Member Profile

I did a sort of training course in carpentry and joinery in the 60s  at a Government Training Centre in Letchworth. Trouble was no one taught me the really important stuff - sharpening, fettling and generally ensuring that the kit is tip-top. I left the trade soon after I 'qualified', convinced I'd only ever be mediocre becauseI didn't have any talent.

I've been around a variety of careers since then, and returned to serious woodworking somewhere around 2003 IIRC - since when I've avidly read all I could find, devoured David Charlesworth's DVDs, and generally obsessed over getting things right. Having done quite a lot of published writing in other fields, I stumbled into writing about woodwork and currently contribute articles on a freelance basis for Good Woodworking and The Woodworker. Doing this has, over the past decade, enabled me to purchase some high quality hand tools, get a bit more training, and suddenly doing quality work doesn't all seem so impossible any more!

Now in retirement I've set up making bespoke handcrafted boxes.

See my website: www.handcraftedboxes.co.uk

You can also find me at www.facebook.com/boxmakermichael