I will be teaching a Pre festival course  Fines lames & petites cuillères at Jane and Peters green wood work festival in April. This small but perfectly formed festival has only 50  spaces and will never get any larger. I have been teaching and passing on my skills at this gathering for a couple of years now and alway eagerly await the ferry trip from Plymouth to France. The hosts Jane and Peter are welcoming and generous as well as begin very talented. The festival takes place at their home in Britainy and people come from all over Europe to participate and share knowledge s ..read more

Just back from Stafford county show and I have found another way of making fan birds, not anything radical, just an evolution, and going back to when I first made fanbirds on my shaving horse. I have designed and developed a new big push knife to complement my draw knives. It comes in handy for making the fan birds and not just bowls. It is always fun to find new uses for tools, especially when they work so well. More on the pushknives in coming posts, they are not listed on the website yet. Just wanted to share just how many birds can be made from a small discarded end to ash wood that wa ..read more

You do not have to be a green woodworker to benefit from this video. We all need to take care of our bodies. As I say in the forward of Shaving Horses, Lap Shaves and other Woodland Vices:  Although we have never been recognised as such, the woodworker, like any manual worker, is an athlete. We often work for hours, using tools that can weigh several pounds, all the time extending and contracting our muscles, working with the rhythms of our breath, building strength and muscle memory. We have to learn how to use tools correctly and become aware of how our bodies feel ..read more

My main cross cut saw is a sliding compound mitre chop saw. The chop saw cost me £700 ish about 12 years ago and a new one is the same price now. I have heard there can be an issue with the accuracy of the same make with the newest model, and I have been thinking about buying a bench saw with a good sliding table. The reason for buying a new saw is because slowly over time the fence on the chop saw has been bending out of true. The reason is simple, as we may have experienced, it is easy to catch the saw blade on the wood and knock the wood into the fence. This has only happened a few times wi ..read more

The response from my Shaving horse book has been fantastic, with some great reviews. I have now partnered with North House Folk School in the USA to sell the books. They are the only retailer where you can buy the books in the USA, so give them a call if you want to save a few dollars on postage. However, at of the time of posting this blog, they do not have the books on their website. Retailers in the UK, are Matt of Woodland Craft Supplies and Maurice of Woodsmith Experience. Both Matt and Maurice have them on their websites. If you want to sell the books give me a call. I prefer t ..read more

That often-promised book that never materialised...is now here! After at least three years of work and a lifetime’s experience of making and using these traditional devices, Shaving Horse, Lap Shaves and other Woodland Vices is now on sale, at www.seanhellman.com It is a resource for anyone  wishing to make and use these simple but effective devices, and to participate in an enduring and worthy tradition. Whether a complete novice or accomplished professional, Shaving Horses, Lap Shaves and other Woodland Vices has much to offer: effective woodworking techniques, use of specific ..read more

I spent the day with Richard Devaney at the Saxon village at Escot house in Devon. He was hosting an APT local group get together. As he is recreating Saxon life he does not do saws and hates it when others leave the evidence of the saw in the material. Not using a saw means that wood has a very different end cut to it. This end cut is usually very tactile, visually appealing and organic in its  form. I will have to try working without a saw more. Detail of diagonal supports on a pole lathe Above and below, the worn and polished poppet heads Ends can be rough and ready or rou ..read more

I came across this great video and article by Sean McCabe that echoes my ideas on copying other peoples work. http://seanwes.com/tv/043-how-to-be-inspired-without-copying ..read more

I have various pinch dogs in the workshop and they only get used when I need to fix a piece of round wood, beam, bowl blank or plank in place when sawing, drilling or carving. I am yet to make or buy big ones as used in timber framing, and have easily got by with small ones only a couple of inches or so long. I am over cautious at times, and the idea of using such small dogs to hold such large pieces of wood is not something I would have considered until I had too because they where all I had to hand. As can be seen in the video they do work very well. I bought these years ago, second hand, an ..read more

I plan my year out with shows at easy intervals and what happens? A few big commission jobs come my way and throw everything into chaos. Running low on stock and then having to work between shows on these commissions. Lots of things have had to be put on hold, for example my shave horse book. It has been written, but as I am self publishing it takes a lots of time laying it out in Indesign, a program I am still slowly learning.With any luck it may be published in time for christmas. Tool making is also on hold, but I have made the first prototype of my perfect drawknife. The Easy Rider s ..read more