tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61044099178006820362024-03-14T23:29:33.740-07:00Jeremy Broun FSD-CThoughts of an independent minded creative soulJeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-7190632263024198412023-02-28T06:28:00.018-08:002023-03-07T08:35:39.697-08:00Who makes a worthy furniture critic? <p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: verdana; white-space: pre-wrap;">I once heard John Makepeace say (I recall at the Irish 'Create' event where we were both invited speakers) that a furniture maker would not make a good furniture critic. Perhaps too close to the scene of the crime?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">The last acknowledged critic of the post 1970s Furniture Craft Revolution was a guy called Peter Dormer: an academic and a potter and very much part of the Royal College of Art/Crafts magazine mafia! Rumour was he disliked furniture! But he understood the nature of skill and so as a maker himself he clearly ticked that box as a critic! </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: verdana; white-space: pre-wrap;">The reader will note I am quite outspoken in this traditionally well-mannered field and forgive my lack of modesty - a cardinal sin amongst makers (who often are far from modest in reality, so let's please be truthful here) but my question is who else, besides <i><b>moi</b></i> has documented the British furniture movement of the past half century and against a historical backcloth - and with the advantage of giving an inside story?! Yes, and even using a cheap domestic VHS camcorder in the early days as this clip of my very first craft documentary in 1986 shows:</span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="color: #050505; font-family: verdana;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: verdana;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7iqLRBKxil8" width="428" youtube-src-id="7iqLRBKxil8"></iframe></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, putting my money where my mouth is, in 1988, using 20 grand from the proceeds of a house sale, I invested in video film making equipment. I applied to six film schools and was turned down (too old) by all of them and so I taught myself film making and set up <b>Thinking Hand Video</b>, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer;" tabindex="-1"></a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">sharing the wealth of ideas of the work and the makers behind it, as a reaction to silent somewhat exclusive furniture galleries where there was just a name and price tag for punters to refer to. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVGE4uyiRxU0pP018Z26iFqkBtgLfFoqz59V-5BvWvFxBwJOvfz_DcQoxd7ZsR0l2u-r0WIZnMKTaPGnAxH17pMf9WQmaQ3cR0uq0P5AsQ01F6IWTYhMZz6lrslLjtGnn7xI0e3M4LFoYKR94s5KdY_-W2wRDokjgJAZ_oNODPOGBEq_wQn2Ddxc6Lmg/s2142/THV%20logo%20blue.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="819" data-original-width="2142" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVGE4uyiRxU0pP018Z26iFqkBtgLfFoqz59V-5BvWvFxBwJOvfz_DcQoxd7ZsR0l2u-r0WIZnMKTaPGnAxH17pMf9WQmaQ3cR0uq0P5AsQ01F6IWTYhMZz6lrslLjtGnn7xI0e3M4LFoYKR94s5KdY_-W2wRDokjgJAZ_oNODPOGBEq_wQn2Ddxc6Lmg/w262-h100/THV%20logo%20blue.JPG" width="262" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: verdana; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ironically it was John Makepeace who chaired an award committee (in that year) when I applied for a £1,000 grant to continue making my furniture documentaries. I showed the committee an extract from 'Five Ways to fashion wood' on a tiny 6'' video monitor.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: verdana; white-space: pre-wrap;">The 20 minte documentary had won me <b>The Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers 'Ambrose Heal Award'</b>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGTTPi5CsUP3slR3AyAboaLnhWrejb6CoLeE4g_-3FhNKcMc_yANfbfNDoO7Y9qy5VMxNTdSwyZy_Q0Djf09pJasiCFpEXvzhNx-tHEfyF5bDgE1U88xVlWsfOflD7ScKnWzotF46lbfLaJkT3IFL_JgTJH-NXBI1npHpF0NI11HhC3eP2PXpHNKaoEA/s519/ambrose.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="519" data-original-width="500" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGTTPi5CsUP3slR3AyAboaLnhWrejb6CoLeE4g_-3FhNKcMc_yANfbfNDoO7Y9qy5VMxNTdSwyZy_Q0Djf09pJasiCFpEXvzhNx-tHEfyF5bDgE1U88xVlWsfOflD7ScKnWzotF46lbfLaJkT3IFL_JgTJH-NXBI1npHpF0NI11HhC3eP2PXpHNKaoEA/w177-h185/ambrose.jpg" width="177" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOjc1_dcp06gtyYNmxxMhqQQAMXJDfhU-yqA4qbCN_S9AlunYUKVBUB5GJFaXlmjJ9ZNzgh1TL412-NP_2g8qTWl_7aUbJG9tYG0fnDO26TXQ5o6kaW5oDhnEL2KiaTFrZgolmNjPFt7RM6cBibMrNwXerOBcGztpKoT3J7Fj1wRI837oEsSiK1GxOyg/s438/WCFM.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="438" data-original-width="400" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOjc1_dcp06gtyYNmxxMhqQQAMXJDfhU-yqA4qbCN_S9AlunYUKVBUB5GJFaXlmjJ9ZNzgh1TL412-NP_2g8qTWl_7aUbJG9tYG0fnDO26TXQ5o6kaW5oDhnEL2KiaTFrZgolmNjPFt7RM6cBibMrNwXerOBcGztpKoT3J7Fj1wRI837oEsSiK1GxOyg/w166-h182/WCFM.jpg" width="166" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/26mlyDigDoU" width="446" youtube-src-id="26mlyDigDoU"></iframe></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now this will shock the reader but is relevant to the topic of 'who makes a worthy furniture critic?' When I was introduced to John Makepeace at the commence of my interview I recall saying 'yes I have much admired John's work over the years' to which I heard one of the other panel members say 'creep'. This knocked me off my footing momentarily but I let the comment pass until I arrived back home and wrote to the secretary of the awards committee. I recall writing 'irrespective of the outcome of my application for the award I would like to make it clear that whilst I truly admire John Makepeace as an innovator I have written articles eg. <b>'The Golden Age of Contemporary Craftsmanship'</b> for <b>Woodworking International magazine</b> (later called <b>Furniture & Cabinetmaking magazine</b>) boldly criticising his designs and probably one of the very few to do so'.</span></span><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">To my surprise the letters crossed in the post as I received the £1,000 award! I later received a profound apology from an embarassed committee member which I accepted as we are all adults and should be free to speak our minds even if carelessly. A far cry from what is now happening in our society. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">To write about the thing one is passionate about and to spend probably thousands of hours filming, editing and making stage props etcectera etcetera to help educate a largely ignorant public is amongst other things a huge therapy for me. It absorbs me and relieves me of the clinical depression I have suffered all my life. If my critical videos were not any good nobody would watch them. To date my <b>Furniture today 3</b> video that I re-named <b>'The Contemporary Furniture Revolution' </b> has received over 100,000 views; respectable numbers considering the nich market and massive competition on YouTube to get noticed:</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jrSpuxZwRvA" width="393" youtube-src-id="jrSpuxZwRvA"></iframe></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: verdana; white-space: pre-wrap;">Following Peter Dormer, a more passionate Peta Levi wrote for</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: verdana; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the Telegraph. This boosted confidence in a broader buying public for our world leading designer maker revolution to earn some respect through informed opinion that gardening and wine appreciation already enjoyed, although it never quite reached mass audiences until recently and then has been turned into a game format. </span></p><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The furniture craft movement (referred to as British Studo Furniture in the 90s) has always been tilted towards elitism and exlusivity by many practising it. I am probably an exception in that I sold my furniture at slightly above Habitat prices and I produced furniture (eg my rocking chairs) in small numbers when 'batch' was a dirty word in craft circles. A piece of furniture had to be a one-off which at best is an expensive prototype as furniture, especially chairs usually take a few modifications to evolve into a worthy product! </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I was inspired to write this post having just watched and shared a documentary on the Ukraine conflict called 'A historian of the future' and I naturally thoughtof myself. Maybe I should add this to my CV - furniture designer maker and critic. No, we don't think so!</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But in an age when everybody's story and opinion is becoming excessive confusing noise the game has changed and is the double edged blade called democracy. </span></div><div dir="auto"><br /></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I am staggered at how ignorant and disinterested so many people still are about furniture culture and tradition. It took me four years to persuade the University of Bath Adult learning people to allow me to give a lecture called 'Furniture Today'. This was before the turn of the Millennium and the UK had its head buried in the past in its fear of the future. Of course attitudes changed in the first decade of the 21st century. </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;">From this lecture I gave other lectures around the country and made DVDs of Furniture Today parts One, Two and Three, the last one being in 2013 when Professor <a class="x1i10hfl xjbqb8w x6umtig x1b1mbwd xaqea5y xav7gou x9f619 x1ypdohk xt0psk2 xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1a2a7pz xt0b8zv x1qq9wsj xo1l8bm" href="https://www.facebook.com/chemosensors?__cft__[0]=AZW2mph_pJrvnXJO51W3-FoCiexbNweNu00pdFG2NvHgU4vzVeH6MIxdSCi5c5YHgBo9fiw-z0Il0fMfWAQpCSqHGXxt8DGtOkJoZw2Dt_TELbUaOUYReGsy98C9RpqIySBmTw98rTHmdSndL816fa_azCsT1hxkEDK7Ut9yWHqMDQ&__tn__=-]K-R" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" tabindex="0"><span class="xt0psk2" style="display: inline;">Tony James</span></a> (an aquaintance from playing badminton at the university) kindly gave me access to the main lecture theatre where I premiered Furniture Today 3 to an invited audience. </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Amongst the guests were Fred Baier and Johhny Hawkes. Fred is arguably the only Fine Art British furniture maker to appear in global books on innovative furniture design and anyone buying his early work will be sitting pretty. They call em 'early adopters' and they should be knighted for their bravery. Less can be said of the present king who witnessed a Royal Family viewing of ten pieces of British work (he sat on one of my rocking chairs chosen) and didn't commission a single piece! Royal patronage alive and kicking?!</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the same decade (1980s) When BBC television broadcast a certain antiques specialist called Arthur Negus, I phoned them up in fury when I heard him announce that no modern craftsman came anywhere near the quality of work of our 18th century ancestors. I told them I could introduce them to at least a dozen workshops in Britain demonstrating that modern work is better than the past.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This is something the late Alan Peters expressed in my documentary <b><a href="https://www.woodomain.com/online-store/Video-Downloads-c40562228">British Craftsmanship in Wood</a></b> in 1990. </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I guess history will judge whether this simple carpenter who never went to university is a worthy critic of the furniture movement which became known as 'British Studio furniture'. I was certainly there at the scene of the crime exhibiting my furniture alongside the main suspects!</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It is not just a question of expressing an opinion for the sake of it and because social media tells us our opinions are important, but having something to say that hasn't been said before that actually adds to and is based on factual knowledge.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It was my privilige and good fortune to have met some of the prominent makers and seen their work from the viewpoint of a fellow creator and as a writer.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>My qualifications as a craft journalist:</b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I studied for the Membership of the College of Craft Education (MCCED) in 1971 winning the Vivian Williams book prize for the highest marks in the country for the written examinations. It was a correspondence course under The Institute of Craft education and carried degree status (Handicraft teacher training was not a degree course at the time). The course cover 36 essays on the principles of craft education and a social and economic history of Britain that covered architecture and furniture. The qualification was held by most woodworking authors in the 1960s. I also gained a distinction at the UK's former Handicraft Teacher Training Colle - Shoreditch College, after gaining A grade at GCE A Level Woodwork at Abbotsholme school. This was my introduction to furniture history.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Please also view my piece for <b>The Royal Society of Arts</b> called <b><a href="https://www.thersa.org/comment/2011/01/practical-arts-in-education-and-society">The value of the Pratical Arts in Education and Society</a></b>. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div></div>Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-6918157682977866752022-04-23T03:44:00.021-07:002023-02-28T13:10:59.530-08:00Excellence Not Elitism - a British Furniture Award 2022<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Building on the success of <b>The Alan Peters Online Furniture Award </b>in 2021, this year a physical event is planned. The first prize sponsor Axminster Tools is hosting the prize-giving ceremony and winners' exhibition at their main Nuneaton store in October 2022 (dates to be confirmed). </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.woodomain.com/alanpetersaward2022" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1306" data-original-width="1166" height="409" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGw6nke6V210GPD3kr_zU17UKImxCjNiFL1qHQ2uZaAuwrL3-AJggnGJT4OXUJUXe47BsRQxDnI1AqXQvt--CVcl9SNQQOkV5lUwcwumyq8TsTbc5Iy9lYjHNb-DgsLFm9905uuQ0OdCOtHO5iv8IdS0bD1m5GulxkGgnMJZ_VQXlgO4Fh-yECCTtWoQ/w365-h409/ADVERT%2031%20Aug.jpg" width="365" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">As organizer and one of the judges I am grateful for the continued support of <b>The Woodworker and Good Woodworking magazine</b> in promoting this important British award and this year in welcoming <b>English Woodland Timbers Ltd</b> as the 2nd prize sponsor for 2022.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqO7OVrzp8SYxxaoY0GfiM-v9IPcVet2FtRGzD98MO2gsF_TevtFJq0RLRLlF6xsEifRCbT3h29gHpoWSKRamicH3D9t0Kr65NR5dFnwk1UlL026sGnG4x_xDmkfE5dIcDcP8P_9Av9Cr0Ln4cXktG8BfDeoqSPB5CERFnsl3SJE9qlmqziLd85IgVjA/s113/a%20jb%202019%20small.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="113" data-original-width="100" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqO7OVrzp8SYxxaoY0GfiM-v9IPcVet2FtRGzD98MO2gsF_TevtFJq0RLRLlF6xsEifRCbT3h29gHpoWSKRamicH3D9t0Kr65NR5dFnwk1UlL026sGnG4x_xDmkfE5dIcDcP8P_9Av9Cr0Ln4cXktG8BfDeoqSPB5CERFnsl3SJE9qlmqziLd85IgVjA/w159-h180/a%20jb%202019%20small.jpg" width="159" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The three prizes are:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">1st - Axminster Tools - £1000 voucher</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">2nd - English Woodlands Timber - £500 voucher</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">3rd - Judges' cash prize of £500</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">In 2021 there were 28 entries. When the award was first started in 2010 and hosted by the organizers of the Cheltenham Craftsmanship & Design event (I was one of the three judges) we had on average about 6 entries each year. In an effort to make the award more inclusive with few restrictions it has broadened the uptake without compromising the ideals.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><b>The Alan Peters Furniture Award</b> is open to any woodworker over 18 years of age who is resident citizen of the British Isles, who has a flair and passion for woodworking and design. This generally refers to a piece of interior or exterior furniture.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisL3UxTEyeEyrkc_97-S9v5lPDZ8H1WzupDBh_OA34M-KY6ZG9DO2SCynSNMBZ-YF0sXyZohFAFSiVGK4cpXQhnQwnXXO0a2sObshnD5g6HWnctGro06wlBNTOsc6k_vvFIdDljhrGFtlR9LBcAwzbfC-VmC5nwNRimyPiAZ_lCpbz6nCsXxlKWF1xLg/s5769/22-05-19%20-9851ward1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4327" data-original-width="5769" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisL3UxTEyeEyrkc_97-S9v5lPDZ8H1WzupDBh_OA34M-KY6ZG9DO2SCynSNMBZ-YF0sXyZohFAFSiVGK4cpXQhnQwnXXO0a2sObshnD5g6HWnctGro06wlBNTOsc6k_vvFIdDljhrGFtlR9LBcAwzbfC-VmC5nwNRimyPiAZ_lCpbz6nCsXxlKWF1xLg/s320/22-05-19%20-9851ward1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Alex Ward from The Shetland Isles</span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Last year there were entries from as far afield as The Shetland Isles and I have purposely called it an award for The British Isles to include the excellent reservoir of talent in Ireland. Politics apart the furniture links between England and Ireland are strong as I myself (a Scotsman) taught at the Letterfrack furniture College in Connemara in the 1980s/90s and participated in the 'Create 2006' event in Cork, organized by internationally acclaimed furniture maker Joseph Walsh. This cultural link is long established and important to maintain. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Having known the late Alan Peters and exhibited alongside him over several decades I think it is fair to say he believed in excellence not elitism, a sentiment I have always shared. This is evident in the accessibility of his furniture, seldom made for the very rich. His is a longstanding legacy and two things he said to me in my early career have stuck out (when he reviewed my work for the UK Crafts council Index of Selected makers' in 1980:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">'You would do well to visit a museum and study furniture that has survived centries and see how wood behaves'.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">'If you can't hide a problem then feature it'.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">In my early careeer despite my own traditional cabinetry training at Shoreditch college where Alan also trained as a teacher, I was something of a rebel taking risks with wood. Also my equipment was fairly limited and the massive screws I used to secure the members of my trademark rocking chair I covered with dowels. They looked ugly and Alan suggested doming the dowel heads as indeed he left tenons protruding with domed ends on his furniture, to allow for timber movement.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgjvdl1w89FZEccph064psykNXKBmlpymfzfM08Em5v-MTY0PuORDKNhxD2b9Rvfi9XNfGNiFQeTfd2x-wiihLU1xkQASjM0yV4nL8BVgSYmMHakdnItZNmYUcwV2PLlvhlrcyGeR_U8h0NeC8_ugz9Qs_bbzFy8x2_tY9bvVh2mB5psxoTjRm46_Nrg/s651/first%20chair.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="649" data-original-width="651" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgjvdl1w89FZEccph064psykNXKBmlpymfzfM08Em5v-MTY0PuORDKNhxD2b9Rvfi9XNfGNiFQeTfd2x-wiihLU1xkQASjM0yV4nL8BVgSYmMHakdnItZNmYUcwV2PLlvhlrcyGeR_U8h0NeC8_ugz9Qs_bbzFy8x2_tY9bvVh2mB5psxoTjRm46_Nrg/s320/first%20chair.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>One of my earliest pine rocking chairs (circa 1974) showing </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">dowel inserts for the screwed joints. Interestingly the chair sold for £40 and in 2019 this chair was sold at around £1500 at auction. In 2023 a pair of chairs were selling for £4500. </span><p></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0e3VoJN7pv1poMiSBT561sXGLt5SZkjCmJOCkZ_8wYyJwDjLISEaKLR4GHg5kqxaZZQ1BJYJ5Ig35bKGkRTr8jlsLqYdQOUxSuVW7boz6Yzjb6gESEqqxkRZI5qgl-azvYJ9hxHHXTw17IawG1jkqcy0YjbZYhFRh0kd5vOzlE_eciPPQxb4Myaho0g/s2919/AP_Chestclosed.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2196" data-original-width="2919" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0e3VoJN7pv1poMiSBT561sXGLt5SZkjCmJOCkZ_8wYyJwDjLISEaKLR4GHg5kqxaZZQ1BJYJ5Ig35bKGkRTr8jlsLqYdQOUxSuVW7boz6Yzjb6gESEqqxkRZI5qgl-azvYJ9hxHHXTw17IawG1jkqcy0YjbZYhFRh0kd5vOzlE_eciPPQxb4Myaho0g/w405-h305/AP_Chestclosed.JPG" width="405" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A blanket chest in Douglas fir by Alan Peters, demonstrating his trademark protruding tenons.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Alan left a fantastic legacy and it is with great honour I am able to carry the baton on. He encouraged design and innovation and once told me he felt we were too stuck in tradition and that tradition needed moving on. Although in his early work he used mixed materials and some decoration, his later work (after a trip to Japan) evolved into more simple and bold designs where the structure became the main aesthetic and the one thing he is renowned for is his respect for the character of the material and in particular timber movement that makes a piece stand the test of time.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKtfrtPB8zpYVz8DG1HQjfwHo8EGyxkD_p7AGBgwhIJtAUrVPesRg-JKbMIgJtI6jhQmJTwhOm3kok3gl-jOBlxTauGzUdu63s47ug-t1w_SED97Uz0d4Pi1bu5U4MV-M1YkGNyT1Qqf9FFNCByIZa4sb4MnkHUDCLup_f_UQnQRJk1ILKRC7opQNB4w/s2551/aa%20bowl%20table.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1559" data-original-width="2551" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKtfrtPB8zpYVz8DG1HQjfwHo8EGyxkD_p7AGBgwhIJtAUrVPesRg-JKbMIgJtI6jhQmJTwhOm3kok3gl-jOBlxTauGzUdu63s47ug-t1w_SED97Uz0d4Pi1bu5U4MV-M1YkGNyT1Qqf9FFNCByIZa4sb4MnkHUDCLup_f_UQnQRJk1ILKRC7opQNB4w/w458-h281/aa%20bowl%20table.jpg" width="458" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Alan Peters' timeless Bowl Table in sections of ash, all moving together as one. (circa 1975).</span></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">If you are a woodworker reading this and remember you do not have to be a full time professional or a furniture graduate but just demonstrate flair and passion for making and designing, why not apply and don't waste time as the deadline of 31 July is not far away. It doesn't have to be a large piece.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Full details and downloadable application form is on my website and also at www.woodomain.com and the fee is a modest £20 with a maximum of two entries</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Here are some application guidelines:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sAnSaxuNLMo" width="320" youtube-src-id="sAnSaxuNLMo"></iframe></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Last year the three winners ranged from seasoned professionals to relative beginners. Some argue you cannot mix professional with amateur work, that there will be an inbalance but I hope I have demonstrated that this is not the case when a piece is judged primarily on its merits - is it functional? Does it have structural integrity? Does it say something new in any way - perhaps about form, function, structure, use of material? Is it pleasing to the eye? Is it well made and durable? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The judges this year are myself, Andrew Lawton (who knew and worked with Alan Peters) and Freya Whamond (who was one of the winners of the original Alan Peters Award for Excellence). Each year we aim to have a guest female judge to give fresh and younger balanced input. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWA5y60TrNlKc8CUkVNyFTn2xrYuBZ75iId91VD7WXXN9bkETb0rKFFSejbI7nCYZnk6XJNxEVOYOfeV3p1auAjO0JIwU5iH9Hems-Q6L1YAQ--5LDbezkIwZGGlAva1eUEa2ohEpglnNAB1aalifDUFKIUMLrlvTDTzbQs-MRgndkAW2-huHuQJfWNw/s113/a%20jb%202019%20small.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="113" data-original-width="100" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWA5y60TrNlKc8CUkVNyFTn2xrYuBZ75iId91VD7WXXN9bkETb0rKFFSejbI7nCYZnk6XJNxEVOYOfeV3p1auAjO0JIwU5iH9Hems-Q6L1YAQ--5LDbezkIwZGGlAva1eUEa2ohEpglnNAB1aalifDUFKIUMLrlvTDTzbQs-MRgndkAW2-huHuQJfWNw/w118-h134/a%20jb%202019%20small.jpg" width="118" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguE106o2Fd_c_U6z65tXdeWXFgLkGGcwo0prAXqYNmNub3uXmHMxTeUfsBAKMQMXD65vSlDsV0CRUEi-8F16n7qgSxk1cgb0Te02qcabFjVswyiGpcoPep_jvngVbs1tDYNrnPJVom16swdNOTcJ6AkfSQOx11-jL-iOfrRZwcBQR2CLltXEnf-vAjog/s950/mugshot%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="944" data-original-width="950" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguE106o2Fd_c_U6z65tXdeWXFgLkGGcwo0prAXqYNmNub3uXmHMxTeUfsBAKMQMXD65vSlDsV0CRUEi-8F16n7qgSxk1cgb0Te02qcabFjVswyiGpcoPep_jvngVbs1tDYNrnPJVom16swdNOTcJ6AkfSQOx11-jL-iOfrRZwcBQR2CLltXEnf-vAjog/w134-h133/mugshot%201.jpg" width="134" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqW7UEZxRmbOW7u-olLOZRhH_CEyfpfjmn8lQ54MweQhfePvrg29Cbo2RqUwmmY1oj31i8Va1oZ3qskyhXx7h9lZHTwhY9DuDE7Vl1BbqInK8f3eAYMLN5JyqiHr2u8WPehZe6GzW8GP6W7duW_rcb7A9XLPwS9dB1pp_I7QnDxK4wCQqwIAlkj7Nkfg/s520/frey%20whamond.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="482" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqW7UEZxRmbOW7u-olLOZRhH_CEyfpfjmn8lQ54MweQhfePvrg29Cbo2RqUwmmY1oj31i8Va1oZ3qskyhXx7h9lZHTwhY9DuDE7Vl1BbqInK8f3eAYMLN5JyqiHr2u8WPehZe6GzW8GP6W7duW_rcb7A9XLPwS9dB1pp_I7QnDxK4wCQqwIAlkj7Nkfg/w124-h134/frey%20whamond.jpg" width="124" /></a></div></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Excellence not elitism makes the best furniture today available and usable and something to hand down.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLg9UL7aM51kqfj_rtc7MHdM6Aj43VUM-MOrnQOmEPAn0jBLDYfdp8Qa2R-3nG_ed8ePjmzrJx5q4cQ1wrv6uNLin1VlbUiY8MPxDV8K9bbJ25pyVH_WKUQ4qii0O87QNIQZA4wa5r3PZSxGVKlg4du_MfTmTobL7ju8h-Rn6rgaK6z_UPE5qoys4Efg/s480/1alan-peters-low-table-45-480x480.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="480" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLg9UL7aM51kqfj_rtc7MHdM6Aj43VUM-MOrnQOmEPAn0jBLDYfdp8Qa2R-3nG_ed8ePjmzrJx5q4cQ1wrv6uNLin1VlbUiY8MPxDV8K9bbJ25pyVH_WKUQ4qii0O87QNIQZA4wa5r3PZSxGVKlg4du_MfTmTobL7ju8h-Rn6rgaK6z_UPE5qoys4Efg/w364-h364/1alan-peters-low-table-45-480x480.jpg" width="364" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">1970s Alan Peters Low Japanese Style Bowl Table in ash (at auction at Decorative Modern) </span></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The point of an award, and albeit a modest award such as this (which reflects the modesty of Alan Peters himself) is to encourage, trigger something new and special, celebrate craftsmanship and design.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">And, oh, I almost forgot to mention that the award is predominantly about hand skill but not exclusively. Any professional woodworker knows that machines have to be used for the donkey work such as dressing boards, sawing components, sanding. Even Edward Barnsley who Alan Peters apprenticed to used machines. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Today we have computer controlled woodworking machines and if an applicant for this award uses CNC in a limited and specific operation (eg making drawer handles for a filing cabinet) then we will not have a closed mind. Fellow judge Andrew Lawton and I have discussed at length about the balance and a good example is Thomas Eddoll's hall table which was a runner up in the 2021 award. The table demonstrates advanced hand skill in the dovetailed carcase whilst the undulating 'Cotswold hills' front of the drawer was made using CNC.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">At the time Tom revealed that he has to survive in business with a young mouth to feed and that a degree of CNC is necessary to make his work econimically viable. I see this is as a rational justification without sacrificing the important Alan Peters' legacy of hand skill and that actually the question might be asked - could you tell the sculpted drawer front was not made 'by hand'? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYKt_zYyzSbQ7-wvTJJHCd4QegKIxYhZB_yXwFFz5adKpoOHu3VPLH5R3pC6hBCcx499G-f5jDnqIOZpqllR_MuYCjZ7q5jWXK9mfo8t8AP3MgELbIwxysjE3dqnSK2xKUe1Am0qzkAWg1_qRK3_vZW1FFT4AWLpJWpHR8poOWVDyr1OX6KwBdHw50gw/s4032/01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="437" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYKt_zYyzSbQ7-wvTJJHCd4QegKIxYhZB_yXwFFz5adKpoOHu3VPLH5R3pC6hBCcx499G-f5jDnqIOZpqllR_MuYCjZ7q5jWXK9mfo8t8AP3MgELbIwxysjE3dqnSK2xKUe1Am0qzkAWg1_qRK3_vZW1FFT4AWLpJWpHR8poOWVDyr1OX6KwBdHw50gw/w328-h437/01.jpg" width="328" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Dune Hall Table by Thomas Eddolls</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">As judges we may limit the CNC input to say 15 or 20% of the overall piece and there will have to be a good case for justifying it. As an interesting parallel an antique piece of furniture only needs to have 20% of its original structure to qualify as an antique! Food for thought? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Why not take a look at the 2021 online prize giving ceremony video below:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtOh0Dia93g" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="539" data-original-width="964" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieLvuJkKKkp1H2k2GSBVhH2FcSxBz-xxeqHzueTFqbQNQdVsvnGyTVHEnbmQJmdrxleCZuA9wsZZF5ED5jtJXsnzezVBL6SBp9VXiGvebMt2bPh16GA5QDEbxTv_5ObTzej3DtTjrxyfxMYZUkw-wWJBnGc-LQLisaz_ZKPGboTCM8JvCRl_SE20EC7A/w572-h321/award%20ceremony%20wide.jpg" width="572" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>The 2021 Alan Peters Online Furniture Award Prize Giving Ceremony and virtual exhibitions</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">a 67 page biographical multimedia book is avaliable about Alan Peters@</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx-8R1YxMWzZwn1T-XIHLKJC8bDYYNJBTqt7xAOqTmr--k34iLCSVEJRBIKgGUsxVs-1BQuhkKGJSr2LHRDo2N-py9vxxXkVJIKtXYUNMo1wBF45tOHZJ1okJRAW6_SW4HM1ye2uy3IP5Re9Giep7Bgz6eiq397F2K_0_Y5UEU7I_Uig3M2JmHZZIV7g/s887/Makers%20Maker%20ebook.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="887" data-original-width="887" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx-8R1YxMWzZwn1T-XIHLKJC8bDYYNJBTqt7xAOqTmr--k34iLCSVEJRBIKgGUsxVs-1BQuhkKGJSr2LHRDo2N-py9vxxXkVJIKtXYUNMo1wBF45tOHZJ1okJRAW6_SW4HM1ye2uy3IP5Re9Giep7Bgz6eiq397F2K_0_Y5UEU7I_Uig3M2JmHZZIV7g/w375-h394/Makers%20Maker%20ebook.jpg" width="375" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.woodomain.com/online-store/ALAN-PETERS-THE-MAKERS-MAKER-an-in-depth-multimedia-documentary-ebook-about-one-of-the-greatest-British-furniture-designer-makers-with-tributes-from-many-makers-67-pages-133-images-4-videos-p158871172" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="98" data-original-width="295" height="56" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirLJRnxJjNf9kyfSiNUX-VDUhyQLwSVM826a5T4nIeW7t5rY8LTl4635f19nPe3sZ5tvX0F2Flz2eZxAMTIa2yQT4xbznAR6hqFJ-z4d_Ikjg-WNnUVjSA1tlfMHJpq8s_r7u4mn3SS9nECuCRLZ00MR79aUxzJCztcJ5gfXha_b_UHKakdJtvUxu43Q/w173-h56/buy%20now%202.jpg" width="173" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p>Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-26066807527742778212021-11-02T22:30:00.005-07:002021-11-02T22:54:06.290-07:00Misleading woodworking practice on YouTube <p>I haven't written anything for about two years and maybe because I am aware folk are bombarded by endless opinions masquerading as facts and my lone independent voice will get lost in the ether. Or maybe I have just been very busy with other things. But I myself value the role of the good old-fashioned blog when I am searching for something useful online. So who knows this might be of value to someone! </p><p>So my topic today is about YouTube woodworking and where its all going with this latest clickbait motivated trend in so-called 'myth busting' started across the pond. Basicly we are told all the experts have been wrong. I am referring to end grain gluing of course (and also to cancel culture!). </p><p>Quote (Mr Richard Sullivan): <i>'End grain joints are twice as strong as side grain joints'</i></p><p>Yes, a cleverly presented, highly articulate confident and visually impressive 'scientific' experiment that proved what it set out to demonstrate within a carefully selected and limited set of parameters that have no relevance to the real world of woodworking -- in fact is misleading to many thousands of woodworkers. </p><p>A later quote from Mr Sullivan:<i> 'I had no idea my video had confused so many people'!!!</i> Really?!</p><p>A simple strength test that uses square section seems to fool many woodworkers when lever forces in the real world of chairs or tables present an entirely different set of parameters.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLuyUOFNcaNps8WcVmTnSAqbPI4eUheBsf2jhpsHTFNiMvlG_KiDcjiYP-shx_w7CIYa_hDahAuo-jWyENXbZMICpElUND1yClHiIRVICjmeJ9N9ebVhH2WLbwFHDy4wVrY3a5Q0brkaRj/s747/square+end.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="747" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLuyUOFNcaNps8WcVmTnSAqbPI4eUheBsf2jhpsHTFNiMvlG_KiDcjiYP-shx_w7CIYa_hDahAuo-jWyENXbZMICpElUND1yClHiIRVICjmeJ9N9ebVhH2WLbwFHDy4wVrY3a5Q0brkaRj/s320/square+end.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><div style="text-align: center;">What does this test prove that is of any practical benefit</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></span><p><br /></p><p>Mr Sullivan ended his video with a demonstration of two identically dimensioned strength tests - but with grain directions opposing. Which is stronger A or B?:</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg04DZdITFJx8a0WM8xTW8ar3xQI1hMJW-EZjHmxuSHReFCAxFczE5nl9Q8li1WDHtAgFjg0udXtUyziAHMWDmeWOPXh9FBtkTmWWrqgqlxnsKSJV5BNnhEPjTEPR5xB3cmo-GoKdy0_ZC3/s744/compare.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="184" data-original-width="744" height="79" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg04DZdITFJx8a0WM8xTW8ar3xQI1hMJW-EZjHmxuSHReFCAxFczE5nl9Q8li1WDHtAgFjg0udXtUyziAHMWDmeWOPXh9FBtkTmWWrqgqlxnsKSJV5BNnhEPjTEPR5xB3cmo-GoKdy0_ZC3/s320/compare.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>This is visual trickery so let's put the same test into a different context - when edge jointing boards to make up say a table top the ends might be later trimmed. So the offcut is similar in grain configuration to A. Any woodworker will know that the offcut will break into pieces on landing on the workshop floor.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnpGOfElh3AOvRxpoXG48MD1tLDALzU5-3xywGh2_sSgWiIGqoHaDFozQaGoPT9XglXeBsuEQ_8IQiJPhreV3iV7TvTO5DsBLCLpeieNNLdLigiG8eo8aORrbbmcdropFwCGhgs_g-caDk/s364/trim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="364" data-original-width="286" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnpGOfElh3AOvRxpoXG48MD1tLDALzU5-3xywGh2_sSgWiIGqoHaDFozQaGoPT9XglXeBsuEQ_8IQiJPhreV3iV7TvTO5DsBLCLpeieNNLdLigiG8eo8aORrbbmcdropFwCGhgs_g-caDk/s320/trim.jpg" width="251" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The above example is included in my short animated video I made about end grain and other glue only joints and notice the reference to the history and principles of woodjointing:</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cJ2lwKpXmNY" width="451" youtube-src-id="cJ2lwKpXmNY"></iframe></div><br /><p>I would suggest that any so-called myth about end grain gluing begs the questoin what have woodworkers in the USA and Canada been taught by their experts Why for instance are the shoulders of tenons not glued? Who are these experts who taught them that there is no strength at all in end grain gluing? </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUi1tq_VbUTXOQ-CE2BJPmSM4sLMgAod7fpHUUkjcVs0nVpQztn6e8CZfcQ_DfDDGWvVXAJr7Gx2BWB8tbKOgudYinyv5ibYilH5ipUaUC_LZfbadkSbv1qpvR9jMK3LyMkLAmogpqqJ2j/s1090/endgrsain+6+w.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1042" data-original-width="1090" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUi1tq_VbUTXOQ-CE2BJPmSM4sLMgAod7fpHUUkjcVs0nVpQztn6e8CZfcQ_DfDDGWvVXAJr7Gx2BWB8tbKOgudYinyv5ibYilH5ipUaUC_LZfbadkSbv1qpvR9jMK3LyMkLAmogpqqJ2j/s320/endgrsain+6+w.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">No glue on the end grain shoulders of tenons?</span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The English tradition has been to apply glue to ALL surfaces. Apart from the basic rule of fibre lap being essential for a strong joint a long glue line also adds to the strength: A finger joint is a good example:</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIMdcXI66eKU0OQcvZs__4gkDJnxcS8Rnmdm78vAVD2Hp_xnaa569j1hmYDkaG2ccX6YP5VueZPLrCw3iNk629u6LAznIM2AMNzBe4V-gp7xckt-7ipI0dM4GEpQUO3u6nSYKiTMvX_I7S/s936/finger3.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="772" data-original-width="936" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIMdcXI66eKU0OQcvZs__4gkDJnxcS8Rnmdm78vAVD2Hp_xnaa569j1hmYDkaG2ccX6YP5VueZPLrCw3iNk629u6LAznIM2AMNzBe4V-gp7xckt-7ipI0dM4GEpQUO3u6nSYKiTMvX_I7S/s320/finger3.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Router finger joint. Courtesy Tend Routing Technology </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><br /></p><p> In the second video in Mr Sullivan's 'Glue Myths' videos he focuses on mitre joints and seems unaware that you dont have to wait 50 years to see whether the joint will open up. An unsupported glue only mitre joint will be subject to timber shrinkage across the grain and every time will open up on the inner edhe of the joint: </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzC5ZufUuBmDieTdfrZ99V5uKrkYElBq0LliooJtRqvntEl0U3dCXMcuxUVRPlMyLIbmnYEBEdTXfcslIqQAIB3N0Rcr3xatdVt45o-6nm00moW_q7WkaN_vPm9gKv1hX5PN4allul1DG3/s381/open+mitre.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="381" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzC5ZufUuBmDieTdfrZ99V5uKrkYElBq0LliooJtRqvntEl0U3dCXMcuxUVRPlMyLIbmnYEBEdTXfcslIqQAIB3N0Rcr3xatdVt45o-6nm00moW_q7WkaN_vPm9gKv1hX5PN4allul1DG3/s320/open+mitre.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Fortunately I am not alone in my critique of what is going on now. On the other side of the pond woodwork enthusiast Edward Weber has commented on these clickbait videos and here is a comment by him on Mr Sullivan's latest video on the myth abouts biscuit joints:</p><p><i>"<span class="style-scope">Biscuits are nothing more than light duty
floating tenons. Use them accordingly This video series once again leaves
people with a distorted view of the advantages of biscuit joinery. Keeping
joints aligned and restricting there movement is half the battle, your tests
don't take real world scenarios into account, AGAIN."</span></i><o:p></o:p></p><p>Edward contacted me directly after I posted my videos on glue only jointing and he not only endorsed what I suspect is going on with YouTube and how it is the major woodworking influencer today but he went much further in his criticisms of these so-called myth busting videos. But he also gave me some useful feedback on why my videos are attracting less views now. </p><p>He sugested that everything has to be dumbed down for the USA market; if you explain something you have to explain it in clearer than clear term and the attention span is limited. Of course I try to do this as my background is also as a teacher and author and when I was invited by a major publisher to write <b>The Enyclopedia of Woodworking Techniques</b> in 1993 I was briefed by the senior editor to explain everything in the most simple terms as the main market was the USA.</p><p><br /></p><p>I find this astonishing when the USA put the first man on the moon and is leading in space tourism today! </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs0iBbxbKoGyrfyYvDkcZrHlKkj41A4W3tIeAPlNb7Vh7byp4ANnMtqM-X47dyENhqVK87kSlGxJyAOnaDXA93HEkRnQY-J56ENFOnohB0bpCCicNozbmWcm3Z580fF2kAZQfJFJIw9r3k/s2013/Encyclopediia+medium.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2013" data-original-width="2000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs0iBbxbKoGyrfyYvDkcZrHlKkj41A4W3tIeAPlNb7Vh7byp4ANnMtqM-X47dyENhqVK87kSlGxJyAOnaDXA93HEkRnQY-J56ENFOnohB0bpCCicNozbmWcm3Z580fF2kAZQfJFJIw9r3k/s320/Encyclopediia+medium.JPG" width="318" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Commissioned and published in 1993 translated into five languages. The book won the</span><span style="color: #2b00fe;"> UK Bookselers Top 20 Titles Award (from 63,000 bookss published that year. </span></p><p><br /></p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT85hyq2vbC0OPdshlZ-9_ksfJ9L9fONiKGHAkFUKuLLWvOGzM6-k0q_t8jfbyCR5QRUjIqajCsRR4kdGHTl71tgwC8gYJ7hL_Z92FLhL5MiKgTf_plk8PDf_OwKMp-_UflemeWIY6VBd5/s2010/front+cover+ency.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2010" data-original-width="2000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT85hyq2vbC0OPdshlZ-9_ksfJ9L9fONiKGHAkFUKuLLWvOGzM6-k0q_t8jfbyCR5QRUjIqajCsRR4kdGHTl71tgwC8gYJ7hL_Z92FLhL5MiKgTf_plk8PDf_OwKMp-_UflemeWIY6VBd5/s320/front+cover+ency.jpg" width="318" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Revised edition 2018. Signed copies direct from the author at <a href="https://ww.woodomain.com">https://ww.woodomain.com</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><br /></span></div><br /><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-NS6KO74wl2IK4kb7mjObTckIuSwaV3f0zc6OCpoVrIX5Tbkh68TrS_KRVaZtCCXWjSQpJD4q_it3vLFuByk2LxhG0k7h6lMjSsA16oijmt2E_F6h-NINXY-S-cZvoTka8IcfIlYAwKOG/s706/woodomain+mediastore.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="229" data-original-width="706" height="104" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-NS6KO74wl2IK4kb7mjObTckIuSwaV3f0zc6OCpoVrIX5Tbkh68TrS_KRVaZtCCXWjSQpJD4q_it3vLFuByk2LxhG0k7h6lMjSsA16oijmt2E_F6h-NINXY-S-cZvoTka8IcfIlYAwKOG/s320/woodomain+mediastore.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p>I set up my YouTube channel in 2009 and to date have a modest but decent £80,000 plus subscribers. Some are lost every month and others join so it is not a fast growth thing for me. I think I have uploaded about 750 videos mostly on woodworking but covering other interersts such as music guitar playing and making vehicle restoration and some hi tech reviews as I am a bit of a gadget junky.</p><p>My top viewed video (around 2.5 million views) is 'What can you do with a router?' and closely following are my Tube bending, hotmelt gluegun and Micro catamran videos.</p><p>The truth is most of my videos in recent years struggle to get more than a few hundred views and often people comment that specific videos should be receiving vastly far more views than they do.</p><p>I have little idea how YouTube works. I try to tick the boxes as per guidelines but clearly in contrast to my viewings averaging 500-1000 per day in previous years my videos are not being picked up by YouTube algorthyms and I get maybe 100 a day and then they stick at under 1000. </p><p>I had understood originally that YouTube encouraged quirky 'be yourself' YouTubers but my observation since monetisation really took over is a high degree of conformity. Many woodworking channels are alnost clones I hate to say and it goes against the grain with everything I have been taught to have the cheek to ask somebody to subscribe before they have watched a video. But with average attention spans around 20 seconds if you want yiour channmel to survive you have to go with the rules - to a degree.</p><p>It seems clear there is some kind of cartel in existence amongst the big boys in YouTube woodworking and the big boys are sucking the mass audiences - 50,000 views in a few days. The Richard Sullivan (who is he?) video created a controversy - deliberately of course as comments rank videos high even if much of it is drivel. Not one of the dominant YouTubers criticised the Sullivan video but jumped on the bandwaggon to boost their own audiences.</p><p>Somebody called Numpy Stubbs stated at the beginning of his video that his opinion doesnt count and yet he has a quarter of a million subscribers (astonishing modesty!!) and he tried to distance himself from Mr Sullivan by stating he felt it was more appropriaste to call him Mr Sullivan. Why would he even have to mention that? Neither he or any of the big boys admit that the Sullivan videos were misleading but praised him as some kind of hero and some mentioned that viewers misunderstoodwhat Mr Sullivan was trying to say! Is this what YouTube refers to as joining a community in order to optimise viewings? This gang of mostly USA based top boys (many of whose practice is questionable) seem to prop each other up and so the face of woodworking is changing by these new so-called experts who it would appear are motivated by money rather than principle. Is this the democracy of YouTube?</p><p>Of course there are diverse ways to fashion wood and I am the first to acknowledge and encourage that and as one of my subscribers wrote to me recently - 'just continue what you are doing Jeremy in your own way and when you want to'. I guess its not a competition to see who can get the most views but whether you have anything to say that will at least stick with a few people. </p><p>Reminds me of the Marx quote:<i> 'Count me out of any club that will have me as a member'.</i> </p><p>Now what was the topic today? Oh yes - gluing end grain. Well to put it in perspective why would a major glue manufacturer advise that when gluing end grain with their glue - reinforcement should be added in stress applications?</p><p>Are we really living in a cancel culture and is this the best side of democracy on YouTube where useful content gets dwarfed?!</p><p>And talking of major glue manufacturers I asked one leading brand technical expert why he was not challenging some of the misinformation on YouTube about glues and end grain and he replied that they would likely get sued. So its okay that an authorative voice with years of research behind it is silenced by fear and ordinary flash in the pan Joes to get financially rewarded (YouTube monetisation) without accountability misleading vast numbers of ignorant woodworkers.</p><p>Crazy world today!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-71751698786071288412019-02-13T04:14:00.002-08:002019-02-13T07:25:09.068-08:00A Bright Spark in the World of Woodworking Magazine Editors.<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Life takes many twists and turns when circumstances suddenly force change. I have worked with many editors of Woodworking magazines but none comes to mind so much as Nick Gibbs who eventually got to publish his own woodworking magazines.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Sadly Nick suffered a brain injury in 2014 having been knocked off his bike and this changed his life dramatically. I knew Nick as far back as the 1980's when he was the youngest editor of Th<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">e Woodworker, Britain's top woodworking magazine. Unusually bright, Eton educated but very much a man of the people, he was very good at thinking outside the box and I joined him in the early 90's when he set up Good Woodworking magazine at Future Publishing in Bath. I was an associate editor and wrote many articles for him and tested tools and there was a sense of fun in the editorial office.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Nick was promoted to senior management at Future and then took the bold move to set up his own publishing company (Freshwood) and he launched British Woodworking and another magazine called Living Woods. Again he asked me to write for him and I know he enjoyed pushing the boundaries and involving me in mildly controversial articles such as questioning the Holy Grail of the Dovetail used by cabinetmakers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">After Nick's brain injury and long period in a coma he lost his job, his career which I believe was his passion. Many of us who have gone through brain traumas to a degree understand that even the smallest brain malfunction and that sudden loss of faculties taken for granted can cause major life changes. The brain is so finely wired, we still know little about it although we can fly rockets to Mars. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Nick was an exceptionally bright spark in the world of magazine editorial and a key figure at Britain's fastest growing publisher - Future Publishing in Bath. </span><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Good woodworking was Future Publishing's flagship magazine in the 1990's, groundbreaking in its highly visual format and jargon busting text boxes, de-mystifying woodworking to mortal men and women.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The last time I heard of Nick was that he was sitting outside Bath Abbey carving wooden spoons with a penknife, curiously as outside that same Abbey I would busk on my guitar but not on that day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I understand Nick has an active blog and quite philosophical in some of his postings about his life after being an editor for so long. I wish him well </span></div>
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Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-65567217609907463782019-02-07T06:26:00.001-08:002019-02-10T06:42:13.304-08:00Depriving Youngsters of Practical Experience<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I passed out of Shoreditch College, the leading UK Handicraft Teacher training college in 1966 - with a Distinction in Advanced Woodwork. I went on to teach in numerous schools and leading colleges including Bristol Polytechnic where I trained CDT teachers and more recently (2009) I was invited to become an inspector for The British Accreditation Council (for Independent Higher Education) based on my vast and varied experience in Education. I didn't apply for the job but was invited and to this day don't know who put my name forward.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Added to that I have run YTS courses where the Government of the day sponsored young people to work alongside me serving as a valuable stepping stone in their career path. I have also run successful private courses and taken on young people for informal but intensive work experience programmes and in particular from Finland. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It disturbs me that whereas I was almost priviliged to have by chance an exceptional and inspiring school woodwork teacher who set me on a path I would walk again today if I was 17, <b>the opportunity for most young people to engage in practical education today is diminishing</b>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This is little short of scandalous because the skills go way beyond that of training someone to become a carpenter or plumber. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">These are enabling, transferrable problem-solving life skills and I have documented them fully elsewhere (eg RSA Comment:<b><a href="https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/rsa-comment/2011/01/practical-arts-in-education-and-society">Practical Arts in Education and Society.</a></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A 6 minute video showing work experience opportunities offered by me </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">in woodworking, </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">CNC, vehicle restoration and video production. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The opportunity is not just diminishing because the focus on secondary education is away from engineering, manufacturing, making - in fact for jobs we don't know will exist in this rapidly changing technological age, but there is almost a deliberate and systemmatic block under the name of 'political correctness' that is shooting us in the foot. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Not long ago schools claimed it was too expensive to maintain workshops and lacked the imagination that quality materials can be found in skips for young people to create things with. That kills two birds with one stone as it addresses the serious issue of the throw away society.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Health and Safety became another block and devoid of flexibility and common sense risk assessment in a case-by-case scenario and whereas the term 'apprenticeship' has been banded about by politicians when it suits them, in reality offering an apprenticeship today is full of expensive deterrents and now we have a situation where only the well-off can afford a craft training post secondary school. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A fellow furniture maker friend of mine and prominent in the field, today told me his experience of once considering offering an apprenticeship. Despite his large efficient workshop he was told his machines were not far enough apart and when he said the youngster wouldn't be using his machines but would start off loading timbers from outside he was told that the youngster would have to be issued with sun cream.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Silly me I forgot that today we have a generation of over-protective parents and some of them in Education who insist (if it isn't already law) that to play conkers you must wear safety glasses and a helmet. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Not that long ago local schools were keen to send their sixth formers to me for short periods of work experience. One young lady assisted me making a documentary film about the late Alan Peters, the foremost British furniture craftsman of the late 20th Century and she later gained a job as a researcher with the BBC. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">'<b>The Makers Maker</b>' <span style="font-weight: 400;"> 47 minute documentary part sponsored by the ex chairman of The London Stock Exchange (a client of Alan Peters) and The Worshipful Company of Furniture makers. </span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;">Recently I tried engaging with schools but they never answer emails or are in tea break when you try to phone a key person.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;">So I made a really serious mistake of using a group email list for a sports activity I engage in every week as a means to request if any of the guys (some of whom </span>have sixth form age children at local schools) could forward the above video link to the key person in that school or just put that person in touch with me. It used to be called networking. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I was immediately and rather publicly reprimanded, courteously of course with </span><i style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">'I don’t think we should be using this email group for anything other than sport info'. </span></i><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Of course I should have emailed them directly but who knows they might object and say I haven't invited you to use my email address privately! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A subsequent email exchange with this person he told me he had close contacts in local education and it would be an 'abuse of his position' (data protection) and advising me the proper way is to use social media!!! Oh no, please don't start using the word abuse! How the world has changed. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He then told me email was not the best way to discuss this but <b>he could answer all my questions</b> in person. And yet he chose to tick me off in a public email!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The saddening thing is when someone says they have 'the answers to all my questions' yet hasn't bothered to watch the video to begin to understand what the real question actually is - why are young people being deprived of the kind of practical experience that I can offer and that my video demonstrates is beneficial to their work prospects? !! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My own generation, largely enjoying their leisure time must surely be aware these valuable skills will be lost. Maybe they don't care but I have always been committed to education and passing on the skills I was advantaged to learn. Who knows what jobs or skill demands there will be post-Brexit in a decade from now? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When I taught my<b> </b>highly successful<b> Intensive Design and Make in Wood</b> courses in my small studio to adults a few years ago, several of my students commented that actually what I was teaching were life skills, but clearly I have demonstrated inappropriate contemporary 'life skills' recently with my sports group email faux pas by failing to realise there is a very different outlook amongst the current dominant generation who are comfortable with political correctness and are quick to say -</span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">'I don’t think we should be using this email group for anything other than sport info'. </span>Y</i></span></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">et, if I were to suggest <span style="color: blue;">'</span></span><i style="color: windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Well I don't think we should be using a referendum to over-turn a vote that we lost</span></i><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">'</span> I would be laughed out of the pub! </span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But the reality and irony is that in politics often things get done in the corridors of power rather than in the committee rooms where strict agendas are kept to!</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In looking for a young person to assist me for a few hours a week in return for imparting my varied skills, In recent years I have placed a free advert in <i>Gumtree</i> and get lots of response, including from older people, but this facility has been stopped and I am not an employer offering a job.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: windowtext; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: windowtext; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Schools and colleges inundated by emails don't bother to answer them so it seemed a commonsense approach to ask guys I play sport with one a week to do me a favour and link me to a key person at the school their kids were attending to send my video to. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: windowtext; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Aside from political correctness and the rules of a particular gang of guys, can we think for a moment from the perspective of many youngsters who are being deprived of the opportunity for engaging in creative practical work and which could lead on to following a rewarding career later on.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: windowtext; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As it stands many of the state furniture making courses have been closed down and the vacuum filled by elite and very expensive schools. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: windowtext; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Is this a society of equal opportunity? </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-46381534523276301632018-08-20T06:53:00.001-07:002018-08-20T06:57:05.197-07:00Innovation is like a snowplough<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Innovation is like a snow plough clearing a track with much resistance in a traditionally bound furniture market but once that track is cleared it is easier for others to follow. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Exhibitions for designer makers have always been a rare and unique opportunity to innovate - to say something new about a chair or a cabinet.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Historically I would always sell from furniture exhibitions and was fortunate to have my work recognized by the Crafts Council from 1980 to my last major group show in 2002 (at the Charles Rennie Macintosh Centerary exhibition at The Hill House in Scotland. There some of my work was chosen for its subtelty or surprise - a cabinet that had no handles but relied on a degree of mystery.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Being under the wing of The Crafts Council, despite criticisms that it was elitist, was my only patronage - I was able to focus on what I do for over two and a half decades which is invent, create objects that are original and say something new. As one of 26 furniture makers we were selected for redefining the boundaries of our craft amongst thousands of articulate craftspeople in the UK who at that time were more 'conservation craft' focused. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But it wasn't an easy ride for me. During the 1970's there were no outlets; I was told by a local gallery to come back when I was famous and even hawked my rocking chair on the London Underground to turn up uninvited at the offices of Habitat in Neal Street. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">'You don't have and appointment with the MD' the girl said but I replied 'he has to come out to the toilet some time today' and he did and he smiled as he saw me sitting on it and he gave me half an hours of his time. Much though he liked it he said my rocking chair was too upmarket for Habitat and I continued on my search for a sympathetic outlet, having put them in a local Persian carpet shop to show off their carpets in the window! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Early examples of my High backed rocker were made from knotty pine, crudely dowelled. I just had an idea, a few hand tools, no machines, a tiny converted cattleshed workshop costing £3 per week in rent and I could not get a £50 loan from the bank. The chair went on to sell in its hundreds all over the world over several decades, well mostly in the UK from a tiny shopwindow on the busy London Road outside Bath that I called The Bath Carpenter. Deliberately anonymous because I felt good design should sell on its own merits and not on a name from an exclusive gallery. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But from the 90's onwards people no longer bought on whim as they would spotting the chair from the traffic jams on the busy London road where my tiny shopwindow was. The climate changed radically. One local lady I chatted up in a tea shop brought her husband round to see a table I had made from timbers given to me by Kew Gardens from The Great Storm. He was mostly looking out of the window and she seemed cautious although she had always said she loved the table. So I offered to let them live with it for a week.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I had made two versions of the table and she was interested in the longer 5 foot long one. After a week she called me to say they would buy the table - for a few hundred pounds, well under a thousand, and she said what decided her was her next door neighbour liking it and then her father, a carpenter, liking it . It seemed the days of making spontaneous decisions were over revealing a lack of confidence and education then why should someone be knowledgeable to value like something? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But even the lack of education about common timbers by - say television experts who invited me to take my drinks cabinet onto the Four Rooms show and didn't know I had used maple or that it was not a particularly rare wood! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Most large companies have an R & D department alongside marketing and branding. My finished pieces were virtually second prototypes such as my Caterpillar Rocking chair - the first prototype was made of chipboard painted red and black, the second prototype had to pay the rent that week and was the finished thing. Four were made.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Recently I gave chair number four a facelift by finishing in it a stone lacquer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The original chair appeared in Design magazine under the name of a 16 year old lad on a Work Experience scheme who passed it off as his design. He had made it from plans that had appeared in The Woodworker magazine in 1984.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To create a new chair today and market it successfully, finding a platform upon which to launch it would cost upwards of ten grand not to mention the cost of prototyping and then - who is going to buy it and importantly how do you price it? You can go too cheap when you step outside the status quo market!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Caterpillar Rocker Mk 2 - Copyright Jeremy Broun 2018. Made of Brazilian Pine plywood with rubber lined feet. </span>
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<br />Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-50899101750867484582018-08-05T11:06:00.001-07:002018-11-16T10:17:01.065-08:00Writers are a nuisance to publishers<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The wise and famous author Fay Weldon once said 'writers are always a great nuisance to publishers'. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I guess my name will enjoy a little re-vamped exposure this year as my book is released in September 2018 and sold via Amazon (I won't earn a penny). When I say 'my book' what I mean is 'my book' yet 'not my book'. It could have easily appeared with somebody else's name on the cover and if things had gone to the publisher's plan I would not have been consulted at all over the re-vamping of my original 1993 publication! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Astonishing, unbelievable but quite normal today where legality precedes ethics! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As a Member of The Society of Authors here is my letter to the editor (to be published in the 'The Author' journal:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>'Dear editor</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>In the last issue of The Author, 'Fair shares - a call to publishers' prompted me to write on the subject of moral rights. I was astonished to learn almost by chance a book I wrote in 1993 was being re-vamped this year by an art director, without the publisher consulting me. The book – an encyclopedia of woodworking techniques – is highly technical; just one change of a decimal point or a word can change the meaning of a sentence. An example is that wood veneer was re-typed as 6mm thick when it is paper thin (0.6mm)!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>The initial contract was so poor my only legal right was to withdraw my name from any future edition that might damage my reputation. I did not want do this – who would want another author's name to go on their book and is that morally right? Negotiating from a zero-strength position by offering to put in several months work voluntarily, I managed to achieve not just a say but the<b> final say</b> in how the content and technical imagery is to be up-dated but this is an unsatisfactory situation. Not receiving a royalty or compensation for my recent work is one thing but it should be a fundamental right for authors to own copyright of title and content. Moral rights, as the intellectual property specialists say, should be inalienable.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Jeremy Broun'</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A lot of people will naturally assume that an award-winning book* published in five languages and selling over 25 years would pay off the author's mortgage but I was unable to negotiate any sort of copyright ownership for at least the title or receipt of royalties for the original book, just a modest lump sum on publication in 1993. a few crumbs from the loaf. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">With this re-vamped book the most I managed to negotiate was a pitious £100 fee for several weeks work chasing up image contributors in the Themes section to write captions. That was my 'foot in the door' by offering what the art editor couldn't do - write concisely about technicalities in a craft that probably has more techniques, tools and materials attached to it than any other craft. So through my opening 'chess game' move I got to see how the entire book in its 'spreads' form - the draft page layouts and not only was I able over a period of months to slowly slowly catchy monkey make necessary detailed technical changes to the body content but the major prize for me was to re-shape the photographic gallery section of the book and ensure the very best examples of modern work were included. That meant replacing some of the already chosen images, a tricky task. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It was a recipe for disaster for a highly technical book not to have its author engaged from the start. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">One example is almost the very first image of a dustmask in the spreads looked like a laboratory assistant emerging out of Porton Down, and this was around the time of the Salisbury incident! Home or professional woodworkers do not in the main wear helmets akin to building site workers. Another example was in copying the text manually from the original book a decimal </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">point was moved with reference to thickness of wood veneer resulting in veneer 6mm thick. A book that might have my name on the cover. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">However, </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I have to say the art editor, despite her obvious lack of technical knowledge made an absolutely superb job of the design and presentation and we worked together on the phone sometimes late into the night making tons of adjustments. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So the work I put in over several months I offered to do for free. That was a vital chess move in this game because I had originally been told there was no budget and actually it was a narrow window of opportunity that my book was to be re-vamped at all. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The publishing world today is like the bespoke furniture making world - a crowded marketplace. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">However like any girl I'm entitled to change my mind and after all the hard work I had put in and the senior editor acknowledging I had made a very significant difference to the book - I naturally asked for more than £100. It was reluctantly doubled and I persisted over the next few months and finally got £500.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Talking of girls there were hardly any examples of female furniture makers when I saw the spreads. Ironically the two key editors were females. There has been a revolution in furniture making in the UK since 1993 with several hugely talented females emerging. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">I believe the Themes, (Gallery) section is a tour-de-force, a unique showcase of</span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">the very best work going on in the UK (with a few historical examples from Scandinavia and the USA). The publisher, the global leader in visual books had chosen the art editor well and from a personal point of view in this chess game I won the end game which was to have final say in the technical content and the choice of images in the gallery section. Job done!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">My gratitude to two furniture makers who offered me moral support and some technical back up - my friend Andrew Lawton and Christine Meyer-Eaglestone. Not being a 'veneer man' myself I learned about engineered veneer and I was put in touch with people she felt should be included in the book as masters (or mistresses) of their technique. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Receiving three complimentary copies recently, it was a bittersweet experience, considering the past few months I was anxious that my name might not be on 'my' book and that any of my changes would actually be accepted right up to the very end. The last message I had with the art editor was that she had submitted the spreads for approval by the bosses. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">*The original edition published in 1993 won the UK Booksellers 'Top 200 Titles' Award from 63,000 books published that year. </span><br />
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<br />Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-64469564648158774552018-07-10T11:46:00.003-07:002018-07-10T11:48:26.626-07:00An Innovative Guitar For 2018 <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This is the Jez Broun Ecoustic Guitar.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To some the word 'ecoustic' might imply an environmentally c</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">orrect guitar but actually it is my abbreviation of the term electro-acoustic'.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This is guitar no 21 (since 1962) and is the most innovative so far. It has been designed and built for my own use and the essence of it is the sophisticated pickup system that links to a guitar synthesiser.</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dg58PB36U68/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dg58PB36U68?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Graphtech Ghost Midi Guitar Pickup System is an amazing piece of electronics hardware that allows a nylon strung guitar to link to a synthesiser such as the Rolan GR-55 to create a variety of guitar sounds as well as other instruments such as cello, electric piano, saxophone and flute. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-align: start;">The guitar uses 400 year old black walnut for the detachable back . </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-align: start;">The top is made of first grade Balkan spruce with very close grain </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-align: start;">and the bridge made from 250 year old elm.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-align: start;">The main profile is constructed from Brazilian pine plywood stack laminated.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvpEGFZm5yFleICatbM3_m1BAkF6zb-fe6nE3VsSnEZpDNEmVZeTUTytIGVPT7GKb3wbE5zJHThih-WgC2vsX_xInlkTAxQsRSvceU9GRukGFSbKP9yWUfdnBPHpirqRqtIKxl4WktZPUJ/s1600/DSC00226.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvpEGFZm5yFleICatbM3_m1BAkF6zb-fe6nE3VsSnEZpDNEmVZeTUTytIGVPT7GKb3wbE5zJHThih-WgC2vsX_xInlkTAxQsRSvceU9GRukGFSbKP9yWUfdnBPHpirqRqtIKxl4WktZPUJ/s400/DSC00226.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The fingerboard is ebony inlaid with acrylic markers</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIHYfLZD9ujuCDI2jXREUsWsmCTuTl5HdTzQcloq9U2_HA3giCp1kpXoPAzkP_sLPoEyn59H-ceGhrgf0_hvtX5Oyhiaw3GZqLWhAbX3udJ0Gh7iu8-TwFU38Lagj1rHl5Ao2J5q9yYz_Z/s1600/07.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIHYfLZD9ujuCDI2jXREUsWsmCTuTl5HdTzQcloq9U2_HA3giCp1kpXoPAzkP_sLPoEyn59H-ceGhrgf0_hvtX5Oyhiaw3GZqLWhAbX3udJ0Gh7iu8-TwFU38Lagj1rHl5Ao2J5q9yYz_Z/s640/07.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> The head is faced with Balkan spruce and the machine heads </span></span></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I bought in 1967 and have been saving for a special guitar. </span></span></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">They include bone and mother of pearl.</span></span></div>
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Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-21246957510806222032017-12-03T14:51:00.001-08:002017-12-03T14:51:08.464-08:00Excellence Without Elitism<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Had I chosen to write a book on traditional guitar making I could have done it quite quickly but fewer people would have had the skill or money to make the guitar. To write a book that de-mystifies the craft of the luthier, that challenges the traditions, uses low cost materials, low cost every day tools and uses improvised jigs to produce a worthy instrument that is <b><i>easy</i></b> to build - is far more difficult and involves a lot of time and planning.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My thanks first for the patience of those early adopters who pre-ordered <b>'Acoustic Guitar Easy Build</b>, some over a year ago. Realistically there is a good six month's solid work in the project and when you view the final item you will understand why. My 'pledge' has been to complete by the end of 2017 (and that is with juggling several other projects). In the few weeks remaining there might just be enough time to eat and sleep. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3jtqc8gro3JR3tigeOTG5k3WdsjauxM5oxkb2tg94FutPlF9RBvtD95uf-Y74Y-2ZnSLhtUsPKVVPsLi8aNKSUCgjHyt3LfS-nXrzxFDzmAeXRgwqbhSkhzrEbRqcUfpsRLp6x8HMZHTc/s1600/Acoustic+guitar+cover.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="886" data-original-width="620" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3jtqc8gro3JR3tigeOTG5k3WdsjauxM5oxkb2tg94FutPlF9RBvtD95uf-Y74Y-2ZnSLhtUsPKVVPsLi8aNKSUCgjHyt3LfS-nXrzxFDzmAeXRgwqbhSkhzrEbRqcUfpsRLp6x8HMZHTc/s320/Acoustic+guitar+cover.JPG" width="223" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So where did the passion for guitars and guitar making start?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Having had the good fortune of being taught woodwork by a brilliant teacher at a school that I was sent away to (a rescue package to my errant youth), the moment of change was when at the age of 17 I was given the keys to the school workshop one weekend and on the Sunday afternoon I emerged somewhat punch drunk with an acoustic guitar, having worked continuously through the Friday and Saturday nights. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8e7ZVe0mOv8oGq2JU1y0qWulTCofc9KajCSOKOfatQrnGa8jjz9SsgR_nI_5uDONJhKJCQTthU8wxdRMgvF5fzgJIdSNaWMe9GPVF_92fiwUfIrafB4eXGBf4vr0qfMXRRK6yGs7VJX6k/s1600/Abbotsholme+guitar+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="713" data-original-width="833" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8e7ZVe0mOv8oGq2JU1y0qWulTCofc9KajCSOKOfatQrnGa8jjz9SsgR_nI_5uDONJhKJCQTthU8wxdRMgvF5fzgJIdSNaWMe9GPVF_92fiwUfIrafB4eXGBf4vr0qfMXRRK6yGs7VJX6k/s320/Abbotsholme+guitar+2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Aware of my good educational fortune and having since spent a considerable portion of my life teaching at all levels of ability and in institutions ranging from comprehensive schools, private schools and colleges and having pursued a former 'career' as an innovative furniture maker, I feel I have never been far away from my core belief in <b>excellence without elitism</b>. Sadly I stepped back from the furniture making scene around 2002 because it has became increasingly focused on catering for the rich.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">At 17 I had considered making guitars for a living but feared I would soon get bored because in those days the methodology was rigidly traditional. So I folowed in my woodwork teacher's footsteps and trained at the UK's foremost Handicraft Teacher Training institution - Shoreditch College (where I gained a distinction on the Advanced wood course). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Teaching allowed me holiday time to make guitars but I also taught basic guitar making in a London Secondary Modern school to sixth formers including girls. Those were innovative days. Leaving teaching to set up my own furniture workshop in 1973 I have focused on innovative ideas in wood.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH2lE2cIRA5zB6CpHLuawP-QIR98BwWzQQLOfqDbo0tJtBydNEpzEzYEH6oFTotos-1Y9C18_qlgIsG9ipY_QtVoBnRgpVCrWkBh8pgy4Ld64bkyaU3CAnTY22O7hj_hH74gaBal6IHTNI/s1600/early_Zig_bw+best+copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1048" data-original-width="1600" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH2lE2cIRA5zB6CpHLuawP-QIR98BwWzQQLOfqDbo0tJtBydNEpzEzYEH6oFTotos-1Y9C18_qlgIsG9ipY_QtVoBnRgpVCrWkBh8pgy4Ld64bkyaU3CAnTY22O7hj_hH74gaBal6IHTNI/s320/early_Zig_bw+best+copy.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>The Zigzag Table</b> made from strips of elm, designed </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">and made </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> in 1979 - a unique centre joint.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAd0Z0r954oSkksNQATTg3pKuStjPBhGKJg5_PcjmPX_OYAA4LcLuR04juRKjbIw7s1zcWfL7mT5VHMLdS50fBb8_V2H3jR6vnx4m0IgwVxEugaFoXl1nlw8Heg3832lKKrpkIb9z_wJri/s1600/Jumbo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1254" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAd0Z0r954oSkksNQATTg3pKuStjPBhGKJg5_PcjmPX_OYAA4LcLuR04juRKjbIw7s1zcWfL7mT5VHMLdS50fBb8_V2H3jR6vnx4m0IgwVxEugaFoXl1nlw8Heg3832lKKrpkIb9z_wJri/s320/Jumbo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A jumbo folk guitar using braided strings</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">(somewhere between a nylon and steel strung guitar) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">made and sold in 1979 for £200.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Over the years I have made about 20 guitars and many of those for sale and in latter years I have escaped the isolation of being a craftsman and started performing with guitars I have made or have modified.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I have been invited to write several books over the years, the most notable being <b>The Incredible Router</b> and <b>The Encyclopedia of Woodworking Techniques</b>, both of which won awards. So, Education is at the core of my lifelong pursuit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Now is time to launch what has been work in progress for several years - a publication embracing today's technology (a video-integrated ebook) that enables a guitar player who maybe has never done woodwork, to realize the dream of building this/her own guitar. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As I am on borrowed time and taking a rest from the intensive video filming and editing for a moment I will simply add some random still images here of the project so far as a taster for you the reader to please spread the word about my unique radical publication.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVP4r4xgxKNUjYK2qIR3wBQk86-m-8WJIVBh2B78FrhdLpadErwuNxcChHabOECUqVVU1TOlL87X3zNfFA3u0jSSNTTPYowL2UPWC1Tiwey52N0ZAJqkJH_bHy8up1A4BrBeASf-1qEb0O/s1600/back+stick+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVP4r4xgxKNUjYK2qIR3wBQk86-m-8WJIVBh2B78FrhdLpadErwuNxcChHabOECUqVVU1TOlL87X3zNfFA3u0jSSNTTPYowL2UPWC1Tiwey52N0ZAJqkJH_bHy8up1A4BrBeASf-1qEb0O/s320/back+stick+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">1.5mm modelmaking birch plywood is used for the back and ribs</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw6Vy9fAZGwaMyddSN-huHFpl5ogai2_hFQUJyEZqDG-WPCVD3YgGKBPO0vZTMmKD-uLB5PDKMq-6mlKXaGynpRdt0bkwPJ09gD5EAtZ8VV7Xei8nqEMstgtRqWHV6FPgU33sxpYp1o_2Y/s1600/bandsaw+back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw6Vy9fAZGwaMyddSN-huHFpl5ogai2_hFQUJyEZqDG-WPCVD3YgGKBPO0vZTMmKD-uLB5PDKMq-6mlKXaGynpRdt0bkwPJ09gD5EAtZ8VV7Xei8nqEMstgtRqWHV6FPgU33sxpYp1o_2Y/s320/bandsaw+back.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A small bandsaw costing around £100 - absolutely invaluable.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikc_yCwgHePeqRsUwT2D16OAxB8AfYPL-p4JBZzhpPglyApL_EiHqNV-LsBB-ilRgrsM2kaQlsOGBrkBKWwLCjuRR0XpYYFMr1boM9GeLtGGWXjlUkaE66btUS2bdq25IMZLNYGG1tVAeD/s1600/dry+run+struts+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikc_yCwgHePeqRsUwT2D16OAxB8AfYPL-p4JBZzhpPglyApL_EiHqNV-LsBB-ilRgrsM2kaQlsOGBrkBKWwLCjuRR0XpYYFMr1boM9GeLtGGWXjlUkaE66btUS2bdq25IMZLNYGG1tVAeD/s320/dry+run+struts+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAIxVqc2LdeL3c89_hoa7roTH0HwkS2dZ727LGuS9opR0JTVSYbGcXNaFFSM2GqOcyXxzhnyCu0DccbpvVBenFS0JkLnTFLPLPk6nE9rpbTF9XCCXbdmphSwWeETHe1uFpeXa_-jHQxVto/s1600/g+clamp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAIxVqc2LdeL3c89_hoa7roTH0HwkS2dZ727LGuS9opR0JTVSYbGcXNaFFSM2GqOcyXxzhnyCu0DccbpvVBenFS0JkLnTFLPLPk6nE9rpbTF9XCCXbdmphSwWeETHe1uFpeXa_-jHQxVto/s320/g+clamp.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">just two low cost G clamps used for the entire build</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitXoBcHdNWpA5D9coTJu7qMhY_HFeW_q5n1rf8QAS49-FfwwDo7w4tGzAT19y059XpHb0_UpZFYXzTgkd_vC-mK7cZBNgw7U-mIPixJTA9fXiYkn0zjM9NU7YMh8vTKG6dgaRa1HN8GzVy/s1600/router.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitXoBcHdNWpA5D9coTJu7qMhY_HFeW_q5n1rf8QAS49-FfwwDo7w4tGzAT19y059XpHb0_UpZFYXzTgkd_vC-mK7cZBNgw7U-mIPixJTA9fXiYkn0zjM9NU7YMh8vTKG6dgaRa1HN8GzVy/s320/router.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A low cost plunging router with two or three cutters</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_pPZsTD5MSbswmKQre883xQCtfoO0vgJYEWFy_9W2xrtknCTtHunNu6gRwserma3cjfbycEC0RVSCIF6tmKfldumJjlm4qb0A5JAm9w3cIFuTBUvyzKTksuPseBdXXYugkvzrNJx0sZfo/s1600/topblock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_pPZsTD5MSbswmKQre883xQCtfoO0vgJYEWFy_9W2xrtknCTtHunNu6gRwserma3cjfbycEC0RVSCIF6tmKfldumJjlm4qb0A5JAm9w3cIFuTBUvyzKTksuPseBdXXYugkvzrNJx0sZfo/s320/topblock.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The top block is made up of the same standard section </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">softwood used for the stickers, linings and some of the jigs!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyoXO221DR48ESi5d5rFjqHrgwoMWBsLXq7d5ApmHrXcJCTqm1xM521cQlZMZKZxhrkk36ee8yZGGFSEPx7ZsCHVMzDYUiFio0aplgWRAyV6pQHlRiiD7_CHjo46GODv8z_pmPKVYn-f_2/s1600/gluegun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyoXO221DR48ESi5d5rFjqHrgwoMWBsLXq7d5ApmHrXcJCTqm1xM521cQlZMZKZxhrkk36ee8yZGGFSEPx7ZsCHVMzDYUiFio0aplgWRAyV6pQHlRiiD7_CHjo46GODv8z_pmPKVYn-f_2/s320/gluegun.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A hotmelt gluegun with sticks for under £10</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwjO66oQ4fzQfQMZbJVZtRrttuOCjYqJUyw0VsXtrKTxvvprvd6tXQcV01cCxYu8WIHjVgg09OxeI5k9T5NuuuGcLOnSPeL52fWnWE9MHd90WT_ALWqnJdLrATZPxFRPmGYDTf0G4mUhww/s1600/rout+trim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwjO66oQ4fzQfQMZbJVZtRrttuOCjYqJUyw0VsXtrKTxvvprvd6tXQcV01cCxYu8WIHjVgg09OxeI5k9T5NuuuGcLOnSPeL52fWnWE9MHd90WT_ALWqnJdLrATZPxFRPmGYDTf0G4mUhww/s320/rout+trim.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Routing a perfectly straight edge using the steel rule</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">as a guide </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">saves hours and skill of hand planing</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTBzz0Su3f14jVIK7REXHswpg37eq64A9sfqAqvtjRIlxUorgeUMeJdmeBgNNCJQDaJv_mEDb_jKJkLuWG9H-fchdIOOrDGhIcL6WLQ_w6gjnnIOPF0BfphR7RJtIBXWSiMBi78I2psDXK/s1600/skim+saw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTBzz0Su3f14jVIK7REXHswpg37eq64A9sfqAqvtjRIlxUorgeUMeJdmeBgNNCJQDaJv_mEDb_jKJkLuWG9H-fchdIOOrDGhIcL6WLQ_w6gjnnIOPF0BfphR7RJtIBXWSiMBi78I2psDXK/s320/skim+saw.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Using a band saw to 'kiss' the edge of </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPuFEd2OKg_4ukgDI__xrghmkxJKuA6EqYWYFrTGSXDT8PQZBWCDj6KfAHaRhC9dawy0lShVWRj-mecNbjdu74HdSAuErFK4_V_5nbK7TJWWKIaWD08ASZFxOq_ye_pwhGt544Q_HaNS3M/s1600/strut+clamp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPuFEd2OKg_4ukgDI__xrghmkxJKuA6EqYWYFrTGSXDT8PQZBWCDj6KfAHaRhC9dawy0lShVWRj-mecNbjdu74HdSAuErFK4_V_5nbK7TJWWKIaWD08ASZFxOq_ye_pwhGt544Q_HaNS3M/s320/strut+clamp.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Using the same standard section of softwood and the springiness of wood these low cost clamps are used to attach the struts to the back and top.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4aB8-z-rTKUFVS3vGeAPjUtnDXyv1H0oe4MM7ZFT68HxqhRW821NIM7Sy5-bkmICHVDsV0YTa8QESuMCm7ZXhWOltrhTzPKl9B5vYAvg-XKw07lK9D9qDW4NSbrzb1m8pp8enLEAC_I1N/s1600/three+parts+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4aB8-z-rTKUFVS3vGeAPjUtnDXyv1H0oe4MM7ZFT68HxqhRW821NIM7Sy5-bkmICHVDsV0YTa8QESuMCm7ZXhWOltrhTzPKl9B5vYAvg-XKw07lK9D9qDW4NSbrzb1m8pp8enLEAC_I1N/s320/three+parts+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hours of time and skill saved by the simple easy to make</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">design of the top block that joints into the neck</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The core learning material is highly detailed videos.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To date 12 videos have been completed</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">relating to the guitar back and sides. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Not just a highly detailed guitar making manual </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>but a solid grounding for creative </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>resourceful woodworking </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Please share!</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Preview: </b></span><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><b>http://www.jeremybroun.co.uk/digibooks/easyguitarbuild</b></span></div>
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Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-56193371603584641222015-10-30T08:36:00.003-07:002015-10-30T08:36:24.808-07:00The Jeremy Broun Compact Toolbox<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I've got a little behind with the blog thing and partly because I have been very busy re-designing my website and separating out my furniture design activities from my woodworking publications as they are obviously aimed at two different markets. The latter now sit on an online store using a Wix website and it is called Woodomain. That is where I sell my books, DVDs, E-books and my more recent online video documentaries. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8jtQVoH3V8D44VbLVXez9xQVSXwzcV08rT6M9Vky4_-8awpLUu_xBVaSlrZQdYPxdwnSqExihLFNDR-Zsz2U4a6ZYSuZDm2BSySHUv3kc03X_i-Jy5OQWTBzy8uFtK5QSLgMXk8cwvgaR/s1600/woodomain+01.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="103" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8jtQVoH3V8D44VbLVXez9xQVSXwzcV08rT6M9Vky4_-8awpLUu_xBVaSlrZQdYPxdwnSqExihLFNDR-Zsz2U4a6ZYSuZDm2BSySHUv3kc03X_i-Jy5OQWTBzy8uFtK5QSLgMXk8cwvgaR/s320/woodomain+01.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> What spurred me to update my blog was the uplifting experience and renewal of 'faith in human nature' feeling that a design for a toolbox I gave for free on my YouTube channel I made just one request in return - that I was credited as the person behind the design concept. Not only have a few variations of my design appeared on the internet but their creators have mostly acknowledged me as requested and in an age of open source file sharing and 'everything is free on YouTube' it is an appreciated courtesy. </span></div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/apiQkeg_zSw/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/apiQkeg_zSw?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The JKB Compact Toolbox</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I say this because back in 1984 I gave permission for readers of The Woodworker magazine to make my Caterpillar Rocking Chair. A year or so later my original design appeared in Design magazine under the name of a sixteen year old woodworker who claimed it was his design! In today's complex world to protect an original idea or get a manufacturer to produce it is expensive and stressful and leads to sleepless nights. There are times in life when you surrender to the universe and simply give something and amazingly the universe rewards you.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEQ5Iph7Ic3bppyrfHF3rWWUykSbNaAlKuE5vIN_NrNflkZqE2McRtoIb1uSfwKLb-jEqyp8a2loJxktcO8D41m2LZfjfnJYVbu2MxwsMoVpYWEknUx0e7JKkjHSKK19WZmQ1OKYDIWxJ7/s1600/catblack.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEQ5Iph7Ic3bppyrfHF3rWWUykSbNaAlKuE5vIN_NrNflkZqE2McRtoIb1uSfwKLb-jEqyp8a2loJxktcO8D41m2LZfjfnJYVbu2MxwsMoVpYWEknUx0e7JKkjHSKK19WZmQ1OKYDIWxJ7/s320/catblack.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Caterpillar Rocking Chair Copyright Jeremy Broun 1984</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Well actually a surprising reward is in seeing how a few woodworkers have interpreted my toolbox design and in some ways improved it. I have picked out a few here and put names to them as best I can:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This one is by a woodworker called Alan Price who contacted me and sent some photos of his version as well as posting it on YouTube. A nice detail is the comb or finger joint along the edge.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisuJNOfgLYpj1U1uC0XtZLJmGN1Bc-YdLa2eQNVonTLHrA8UKr7QziPR6wt8n50f7zQyMe3Zo8X9s6e_LPBos06EY3WdYlbwCea8WuIUXuI1foQFE_Dfo5ZuIDLocIncYMCNAx_kIBRgS5/s1600/case.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisuJNOfgLYpj1U1uC0XtZLJmGN1Bc-YdLa2eQNVonTLHrA8UKr7QziPR6wt8n50f7zQyMe3Zo8X9s6e_LPBos06EY3WdYlbwCea8WuIUXuI1foQFE_Dfo5ZuIDLocIncYMCNAx_kIBRgS5/s320/case.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This version was sent to me and I have mislaid the source but again it is a net variation with a multitude of uses.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A YouTube video by Dave Wirth using the JKB Compact Tooolbox idea</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Not everybody has acknowledged the toolbox is my design so a gentle reminder request was sent to Dave Wirth who has created this chipboard version!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I intend to produce an E-manual giving dimensions and constructional details of this toolbox for those who would like to build the original version.</span></div>
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<br />Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-83550155127092458712015-02-14T13:27:00.002-08:002015-11-19T05:17:56.558-08:00The freedom to busk in Bath<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> The very same buskers who try to gag a fellow busker from talking to the broadcast media, claim their human right to freedom of expression on the streets! Busking is on the political agenda!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> What is fascinating listening to John Cleese reminiscing with Eric Idle (2015) is that the bizarre Terry Gilliam animations glued together the totally detached and meaningless Monty Python sketches into one brilliant seamless storyline. Ironically the Room (or was it ministry)for silly walks and the one for Arguments depicts the way our county councils and indeed many other organizations tend to work - disconnected thinking and a failure (or refusal) to deal with the bigger picture! <b>The bigger picture about busking</b> has not been considered. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> I have for some time lingered in posting a blog about busking in Bath, but since it all went viral last summer about the rector of Bath Abbey having to stop a Sunday service because of a busker and the current pledge by officials to ban amplifiers, I'm going to say my piece. Suffice to say buskers wouldn't be heard above the frenzy of tourists outside the Abbey without a degree of amplification which is the lifeblood of many creative acts. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Here is a short video of a radio interview I was asked to do during that media frenzy. It is lighthearted (as the main political story had suddenly run its course) and I guess the slot for me to talk had already been set up so instead I gave a personal view about the freedom of playing guitar in a wide open space such as outside Bath Abbey: </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Addition November 2015: At 2 mins 29 secs in the video above I commented on the 'huge freedom we (in Britain) enjoy' in public spaces with terrorism in my mind as an inevitable occurrence and it happened in Paris where I have also enjoyed the freedom to busk.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> The second thing I'd like to say is that I was asked to speak on behalf of Bath buskers by various media because I look after The Bath Buskers website which its unwell owner asked me to take over a few years ago. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The lesson I quickly learned was <b>no good deed goes unpunished</b>. I had previously been voted as a buskers rep and went on to design and formulate The Bath Buskers Guide. Part of my discussions with city officials was persuading them NOT to ban the selling of music CDs by buskers and I pledged my fellow buskers would sell CDs discreetly by putting two or three in a guitar case. Of course the exact opposite happened - most buskers completely negated the new guide (designed by me and 1,000 copies paid for by officials) and buskers blatantly put big signs up - CDs for sale £10, contravening street trading laws. Unbelievable stupidity based on greed </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> The point to this particular anecdote is that a year or so later, out of the blue a couple of buskers invited me to breakfast at a local hotel, handed me a bottle of wine and told me it was time for me to move on as I had been voted out of office (behind my back) </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">as a buskers rep at a meeting. I later (in fact very recently) learned it was the same busker at the centre of the media story who had spread a rumour on the street that I had tried to get CD selling banned. No, <b>I persuaded officials to allow buskers to carry on selling CDs and the deal was to sell them discreetly! </b>Well, the same guy who ousted me, a few months earlier I did a favour for by fixing his guitar! In this next video (inspired by him) the lyrics for the song I composed around the very issue of freedom and noise that now three years later threatens the freedom and diversity busking in my home city! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> I suppose it is somewhat contradictory that a guy like me - an innovator of furniture design, a person who lightheartedly mocks tradition as a British national treasure holding us back in the world and yet I defend passionately the traditional essence of busking - the travelling minstrel. I quickly realised with the dirty politics on the street that buskers are just like the super rich, it is just a more primitive form of protectionisn. And what we see today is a microcosm of society - a polarity between those who do it as artistic expression and if people give a few coins its a bonus and those professional slick buskers with glossy CDs making a business out of it. Of course they want to hog the pitches and exclude others from just turning up and playing - university students wanting to gain public performance confidence, outsiders and the homeless.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Well, one Saturday my busking friend Gary phoned me up and asked me if I had heard of a gypsy jazz band called the Jonny Hepbir Trio who were sitting on benches with their guitars. I most certainly had and I told Gary that Jonny Hepbir is top of the British crop of world class gypsy jazz players and get him a pitch as his band were on their way to Bristol to play at a wedding. Well this next video speaks for itself about impromtu street performance which is what I think busking is all about:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Crumbs, I got to play guitar with a guy who had played with Jimmy Rosenberg and Birelli Lagrene, arguably the two foremost players in the world. What a thrill and unreal because I managed to hold it together!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> So the spirit of busking is a real treasure and curious how these same guys who tried to gag me from talking to the media (the guy in the Rules to be free video) </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">were claiming their human right to freedom of expression. What is evident is how a minority group can get a voice (in the media) and mess it up for the reasonable majority. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Music is a wonderful gift - to be able to play by ear allows you to concentrate on expression. I learned so much as a busker after earning 20p the first time I tried it because I was so bad. I developed a survival technique when I forgot my chords by doing a Les Dawson, smiling and then finding my way back into the song.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Over the years I have played on the streets of Bath with some real virtuoso musicians, backing them with my guitar such as my young Slovak friends who came back to stay with me one summer as this video shows:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> And yet the past two or three years I have not been able to turn up and play on the streets because all these local buskers stole all the pitches each and every day. I am not alone, others have been excluded but the good news is the gang has largely broken up and moved on from Bath, the bad news is the problems they caused that has upset the harmony of bath busking through their greed. Strangely I am the guy invited to </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">speak by officials on behalf of Bath buskers (because they can't get any other buskers to attend!) later this month at a public consultation workshop. I will propose a structured permit system I have spent a few months devising (it can be viewed at www.bathbuskers.co.uk). I don't represent Bath buskers, I represent what the website I am the custodian of states - 'Busking in Bath'. We don't own the streets, but we know them and set the example.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> So, when the local council holds a public consultation to ban amplifiers in three prime tourist areas and the rector of Bath Abbey understandably is fed up with it on his own doorstep, the problem is then shifted to other streets where shopkeepers are already pretty fed up and the council licencing department who are now issuing <b>a daily indeed yearly CD selling licence</b> <b>that will actually encouraging a small number of commercial buskers to hog the streets with more repeat repertoires</b>. Amplification will be dealt with in the room of silly walks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> The challenge (for me almost as a lone voice) is to persuade linear thinkers </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">who (with the media) refer to <b>the 'busking community' in conventional terms</b> when no such thing actually exists, that all the issues are actually connected and that the Room of silly walks is part of a building locked in Argument in a street called Chaos</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">! How can a </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">sledgehammer reactionary policy that actually compounds existing problems be argued when the deaf are leading the blind! There has to be a workable solution that brings harmony back on the streets and yet a 'them and us' attitude prevails when a few buskers including myself tried a few years ago to break down those barriers</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">. Call me traitor to buskers but the stupidity of a few buskers has put the boot in for all. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Well I came up with a possible solution a few months ago for a structured permit system that accounts for amplification, the selling of CDs and addresses other issues to make busking fairer for everyone and respecting the church and shopkeepers' need for peace. And it hinges around the way the pitches are booked. Would it be fair if somebody wishing to shop in Bath in the afternoon to have to book a parking place at a set time early in the morning? The problem is it is immediately rejected by council officials.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Busking has become a political issue, when the fundamental issue is common sense, co-existence, thinking beyond the self and respect for others. I am no church goer but I am ashamed that a fellow busker who draws his audience from a grand church on whose land he plays does not have the respect that Sunday is a day of worship and rest for some. He is too pre-occupied with his false belief system that everything is about individual rights. Interestingly there is also a human right to peaceful enjoyment. Ah the lawyers are never short of work! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Some say nothing will happen, that enforcing laws are not that easy and and others say the protectionism will continue and the chaos comes to a head every hot summer with buskers fighting over pitches like pigeons swooping on food. I cannot understand why the sheer performing talent on the street and generosity of spirit of the music given out does not commute with the current mindset amongst many buskers. So what is this freedom? </span><br />
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Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-29853277720287747982015-01-04T16:43:00.001-08:002015-01-05T04:27:19.440-08:00The myth about antiques<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I have always joked about the phenomenon of "tradition" in Britain and that some kind of writ must have been included in the Magna Carta that thou shalt bow down and unquestionably succumb to the great furniture making practice fixed in time, being like Stradivarius violins - superior in ever way to anything that could possibly be made today! Oh, by the way, we fly rockets to planet Mars and perform micro surgery and implant 4D components into the human body! I'm just saying. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> So I have my own theory about "tradition" - a haphazard random system of practice handed down through the ages by semi-skilled, half blind craftsmen often in remote rural areas and so poorly designed they have been subsequently bodged up by farmhands using angle iron and steel pins! This is not to mention the huge trade in fake antiques "distressed" with bicycle chains, shotgun pellets, induced woodworm and then dipped in sheep's urine to get the right patina!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> In essence the rich tradition of English period furniture was largely </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">headed by royal courtiers who were despatched to the continent for new ideas to return to impress the monarch of the time, resulting in a mishmash of design styles throughout the ages! The discipline of one craft was imposed on another such as the </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">linenfold panel found in church stonework but transferred to the craft of furniture. Stone and wood have entirely different working properties.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The claw and ball foot is an animal form and has nothing to do with wood or furniture and makes some pieces look as though they are confused which direction to turn whilst others look as though they are about to pounce on their owner.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> In contrast Scandinavian classic modern furniture such as Alvar Aalto's timeless laminated chairs echo the bending trees in the wind. Such furniture is based on human need rather than indulgence and inspired my Nature itself! </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">'Less is more' or as we in Britain say 'more is more'!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Of course I am being hugely irreverent and making sweeping generalisations about antiques but I can honestly only pick out a handful of English designs that have any real structural integrity. One </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">is the Windsor chair</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, paradoxically made by the High Wycombe forest "bodgers" but it is honest in construction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> At the turn of the last century I was commissioned to design and make a piece of furniture for one of the great halls in England (owned by a member of the royalty) and looking around I saw pieces of furniture dating back to the 13th century. My modern piece was to sit alongside furniture conceived of centuries apart - I saw 16th century pieces there. We (the proletariat!) tend to lump all antiques together as 'old' and respectable and yet making a living as a furniture maker in my youth, I was up against the prejudice that old and new cannot mix when the furniture in question was within the same century, not centuries apart! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> More recently, and this is what inspired this blog, is that a friend asked me to repair a Chippendale chair she owns that a rather overweight guest had broken in leaning back. I'm not sure the chair is an original but immediately I am faced with the conflict that on the one hand I can repair it because I can make/do anything with wood, but will my repair (that will put back the strength in the chair that never was there in the first place!), detract from its value?!! Fortunately my friend is more concerned with getting a rather pleasing looking antique chair back into service rather than about its value. This is refreshing as England is obsessed with this 'what's it worth culture'.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> On studying the chair I could see it would be very difficult to take it apart</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">without the risk of breaking it further. I could see old splits and repairs where the grain is short and dowels intruded to already weak mortice and tenon joints that further destroy the wood fibres. The essential principal for a strong joint is <b><i>fibre overlap</i></b> - demonstrated in my late twentieth century rocking chair with its massive halving joints.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I know that with the router I can carefully do some wood surgery by replacing inserts with the grain following the original member but like the dowels they will be detectable as long elongated inserts made smooth to follow the contours and stained etc to match the original colour. I shall likely be making a <b>YouTube video</b> of my repair in due course as I did with this recent chair repair.</span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Um4B7fDayMY?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The problem with many of the designs of yesteryear is there was little respect for the character (strength) of wood and its behaviour (timber movement) and whereas mahogany was favoured by the great designers of the past such as Chippendale and Hepplewhite for its readiness to take ornate carving, it is actually quite a brittle wood and not ideal for chairs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Few will take the trouble to understand a fundamental principle in woodworking that short grain should be avoided because it is weak as can be seen in the diagrams below:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Of course antique furniture has a huge charm and I am seduced as well! One of my favourite pieces is the classic tripod table (below) and of course it would not be authentic if it did not invariably have a split across the solid wood circular top! Why? because the top is not fixed to the under rail by slot screwing which allows the timber to shrink and expand but has screws in round holes hence the wood has nowhere to go and splits! </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Equally there is short grain on the S bend legs because the grain has to run diagonally to achieve any kind of strength. There is often a steel re-inforcing bracket added below the legs. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But it is inferior workmanship by the standards of today.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I believe these prejudices still exist today despite the fact that I have lived through what future historians will probably refer to as a Golden Age of Furniture. My series of DVDs "Furniture Today" place the superb modern work being made today in a historical context, but unlike wines, architecture (eg Grand Designs TV programme) there is still huge public ignorance about wood and modern furniture culture. Why upset the status quo 'they don't make it like they used to'?!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We are yet to live in the Age of enlightenment!</span><br />
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Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-28843292588232789052014-11-10T07:35:00.001-08:002015-01-05T03:23:49.271-08:00Wardrobe for the Emperor's New clothes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: start;">Here is one of my latest pieces which may well be submitted for auction at Sotheby's:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">'Freestanding Storage for the Emperor's New Clothes':</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The piece expresses the interaction between man and nature - the
interference of man with nature (by compromising natural wood by
turning it into plywood) and Nature's revenge by letting loose the
force of its elements - rain, extreme sunshine etc. In its previous
life the Objet d'art was a Ulitlity style oak veneered single
wardrobe, perhaps designed by Gordon Russell and made in one of many
sweatshops around the UK after the Second World War. The veneers
have separated, peeled and curled, exquisitely revealing the stark
bland core material. The cast metal knob remains intact and firmly screwed to
the decaying plywood but seems to be saying 'am I next?'. The stain
varnish is blistering in its pretence of being something it isn't. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This masterpiece emerged by accident as I removed an otherwise
ordinary, functional and lack lustre piece of furniture from service
and left it outdoors to be taken away. The wardrobe door still opens and closes, the piece is
still standing and I believe it is both a valuable expression of our
rich furniture history and the direction our craft could take. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I think it demonstrates
where I am with my craft currently, the options that are open to me
having proven I can make anything in wood to the same technical
standard as a robot on the day the grid crashed. The piece takes
furniture forward from utilitarian, to visual, to stark reality
functionalism - the ravages and revenge of nature on a humble piece
of utility furniture. </span></div>
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I hope you enjoy my piece of fun!</div>
</span>Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-25735253018625320942014-10-17T11:55:00.000-07:002014-11-07T08:48:28.591-08:00Death of the small combination machine<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am just in the process of writing another e-book and this one is called 'The Woodworker's Cave'. It evolved from a chapter in my 1991 book 'Electric Woodwork' called 'The Electric Workshop'. This book focuses on small workshops exploring priority tools and machines, limited space and budgets.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In my research in updating to the current era but also dipping into the past I recalled those wonderful little combination woodworking machines in the early 1970's by a French company called Lurem and an American company that launched the famous Emco Star woodworking combination machine. Albeit aimed at the DIY market, these machines were at the vanguard of the power tool revolution and I wonder why there are not similar machines on the market today that offer the functions of sawing, planing, drilling and routing for the small solo workshop where space is limited. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Emco Star combination woodworking machine - 6 functions</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh03OYmFc8yM__y3FBwnIkIIJ6u1VvMs4VwZyszZxfKR_S8oaxuJYT3pYjSMVS2a9863wZUI-Amn-k9nYIPKXG4G7OUJQJGLF9e08gxo__OlPK4t1Yxd398vHP-vK3TicnzBOq05Izr4HH_/s1600/emco+lathe.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh03OYmFc8yM__y3FBwnIkIIJ6u1VvMs4VwZyszZxfKR_S8oaxuJYT3pYjSMVS2a9863wZUI-Amn-k9nYIPKXG4G7OUJQJGLF9e08gxo__OlPK4t1Yxd398vHP-vK3TicnzBOq05Izr4HH_/s1600/emco+lathe.JPG" height="245" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A fabulous lathe attachment adds to the bandsaw, circular saw, disc and linisher. Wow, what a package! Bring it back!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPoMCGXqXeqdage9HH0ApPgTZrNxKJtpBKTiPQ4eagVZVwqXRRo1Dx8pOMw41yEPV7FqDI4x0VkYP_DJrNgYyAYTRtLdumZoVT6n7WhJgf4ksf6thl8JCoi9o7qjALtLrGYPPNTTTJrXvV/s1600/Emco+advert.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPoMCGXqXeqdage9HH0ApPgTZrNxKJtpBKTiPQ4eagVZVwqXRRo1Dx8pOMw41yEPV7FqDI4x0VkYP_DJrNgYyAYTRtLdumZoVT6n7WhJgf4ksf6thl8JCoi9o7qjALtLrGYPPNTTTJrXvV/s1600/Emco+advert.JPG" height="264" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQKQU5YaHLQChPJxW2tUCSktoZrTGcbvWTop8sZZ-Odx2C3De0iOLXKeK092MrBaL-jpEzlCIzC9_MdpZ44yJdk1kRTCgxFyOARro1psF9bPsuWglKwwlXZh2f7Ohox_Z6uC_Dlk2pBte2/s1600/Emco+star+2000.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQKQU5YaHLQChPJxW2tUCSktoZrTGcbvWTop8sZZ-Odx2C3De0iOLXKeK092MrBaL-jpEzlCIzC9_MdpZ44yJdk1kRTCgxFyOARro1psF9bPsuWglKwwlXZh2f7Ohox_Z6uC_Dlk2pBte2/s1600/Emco+star+2000.JPG" height="320" width="283" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Emco Star 2000 </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well I tracked an old Emco star down on Ebay and bid for it and won it and consider I got it at a very reasonable price considering its huge potential in a tiny workshop such as mine! Here it is:</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/SaryINXQgYs?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For me a priority tool is a bandsaw, however small. I do of course have a massive bandsaw in my main workshop but this feature on the Emco Star is worth its weight in gold (or should I say green Hammerite paint that I am going to change). The other really useful features are the circular saw, sanders and horizontal drill bed which can be used as a router. Dust extraction needs attaching of course and no end of custom/extension jigs can be added.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There modern combination machines are much bigger, slower to chasnfe mode and probably require a concrete floor whereas for small scale work the Emco Star is a winner. Why isn't it made today?!<br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the very few small machines available today seems to be the Spanish Stayer Combi 160. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a circular saw, planer, thicknesser and milling machine all in one.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirnqt1zc_3K4fIsKxiChxuHmdEArDd9KesM2-zu5XqSGt5_4mf8AiqlaAWhDLFwiXoV9oSU1UbH90rQsgA0g82YFBehFGKZUdQjdpUww9zgzGMw6c41Bedc0x-3qYpUAKFhAzScN-h-n1D/s1600/stayer+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirnqt1zc_3K4fIsKxiChxuHmdEArDd9KesM2-zu5XqSGt5_4mf8AiqlaAWhDLFwiXoV9oSU1UbH90rQsgA0g82YFBehFGKZUdQjdpUww9zgzGMw6c41Bedc0x-3qYpUAKFhAzScN-h-n1D/s1600/stayer+4.JPG" height="168" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Stayer Combi 160 </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWWGS6f7cgtuyTiDimZuWNGvn-KYlZd40r2HWZNsGVa-ETBbJgYYdNv9gpDT6paQy_tvSBIw7OKKeGBMitWF-fPkSEuifmCwlunye6tCJ39zrtAKZXPZqAfCj7ejupNOBahkow0Qojlxi6/s1600/stayer+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWWGS6f7cgtuyTiDimZuWNGvn-KYlZd40r2HWZNsGVa-ETBbJgYYdNv9gpDT6paQy_tvSBIw7OKKeGBMitWF-fPkSEuifmCwlunye6tCJ39zrtAKZXPZqAfCj7ejupNOBahkow0Qojlxi6/s1600/stayer+3.JPG" height="204" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghPq8nYdRmT8V9s3Yi50lWYoBOW2ytZUz5B3C8qQGwt5wbacb6mTzDH0zE4rqB3cWe3Jp3wxaBH96QLmi6xdV7yeCqGlgSTR0A2zdTX7xMBrrncxEx8ghk30Xb2Te30B44u-x3QOYm1cGX/s1600/minimax.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghPq8nYdRmT8V9s3Yi50lWYoBOW2ytZUz5B3C8qQGwt5wbacb6mTzDH0zE4rqB3cWe3Jp3wxaBH96QLmi6xdV7yeCqGlgSTR0A2zdTX7xMBrrncxEx8ghk30Xb2Te30B44u-x3QOYm1cGX/s1600/minimax.JPG" height="204" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Minimax C30</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Slightly larger and more suitable for the professional workshop is the Minimax C30 is a circular saw, planer and thicknesser, and spindle moulder at a tidy price of just over £4,000. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of course the trade off with these combination woodworking machines is a huge space saving advantage against the chore of changing modes and setting up for different functions. Some of the modern machines of course have separate motors. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I must admit I wouldn't mind getting my hands on an early Emco star. It looks a lot of fun but then my workshop is already crammed full of machines that I would not have the space. A section in my new e-book will probably be on living room woodworking centred around a very efficient quiet running chippings extractor!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of my must-do-before-I-leave-the-planet projects is to do up a small van and take guitar, dog and woodworking tools travelling - picking up work on the way. I can visualise that little Emco Star in a compact trailer. At the time (1973 to be precise) I looked down my nose at that machine and invested in the more robust looking and larger capacity Coronet Major instead. But today</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My new e-book will be viewable online, downloadable, printable and including videos. </span></div>
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Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-3966993110031755782014-10-12T08:05:00.000-07:002014-10-17T12:09:22.214-07:00At last a 400cc road racer<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anyone thinking a motorcycle aimed at 20 year olds isn't going to appeal to geezers (geysers) like me, overlooks the fact that some boys never grow up (or grow old).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was back in 1986 I last owned a 400cc sports motorcycle - a Suzuki GSXR-400 that I bought new in that year. Ever since parting with it in the mid nineties I have been waiting for a state of the art 400cc cafe racer bike to appear, so when it did suddenly appear in the UK a week or so ago in the form of the KTM RC390, I leapt at it and bought it from the Bristol showroom without even riding it. Well, I wasn't given much choice as KTM do not have a demo bike.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2014 KTM RC390 - one of the first in the UK</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHlFVaUZmoEmzeCJ38x0mhoOiHgPvHKkpud9APLqRc6wJ_VujkcjQ0FFb16lZOIIgiK4Gvnqw1QSbmYrHm475Q0aq0c03uNRMsTIVoZFLAEifKfXsR0A4XStTi5r1HzmKE15twdc-JWSoS/s1600/GSXR+cutaway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHlFVaUZmoEmzeCJ38x0mhoOiHgPvHKkpud9APLqRc6wJ_VujkcjQ0FFb16lZOIIgiK4Gvnqw1QSbmYrHm475Q0aq0c03uNRMsTIVoZFLAEifKfXsR0A4XStTi5r1HzmKE15twdc-JWSoS/s1600/GSXR+cutaway.jpg" height="250" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">my 1986 limited edition Suzuki GSXR-400</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The rave reviews on YouTube and in the motorcycle media made the decision to buy the KTM road racer easy and I haven't had as much excitement waiting for the machine to be prepared as when I was sixteen and owned my very first motorcycle. That was a 1944 James 125cc bike with hand gears and a top speed of about 40mph. I rode that bike from Wiltshire to my uncle's home near Loch Lomond, north of Glasgow, in the famous winter of 1962 and I literally froze on the way up - my legs had to be thawed out at a petrol station as my bike fell over on top of me into the deep snow when I tried to put my feet down.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My first bike - a 1944 James 125cc motorcycle with hand gears</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So anybody claiming this new KTM road racer is uncomfortable or hard on the bum or wrists is a wimp in my book. Go buy a Harley or a BMW with heated handlebars, stereo and GSM to tell you where the tarmac is. Just don't even consider a bike that is clearly designed for the track! I don't even know what ABS is (which apparantly the RC390 has).</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I thought it stood for Acrynitrile Butadienne Styrene which in plain language is a common plastic! And plastic there is plenty of in the RC390 as the composite petrol tank cover won't take my magnetic tank bag! But when you buy for sheer looks you expect to make some compromises, but I reckon this bike will be so successful it won't be long before an aftermarket stylish tank bag appears.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Okay so the stunning looks of this half-Italian-and-half-Japanese-looking Austrian-bike-made-in-India grabbed me and I soon found it ticked the boxes concerning performance and economy. The bike can do over 105mph and return a fuel economy of 70mpg if ridden sensibly. Well sensibly to me is having a lot of fun on A roads at around 60mph and then using the power to overtake quickly. As I'm running the bike in and as I write have only clocked up 200 miles I am keeping the revs below 7,000 which takes me to a cruising speed of over 60mph. I haven't tested the power band yet but it promises to be really good for a single and I suspect KTM know their singles well. Certainly this one is hot running as the fan cuts in rather unexpectedly in low speed traffic so I would imagine the engine is running at full efficiency. Its not a new engine but similar to the established Duke 390 street bike.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">373cc single cylinder engine. 12.6:1 compression ratio. 44bhp</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well here is my initial YouTube review going on very first impressions as I drove it the first twenty miles:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">My first ride YouTube video</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Isn't it funny how after the very first few "honeymoon" rides you begin to notice things that you thought you had already looked for and hear sounds that maybe were there all along! It drizzled the morning I filmed the bike so I cleaned it and wiped it down with a soft cloth only to discover minor scratches on the digital dash a few days later. The sun catches the scratches on what I expected to be a glass but what is a plastic instrument cover. Okay I can live wit that but one thing I don't know is how durable these KTMs are. The build quality seems really good on close inspection and I am told that the bikes are quality checked by KTM guys in the Indian Bajaj factory. But do they last?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The digital dashboard of the KTM RC390 I'm still trying to figure out how to configure it</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The bike is fantastic to ride and is so agile that you almost want to drop it right down on a corner even when running it in at low speed! I do notice (not just with this bike) how I have to lift my right foot onto the brake pedal rather than just pivot my boot on the footrest. Is it just me? I'm five foot ten and interestingly fairly short riders will struggle with this bike as in the showroom a girl of about five four couldn't reach the floor. My mate's girlfriend is five foot six and when we went on a trip with two bikes yesterday and she sat astride my bike she could just touch down with both feet on the tarmac. I told her high heels aren't ideal and I always leave mine at home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are one or two really nice touches to this bike - the short side exhaust which I first saw on a Suzuki GSXR-600 a few years ago - I just love it. The front headlight design is like looking in your rear mirror and catching a glimpse of Alien. The fairing is minimal and purposeful. There is no spare fat on this bike and I read somewhere else that the airflow is excellent at high speed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It really is 'form follows function' with this bike and this is echoed in the narrow section mirror arms except the mirrors don't work very well - your forearms are in the way. After 200 miles I have now learned how to flex my arms so I can see behind by looking under my arms and then quickly tucking my arms in to check the blindspot - but then who is going to overtake you? Just a much bigger bike! This bike will probably take on a lot of six hundreds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">KTM use the same frame for a 125 and 200cc version of this bike. The rear tyre is a chunky 150mm wide giving it a big bike look. Well, its a small bike really that looks bigger.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">11 October 2014 - one of the first bikes in the UK </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I almost forgot; the KTM RC390 comes out of the box with a pair of superior grip Metzeler tyres. Unlike buying a new guitar you usually have to bin the strings supplied and buy a decent set. I normally get a good two thousand miles out of my tyres so it will be interesting to see how long these sticky tyres last once the bike is run in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I feel a very lucky guy to be an early adopter of this exciting new bike and I'm not joking when I say it makes me feel like I am sixteen again! I watched a TV documentary about Guy martin helping re-build a Spitfire that he got to fly. What a great and engaging guy he is - I would love to know what he thinks of this little bike!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well, please l</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ook out for my second more in-depth review when the bike is fully run in and I can test that power band and get a better feel of the economy. Suffice to say, after a 60 mile country ride yesterday, the bike was fantastic, a little wrist ache that practice will deal with and great for stopping to stretch legs every twenty miles - after all you have to pull into a layby frequently to get off and admire the look of this bike. I reckon Wiltshire to Scotland no problem for me - but summer only!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sorry to those woodworkers who expected me to be reviewing secret mitred dovetails! All dovetails makes Jack a dull boy. Well, okay which of my furniture designs can I dig up to relate this road racing motorcycle to? Probably my Kangaroo rocker:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Kangaroo Rocker designed by Jeremy Broun in 2010</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This chair is minimal in structure with no spare fat, relying on four main components and made largely with the router. Its made of ash (so treasure this wood as it is currently hit by a species threatening disease) and the main joints are massive halving joints, familiar in carpentry but unusual in chair making. Like the KTM RC390 it is great on the bends especially for not-so-young rockers like me. But unlike the Austrian KTM made in india it is designed and made in Britain and by one mind and a pair of hands. </span><br />
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Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-79303750058625691532014-09-17T04:48:00.002-07:002014-10-17T12:09:43.939-07:00Scottish democracy <div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the first lessons a young man learns when dating women is to avoid the YES/NO question at a dance! It gives the girl the prerogative to say no and if you want to date her and you are not the best looking guy on the dance floor you have to try a different approach! I don't know what was in Cameron's mind! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I normally keep this blog to woodworking matters but on the eve of a historic and highly divisive event I make an exception! As a proud Scotsman (by blood) with family roots north of Glasgow (where I lived) where my grandfather on my mother's side was a landowner and my other grandfather was a churchman in Edinburgh (he worked helping in the slums), I have no vote, nor do the rest of the UK over the destiny of the entire UK. So, if I can influence just one vote I will have done my best.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Images courtesy my friend Tim</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I made a video (below) about my home roots at Carbeth estate where my grandfather used his privilege to set up around 200 huts in the 1920's for Glaswegian workers to enjoy the countryside. My uncle (my guardian) followed the tradition but the Carbeth Huts became a class war issue hitting the national headlines under the ownership of my cousin in recent years whereby the rent was put up from just over £10 per week to just under £13 per week (the first rent rise for a long time). Huts were burned down by some of those refusing to pay rent, air guns were fired and a dog killed and there was an orchestrated hate campaign against those who paid their rent and against my cousin who was regarded as 'the toff living in the big house'. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are lots of 'toffs' living in big houses in England behind electric gates and who do NOT allow their land to be used by less advantaged people at a low rent. Before you immediately think I have scored an own goal, I accept a serious question in a modern democracy is </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">whether inheritance is fair (it is taxed) and this challenges the very Monarchy that Alex Salmond welcomes as the head of the new Scotland (if he is to be believed). Land ownership is only the visible face of perceived elitism. There are much more. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So here lies all sorts of ambiguities to the complexity of modern Britain! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, I believe </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">there are points here that suggest the Carbeth issue is in a way a microcosm of what is happening in Scotland:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alex Salmond states he will refuse to pay the Scottish share of the national debt (akin to Carbeth hutters not paying rent)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, and uses bullying and intimidation in his campaign (e.g. intimidation of the principal of St Andrews University to support Independence and some business leaders)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Many people believed the Carbeth land belonged to them and the issue was deeply rooted in the Highland Clearances. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The other significant point is that after painful negotiations the Carbeth Hutters dispute has been resolved in as much as the land ownership has been amicably transferred to the hutters (as my film shows) and is a first for Scotland, so, much change has already evolved from what I recall as a Feudal society. Interestingly The House of Lords is based on privilege and whilst some wish to abolish it, in theory it is independent and many of its proponents have instigated huge social reform or justice for minorities such as Lord Longford on prison reform.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But does this Feudalism still exist in Scotland? Salmond has constantly referred to the 'Westminster elite' (and that banks and supermarkets are puppets of the government) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and claims the Scots are still 'underdogs'. I would suggest a very real issue is one of geography: the very northern tip of Scotland is 300 miles from Edinburgh, Cornwall is around the same distance from Westminster. Some Shetlanders who want independence from Edinburgh, claim the fishing industry will keep them going in the way that Salmond claims oil will fuel Scotland's overall independence. Well, other nations poach fish and there are no guarantees there will be a high price on a barrel of oil with alternative energy technologies fast emerging. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Separatism will badly weaken defence which will affect every corner and whether you believe in Trident or not and irrespective of cost, the world out there does not just belong to sandal wearing pacifists as history tends to repeat itself! It is an unresolvable human characteristic since the bow and arrow. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">National boundaries are not 'invisible' as Salmond claims when economic differences between nation states inevitably emerge such as higher food cost in Scotland and a separate defence system. Vulnerabilty on the internet can happen very fast. The argument that he is being 'perfectly reasonable' to allow Trident five years to be dismantled is disingenuous. Is the option that a tug turns up and simply tows it away overnight! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alex Salmond has demonstrated he is the supreme champion of divide and rule (right down the middle fifty fifty!)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, but don't be fooled that the Scots will rule themselves as the world is more complex today. There is the question of currency, membership of the EU and the small matter of just how bloody minded the English government might be after the referendum! There are just no guarantees. What special right </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">has this ambitious politician with his highly efficient tightly nit small team got to break up historic and current bonds and friendships between the Scots and other's in the UK, not to mention creating divides in just about every Scottish community? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Hadrian's Wall - keeping the Scots out!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There has been much talk about a fairer society in Scotland and yet Scotland under Salmond has negotiated successfully more and more for what it wants from Westminster. Poverty is not just a Scottish issue. In my own southern English wealthy city of Bath there are currently food banks. We already have polarity in our society</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. Why encourage more? The debate has been largely parochial, but a fantastic debate and as a scotsman myself with a loving bond with my mother country I would want the best of equality of opportunity there. Glasgow is far more vibrant creatively than where I live, the Scots identity is very strong in the media and the achievements for innovation are legendary. But this will be an uncomfortable divorce and Salmond has been dangerously clever at appealing to emotion and using manipulative Braveheart language over huge uncertainties and assumptions that on Thursday everything will fall into place for Scotland. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The English have been caught napping but then they have no say! They probably thought it would never happen. Salmond has won either way. Britain can never be the same again. The deal on the table offers far more to Scotland either way and even a revolt in Westminster now! What a disgraceful mess politics is on all sides when broken promises are default mode! Fairness is a touchy issue and a can of worms! But I can see the excitement about a perceived better future by Scots feeling negated by Westminster but his is the whole north/south issue. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The English do have a lot to learn from the Scots and not least the sense of community that is lacking in England and the warmth and friendliness is endearing, but we are a unique multi national partnership and the outcome of this is a huge risk. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As an innovator myself and thankful for my Scottish DNA, taking risk is the basis of trying out new ideas. In my field as a furniture designer I see Britain as a conservative backward looking nation generally and the Scots are very likely to take a risk in a few hours from my writing this. But in tossing a coin (because this is </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">what it has amounted to) do I'm going to stick my wee Scottish neck out and say the vote will be 'no' and that the cards on the table has to be more change for Scotland! Nothing is forever; another referendum another day, an appeal? Etc Etc. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A unique quality of Britain is we work well together and we look after each other. We have just got to work a bit harder at it. Thanks for reading. No hate mail please!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ps. Remember that guy in Glasgow who watched his kettle boil one day and therein started the Industrial Revolution, or was it some other guy in a tin mine in Devon? Come on, lets all sit doon aroond the table and have a wee cuppa tea!</span>
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Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-1277228308458996862013-10-31T09:42:00.001-07:002015-01-05T03:25:20.170-08:00Enter the world of 3D printing<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Imagine you want to make a plastic gnome or plastic whistle, no, lets start again; imagine you want to make a replacement part for a tool or machine, perhaps a threaded bolt, large flexible washer or toothed belt drive that you can no longer get or takes weeks to arrive in the post, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">or just want to have some fun making </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">a coffee cup with two handles for your loved one. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With 3D printing you can create vi</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">rtually anything in the known universe in an increasing variety of materials from thermoplastic ABS or bio-degradable PLA to imitation wood, resin, and even titanium or chocolate! All at a cost of course as you can spend a million pounds on a printer or as little as £300 for a DIY kit that rests on your desktop. I'm intrigued, confused and impatient as it all seems to be happening now as PC World and Maplins announce their first consumer products which by default have to be 'point and squirt'. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Maplins Velleman K2800 3D printer kit for £690 takes three days to</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Basically there are several technologies in 'rapid prototyping' or 'additive manufacture' ranging from layered heated filaments (a kind of robotic hotmelt gluegun) to laser resin and powder forming. I am focusing mainly on the cheapest technology here called FDM (filament deposition manufacturing) found in printers up to about £2,500. They do of course all use computer software and the two elements are the initial design software such as 'Ketchup' and the delivery-to-printer software such as 'Cura', '123D Make', 'Cubify Sculpt' etc. Some printers print remotely from a memory card.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Now, obviously I've never used CAD in all my years as a furniture designer maker (as I refer to 'Ketchup') but my 3D roots do stretch back to grammar school when I was in class 3D, a reflection perhaps that creativity and academia were (are?) on a different axis! So,</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> this blog really is a total beginners' guide with an attempt to bring together a lot of snippets of information I have picked up and I think my use of the word 'Ketchup' is apt in the importance of attention to detail when making a purchasing choice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The burning questions for me are quality, ease of use, variety of print materials, running costs </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(consumables and energy consumption), reliability and support. The initial cost of machine is secondary as it will pay for itself if these fundamental boxes are ticked. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is where the forums are a very good place to go if you can get a handle on the technical jargon used and of course You Tube helps enormously so my choice of videos here is carefully considered and they are of course mostly brief. But I wish they would use a macro lens on the camcorder!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I'm going to condense a lot of ideas and snippets of information racing around my head as a result of some prolonged internet research. Needless to say I am still having difficulty actually getting my hands on a 3D printed sample and neither Maplins nor PC World carry printers in stock!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> We are told the 'Makerbot Replicator 2' is the market leader but is not Open Source which confuses me as it has free shared download designs from a site called Thingiverse. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">'Ultimaker 2' (recently released) is Open Source (accessible shared free online design files) and achieves 20 microns accuracy as opposed to the R2's 100 microns (still very good) so these are possibly two of the top contenders. The PC World 'Cubify' achieves passable print resolution at .2mm (200 microns) and does not have a heated bed which is needed for the stronger ABS which in any case is only 30% as strong as injection moulded ABS. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The 'Formlabs 1' printer uses a stereolithography resin laser process and achieves 16 microns which is best resolution under £2.5k but you have to dip each component in a cleaning solution and as far as I can see it cannot create rubberised objects that the Ultimaker 2 does. However, I expect that will all change. But it looks a bit laboratory like to me and the resin isn't cheap. </span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Formlabs stereolithography </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">resin printer for around £2,000</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: yellow; font-size: x-small;"> claims the best print resolution at 16 microns </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A recent 'Kickstarter' funding legal battle might cause a bit of caution although I have read somewhere it is a tactic used by Apple to kill off competition even if they lose. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Elsewhere on the internet the current </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">'Top ten reviews' is a bit like 'What's the question but whose asking' as deeper research does not always deem these reviews reliable or meet your particular needs. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://3d-printers.toptenreviews.com/">http://3d-printers.toptenreviews.com/</a>. Interestingly in his 2013 3D printer Guide (<a href="http://www.tomsguide.com/us/3d-printer-buyers-guide,news-17651.html">http://www.tomsguide.com/us/3d-printer-buyers-guide,news-17651.html</a></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">) Tom likens the assembly of some 3D printers to putting up IKEA bookshelves - yeah, for some that task takes all of three days! The review is a good read about 3D printing technology.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> So what have I got to add? Well,</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> the deeper I get into this my priorities are quality, ease of print and versatility of materials that can be used. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Speed is a consideration because even if you go off and do something else, if you print ABS it has a smell that will linger for hours. A </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">chess piece as demonstrated in the PC World 'Cubify' printer can take about half an hour. Quietness also counts if you don't want to be driven insane by Darlek sounding noises throughout the night. In this respect the 'Ultimaker 2' operates at under 49 decibels. Size of printed object varies from a coffee cup (typically the Cubify) to a basketball (UM2) and I'm happy with that as I have no plans just yet to print out my next house which of course is already achievable.</span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Cubify at around £1,100 is a basic point and squirt 3D printer using PLA filament</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Here are two videos, slightly longer, that caught my attention as being really interesting. One shows a simple USB and memory stick holder made from an open source design which allows you to tweak it and the other shows flexible belts being produced that have impressive detail and strength. Both use the 'Ultimaker' printer:</span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Thumb drive holder using rigid PLA filament on the 'Ultimaker' </span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Flexible filament used on the 'Ultimaker Original' </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The Makerbot Felix 2 is a new printer that boasts impressive accuracy at 50 microns and at (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMz6KzacVQo">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMz6KzacVQo</a>)</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">can handle</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">a flexible 1.75mm filament called 'Arnitel Flexible Rubber' and this printer has really taken my fancy as it combines accuracy with a modest price. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Now, of all the confusing aspects of 3D printing the '1.75mm versus 3mm' filament debate is the most time consuming. All I can do is pass on what is my observation of the current consensus. 1.75mm diameter filament appears to have the edge by requiring less extrusion force, offering more immediate flow, quicker cooling, lighter nozzle head hence faster speed, but costs more! My guess is that shopping around (eg Amazon) and buying in the right quantities filament costs will come down.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I was all sold on the Ultimaker 2 but am still awaiting replies from emails about delivery not that Makerbot are much better but at least as I write, I received an automatic email stating I should hear within a few days. Nobody seems to use the dog and bone (telephone) any more these day, so it is all a bit of a gamble.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Makerbot Replicator 2X optimised for ABS u</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">ses Thingiverse </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Before I wrap all this up, on the subject of finish</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">there is a method, somewhat dubious, called acetone vapour smoothing which at least is worth taking a look at:</span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Acetone vapour smoothing on ABS which is a petro-chemical based plastic</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Well, apart from the health and fire risks of this method I would be inclined to avoid the extra equipment and time involved in this rather hit or miss smoothing process and invest in the best quality resolution printer. It seems there is already a lot of hit and miss in the technology, a lot of tweaking, such as getting the print bed perfectly aligned with the nozzle, getting speed and temperature settings just right for the model, creating support structures which different softwares go for.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In conclusion, I started out really liking the Ultimaker 2 but the Makerbot Felix 2 also looks promising to me, trading off not quite the print quality but a more confidence boosting service (currently?) for a minimal looking machine (that always grabs my eye). And the bonus of the 'awesome' Makerbot Digitiser scanner, ideal for someone like me before I learn how to use Ketchup. One small observation is that the shorter feedin tube on the Felix for the filament looks as though it won't cause as much friction as some of the other models when using a rubberised filament. I can't see a built- in digital controller, so there will always be plenty of questions and some of the answers only clear after you have taken it your printer out of the box. </span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Makerbot Felix version 2 which deliver up to 50 microns in 1.75mm filament at £1440</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And what did I say about printing plastic gnomes:</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Makerbot Digitizer Scanner available from Reprap Central for £1295</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some further reference material below but in the meantime don't take any of my ramblings as gospel as the technology will all have changed by tomorrow.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.gizmag.com/tag/3d-printing/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.gizmag.com/tag/3d-printing/</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://ces.cnet.com/8301-34445_1-57563395/still-emerging-for-now-the-3d-printers-of-ces-2013/">http://ces.cnet.com/8301-34445_1-57563395/still-emerging-for-now-the-3d-printers-of-ces-2013/</a></span></div>
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Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-9970924387034679472013-07-22T02:23:00.001-07:002013-07-22T02:23:11.337-07:00Wooden catamaran that fits into a Smart car<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Well, before you laugh at a guy who drives a Smart car that is less than three metres long, consider it is the only vehicle that will fit on my congested road outside my house and fills the gap other cars can't get into! What is impressive about the car is its deceptively large interior and with the seat folded down I took my digital touchscreen jukebox over to Ireland in 2005 for a major exhibition there.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Digital Touchscreen Jukebox that won The Professional Woodworker of the Year Award 2005</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Being good at woodwork, despite being labelled a dunce at school turns out to be a wonderful transferrable skill and a fantastic recent tonic for me has been to get away from the rich bespoke and increasingly precious hand-made furniture market that I can no longer relate to (my order book confirms this!) and use the same range of skills and experience to make a boat, well a micro catamaran that fits into the back of my Smart car. Suddenly the isolation of working alone in a cramped workshop transforms into a sociable interaction allowing friends and passers by to try out the boat on my local canal. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I had observed at the beginning and zenith of my furniture design career that innovation was welcomed and innovation is what I did and was known for - new solutions to old problems, new structures, new forms and new functions. But at recent furniture exhibitions where I showed chairs that were uniquely constructed combining a sculptural form, my work went by totally un-noticed and one of life's big lessons is dealing with a degree of 'celebrity' status in your field that suddenly disappears and you become a nobody! The very people who elevate you - the crafts media, choose to forget you and I'm thinking well I'm not finished yet by a long chalk. Admittedly a long illness around 2002 lasting several years robbed my energy and put me out in the wilderness whilst new kids on the block inevitably stole the limelight. One should not complain as 'every dog has its day' but I got a sense that innovation is a tired buzzword and does not really count, but expense and status does and so the field I once helped pioneer in the 70's became an alien wilderness for me in the second decade of the new century. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Brickrock chair in ash using a technique not familiar in chair design - 2010</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Messing about on the river and especially the river Avon near Chippenham and Bradford on Avon was a chunk of my childhood when I built a canoe that was fluorescent yellow and grey PVC covered in white trimmed spruce. My aim has been to float a craft of similar colour scheme down the same river and re visit my youth, gliding past moorhens, swans and over schools of minoes and perch. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Brilliant woodwork teacher Howard Orme helps Jeremy Broun make a canoe in 1961</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> All my innovative technical and visual skills have been employed in this project and a quiet confirmation to myself that I am different to those guys who pursue absolute perfection in fine hand-made furniture using micrometers and magnifying glasses and can't do anything else, when yes I can do all that but the fun is to build a boat using an epoxy resin glue filled with colloidal silica and have 3mm gaps between the joints that the resin fills. I once worked on a boat that I think was the flagship for the 1986 America's cup in Sydney - a replica wooden schooner and we used epoxy resin with 6mmm gaps filled by the glue. The guys had never built a boat before! </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq3Sa_KAWcd-QCgFQegNiv6L63wTWnGwl67yS0peOudwLQN_MZzY2nrnhx1MSEVHZ048sm_sdnTW0lTB0OhkbbdB_fdX-0G8nvWJTh9zVncvsMNOFjUIoFhTAugTEJS-w7zQbzZBHD3IZY/s1600/Ena.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq3Sa_KAWcd-QCgFQegNiv6L63wTWnGwl67yS0peOudwLQN_MZzY2nrnhx1MSEVHZ048sm_sdnTW0lTB0OhkbbdB_fdX-0G8nvWJTh9zVncvsMNOFjUIoFhTAugTEJS-w7zQbzZBHD3IZY/s200/Ena.bmp" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The 'Ena' - Sydney 1986</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> That's normal in boatbuilding and I'm beginning to become more comfortable with 'normal' which is also more sociable than all those prestigious major exhibitions in the 70's, 80's and 90's showing my furniture alongside the Royal College of Art gang, and they hardly ever said hello to me! The reader will note a twinge of angst, but the truth is complacency never fuels creativity, indeed as Glenn Close once said 'Great art comes from a sense of outrage'. Father thought I was a dunce and banned me from using his workshop as a boy so over his dead body (he died when I was 17) I said 'I'll show you'. You have to believe in yourself ultimately and not listen to those who unwittingly infer 'you can't do it'. I remember those days when to be good with your hands was a serious impairment - an indication there was nothing upstairs! Today the landscape is very different </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">amongst successful conventional professionals who take up furniture making for a career. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> But what about the kids of today, who like me, enjoy messing about on the river? Will they have the opportunity and skill base to make a canoe? If my work inspires just a few as indeed I was inspired by a brilliant woodwork teacher at Abbotsholme school (Howard Orme) who helped me build my first canoe, then what I do holds some chance of continuity. Here is my micro catamaran made from just 2mm aircraft plywood and standard softwood battening. </span></div>
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Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-14310949963600348042013-06-20T07:36:00.000-07:002013-06-20T07:36:56.012-07:00Fudgers Junction<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was talking with somebody the other day and we got onto the subject of trainspotting in our youth. I was encouraged to try it out when I was about ten and survived a few days ticking off the train identification numbers in an 'I spy' book when they passed through Chippenham station. I subsequently preferred identifying cars. However, in conversation with this bloke he mentioned the term 'Fudgers Junction' which I thought would make a catchy title for one of my You Tube (Woodomain) videos. It means a trainspotter who makes a false claim about a train such as the Flying Scotsman having been spotted in say - Redruth, Cornwall when in fact it never ventured down there (so I'm told). </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It crossed my mind whether the term might apply to woodworking - for instance a secret mitred dovetail is a highly complicated joint to achieve and a real sign of masterly craftsmanship but all you see actually is a mitre from the outside, so who knows - could this be a case of Fudgers Junction? </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And then what about all those designer makers who don't actually make the designs that come under their name (on the price tag) at the auction houses? Even Chippendale might have been a Fudgers Junction kind of guy. I think there are quite a lot around and if over the many years of woodworking and furniture that I have made with my own bare hands, and creations that are entirely mine and not derivations of others' ideas, the only epitaph I deserve in my contribution to the world of woodworking, is 'the guy who introduced Fudgers Junction to woodworking', </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">then, all I ask is that you don't confuse me with a 'bodger' or a more commonly used term that seems to resemble fudger!</span></div>
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Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-84811047152920633462013-01-27T08:08:00.000-08:002013-01-27T11:06:39.657-08:00Ebook Of Age<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Ebooks have been around for a few years and I've been keeping a watchful eye on progress with a view to publishing my own woodworking titles online. With the recent launch of the Amazon Kindle Fire I think its true to say that ebooks have now come of age - well thats if you think the age of being capable of voting is sixteen! </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The ebook age is also an age of uncertainty as there are no guarantees the ebooks you can view today will be viewable in five or ten years time. Many of the formats listed on Wikipedia are now obsolete and even when you think all the boxes have been ticked, its a bit like a radio station - it only needs to be slightly out of tune and you miss out completely on the message. Not only are there several different ebook formats out there but they require different readers and are exclusive to the major distributors/platforms such as Kobo, Kindle and iPad. The one that keeps on coming up is E-pub and when I enthusiastically contacted The British Library with a view to loan out my e-books was informed this is the only format accepted by their supplier. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> It is a can of worms as I have spent the past month or two experimenting with some multi-media e-publications (including video embedding) that are the perfect platform for my intended market, except it use the old-fashioned 'Flash' protocol that has got many slick websites into trouble in recent years. Well I have been doing some research, reading forums, listening to what Adobe has to say about flash and HTML5 and they are not about to dump it. This heartening as you only need to look at the frantic launch of ever increasing social networking sites to throw the dice and reckon what will still be around in five years time. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Now, I'm fortunately in a market that is not primarily dictated to by fashion and the thrill of change. Lets face it some of my customers for videos (on average over 55 years old) are still using VCR's and although we have been told that DVD is obselete it will run on and so too is the consensus regarding Flash. Almost 99% of computers have flash installed and the FlippingBook software I am trying out currently is also HTML5 enabled so it loads on mobile devices. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I like this particular ebook format because it allows virtually instant access o sample books on my website, unlike most other formats I have tried that involve passwords and lengthy download waits. a particularly useful tool is the word search especially for lengthy technical books and the embedded video just brings it all together as great learning platform. Well, see what you think:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">a sample Ebook by Jeremy Broun</span></div>
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<br />Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-68783387892999826852013-01-16T15:42:00.004-08:002013-01-16T15:42:50.023-08:00Creativity spoiled by money<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I have just been watching the tail end of an interesting TV documentary about creativity and advertising and it focused on stand-up comedians (Gags to Riches) and how doing TV commercials is considered stooping amongst many of their peers. Some would also reasonably say that earning vast fortunes by doing an advert pays for the more creative work as even well known actors can fall on hard times and this is true across the creative spectrum in Britain. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Certainly as a furniture designer I have been too fuelled by a desire to innovate new ideas to fall into the trap of letting clients dominate my output but have relied on building wardrobes, fitted kitchens and even site carpentry for bread and butter survival (which I've also enjoyed doing). </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> In the programme John Cleese said about creativity <i>'Wherever you look now money spoiled it'</i>. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ironically one of his well known creative achievements was in his series of business training videos (late 70's I think) using humour as a potent learning tool - to improve a business which generally means to make more money! However, I find his statement does ring true in my own observation of the field of bespoke designer maker furniture that I have seen develop from its infancy.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> There has undoubtedly been a Golden Age of British Craftsmanship and design (that I have enjoyed documenting) but it may have passed its zenith, not because there is a recession to potentially stop it in its tracks and furniture really is a luxury, but because increasingly high prices and associated exclusivity have dominated the field which translated means the client has more of a say in what is created and that can lead to creative compromise. Well, thats my view and also my observation in my own field that a high degree of clever persuasion is involved in getting your own way and possibly the people at the top of their field have more swing to do just that! </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Many would argue that designing, as a problem solving activity, includes the client brief and this does challenge definitions such as the old well worn question 'is it art, is it craft, is it design?' So in wearing my hat as fundamentally a furniture 'artist' the buzz for me in searching for exciting new ways to make things is essentially a selfish quest where the hope is someone will like it enough to buy it and put bread on the table. For most of my working life it has been more a case of the butter on the bread as I had the good fortune (and interest) to be able to teach also as a supplement to my income.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The true creativity I believe connects with a curious breed of people called early adopters and in the world of mass-produced items they will pay a little over the odds (e.g. in the days of Hi-Fi) and I do believe some other mysterious forces are at work in bringing the creative individual in touch with the early adopter just before the former is about to go bankrupt! That is not to say early adopters are rich but that they recognise the uniqueness of an idea well before possibly it (or the creator) has become a brand. Not all early adopters are looking for an investment as I believe many are simply connecting on this other level with the creator!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> These are just rambled thoughts in response to the statement John Cleese made that stuck in my mind and the point I believe he (and others) was making was that if you want creativity, don't interfere with it and see what comes out of process as even the creator will not know. It cannot be prescribed. </span></div>
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Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-46630861219997555722013-01-03T04:05:00.002-08:002013-01-03T04:05:21.999-08:00Acoustic box<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> It was whilst at school studying for A level woodwork I made my first acoustic guitar. It was made in a weekend - that is, I started on Friday afternoon and worked through Friday and Saturday night to complete the instrument by tea time sunday afternoon. Normally it takes about two weeks to build a guitar. The school workshop had run out of shellac so I used boot polish. It was probably at Abbotsholme (progressive) school that my desire to innovate and break with tradition began although at that time my training was to be in a strictly traditional groove. Howard Orme was my woodwork master and I followed in his footsteps and went on to train at Shoreditch College. He landed yup teaching at Eton where I met yup with him a few years later.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">his first A level student Jeremy Broun.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Howard was quite eccentric and a brilliant teacher. I was his star pupil and the first to gain an A level pass in just two terms instead of two years. Put that down to an inspirational teacher, no less. Once we were in the workshop firing crossbows we had made at a poster of Edward Barnsley at the end of the workshop and the headmaster walked in showing around some prospective parents. Imagine that happening today - well it wouldn't because there are hardly any school workshops for kids to make things in wood!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> My father had died in that year and I was somewhat lost regarding the dreaded word career other than the guidance of Howard who helped open the lock to my creativity. I recall thinking then, shall I become a guitar maker and realised I would become bored quickly as guitar making was steeped in tradition. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, almost fifty years and twenty guitars later I decided to spend more time making innovative acoustic guitars with the pledge to make one a year. Of course I never commanded big bucks for my guitars as I was an unknown and guitar making in Britain is probably far more exclusive than bespoke furniture making. I did sell an acoustic 'jumbo' guitar in 1970 for £200 that was a pretty good price.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiavVqxnenweP2udLUtdxTqHUgwlL9_68dhEqhFwmo1x746MVjZh2wr9O3aT3f3khfVOiuF-_7HNlmyNRZTVWeI9hufuw43gqZG3p6oniMhBlv7xUHQAibdRACwjjsZbHC9Lu4cUzypz84O/s1600/Jumbo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiavVqxnenweP2udLUtdxTqHUgwlL9_68dhEqhFwmo1x746MVjZh2wr9O3aT3f3khfVOiuF-_7HNlmyNRZTVWeI9hufuw43gqZG3p6oniMhBlv7xUHQAibdRACwjjsZbHC9Lu4cUzypz84O/s320/Jumbo.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Jumbo guitar (no 12) with braided strings. 1970</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> More recently I have made a Selmer style guitar as played by gypsy jazz guitarists. There is a better market there for making custom built guitars but of course Chinese imports have seriously dominated the market and some very fine guitars too.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Selmer style guitar using local walnut with innovative</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> sawkerf </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">rib construction by Jeremy Broun</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Modern electronics adds another dimension to guitar making and I even have a busking guitar case amplifier with wireless sound transmission that I went to Paris with a few years ago.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> A current project still at the design sketching stage is a very small travelling electro acoustic guitar that delivers a formidable sound combining micro electronics and the best acoustic wood materials such as Balkan spruce for the top and mahogany for the neck. An acoustic guitar embraces many woodworking techniques exploiting the character of a range of timbers. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">An experimental travelling electro acoustic guitar using a Hofner Shorty</span> </div>
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One of the joys of working an incredible material like wood is exploring its versatility. Often people are confused when you say you design modern furniture and also make guitars as it is easier and maybe perceived as more professional to say you focus on just one thing and this puts everything into a neat box. But this goes against creativity and the adventure with wood can take you along fascinating diverse paths. Perhaps they all link up somewhere. Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-46039332384740304582013-01-01T10:17:00.002-08:002013-01-01T10:19:48.034-08:00All a bit batty<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Anyone who is familiar with the picturesque Wiltshire town of Bradford On Avon and who was a local artist in the 80's will recall the Brewery in Wine Street. My late half-sister Barbara, an accomplished Trompe 'oeil painter, rented a studio there for £1 a week and went on to create fabulous works of Art for Pop superstars and even a Hollywood film producer. I recall she had painted the old beams and walls in her studio in this semi-derelict building. There were holes gaping in the roof and bits of corrugated iron placed below to channel the rain water. It was a beehive of creative activity, housing stained glass artists, potters, woodworkers et al. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Egyptian Porphyry chess board and pieces designed and made by Jeremy Broun</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">and painted by Barbara Broun 1981.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Circa 1985 I rented a studio below Barbara's at £5 a week for a short period. I used it primarily for storage as I had sold my house in Bath and was thinking of emigrating to Australia out of rust ration that modern furniture was not appreciated in Britain. What I do recall was that bats inhabited the Brewery and whilst property speculators closed in on all quarters there was a conservation order on the building to protect the bats and that basically kept the rents low for a artist craftsman to struggle to make a living.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Today I was invited to a New Year breakfast at a friend's house near Bradford on Avon and one of the guests, an elderly man, resides in a flat at The Brewery. The developers eventually got their way, but interestingly when I mentioned the bats back in the early 80's he said ' oh they are still there and there is a hole in the roof for them'!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> One of the reasons I was able to focus my own furniture on innovation and go against the grain was because I kept my overheads low and this studio similar to the converted cattle shed I rented initially in Bath at £3 per week was vital to that creative survival. The artist craftsmen who resided in Bradford on Avon largely left as property developers moved in and were fragmented around the county or simply had to grin and bear increasing high rents. The conservation of a few bats may seem more important than the patronage of artist craftsmen and little wonder the field I was a pioneer in has become a very expensive playground - possibly now excluding the truly innovative?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I welcome the New year in holding hope that change will occur. The news that Viscount Linley (who once asked me to make his furniture) is no longer trading in his furniture business has implications for this luxury craft and I guess we can go two ways, either become even more expensive or pitch it within the grasp of ordinary people, but then not enough ordinary people are excited enough to live with fabulously modern furniture that lasts so that it can be made on a rational basis (batch production) so the dye is set or at least for a while longer.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> In this New Year I'm not quite sure where to go and age isn't exactly on one's side but then I was never certain, just passionate about making new things in wood. All a bit batty really and perhaps one should hang upside down in the dark for inspiration!</span></div>
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Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-29676096162425152172012-12-01T07:18:00.000-08:002012-12-02T11:13:06.364-08:00School Masterclass<div style="text-align: justify;">
One of my passions is that young
people are encouraged to use their hands and minds at school. I
originally trained and taught as a Handicrafts teacher in London. Over my career I have seen the demise of the practical arts in schools yet the creative arts generally are a huge national asset.<br />
Early in 2010 I received an invitation to teach a Saturday
masterclass at Eggars comprehensive school in Hampshire. It was a very successful day involving a team effort of staff at the school with yours truly heading the project I had devised and the mostly 15 year old boys and girls took home to
mum a useful artefect which embodied equally useful woodworking and life
skills. </div>
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Jeremy Broun teaches a woodworking masterclass at a Hampshire comprehensive school<br />
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It is vital young people develop their potential fully through using the incredible gift of
hands irrespective of whether they get a job as a carpenter or brain
surgeon. That is to the point. Education through the use of materials is what a few of us called
in the 1960's and served as a vehicle for fostering self determination,
acountability, stamina, visualisation, interpreting abstract ideas into
three dimensional objects, numeracy skills, not to mention motor skills
involving the senses of touch, sight, and sound, muscle memory.<br />
Despite
throwing 'craft' out of the curriculum the most enlightened teachers in
the 1960's were doing all of this in an integrated way, (teaching
design as part of making) but the now established Design Technology
curriculum, passes over many of the essential 'making' skills, not least
through a basic misunderstanding that the prime purpose of teaching eg.
woodwork at school is to train a carpenters. That is the role of post
school specialist education. </div>
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With the increasing uncertainty of what jobs we are training young
people for (and questioning whether university should be the default
route) there is ever more need to teach them resourcefulness through
making things and designing what they make. Anybody daring to claim it
is too expensive to provide practical education, go raid a skip and use
some valuable secondhand wood that is thrown out daily! </div>
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I am course honoured that my skills have not been dumped on a skip and
that a school like this invites someone like me to pass on my skills and
experience. There are plenty of exclusive and very expensive
masterclasses for older people, many switching careers from 'The City'
and encouraged to use equally expensive tools but our obligation is to
future generations and give all young people an equal opportunity to
develop through their hands.</div>
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The last time I worked with young people (before the Eggars
Masterclass) was at my local technical college teaching acoustic guitar
making to a group of errant 16 - 19 year olds, some in trouble with the
Police and all lacking in any numeracy or literacy paper qualifications
from their secondary schooling. It wasn't easy and only three survived
out of a group of six but they made their guitars and will probably
always look back on this achievement with pride.</div>
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A
simple leaning bookstand exploiting a dovetail designed by Jeremy Broun
and presented to 13 year olds in 1963 made by 15 year olds at a Hampshire comprehensive School in 2010.</div>
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Teaching acoustic guitar making on an 'Education to Employment' course in 2005</div>
Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104409917800682036.post-65078877485813148902012-11-24T03:57:00.002-08:002012-12-01T08:05:31.405-08:00Intelligent Design<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The little Smart car that is my workhorse is fantastic in many respects - it is small enough for me to park in my overcrowded street where other cars can't fit into the space, it takes daily battle scars of people pulling in on the narrow hill, letting their foot of the foot break or plainly misjudging their car's clearance and banging into the wings of it and I have a box trailer for occasional heavy loads. And it is economic.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I can live with the BMW drivers who insist on coming right up to my rear on the open road as I know I can easily blow them away on my motorcycle, but what I find is mind-numbing is a discovery that has temporarily left my intelligently designed little Smart car a piece of useless plastic metal and rubber parked on the road, awaiting a cost effective solution.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Compact, turbo charged 50+mpg Smart Fortwo</span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Last week after heavy rainfall (that drowned at least one car driver, so I shouldn't complain) as I switched the ignition on, the left flasher came on and stuck on. It later revealed that the engine management system, a tiny 'black box' crammed full of circuitry that controls absolutely everything on the car is sited under the dashboard and right underneath the windscreen that apparently is prone to leaking. So, having owned over a dozen minis in my youth and remembering that the distributor cap was always prone to damp but one could easily seal it with a plasticising spray or wrap it in insulating tape, I was dumbfounded to discover this little expensive and crucial black box called a 'SAM' (app £500) was not even protected against water ingress, quite apart from the inherent design fault of the leaking windscreen right above it! The official verdict is water in the SAM - replacement. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> It takes no Einstein to ask why such an intelligently designed car would fail so totally and what makes matters worse is that once the little black box is removed it can't be repaired, a new one is not currently available from Mercedes and even if a new one is replaced it will incur further expense in re-coding to suit my car which means driving the car to Mercedes - Hang on . . . </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> To add injury to insult, once the engine management system (called a SAM) is removed the car is stuck in gear which means it cannot be freewheeled out of the way if it has to be moved.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Now, this is what is called 'Intelligent' design - a car knowingly designed and based on decades of motor engineering experience by a world leader that has such a basic design flaw and I am referring now specifically to the fact the car can't be moved once the black box control system is removed!. Nobody cares because the 'intelligent' thing is that when things go wrong you can't fix them as in the 'old days' but you bin them and pay a fortune for a replacement and labour charges plus VAT. You are basically f....d. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Okay, the devil is always in the detail today so we understand that the Smart car was engineered by Mercedes and was a collaboration with Swatch (the watch people) who I gather designed the body, so we have a cop-out clause that Mercedes didn't actually design the whole car but they put their name to it and if you want it serviced you receive constant reminder calls from Mercedes to book it in and they will tell you everything else that needs doing as well while you sit in the posh waiting room drinking free freshly ground coffee.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I do think the Smart car is a fantastic car, not least the plastic body panels that flex when others hit you before they break, unlike a metal car that crumples. But this problem of engine management computers is not just peculiar to Smart but runs all across the motor industry today. I heard of someone with a Nissan Micro where they had to go all the way to source the replacement part in Japan - final bill for water getting into it - £2000. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I do like the Smart car for urban use and I have considered an electric version but the technology is still in its infancy. Renault have brought out a dinky little electric car called the Twizy and I'm really tempted for my cramped city use but you have to lease the batteries at around £50 per month and each 50 mile charge will cost £1 at today's electricity prices. So your running costs are not that much cheaper. It doesn't bother me that the Twizzy isn't really a car but a four wheel scooter as it is a tool I am looking for to do a job not a label! </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Renault Twizy - funky little urban electric car</span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Audi is bringing out an electric car, I think in 2013 which looks interesting but not very good for British urban traffic calming road humps!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the meantime I am continuing to work on my Raffo Belva sports car re-build project, with the help of a local garage. I'm putting a 2 litre Vauxhall diesel engine into a plastic bodied car of half the donor vehicle's weight and as aerodynamic as a straight plank of wood being placed along the front bonnet and windscreen. It will run on vegetable oil. No leaks here or complex computerised car management system other than basic engine management ECU. All the other electric's will be carefully and individually wired by me and sited right where I can access every single fuse and relay in the cockpit.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Raffo Belva no 7 being re-designed and re-built by Jeremy Broun</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If I applied the design strategy car designers/manufacturers wilfully employ to my furniture designs I would be a millionaire in 'after car' costs. I might even use their sales slogans. One manufacturer's website caption is 'if you are vague about ethics you know where to focus your attention...' or words to that effect. </span></div>
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<br />Jeremy Brounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264352788970429286noreply@blogger.com0