• 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!

The Accidental Woodworking Club

Give them some foursquare timber and teach to saw straight to a line first?

Then, dimensioning timber - I like FEWTEL (face, edge, width, thickness, end, length).

How to sketch a basic design with three views, and from that a cutting list - I like how this breaks a complex project down into steps.

Now apply the above to making something with the three joints - housing (spice rack), dovetail (box), M&T (simple stool).
 
1: What do they as individuals want to make?
2: Or are they more interested in learning about basic principles in general?

If 1:
Do they just want guidance on how to go about making the item in the simplest/easiest manner?

Then show them how to achieve best tool/method practice as they proceed.

If 2:
Then set them a simple project encompassing need for tool use instruction/guidance.
 
I suspect Steve knows how to proceed.....he's produced loads of videos and magazine articles.

Main thing - make it fun and undaunting. Simple stuff generates success. Achievement gets people hooked.
 
I know that one of them wants to make some "frames". I don't know, at this stage, what sort of frames.
I see Monday as a Hello, Explore Ideas and Eat Cake session (one of them likes baking - my kinda gal). I'll prep some wood and get them to cut some lengths, drill and countersink some holes, plane some edges and take home a bench hook. After that, we'll see how it goes. As I've said, I want to be helpful and encouraging without taking on much in the way of responsibility.
S
 
Steve Maskery said:
I know that one of them wants to make some "frames". I don't know, at this stage, what sort of frames.
I see Monday as a Hello, Explore Ideas and Eat Cake session (one of them likes baking - my kinda gal). I'll prep some wood and get them to cut some lengths, drill and countersink some holes, plane some edges and take home a bench hook. After that, we'll see how it goes. As I've said, I want to be helpful and encouraging without taking on much in the way of responsibility.
S
Click to expand...
If they're mitred frames Steve, Mike G could offer 'advice':ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO: - Rob
 
I made this small stool, with a woven sea-grass seat, at school when I was 12 (1965). The sea grass was bright red alternating with green when it was made, but the colour has long since been bleached out by the sun (remember sun?). It's been in regular use ever since and is my grand-daughter's favourite seat when she comes to stay. Looking at it, it wasn't a difficult project, but I had to learn to plane stock square, create haunched mortice and tenons, drill a hole with a depth stop and chamfering with a chisel. Maybe more than you want to do, but just an idea for later maybe.

PXL_20260129_172019266.jpg
 
It's all off. For now at least. One of them has to go back to the UK tomorrow for a funeral, so we're postponing it. Actually it suits me as the place is a building site.
I've prepped up a tatty old board of painted oak and it has yielded some rather nice stock, but it will have to wait.
 
Well they have both been here today. It was good.
But my goodness, I had forgotten how hard some people find it to do very basic stuff, like holding a marking knife and a try square at the same time. Knowing which way to turn the vice handle. Setting and using a pencil gauge. Fitting a drill into a chuck. Really basic stuff.
However, they were both very enthusiastic.

I was surprised myself how many operations are involved in something as simple as screwing three pieces of wood together to make a bench hook.

I had already prepped a board long enough to make two bases, and enough stock to make the fences, with plenty to spare in case of mishaps.

I showed them how to check that the end of a board was square before measuring off it (I had deliberately cut one end a bit off so they could see the difference).

I showed them how to scribe a line all round the fence stock, dropping the knife into the previous nick and sliding the square up to it. That was a challenge for both of them.

I showed them how to use a chisel to make the little groove to start off the saw. They found that very difficult. And holding the tenon saw.

One of them has arthritis in her hands, so using a shooting board was beyond her, but her first cut was so good that it only took two swipes to make it perfect. The other one...

I then showed them how to use the SCMS...

The next task was to remove all the arrises. Three passes with a block plane. Neither of them had used a block plane before and they were both very slow, but one of them really couldn't keep the plane sole in proper contact with the workpiece. We got there in the end.

Then it was lunch. Muir had brought a chilli. She is "mostly vegan". That is a challenge in France, which is still very meat-orientated.

Back to the bench we set the pencil gauge to be the centre of the fences and drew a line across the ends of the base boards, sometimes straight, sometimes wonky. Marked the screw positions and popped them. We had a little lesson on how to hold a hammer. It was a revelation to them.

We drilled clearance holes on the drill press. How do you insert a drill into this? Then it was a case of transferring those screw position onto the underside of the fences. It took an age but we did it. Back to the drill press and they were amazed by the depth stop for a blind hole. And isn't a countersink bit good?

When it came to assembly, things didn't line up as well as I'd expected, but I put it down to inexperience. No, I was my fault, I'd let them countersink the hole on the wrong faces, so they each had a bench hook suitable for a lefty. How embarrassing. But easy to put right, just countersink on the other face and reassemble. Perfect.

Done really. We were just packing up when SWMBO arrived home. "Oh hello!", she said recognising Fiona. They'd just been to the same yoga class this morning.

I am absolutely knackered, but they both went home like dogs with two tails.

20260305_161534.jpg

Muir, me, Fiona and Carlo the dog (he didn't make anything, but he was no trouble).

S
 
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Yes well done, it’s really surprising what some people don’t know, there was a thread on the other place about young people and the comments about apprentices and what they hadn’t a clue about were startling.
Now imagine a class full of stroppy teenagers that don’t want to know!
 
Some people have no coordination. Not woodwork, but an example this week. I have a 9 year old asian pupil to whom I'm trying to teach piano. We are 6 weeks in. He's quite intelligent, a bit hyperactive and his ambitious (for him) mother is a doctor and she is learning too.

You would be astonished how difficult it is to get him to play DEF with the left hand and simultaneously FED with his right. He simply can compute it or coordinate it. Fingers going in different directions. By contrast another student, about 8 weeks in, and aged 6, gets it instantly.

Well done Steve. Now you have to teach them to make a bench.
 
AJB Temple said:
.... I have a 9 year old asian pupil to whom I'm trying to teach piano. .... He's quite intelligent, a bit hyperactive .

You would be astonished how difficult it is to get him to play DEF with the left hand and simultaneously FED with his right. He simply can compute it or coordinate it. Fingers going in different directions. .
Click to expand...
Suspect:- Dyspraxia, possibly associated with dyslexia or ADHD, He's probably above average intelligence and good at maths and problem solving, computer programming.

May have difficulty using a computer keyboard or telling the time from an analogue clock.

(from a family of sufferers in various forms who have Masters degrees and multiple patent holders in the mix.)
 
Cabinetman said:
Yes well done, it’s really surprising what some people don’t know, there was a thread on the other place about young people and the comments about apprentices and what they hadn’t a clue about were startling.
Now imagine a class full of stroppy teenagers that don’t want to know!
Click to expand...
Thee and me both Ian. Been there, done that and got all the T shirts!

@Steve Maskery - looks like you dun good Steve! - Rob
 
Muir said she was going to display hers on a shelf.
Bloody Tool Collectors.

I used to have a template for a Certificate (I last used it to congratulate SWMBO on getting to (and back from) a charity shop about an hour away without getting (very) lost - she doesn't have SatNav), but I can't find it. I'd like to give them a Certificate. Everybody likes a Certificate, don't they?
S
 
Everybody loves a Stifficate, yes I too don’t understand displaying collecting, I should demand to see the cut marks on the bench hook before you teach her anything else lol.
You may have brought the fence down a little Steve so that a pull saw could be used?
 
CHJ said:
Suspect:- Dyspraxia, possibly associated with dyslexia or ADHD, He's probably above average intelligence and good at maths and problem solving, computer programming.

May have difficulty using a computer keyboard or telling the time from an analogue clock.

(from a family of sufferers in various forms who have Masters degrees and multiple patent holders in the mix.)
Click to expand...
Yes that’s what I was thinking, apart from the ADHD it me you are describing.

Pete
 
Cabinetman said:
Everybody loves a Stifficate, yes I too don’t understand displaying collecting, I should demand to see the cut marks on the bench hook before you teach her anything else lol.
Click to expand...
(y)
Cabinetman said:
You may have brought the fence down a little Steve so that a pull saw could be used?
Click to expand...
No, it was just the stock that came to hand.
I rarely use my western bench hook, I prefer my Japanese version, which works in the same way and sits between a pair of bench dogs. I'll try to take a pic tomorrow.

Pete Maddex said:
Yes that’s what I was thinking, apart from the ADHD it me you are describing.

Pete
Click to expand...
I can confirm that Pete is one of the cleverest, most skilful people I know, even if he can't spell for toffee :)
S
 
Steve Maskery said:
(y)

No, it was just the stock that came to hand.
I rarely use my western bench hook, I prefer my Japanese version, which works in the same way and sits between a pair of bench dogs. I'll try to take a pic tomorrow.


I can confirm that Pete is one of the cleverest, most skilful people I know, even if he can't spell for toffee :)
S
Click to expand...
It’s just the words with letters in I can’t spell.

😉

Pete
 
Steve, I expect you have realised and done this by now, but there's no need to find the same certificate template you had before. You just need to decide how many hours to spend choosing from the hundreds of options that will come up in any online search. 😏
 
Yes done that. Lots to choose from, but many do not produce the same output as I see on the screen. Some of the promised formats, suc as .odt, bear no resemblance to the real thing.
I've finally done it by saving in a Google format, then outputting that as a PDF. What a palaver. But then, I haven't paid for it. you do tend to get what you pay for, n'est-ce pas?
S
 
Nice I idea to encourage people to take up the hobby, judging by the number of ironmongers shops that have closed in my home town , I am concerned that interest is shrinking.
There appear to be no programmes on T V these days. They were very popular a couple of decades back.
 
Mike Jordan said:
Nice I idea to encourage people to take up the hobby, judging by the number of ironmongers shops that have closed in my home town , I am concerned that interest is shrinking.
There appear to be no programmes on T V these days. They were very popular a couple of decades back.
Click to expand...
We had a couple of series of "UK's Finest Woodworker" or some such drivel a couple of years ago which after five minutes left me reaching for the zapper, but unsurprisingly, nothing since - Rob
 
CHJ said:
Suspect:- Dyspraxia, possibly associated with dyslexia or ADHD, He's probably above average intelligence and good at maths and problem solving, computer programming.

May have difficulty using a computer keyboard or telling the time from an analogue clock.

(from a family of sufferers in various forms who have Masters degrees and multiple patent holders in the mix.)
Click to expand...
Could be. Part of the problem is that his mother answers for him all the time, to the point that I have asked her not to. The child is under parental pressure and that is rarely good. However, I have learnt over the years doing some teaching that some people really want to play music but simply lack talent. Music is very mathematical, but also requires (with notation) a great deal of pattern recognition. If that is lacking then it can be an insurmountable problem.

Actually, as of today this is now an ex-student.
 
AJB Temple said:
Actually, as of today this is now an ex-student.
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Ah, that is a shame.
Apparently, when I was very small, I was asked if I wanted to play the piano, and I said No. I have no recollection of this. But it is my second biggest regret in life (don't go there). I did try as an adult, but I really think you have to start embryonically.
S
 
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I remember Barry Bucknell, I think he was on TV on Friday evenings in the 60s, his refurbishment of a house must have given a huge boost to the DIY trade.
I was an apprentice joiner on day release on Mondays. He was a figure of fun to our top lecturer Frank Keeling, his cry of “ did you see him on Friday night lads” started the week with a laugh.
I think he did a lot to convince the man in the street to have a go at jobs he hadn’t dared to do in the past. I think he was also responsible for the design of the “Mirror” sailing dinghy. A very popular DIY job.
 
I was working in a timber yard Saturdays and school holidays, then when I left school, too. I used unload 20 tons of hardboard (Royalboard) every Monday morning by hand, because there was no room for a fork lift. Several of the pallets were door sizes, 6'6"x2'6", 6'8"x 2'8", 6'x2", 7'x3' primarily because BB said to cover up the lovely panelled doors to give them a fresh new look. The firm used to supply heardware shops, DIY as a term hadn't been invented, around the greater London area.
 
Mike Jordan said:
I remember Barry Bucknell………
I think he did a lot to convince the man in the street to have a go at jobs he hadn’t dared to do in the past. I think he was also responsible for the design of the “Mirror” sailing dinghy. A very popular DIY job.
Click to expand...
Yup, here is a very young me alongside the one my father built in the dining room in the late sixties.

IMG_4568.jpeg
Sailed on the river Medway at Hoo IIRC.
 
AndyP said:
Yup, here is a very young me alongside the one my father built in the dining room in the late sixties.

View attachment 39808
Sailed on the river Medway at Hoo IIRC.
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At my first teaching job in Camberley, just after leaving uni around 1979, the then Headteacher 'asked' me to make one of those in school time, using pupils as 'willing' helpers. When I enquired if it was to be for pupils at the school to use, I found out that it was going to the Rotarians or some such outfit for their use. To say I was not amused was an understatement but there wasn't much I could do about it - Rob
 
Mike Jordan said:
I think he was also responsible for the design of the “Mirror” sailing dinghy. A very popular DIY job.
Click to expand...

Apparently my Dad made one of those not long after he married my Mum. They were living in a small flat at the time and he did a lot of the work in the corner of the bedroom. When he eventually got it assembled, they had to take the window (frame and all) out in order to get the dinghy out.
 
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