Magazines

One of David Oldfield’s magnificent sculptural chairs

Spring is finally here and what better way than to welcome its arrival than with our fantastic May issue! We’ve got some great projects up our sleeves, as well as a wide range of technical-based articles for you to enjoy and be inspired by. We start with a great article on David Oldfield’s sculptural chairs, which may look beautiful but they caused him problems from the start, as he explains. Niall Yates is next up with his covered notice board, which sees him juggling the various elements in the making process; and with a story of two world wars as its Arctic backdrop, Ludvig Solvang tells the story of how Viking vessels are still made today. We’re also very pleased to welcome back our regular author, Michael Forster, who makes a ‘therapeutic return’ to woodworking by showing us how to make three small desk projects using offcuts, before Windsor chairmaker James Mursell explains why the spokeshave is his favourite workshop tool. Also, John Greeves meets Jeremy Atkinson, the last traditional master clog maker of bespoke clogs in England, who still earns a living from his work, and on our back page again this month is Robin Gates, who tells us how a twirl with a Thonet No.14 prompted him to consider the qualities of a good dancing chair.

Bryn Edwards’ turned pomander in mahogany

In turning, Andrew Hall brings us the final part in his ‘Blues bowl’ series, which sees him showing how to make a multitude of accessories for your newly turned instrument, including a pick up, slide, plectrums and your very own bowl in which to place them all. Next, also this month’s cover star, Bob Chapman offers his advice on turning all manner of balls, as well as how to texture and colour them should you want to, before Bryn Edwards presents a lovely design for a traditional turned pomander, which is made using mahogany.

The Festool CTM doubles up as a work platform; note clipped on Systainer

In ‘kit & tools’ our bench is brimming with new and exciting products, including the Festool CLEANTEC CTM 26 E AC extractor, which is superbly engineered,  and the Ball Gouge and TurboPlane accessories from Arbortech, both of which are ideal for a variety of woodcarving applications. Ian Wilkie also looks at the Proxxon TMB 220 bench drill, which he thinks is ideal for model making and model engineering, while Andy King gets to grips with Planet Plus Ltd’s excellent Turners Mesh, which is especially suited to woodturners.

Excerpt from the The Woodworker of December 1917

We also bring you our usual ‘Archive’ piece, which this month looks at an article from The Woodworker of December 1917 that details the making of a ‘spill plane’,before we bring you the next instalment in our ‘me & my workshop’ series. As well as all of the above, we also have your usual favourites, including AOB, courses, timber directory and next month, which let’s you know what you can expect from our June issue.

All this and much more in the May 2018 issue of The Woodworker, which is now on sale!