A new film of the work I made for my show at Haddon Hall inspired by the incredible medieval woodwork there. The film was commissioned by my friend and mentor Bill Amberg. Bill Amberg Studio @ Haddon Hall with Robin Wood from Bill Amberg Studio on Vimeo.
So four months work are coming to fruition with the opening of my first ever show. This marks 20 years as a full time woodworker and it has been a very interesting process. Most interesting has been the challenge to create something new to fit in to an environment that I have admired for 25 years. To create a body…
Whilst everyone else was glued to their TVs watching the royal wedding I was hosting some Japanese woodwork tourists. These were representatives of the Japan Green Woodwork Association and they wanted to see my workshop and learn a little about bowlturning. We only had 3 hours at the workshop but they all had a go on the lathe, I forged…
Lunchtime today the reflected winter sun falling on the table was beautiful so I snapped a few of the quaichs I had just finished. I have been working on quaichs this week especially as we approach Burns night, I love these but it’s not easy to make just one or two, best to make a batch and Burns birthday approaching…
Nothing to see here unless you like pictures of nice Japanese axes. These gorgeous woodworking tools came from my Japanese friend Tomio Imaru. Imarusan and his woodworking friends have very kindly scoured Japanese auctions for me to collect these beautiful tools. I hope to share some of them with the European carpenters that came to Japan with me and also…
Last few photos that didn’t fit in earlier posts from our woodworking tour of Japan. Big cypress at a shrine. This is the shrine and after making a donation the appropriate bows, handclaps and ringing the bell you get a go on the taiko drum. I have wanted to have a go on these for years since first seeing performances…
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Meet Takahiro Yoshino a remarkable chairmaker we met in Japan. What made him remarkable was that he is the first chirmaker I have met (and I know a lot) who makes truly bespoke chairs that are tailored (I can’t think of a better word) to fit the user. Now some may argue with this point. I know a lot of…
Before we head for 2011 I am going to share the last pictures from my woodworking trip in Japan. This one is about the forerunner to the plane the spear plane, yariganna or yari-kanna. Here is the yariganna in use. I have not been able to corroborate the info below as well as I would have liked, it is primarily…
How is this for a gorgeous collection of old Japanese axes. As regular readers will know I fell in love with the Japanese carpentry tools on our recent tea house building project particularly the axes and adzes (ono, masakari and chouna) At the end of our Japanese trip we visited the tools shop but new tools were way out of…
