Woodworking Tips & Ideas

Renovating & Making new shutters

Remaking new shutters could almost be a full time occupation for me.

I have made dozens of pairs to replace old decaying originals such as these you can see here.

It seems that insurance companies in this region of France insist that shutters are fitted and used for added security.

Most homes and buildings in the region are fitted with them and the extremes of weather experienced here soon takes it toll.

Making a Horse Mounting block

A friend/client has just commissioned me to make this mounting block for his wife who has just arrived at the half century mark and thus now needs a little help to get her 'leg over'.

As usual, one needs to do some research for information on how  things such as this are supposed to perform, fortunately my wife is a horsey person and she gave me the lead I needed, a short visit on the internet gave me everything else I thought was required.

Making & Replacing old Barn doors

This is a pair of very old double Barn doors that I recently had to replace with new, and a bit of a task it turned out to be.

The making of the new doors was a relatively easy task which took place off site at my workshop.

I made a preliminary visit to measure up and take a few photos and make notes about such things as the placing of the original fittings,  protrusions of the stone rebates and threshold levels etc etc.

How to make a beehive compost bin

We live in the Lot et Garonne which is in South West of France, a rural, agricultural environment filled with Bastide villages (Fortified for protection) such as Villereal, Monflanquin, Monpazier and Castilliones to name but a few.

Living in such an environment gives you a desire to grow your own produce and live more of a natural existence, which brings me around to my latest project which has been to make a composting bin for our garden and vegetable patch.

A beginners project carving a simple mouse

This is a great starter project for the first time carver because of it's absolute simplicity, size and economy of material.

It is ideal for someone who wants to have a go at carving but doesn't know where to begin, it can be achieved quickly, can be done with a reasonable quality penknife and finally, only uses a minimum of timber.

The making of a chicken coop

I was asked by a friend to make a chicken coop for a Christmas present for his wife; I enthusiastically accepted the challenge and then realised how little I knew about chickens.

I needed to do some research before I could progress so I used the Internet to find some great sites about coops of all shapes and sizes and draw some ideas from for the project.

Commissioning a bench plane

Whilst serving in the RAF many years ago I used to be in charge of the woodwork club on a particular station I was serving at.

The job consisted of several responsibilities one which was holding the inventory of tools, many of which were hand tools and all were of good quality, when the station closed due to cut backs I had cause to return the tools to stores only to be told by the store-man that they were what was termed 'c class stores' therefore consumable items and would be disposed of after use.

How to chip carve a caricature cowboy

My first attempt at carving began at secondary school and was a somewhat short lived experience for although I enjoyed the little I learned of the process I soon lost interest when on taking my proud creation home at the end of term it was generally agreed by all my family that what was supposed to be a short eared owl looked more like a cat than a bird of prey.