many years) is after all a good thing to do.
 
AJB Temple said:
Never heard of him before. The video has a really odd start. When he finally gets around to the subject I wondered if he was trying to do a Fred Dibnah impression. I detest swearing in YT content and that is enough to put me off. I only skimmed it for a few seconds as funnily enough I know how to sharpen.
Click to expand...
I met him once or twice (together with his partner Helen??) years ago and he was a very pleasant bloke who at the time made some really very, very good workbenches in solid Ash...all of it hand planed. Since then, he appeared to have fallen off the face of the planet but it's great to see he's found his way back - Rob
 
Woodbloke said:
I met him once or twice (together with his partner Helen??) years ago and he was a very pleasant bloke who at the time made some really very, very good workbenches in solid Ash...all of it hand planed. Since then, he appeared to have fallen off the face of the planet but it's great to see he's found his way back - Rob
Click to expand...
I met him a couple of times too and thought the same. IIRC, the benches had more work in them than they sold for. He did some really good videos then tried to convert his followers to online training courses. It was a popular idea at the time, perhaps with too many competing providers.
I hope they are doing well too.
 
Woodbloke said:
I met him once or twice (together with his partner Helen??) years ago and he was a very pleasant bloke who at the time made some really very, very good workbenches in solid Ash...all of it hand planed. Since then, he appeared to have fallen off the face of the planet but it's great to see he's found his way back - Rob
Click to expand...
Now I know who you’re all talking about, yes I saw him doing one on benches a long time ago and thought how good it was.
From Lincolnshire if I remember correctly.
 
I really like his videos and found them particularly useful when I built my workbench.
 
Glad to see Richard pop up on my feed again, and a welcome back from me.

Should this longer style of presentation of his return be, what might become be the norm...
Then I guess it likely might consist of some real time working, hopefully with an adequate amount of
close ups of the work where necessary, from the woodworker's perspective.

I watched about half way, as hopefully that's enough to feed the algorithm for young chiseler folk.
Looking forward to the next video.

All the best
Tom
 
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