Centring The Past 2025

This is just a short post, as I will do a proper one later in the week. But I wanted to share with you that I have just had an incredible weekend.

I was lucky enough to be invited along to an event run by Whitacre Bespoke Carpentry, which was called Centring The Past, reconstructing formwork for medieval vaults. The idea was that I was going to come along and do some carving tuition, focusing on carving on a beam that had been hewn. I ended up going for the whole weekend and I wish I could have gone all week, it was incredible. 

 I can't wait to share with you the two days we spent there. I'm so fired up about my trade right now! 

A Simple Carved Gift

My wife had a friend and work colleague leave her school a few days ago. She wanted to give her a personal gift and knew that the lady in question was building a library as she was obsessed by books. she asked me to make a simple sign for the door.

 the set up takes just as much time as carving it in all honesty. Luckily I had a few scraps of planned oak left from an urn I'd made and carved for my best mate's dad a few weeks back. This piece took the letters brilliantly. 

Part of me thinks it would be nice to sell more carved items, but I know I'm competing against machines that can do in seconds what takes me hours. 

Carved Vegetable Fridge Magnets

With our daughter's diabetes, we like to keep really organised. The main thing we have to keep on top on is the insulin. We have to keep three sorts in stock, all in date, even though we're only really using one regularly. 

I decided that rather than having these out of sight, out of mind, we should have a reminder in the form or a white board with the note written on it. 

Of course this is a bit of a depressing board really...

So I decided to try and make it a bit more interesting. 

Carved Bread Board - Woodcarving Raised Letters

 I love doing some carving projects, and I love sharing them almost as much as doing them.

This is a bread board for an upcoming magazine article in Woodcarving magazine. I wanted to make a bread board, but do it a little different to the norm, and have the lettering raised rather than sunk in. this is harder to do, but gives the board a really unique look. 

Hand Carving A Sign For An Apiary

I made my friend a sign for her 40th the other day. She's just got into bee keeping and it going to get a couple of hives. 

I wasn't really sure what to get her so I decided I'd make her a sign for her future apiary. 

I enjoy letter carving, it's quite simple and looks great when it's done. 

I thought I'd make a video but do this one a little differently, just me carving with no talking. It's at 3x speed (so in total it took me an hour), with just the noise of my tools working (and the heater in the background). A different pace for my videos, but hopefully some will enjoy it, it's a bit like ASMR if you like that sort of thing. 

 My friend was pleased with the sign (and I had spelt it correctly thankfully). If you watch the video I'd love it if you left a comment on there (stupidly I set it to release at 4.30 this morning (Sunday) instead of afternoon and now I think I'm being penalized for the mistake). 

Anyone want a sign carving?

Carving Letters - Instructional Video

Back in the summer I got asked by a spoon carver via Instagram to carve them a sign for when they do craft fairs. 

I agreed to do it, but as usual struggled to find the time, but the week before last was wet and horrible so I decided to treat myself to a nice little carving job in my warm workshop. 

Photo credit - Mark Robson

I decided I should film it as well. 

Carving A Wooden Trivet - Pierced Design

The other day I saw my wife struggling with a hot pan and laying out two trivets to keep the big roasting dish off the table. 

I decided it was a perfect project to make a new trivet. I loved making one a few years ago and it was the perfect magazine article for Woodcarving Magazine. I spoke to my editor and said about different design, making it in a different way. 

Cover Star - Again! Wood Carving Magazine Front Cover

I've managed to make it to the front cover of a magazine again! It's the second time I've been on the front of Woodcarving magazine! 

My wife took the picture of me sat in front of my workbench a while back. 

My articles make up the first 21 pages of this issue. 

I built a Medieval Carved Chest - With The Wrong Wood!

This last week I set myself a tricky project. A carved medieval chest.

I was given the idea by someone I met who was into LARPing (Live Action Role Play), they are always after props and items to make the experience more real. He showed me some of the bits and bobs they have and I saw some chests in the background. I thought it would make a fun project and be a great source of material for an article in Woodcarving magazine (which I try to write for every issue at the moment). 

To keep costs low I carved it out of some brilliant quality pine boards that I have. 

What a mistake that was! 

Teaching Children Woodcarving

 My girls have wanted to try a bit more carving lately.

So I set up a couple of stations for them to work at with a mallet each with a few of the basic tools needed. I also cut them a small piece for lime each for them. 

Carving Photo

I got my daughter to take a couple of photos the other day when I carving, I needed a few with both of my hands in the shot for a magazine article I'm writing. She also took the one below, and unusually I quite like the photo of me so I thought I'd share it. 

I feel lucky I enjoy my time in my workshop working so much, and I get to make many interesting things, it's always changing and challenging. I know that in a few years what I do will probably have evolved even more and be something completely different, but for now I'll enjoy what it is. 

And I feel fortunate that my children can see me do it, spend time with me while I do it, it's lovely to hear them play outside while I'm in there. 

52 Weeks Of Carving

 I have kept my other blog sawdustinmysocks running for well over 10 years, sometimes I've put quite a bit on there and sometimes it's gone quiet.

This year I'm using it to document a challenge I've set myself where I'm trying to carve something every week to really develop my carving skills, something I've wanted to dedicate time to since I started to train to be a carpenter. 

I'm posting every week on there what carving and craft work I get up to and how I'm trying to learn the skills that I want. I'm enjoying the process and although it's a hard goal to set myself, I think that to do something like this every week is a great way to learn the skills and muscle memory needed. 

My new workbench is my latest project I've finished and I'm enjoying having it in my workshop - where I spend so much of my time! So if you're wondering what I do in the evenings my other blog has the answers - hopefully time better spent than watching TV. A few hours carving with a good audio book is sheer bliss! 

My workbench might be a bit over the top but let me know what you think!