West Dean pics

[Chris Knight]

Great day at West Dean and super to catch up with Forum members including old friends and new faces.

A certain well known plane maker and a well known c**l*c*or

It's OK, Waka had his stash piling up somewhere - he didn't let us down in his quest to own more tools than God.

Garret Hack planing some curly birch.

He uses some extremely simple tools to do his inlay work but they have clever wrinkles and I was happy to spend an hour listening to him.

Brian Boggs using one of his spoke-shaves on a chair leg

Woodbloke's "Wood from Hell"

but this guy (Deneb) tamed it using a low angle jack with 60 degree bevel. Here he is working on another piece

Mind you, he had a few tools to choose from!

These shows are very tiring so one needs to take the occasional rest

Bugbear was there to explain the benefits of his mini square. Adam and his little girl are listening intently..

Although for neat little tools I actually preferred Garret Hack's little scratchstock tool.

Many thanks to Mike Hancock for arranging a great day. I spent enough money personally to justify his efforts..

 

[Paul Chapman]

Had a great day at the West Dean hand tool event organised by Mike Hancock of Classic Hand Tools.

Phil Edwards was there with his range of hand-made Phillyplanes. Here he is pictured with Chris (Waterhead) on the right

And here are some of his planes

I had a very interesting chat with John Lloyd. John is a furniture restorer who also writes regularly in Furniture & Cabinet Making and runs cabinet making courses

Garrett Hack an author/teacher from the USA was demonstrating some lovely inlay work using mainly shop-made tools

And Brian Boggs, also from the USA, was demonstrating his considerable skill with a spokeshave and draw knife

It was very interesting to chat to James Mursell of The Windsor Workshop

It was nice to meet up with some forum members (this side and the other side). Adam was there with his delightful little daughter

Thanks for the bees wax, Adam :wink:

BugBear (Paul Womack) who I had not met before

Rod (Harbo)

Rob Stoakley was there , seen here chatting to Mike Huntley, the new Editor of Furniture & Cabinet Making

Rob Brought along his pice of "wood from hell" and here's Deneb Puchalske from Lie Nielsen Toolworks trying to tame it

It was nice to meet Nick Gibbs of British Woodworking Magazine

And to chat to Mike Hudson of Clifton Tools who was there with his complete range of my favourite planes

Finally a picture of Waka talking to Mike Hancock about Konrad Sauer's planes (can't think why :-k )

All in all, a fabulous day. It's on tomorrow so if you get the chance, do go.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[wizer]

Another missed event.

Thanks for sharing guys.

Next time.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Another missed event.

Thanks for sharing guys.

Next time.

I sincerely hope that Mike will be able to organise similar events in the future. It was quite different from the usual woodworking events in that there was a lot of emphasis on using tools to make things rather than just buying stuff - and Mike was able to get some top class makers there.

An excellent format - well done, Mike =D>

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[woodyone]

Great day out i really enjoyed it.

Woody.

 

[Mr Ed]

Nice to see the pictures, its really whet my appetite for my journey down to West Dean tommorrow.

 

[Harbo]

Went with a couple of friends who were not really woodies (they wanted something in Chichester) - however they enjoyed it so much the other shopping trip did not happen.
Bought a raps from Michael Aurio himself and had it signed - probably dare not use it now?
Had a chat with a tall person carrying a doorstop of a plane who I see from the photos was Bugbear!
Everything being sold with a discount.
Great venue, lovely weather, excellent organic burgers and coffee, very nice people.
All in all a great day out.

If you can make it go tomorrow!

Rod

 

[woodbloke]

My pics from the day, a really fabulous day out. Here's Philly at the bench...note the brand new leather apron (why hasn't it been branded with L.... :lol: )

and her's the Wood from Hell being tamed...I was suitably impressed A LN low angle jack was used with an EF of 62deg and a very tight mouth, maybe .25mm:

...and one of Pete, Paul and Waka...who's probably chortling over a small prospective package he's about to receive shortly from Canada :wink: :lol:

and finally one of Paul showing another woodnut the delights of the Veritas No 80 scraper:

A great day out and one not to be missed...get along if you can make it - Rob

 

[Anonymous]

Looks like I missed another great show. Always good to see forum members at work (buying I hope).

Lets hope Westonbirt has such good weather.

Dave

 

[Good Surname or what ?]

Will anyone be there tomorrow? Have you left anything for us to buy?

 

[Escudo]

Feeling a bit glum that I missed this do. , but pleased everyone enjoyed themselves.

Hope Mike can organise another next year, glad to see forum members splashing the cash. Helping the economy and all that....

Cheers, Tony.

 

[Slim]

Helping the economy and all that....

Any excuse :roll:

 

[Waka]

Not really much I can add, it was great to meet up with forum members and swap tips/advice etc.

Mike Hancock put on a really good show and one that I hope will be repeated in the future. I guess the highlights for me were watching the experts at work, they make things look so easy.

Great day out Mike, now looking forward to Westonburt.

 

[woodyone]

I enjoyed talking to the lie nelson guy has he gave me alot of tips to do with sharpening.

Woody.

 

[PaulO]

Great show with some great experts there. Came away with a pair of LN skew chisels in cocobolo. I think I prefer the Westonbirt arrangement, which includes scheduled teaching.

My only suggestion would be that Mike Hancock gives Bugbear his own work bench next year, hopefully a good distance away. So that he can tell everyone how his contrivances are superior to their's. That way I could listen to the experts, instead of Bugbear telling them how it should be done. (Rant over :wink: )

 

[dunbarhamlin]

Hahaha experimentation and innovation is ALWAYS good - and you can't reasonably expect a parent to keep quiet about how wonderful his kids are :lol:

'Twas indeed a good day (though not sure we left many toys for the folks on Sunday, least if they wanted Cullen, Jeske, LV... oops, mustn't forget Auriou or um, may be as well I'm already single again)

Was pleased to see Chris Vesper's goodies over here too.

(and next time I'm going to wear a T with UKW/otherplace/WoodNet ID on't - could be a good idea - hey, could just use cafepress etc to get one knocked up)

Cheers
Steve Hamlin

 

[Nick Gibbs]

I'd like to add my congrats to Mike and his crew for putting on a great event at West Dean. They all work really hard spreading the woodworking word, and do so with a smile on their faces. I had a fantastic time meeting the demonstrators and lots of new and familiar readers. Thanks to everyone who came up to say hello. Long may shows like this last. See you all at Westonbirt.

Nick

 

[wizer]

Well what a lovely day. After my last comment, MarkW invited me along for the drive this morning. Thoroughly enjoyed myself. Better than any power tool show I have attended. Great to meet Philly and get a play with his planes. Lots of other faces to names. The highlight for me was Mr Brian Boggs. I only wished I'd seen his demos from the previous days on spokeshaves. Tho, we did have the privilege of seeing him finish the chair he was making.

Interesting to see a master craftsman working bare footed

We watched him weave the seat out of Hickory Bark. This stuff is really interesting. It's just like lengths of leather. Very pliable, workable stuff. The aroma is lovely too.

I just couldn't get a good enough picture to do the finished article justice. I'm totaly in awe of his work. Interesting to hear that he is holding a course this coming week with a star studded list of attendees. Including Sir Charlesworth, Michel Auriou, James Mursell and our very own Phil Carpenter (Good Surname or What)

Definitely going to look out for his next UK course.

Here is a close up of the Hickory Bark.

Many thanks to Mike Hancock for putting on such a fantastic event. Here's to next year.

 

[MooreToolsPlease]

Looks like a great show.
If it is on next year I will make sure to drop by.
Some fantastic names were there!

 

[jonbikebod]

It was an excellent show. Very condensed in a way, just the god bits without all the hippy beads etc. I wish I had known I was in such celebrated company but I only recognised Bugbear from the forum. Perhaps we should all have forum hats or something.
Jon.