Paul Sellers - Trademark?

[Bluekingfisher]

While I thoroughly enjoy watching and learning from the Paul Sellers series of vidoes on YouTube I cannot help but wonder about some of his claims.

I do not in anyway doubt Pauls ability, skill or experience in the craft of woodworking, although, as with most "celebrity" hosts (whatever the subject matter) they consider a punch line, gimmick or some other way or identifying their unique pattern of delivery as essential. TV chefs spring to mind :roll:

While watching a couple of his instructional videos last night, he made a claim to inventing the term "knifewall" where he cuts a scribe line in the wood prior to creating a kerf with a chisel for the saw (or chisel) to nestle into to ensure crisp cut lines.

The other tip he appeared to lay claim to, was creating a small chamfer on the inside face edges of dovetails to reduce resistence when fitting over the pins. As a weekend woodworking warrior I have used these methods myself, so why would Paul consider he is the inventor of these techniques? I would have thought such would have been common practice for craftsmen?

David

 

[Tony Zaffuto]

I've seen & read about both techniques many years before I ever knew Paul Sellers existed!

I'm not posting this to be derogatory about Paul (I've purchased his DVD series & book), but there is so much about our profession & hobby that has been in the public domain for many decades, if not centuries.

 

[MIGNAL]

Nah!! I've been using a 'knifewall' for 40 years. I'm pretty sure I wasn't the first, probably by about a thousand years.
Maybe Sellers means that he came up with the actual term rather than the technique?

 

[AndyT]

He may well have invented the term "knifewall" - which I think is a useful one - but I don't think he claims to have invented the technique, which was the standard approach taught to us in school woodwork lessons in the early 70s, as was chamfering the insides of dovetails.

In fact, a Google Books search for the exact word "knifewall" (not "knife wall") throws up only one printed usage in the context of woodworking, which is in Sellers' book. While not proof, that is supporting evidence for his claim.

 

[Andy Kev.]

Hah! I'll do a Paul Sellers and claim I've invented a term. Because I need all the help I can get to keep my sawing vertical, I make the knife wall in the usual way and then deepen it significantly with a chisel bash followed by a second paring. The result is quite marked and I self-mockingly christened it a "knife canyon" although "saw canyon" might be more fitting. You read it here first.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

"Saw crater" Seriously, I was taught both of those at school fifty years ago.

 

[undergroundhunter]

I think he is referring to the term not the technique, I subscribe to his masterclasses and I'm sure he said that's what he was taught but he coined the phrase "knifewall". As far as the dovetails are concerned I read about it on Chris Schwarz's blog, again I remember Paul saying that he teaches the method but I don't recall him ever saying it was his idea.

Matt

 

[Zeddedhed]

Having just had a major argument with my evil oval skew chisel I hereby lay claim to the term 'wood pizza', as in 'that spotty git's got a face like a pizza!"

 

[custard]

I'm wondering if he's going a bit potty in his old age? I've read some of his recent blog posts and there's just a hint of messianic over reach in some of his assertions! He's starting to claim responsibility for a global hand tool revival, where it's his recommendations that have driven up world prices for used hand planes. And he's in the vanguard of a life style revolution that will catapult us into a post industrial age.

Steady on old boy!

I'd still recommend him as the best free, on-line teaching resource for a newcomer. But as well as allowing for his dodgy 1970's design ethic, you'll probably now have to aim off for his burgeoning fantasies that he has some wider social or cultural significance beyond showing beginners how to make a wooden spoon.

 

[AndyT]

Custard, I do agree about his blog. On the whole, Sellers' spoken explations are quite clear, as you would expect from someone used to talking to students. But the blog so often dips into incoherent, unedited rambling. Maybe someone else writes it for him?

 

[n0legs]

"Samurai Ninja Pizza Cat" is mine, and only mine. Got it?. Good.

 

[lurker]

I am only vaguely aware of the bloke from references on this forum. Is he American?

 

[No skills]

I find Sellers output ranges from excellent and very interesting to whimsical and sometimes just *****.
I would quite like to go and do one of his courses, I think I would learn quite a lot but free time and money just isn't there.
Perhaps Custard should run some courses

 

[D_W]

I think you guys are expecting a lot if you're hoping that the instructors who rely mostly on beginners will not try to do a little bit of huckstering. It's part of the equation - the apprentice isn't bound to the shop, so some marketing is in order.

 

[D_W]

I am only vaguely aware of the bloke from references on this forum. Is he American?

Texan. It's sort of like American, but not quite.

 

[AndyT]

I am only vaguely aware of the bloke from references on this forum. Is he American?

No, English, but he teaches in Wales and in the USA.

https://paulsellers.com/paul-sellers-biography/

 

[lurker]

I tried to watch a couple of his things on u tube but got bored.

 

[lurker]

I think you guys are expecting a lot if you're hoping that the instructors who rely mostly on beginners will not try to do a little bit of huckstering. It's part of the equation - the apprentice isn't bound to the shop, so some marketing is in order.

I think you have it. These days it's never about the product but the hype.

 

[Jelly]

I am only vaguely aware of the bloke from references on this forum. Is he American?

No, English, but he teaches in Wales and in the USA.

https://paulsellers.com/paul-sellers-biography/

Just outside Bangor on the North Wales coast... I was most surprised to discover he was my neighbour when I was living there.

Very nice chap he is, and very skilled as both a woodworker and a communicator.

 

[bugbear]

I am only vaguely aware of the bloke from references on this forum. Is he American?

Texan. It's sort of like American, but not quite.

You think he's Texan - with that accent ?!?!?

BugBear