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I like that approach. Repeat making is under-estimated in my opinion. It's during repetitive work that I always seem to learn the most, and have come to really enjoy it.

I'm very unconvinced about Morris. I prefer a philosophy that encourages people to live in homes full of things they've made themselves (which may or may not be beautiful, and may or may not be very useful), but are of their own hands. Many things sold by Ikea are relatively good looking and...

I tend to agree. I wish we woodworkers could sell more items because we are solving a need, rather than having to spin some story of craftsmanship and artistic integrity to the rich, while 'needs' are fulfilled by mass-production. William Morris understood this, and yet the A&C Movement failed...

Good points, Andy. I'm sure it's the result for every maker through time, one way or another. Craftsman of yore would surely have tried to sell to the squire, and doffed caps and whatever needed to be done to get the gig. Of course, people are not necessarily paying just for the product itself...

I didn't really mean that. I meant that some home woodworkers might feel inadequate comparing their pieces to work produced by patron-funded professionals. I just like the idea of people making tables and chairs because they need tables and chairs and enjoy the process of making, whatever the...

Patrons have always funded art. John liked to promote 'good enough' woodwork, but the market economy calls for craftspeople to 'improve', to excel, to beat their rivals. I don't think it really matters, except if it undermines the bold efforts of those of us with more meagre skills making simple...

Good point. I loved John. He was like a second father to me. But he was selective. At his memorial one of his sons recounted how John's brother once dared to contest one of John's stories. "The trouble with you," John retorted with typical candour, "is that you will let truth get in the way of a...

I think it's hard to compare chairmakers and cabinetmakers. The disciplines are so far apart. A visit to St Fagan's is thoroughly recommended, and to High Wycombe's Chair Museum. Some of the oldest chairs at St Fagan's may be hidden away, and you might need an appointment to see them. But the...

I only meant that it helps to get people going, and they work really well alongside spokeshaves and drawknives, which are two of the most dextrous and tactile of tools. The guys I taught in the woods loved being able to form a tenon quickly, but they actually spent far more time on a shaving...

I don't think that's entirely fair. I'm a great advocate of spokeshaving, as people will have seen at shows. I'd happily recommend one of the tiny spokeshaves I sell, but I think to get a child going, a tenon cutter is an excellent introduction and helps to get good results quickly. It certainly...

John stopped writing a couple of times, but his final one was in December 2002. He had two really good phases. Right at the beginning in about 1993 (I still go tingly when I read his first article - I must have realised I was onto something), and then a three or fours later when Phil Davy and...

For rails on chairs Mike Abbott recommends in his great book Living Wood using a 5/8in tenon cutter on the rails, which are then left to dry by the fire or in an oven, and then a 9/16in auger bit into the wet legs for a tight fit.

I doubt I'm a better woodworker, but they are a really good way to size the tenon, if nothing else. I don't much like the obvious shoulders they leave, and shave those away afterwards with a spokeshave or drawknife. Children love using the tenon cutters, producing all those curly shavings, but...

Don't worry. It might have happened later, and it's a rumour I've often heard. Perhaps John started the whisper himself!!!

The courses are a good idea, but I'd start by buying a Veritas Tenon Cutter (probably the 3/4in or 1in models), and get her to make a simple three-legged stool. In Living Woods mag recently we ran an article about taking a group of 12 flash young Londonites into a woodland to teach them some...

Oh, and by the way, John didn't work only by hand. He worked without electricity. He had a tractor-powered bandsaw, and and hand-powered grinder. And he only made chairs, and very occasionally tables, but not many cabinets. When he did make cupboards they were often made from PAR softwood, and...

I was editor of Good Woodworking for the first two or three years that John Brown was writing. As far as I know it is a myth that advertisers complained, but it may have been after my stint. I never heard any complaints. We were nervous about it, but I'm not sure anyone actually complained or...

I went to Surrey Timbers when they were setting up. Kevin seems like a good bloke. I've heard good reports since then. Nick

Have you tried Deep in Wood near Oxford? I'm guessing they will be less than 30 miles from you.

Where are you?