Percy Bishton - Woodworker and Turner

The new year ahead will see a number of exciting things happening for me, but will be particularly busy too. Thoughts of spending less of my work time in the climbing wall route setting and more time in the workshop have been put on hold for the short-term whilst I tur...

So, after a brief pause for summer holidays, I've finally found a little time to finish the roof of the timber frame I've been building. Photo below. (It's not totally finished - there are still the wind braces to go into the roof structure, but its all but done bar th...

So, the main frame for the house is now complete, and there will be a short delay whilst the wood for the roof trusses is processed. The tree that the roof timbers will come from is still growing, but is due to be felled, milled and dried in August. This should allow m...

Just a quick update with things. The house build is coming along, in between the showers. A couple more days on the main structure and then I will tackle the roof trusses. This house will have a tree (yes, a whole 25 foot high section of beech tree) holding up the roof...

Every now and then I get to do some carpentry.

As I have been lead to understand, a joiner joins bits of wood together to make functional, everyday things like cupboards, window frames, doors - that sort of thing. A cabinet maker does finer work - beautiful cabinets and...

I am a big fan of Paul Sellers, and I was reading his blog the other day. He pointed out how efficient modern machinery is at mass producing furniture, and how a factory with machines set up to produce very complex wooden constructions such as Windsor chairs could stil...

Just a quick update. Big bookcase is finished and in its final home which means I can move freely around the workshop again with bumping into big bits of oak or sash clamps! Now I can maybe get to the lathe again and do dome turning. Here's a picture of an ash vessel I...

I have been tempted to try a milk paint finish on a Windsor chair, but have never quite managed to get around to it. There are a few reasons for this. 

Firstly, a milk paint finish is considered by those in the know to be more typical of American Windsor chairs, whereas...

I managed to finish my challenge for January without too much difficulty, and am feeling happy that I managed it (see previous blog for details!)

The six weeks since my last blog have been very hectic - working to make the CWIF a success again (see the video below), and...

It's the middle of winter, and there is snow on the hills outside my workshop window. Daylight hours are very short at the moment, which is a bit of a problem when you're as busy as I currently am - I'm definitely struggling to find enough daytime to do everything I wa...