It's good to live in Salisbury...

[woodbloke]

We had a bit of a Mini-Bash today similar to the one held last year at around this time. Paul Chapman came to my place for a bit of one-to-one tuition on cutting dovetails, pic here of the new Wenzlof in action:

and using the LN chisels to pare the joints:

After a very enjoyable morning making sawdust we jumped into the Landy an blue-lighted :wink: it over to Pete's for a scrumptious feast laid on by Pam:

of fillet steak, burgers, salad, jacket spuds etc etc which we were all happy to tuck into:

Philly, Chisel, Paul Chapman and Pete. Pudding consisted of the following:

Lime cheesecake, summer fruit pudding, a strawberry confection the name of which escapes me and then out to the workshop to play with some toys:

One of Paul trying out Philly's new shaves, which were we decided to name:

.....Phillyshaves :lol: :lol:

We then spent a very enjoyable hour or two playing around with different saws and sawing techniques:

All in all, a fantastic day, great company, excellent tool talk and fabulous food. Big thanks to Pam and Pete for hosting the day - Rob

 

[halken]

I am surprised you managed to get anything done after eating that feast, sounds like you had a great day :lol:

 

[NeilO]

looks like house hunting in Salisbury is on the agenda.. :lol: :lol:

I take it from the shots they were pics of both your shop Rob, and Paul C`s?
how big are your respective shops, if I may ask??

had to laugh at the ID parade photo has the caption above it was about the lunch menu, and was thinking which one of you four was the Salad :lol: :lol:

and I just know you all had a great time.. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[paulm]

Definately a big thanks to Pam for the feast, absolutely first class, and to Pete, Paul, Philly and Rob for a great afternoon's fun, and a few top tips on how to saw straight (I'm sure it was those Wenzloff's that were the problem Paul and not my technique :shock: :lol: ).

Had a play with the new Phillyshaves too, as well as a prototype smoother, there is something a bit special about the feel and action of the wooden planes and the spokes are no exception.

Lots of tips and advice on dovetailing from Rob who really knows his stuff and Pete is no slouch either having seen some of his projects and sample joints up close, very lucky to get time and advice from guys that good that really know what they are talking about. Planning some quality time in the workshop tomorrow to get some practice in and see if I can remember everything !

Will be in touch shortly Paul about that turning session.

So, all in all a great day out, put on a few pounds in weight with Pam's cooking, and learn't loads to boot, thanks all !

Cheers, Paul.

 

[Escudo]

Count me in next time fellas, especially with a spread like that!

 

[Paul Chapman]

As Rob and Chisel have already said, a great day

I thought I already knew how to cut dovetails, but the one-to-one session with Rob in the morning taught me a lot of new things. As any of you who have seen Rob's dovetails will know, he is a real Master at cutting them and I now know how he does it - his methodology is superb. I'm convinced that one to one sessions like this, from someone who really knows what they are doing, is the way forward. To get to Rob's standard will take a lot of practice, but understanding the methodology is half the battle. Here are a couple of snaps of Rob at work

It was good to give the Wenzloffs a thorough workout - they really are superb - as was Rob's marking knife that he recently made me.

We then drove over to Pete and Pam's place where we met up with Philly and Chisel. As Rob has already said, Pam prepared the most wonderful meal - thanks Pam, it was lovely.

Philly had brought along some of his spokeshaves and a fabulous wooden smoother - a real winner in my view.

I had a go on Pete's latest version of his shooting board in it's 'donkey's ear' configuration. What a cracking piece of kit 8)

I also tried out Chisels Blue Spruce paring chisels - jealous, who, me? :mrgreen:

All in all, another great MiniBash. Always so many good tips to pick up, great company and fabulous food - wonder when the next one is :-k :lol:

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[woodbloke]

I take it from the shots they were pics of both your shop Rob, and Paul C`s?
how big are your respective shops, if I may ask??

Neil - the shot of Paul in the opening post was in my 'shop which is 20x12' and the last shots were taken in Pete's single garage shop...BTW lot of very nice marking knives :wink: used on the day and you're quite correct...we did have a fantastic day :lol: - Rob

 

[Grinding One]

How can you guys concentrate on wood when theres food like that on the table?? Pam whatever you want us to make just keep cookin

 

[paulm]

Well, being more of a power tool kind of guy for the last few years, I have only really recently started to do a bit of proper hand tool work more recently.

Was talking to the guys at the mini-bash about the difficulties I was having cutting to the line when practicing dovetails, the vertical cut always seemed to drift off to the right pretty much every time, really annoying.

The LN saw wasn't the problem and the set on it was fine. Tried making sure the wood was vertical in the vice, and then figured out the bench wasn't horizontal ! Fixed that and it helped a bit, but still a problem.

Rob and Pete gave me loads of good advice and watched my technique, or lack of it :lol: , and I did a few cuts yesterday and was beginning to get the hang of it.

Back home today I marked up a few rows of vertical lines along a 6" board and got practicing, and on this, my third board :shock: started to feel I was getting the hang of it at last

Not too shabby, except for the second from the left one, and I'm suprisingly chuffed at such a seemingly modest achievement :roll: :lol:

Thanks guys !!!

Cheers, Paul

 

[woodbloke]

Paul - looking good - Rob

 

[newt]

Paul, you must be well chuffed that is looks good, practice practice its the only way.

 

[woodbloke]

Pete - you and Pam now have two new bestest friends...grey and furry :wink: many thanks - Rob