Gallery

My English Work Bench

The English bench -with douglas fir - was my first project using hand tools. It was quite a learning experience. Thanks Richard.

Jef's spoonrack - finally got around to it!

It was supposed to be my first proper project after my workbench, but I ended up building the side table and danish stool first. But I finally used the pine planks I first bought at the beginning of lockdown and if I'd known how satisfying it would be I might have done it sooner! Hand-shaped oak finger pull on the drawer and danish oil to finish. Definitely going to adapt the design for a saw till too, it's begging for it!

Great instruction led to quality build 2023

Richard and Helen’s video series provided me with such great instructions and super helpful tips for working with a minimal set of hand tools! I was very impressed with how stable this bench was even when it was just dry fitted together, before adding glue and nails. I love this bench! Ron P.

The Nest of Tables

And best of all, they do slip one onto the other.

The Nest of Tables

What a learning curve this was, and how satisfying to finish. The thicknessing jigs were invaluable for getting standard components without buckets of tears.Using a preset router to finalise the mortice, tenon and bridle widths also squared them up. I did try making the pine core for the table tops but ended up buying reasonable quality ply which saved an enormous amount of planing and flattening. The timber is Allocasuarina sp. and the finish is 50:50 Tung Oil:Citrus Terpene and polished with that mixed 50:50 with bees wax. Very grateful thanks to Team English Woodworker.

Jef's Danish Stool

Finally finished it 10 months after starting it, a lot of stop-starting and numerous distractions aside. A challenging piece to get just right with all the compound angles, and Richard wasn't lying when he said you'll have no skin on your hands left after weaving the seat. The Danish paper cord is lovely stuff but hard to work with and really does strip your skin. Also, I discovered the hard way, it will actually break if you yank it hard enough, so take care you know the limits when tensioning it - i broke it half way through the main seat section, so had to engineer a tie-off and re-start which was quite fiddly to achieve without it looking really untidy. Lesson learnt! Also, tung oil takes forever to dry as soon as you go above a 50% ratio for the final coats- definitely a finish to apply in the hot summer months, not a manky October! Pretty pleased with it, glad its finally done, and might now get around to the spoon rack that was supposed to be my first project, 3 builds ago....

Jef's Danish Stool

Finally finished it 10 months after starting it, a lot of stop-starting and numerous distractions aside. A challenging piece to get just right with all the compound angles, and Richard wasn't lying when he said you'll have no skin on your hands left after weaving the seat. The Danish paper cord is lovely stuff but hard to work with and really does strip your skin. Also, I discovered the hard way, it will actually break if you yank it hard enough, so take care you know the limits when tensioning it - i broke it half way through the main seat section, so had to engineer a tie-off and re-start which was quite fiddly to achieve without it looking really untidy. Lesson learnt! Also, tung oil takes forever to dry as soon as you go above a 50% ratio for the final coats- definitely a finish to apply in the hot summer months, not a manky October! Pretty pleased with it, glad its finally done, and might now get around to the spoon rack that was supposed to be my first project, 3 builds ago....

B&Q pine

Another fantastic learning experience, with a half decent result. The first thing I made on the english workbench. Going to use it to store marking gauges and similar, I think.

Chuffed to bits

Thanks so much for the video series, I've learnt so much more than I ever have from a book. Thoroughly enjoyable, I'm actually going to miss it, but looking forward to watching another one. The build took many months and I made plenty of mistakes, the worst of which was not taking the twist out of the aprons, which means the trestles are not parallel, but nevermind, I literally cannot wait to start using my first ever workbench.

Loved This Project

The angled tenons were a bit of a challenge as I was really trying my best to get a gap free fit on this project. I thought that the weaving was going to be a chore, but I really loved it. In fact, I'm looking at your Chair Basics Course right now and thinking about what it would be like to weave a larger chair seat. Hmmm, on second thought maybe I don't love weaving quite THAT much. We shall see.

My 3 Danish stools

Made 3 of them so far. The first one is pine with paracord. The second one is poplar, painted with General Finishes "Milk Paint" and paper cord. The last one is mahogany with General Finishes Enduro-VAR satin and paper cord as well. This one was a lot of fun, I changed up the stretchers to try something more advanced.

Three years later Finally flatten again

I didn't post the first pictures of the bench in February 2019, after three years of use and abuse I I've flattened it again. American yellow pine is hell to cross-grain plane. No wonder I put it off for a year or so. It's ten feet long and will wear you out. I have marked off six feet to see if I can build the French Bench and be satisfied. The distant four feet is mostly cluttered anyway. I have my eye out for slabs to use as a top for six feet.

Three years later Finally flatten again

I didn't post the first pictures of the bench in February 2019, after three years of use and abuse I I've flattened it again. American yellow pine is hell to cross-grain plane. No wonder I put it off for a year or so. It's ten feet long and will wear you out. I have marked off six feet to see if I can build the French Bench and be satisfied. The distant four feet is mostly cluttered anyway. I have my eye out for slabs to use as a top for six feet.

2nd stool

Made a second one for my mum, though chopped a side rail mortice in the wrong place, then after silently weeping on the ground for an hour did a ropey looking repair job and good as new(ish)! Got the seal of approval from the wee one though so can't be that bad!

Third One

I’ve made three of these tables. The first is in my living room. The second, a stouter version, serves as the base for my tool cabinet. My sister in law requested a study table for her granddaughter. If I’d know she was going to want it painted white, I’d have probably used an overlapping face for the drawer. The white makes the gaps stand out. But she was happy with it and it was fun to build.

Theme on the Industrial desk

We needed a small sideboard under the tv, but with more storage for all the charging cables etc. you never use, but don’t want to throw away. Just in case!

Sore fingers

Great fun with this, next one will be much better though! Used macrame cord rather than Danish cord, but it was not fun to work with, tangling/unwrapping etc but gor there in the end! As Richard said I've got no skin left on me fingers!!

Fun with Handtools!

This was an attractive project to explore joinery with handtools! I used Ash with "Arid" color 425 paracord for the cord.

First attempt

Made with wood salvaged from a door given away on Freegle. Badly stained then varnished with water based poly. Not without a few minor errors on my part... but salvaged and pleased with the result. First time weaving. Thanks for the good instruction!

3rd project

Pine base and top with a local slab of cherry for the leg vice, made the cross mechanism with some mild steel bars, filed the ends into rounds and drilled holes through with my cordless drill, amazingly it works!! Made a planing stop as well with some mild steel plate, very proud of myself, just need to decide what to build first!

Bedside table from hall table design

My plan to build the hall table got delayed through family issues (mother passed aged 94) but when my granddaughter wanted a sturdy bedside table I decided to use with minimum changes making the smaller table. The complication was really the shelf which I had to leave as 2 pieces that I joined in situ because there was no way to make a single piece one that would go in. Think about it! The drawer became quite small but I was asked if a secret compartment could be included. It hold 5 Twix bars! Because of the draw-bored M&T joinery the table is strong and stable and the full taper legs give it a cheeky stance I feel. Paint from Shabby Nook Fusion range. The beech top was made up from narrow boards I was given and the legs and frame from pine with oak pegs. drawer rails from mahogany that was spare.

#2 Common Pine is Dear Now

Clear pine at Lowes costs as.much as cherry at our only wood shop, so paint makes it good.

A Proper, Humble Bench

Well, this is my trusty English Workbench in Douglas Fir. It's my first proper woodworking build, and I've since built several of the projects from this site using this bench. I smile when I think of Richard's comment from the series preview, where he mentions he could "knock one up in a weekend." This took me months to build, an hour each day, starting from rough sawn boards. And while it wasn't easy at times, it was the ideal project for introducing proper techniques. The build made it easy to transition to joinery in other projects, and provided confidence to build with only a few tools. And I made plenty of mistakes. I remade the planing brace more than once, split a couple boards with cut nails, spacing between the plank top is more than intended, and the list goes on. But it's still the perfect bench. It's solid, works perfectly, and lacks nothing. I installed a Lake Eerie 2X wooden vice, Benchcrafted planing stop in ash stock, and use a couple of Gramercy holdfasts. The bench measures 8' long and 27" wide. The top is exactly two inches thick. It's finished with two coats of Tried And True Varnish oil. I built this bench a year or two ago, and I've included pictures of it since then. I know most workbench photos show a new, untouched bench but I thought I'd show mine with a few miles on it. This series was my path to Richard and this site. I was simply looking for a sturdy workbench (that I could build without a workbench). Instead, I discovered hand tool woodworking. I know Richard doesn't care for "the sentimental rose tinted shite" but building this bench is a lesson in more than woodworking, I think.

A Simple Setup

I enjoyed this series way too much. No sane person should be excited to watch hours of sharpening tutorials, but I was riveted. The series is expertly filmed, and Richard's credibility means you can trust the techniques he suggests. This may be an odd "build" to share in the gallery, but I wanted to post a simple photo of where I landed after watching the series, in case it benefits others. The real lightbulb for me was Richard pointing out that using A2 means first considering the larger impact on your overall set up. And the idea of avoiding grinders completely, by purchasing a diamond plate and sticking to softer steels, clicked for me. So here's my setup at the moment. I adopted Richard's large plywood base, purchased a diamond plate, upgraded my oil stones (to Arkansas whetstones), and added a leather strop. I'm very happy with this approach, which took only a few minutes to assemble. I upgraded to the Arkansas whetstones because I already have a couple small A2 blades for my block and shoulder plane, and these stones (from Dan's Whetstones) can handle A2 steel, especially for small irons like these. But in general, I'm going to stick with softer steels and this setup means I can still handle the occasional A2 or PM-V11 without issue. I highly recommend this series. I now purchase tools based on my sharpening setup, instead of the other way around.

Great Size and Design

This is one of my favorite builds. It's simple, straightforward, uses a single board, teaches bridle joints, packs flat, and the design is one that everyone seems to enjoy. The appearance of the thin top is a great design trick that I was happy to learn. I first built a table out of pine, to work out any likely errors on my part. Thankfully there were only a few. I learned to pay closer attention to the thickness of the top, to avoid the threaded inserts creating a small bump on the top of the table. I had moderate success with the bridle guides, but eventually decided to freehand those cuts. I think that was the right choice, to better locate the joints (and I can now quickly cut a decent bridle joint, thanks to this project). I eventually landed on red oak for the final table, and plan to build several more in the future. This is a great series that I'd highly recommend.

A good challenge

I really appreciated the design and difficulty of this build. And I don't think I would have attempted it without this series. Richard and Helen's videos make builds like this much more accessible; I would never have imagined weaving with Danish cord before this series. I did stumble here and there, particularly with the small tenon where we couldn't use the router. And a leg or two found their way into the wrong mortise at glue up, but the end result is a humble stool that my family seems to really enjoy.

Danish stool: I made it!

Thanks Richard and Helen, I learned SOOO much from this series! I'm still a beginner and many of the techniques in this video were outside my comfort zone: the angled mortices, the angled tenons, the through tenons, the compound angles, the curves, the weave, etc. Thanks to your amazing instruction and demonstration, I managed without struggling too much. It was hard (in a good way), but certainly not frustrating. I'm really happy with the outcome. The joints fit snugly and are virtually gap-less, the stool feels nice and is plenty strong enough to hold my weight as I sit on it. Here it is, on the workbench, 2 minutes after completing the weave (oops, we can still see the cord scraps in the photo). I'm honestly still surprised/amazed at how well it turned out and I can barely believe I made this. I would never have attempted a build of this complexity without this series. I think the hardest part for me was the angled tenons in chapter four. I had to restart these pieces several times to get all 4 tenons fit snugly with consistent angles. I was simply incapable of sawing them correctly and trying to correct them with a chisel only made things worse. I resorted to planing the ends with a variable angle shooting board and then using a magnetic 90 degree sawing guide and then the result was near perfect. I put off the weave for some time as was rather intimidating. In the end, it wasn't that hard. In fact, I enjoyed it quite a bit and now I kind of feel silly for having put this off for so long. I did struggle a bit with the paper cord, especially at the start. The cord snaps off surprisingly easily when bent around the nails or pulled too tight. I even cut one of the loops on the underside while driving the nails in at the very end, but I managed to tie it off with a an extra nail. It takes a bit of getting used to, but by the time I reached the final middle section, I was progressing with decent speed and no longer snapped the cord. I've said this before in my previous posts, but I truly feel more and more confident/empowered after each of these series. Building this stool suddenly makes me want to try building more chairs. Maybe I'll try your chair building series next :-)

My first real piece of furniture.

After making some boxes, I decided to challenge myself a bit and make myself a piece of furniture. I did the thicknessing by hand after that I bought a compact thicknesser. Doing the joinery was a lot of fun. Lesson 5 was a bit challenging, because it was a lot of info and work. I didn’t curve the side rails because I don’t have bandsaw and the experience to make these curves and roundings with a chisel. So I stayed save instead of ruining my work. I really enjoyed this build and I learned a lot of it.

Fun and challenging

I absolutely loved building this stool. It’s perfect for woodworkers that already have a bit of experience trying to learn new things. The fitting of the legs to a curved surface, whacking the tenons, fitting the through tenons, weaving: all new to me but perfectly doable. And as always, I loved the videos. I made a short video of the build myself: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CX2ALiBl9iT/

Second side table

Building the first side table in poplar gave me the confidence I needed to try this out with more expensive lumber. So here is my 2nd table out of oak with slightly altered dimensions and with ebonized legs. It was so much fun to build this a 2nd time. Last time I used the 4 guides to cut the bridle joints. This time, I used a single guide for both sides of the mortice and then hand-fitted each of the tenons. It was a bit longer, but I really like the perfectly centered joints. Finally, I had some issues with ebonizing and with the top coat, but I managed. What an amazing series! Next up, I will be trying my hand at the danish stool!

My first side table

After spending around two years fooling around with hand tools and wood in the basement (without producing any usable furniture), I was about to give up. This side table series empowered me to finally produce working, functional and beautiful furniture. I built this first one with poplar and finished it with water-based polyurethane (leftovers from a previous dead end). The result isn't quite a sexy as ebonized oak, but I'm really proud and my 4 year-old is really happy with his new night stand :-)

First try

The weaving was a bit rough. But the wife wants another to match so I’ll have a chance to improve.

Danish Stool project finished!

Had a blast completing my first English Woodworker project. Despite the delicate wooden frame the stool is surprisingly strong. Details, like the tapered legs, round overs and gentle curves, really make the difference and more interesting to look at from all angles. Using Richards techniques meant I made neat through mortises, all by hand, first time. The Danish cord weaving was fun and I’ll definitely use it again in a future project. Love the way the black cord looks in changing light. Have signed up for the industrial desk series and it’s my next project. Great job Richard and Helen!

I made a stool!

Very happy with my first stool (I feel more to come in the near future). There have been many moments trying to work out angles and things I will do better next time. Thank you Richard, I could not have done this without you. Note the side-table project photo-bombing!

2nd project

Pine base and oak top, 2 legs and a drawer in the bin, took 3 months of an hour an evening but eventually got it done! On to the French workbench now.

Coffee table

Coffee table with marquetry drawn by my adored wife!

Mashup in recycled roof beams

I did some skip diving following the loft conversion of the house opposite ours in SW London. Combined with some other scavenging I was able to build this six seater dinning table which is a mashup of the tressle table and hall table builds. Chuffed with how it turned out.

Side table in cherry

This side table in cherry was a great project to build so many essential skills. It was my first real piece of furniture to grace my home built by own hands.

French workbench in beech

I have only recently got into woodwork and was looking for projects and ideas. I spend a week at Rowden Atelier and got some basic experience of how to use handtools. I then found your site and and really enjoying the approach. I have done the side table project but really needed a decent workbench, so the logical thing to do was order a lot of beech and then get into it. I have learnt so much from your videos and correcting the errors I made along the way. If you note the walnut inserts on the side they cover up where I had to drill holes through as one of the top boards had a split in it. Thank you and looking forward to whatever comes next.

Beech Englias workbench

Almost finished. Just need to leather prep the vice, drill the holes for. The holdfast and make the toothed planing stop. Been fun making it but hard graft with beech an hand tools.

1st project

Starting from barely being able to put up a shelf I cannot believe I've made this! very scruffy in parts and took me ages but I learned loads. The bridle joints were a lot trickier than I thought they'd be and not sure I got the ebonising quite right but onwards and upwards now! Thanks a lot for the excellent videos, keep up the fantastic work!

English workbench in Douglas Fir

It was a revelation to make this entire wood bench using hand tools. The skills I learned building this bench will be with forever. I loved I could make bench left handed.

Spoon rack wall cabinet

Wall cabinet with popular case, ash drawer front and walnut pull.

Don's workbench

My first piece of furniture! Hopefully not the last. Built over about 5-6 weeks with just a jack plane, block plane, ryoba saw, marking guage, knife, square, ruler, mallet, hammer, punch and one chisel. Thanks for the lessons!

Gareth’s Side Table

Happy with the build (&enjoyed it) but defects in my oak board forced me to match the oak unsatisfactory. I didn’t use the bridle guides as after making 20 sets my saws still drifted so cut them by hand.Didn’t realise how difficult bridle joints were! Wanted to ebonise but the wife wouldn’t let me due to furniture matching! Will do one day.

Jef's side table

2nd project after my English workbench was supposed to be the spoon rack, but then i put my hand on some oak boards... So here's my side table instead! Another great learning curve, much went well (i was delighted with my initial glue joint for the top!), some less so (bridle joints...). As others have noted, i struggled a bit with the bridle guides, partly because they require (i now realise...) very precise thicknessing of the aprons and legs, and mine were a bit out here and there. Lesson learnt. Oak is not quite as easy and satisfying to work as i'd expected - oddly brittle and very hard not to tear out, compared to softwood or ash, and despite all the raising of grain and sanding, some grain still trying to pop out in the finished piece! Also i found that he grain changed direction frequently over the thin boards, so even over the length of the top, it was very hard to smooth the whole thing to perfection without causing issues in one corner or another, and lots of tail chasing ensued! I love the ebonised finish - that one is a banker, but I've used Osmo on a couple of pieces now, and not sure I've worked out how to get the best out of it, just seems a little 'flat', even with past wax over the top. Still learning. Anyway, another very enjoyable series and onwards and upwards....

Garys Workbench May 2021

Well all I can say is I had a go! Made from fence posts, floor joists and 4 x 2s, more knots than timber. What a learning experience. Loved it! I will make a smaller one but next time I will use some decent timber and hopefully my joinery will be much better. It is a solid, stable beast though!

A Norwegian side table

Righty then, it's time for a Norwegian version of the side table! In oak, with aprons and legs ebonized darker than a midwinter night in the north. A brew of tea strong enough to remove paint helps the process. The madness is described here: https://fagerjord.org/woodworking-projects/furniture/2802/ The outdoor image is of course taken in sunny weather, to keep up with tradition. Dedicated to two wonderful people: Richard and Helen Best regards, Vidar F. Harboe, Norway.

Side Table

Poplar base, mahogany top. Base finished with milk paint, top finished with tung oil.