Writing, Learning & Teaching

I have written around 80 “diversions” here on the patch at this point. Over 80,000 words, which is roughly the size of a decent novel. When I started I had no intention of writing that much or that often. I do it to learn, I do it to teach, and I have found I enjoy writing as an end in itself. I’ve been reflecting on these posts over the last week. So I’m going to ramble a little on why I do it, and why you should join in.

I’m not entirely sure when I wrote the first “diversion” on the Vintage Tool Patch. For a while, I just wrote them, and when the feed was cleared at the end of the week, away they went. Then we started archiving them on https://blog.vintagetoolpatch.com (Thanks Ryan). Most of them I had written down somewhere outside of Facebook, but some simply vanished into the ether at the end of the week.

The oldest archived post is from January 24th, 2022. Its now April 2024, so I have been at this for over 2 years.

When the patch was set up, we had a fair bit of confusion about when the auction ended. I started using an online countdown clock and posting it so people could use it to get an idea of when the auction ended, regardless of their time zone. It was boring just posting a link week after week, so I started adding a “tool diversion”. Something to draw people in, and an excuse to add a few images to the post to catch peoples eye.

I had thought that a lot of people would join in and start adding diversions, and while there have been plenty of posts written by others, on the average week its me, again and again. I’m quite happy with that, but also very grateful to those who write up a post. Its nice to get a break some weekends.

Some posts are the result of me thinking about something for months. Some are written in under an hour on a Sunday. If I have a new interesting tool, its an obvious post. If I’m building something, and I learn something along the way. I’ll share that. I’m interested in tool history. So if I find something interesting there, that’s a good post.

I get a lot out of writing these posts. Cunningham’s Law states “the best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it’s to post the wrong answer.” I have gotten a huge amount of value out of comments on my posts as a result.

It has gotten me to photograph just about everything I do in the workshop as a matter of habit. The vast majority of those photos never appear in a post, but they have been a wonderful reference.

Finally, it has identified gaps in my knowledge and skill like nothing else. When you sit down and try to clearly communicate how to do something, you very quickly realise where your understanding is foggy or incomplete. I’ve often improved my own processes just by attempting to write them down step by step and spotting when my order of operations is insane.

Attempting to write something every week also encourages me to make progress. Sometimes I’m working on something and I look forward to writing a post on it when I’m done. It motivates me to get in the shop and get it done.

Finally, people know what my interests are. I’ve been offered weird and wonderful tools as a result of these posts, because people knew I would be interested. On St. Patrick’s day this year I was contacted by a book store, who had found a Booth Brothers tool catalogue. They googled it, found my post here, and contacted me to see if I wanted it (I very much did).

Given all I get out of it, I wonder why don’t more people do it? My best theory, people think they are not skilled enough, not a good enough writer, or they believe they don’t know anything interesting enough. I’m going to walk through a few of these and address them.

I’ll start off with not skilled enough. I do not consider myself to be a very good woodworker. I have no formal training. I’m a hobbyist. I learn as I go. I think I started woodworking at age 40, just over 7 years ago. I used to spend a lot of my spare time on endurance sports. I crippled my right foot in 2014, and could not walk without pain for another 4 years. Even after that anything resembling distance running or cycling was not possible. I played guitar a bit, found cigar box guitars. And eventually decided to build one. I had no idea what I was doing. I did not know I needed to sharpen the modern faithful block plane I bought from a local hardware store. I got it built, played with it, and got bitten by the woodworking bug.

For the next few years, I gradually built up my tool collection. I also welcomed 3 children. Shop time was rare for quite a while. I really just hoarded tools. I very rarely built anything. I moved house 5 years ago, and got my current shop space, about 10 feet by 10 feet. Half of what had been a one car garage, before the previous owners chopped half off to make a downstairs bathroom. This allowed me to get a proper bench for the first time. Tool hoarding continued, but a few small projects started to very slowly take shape. In early 2020 covid arrived, and with that the lock-downs. Suddenly I had a lot more shop time. More of the tool hoard got restored and used. Online groups like Bench Talk 101 and Hand Planes and Coffee appeared which put me in touch with vastly more experienced woodworkers. And my skills have steadily grown from there.

Consider a young woodworker who does a 2 year furniture course. They probably get around 2000 hours of work and instruction in. I would guess I get about 3 hours a week in the shop these days. It used to be less. At this point, I have probably clocked up 1000 hours. In another 5 years, I may have caught up with a graduate of a course like that….. I’m never going to catch up full time professional, and that is OK. I woodwork for my own pleasure, not to be the greatest in the world, or even out do a professional.

Given that relatively low level of skill and knowledge, why am I happy to write here? First off, the best person for someone to learn from, is often not the most knowledgeable person on the topic. The gap in knowledge between a beginner and a master is so vast it can be hard to bridge. It can be very difficult for a master to remember what the beginner does not know. I write computer code professionally. I regularly help teach and train up new graduates. This is an area I can say with no false modesty, that I have mastered. I’m constantly having to remind myself of the many things I know in my bones that they have no idea about.

In many cases, the ideal teacher is in fact, someone just a bit more skilled than the student. That teacher remembers clearly where the student is in their journey. Being at that point is not far in their past. Many of you who are relatively new to woodworking can probably point out some YouTube channels that you used to watch religiously, that no longer interest you. The channels are probably aimed at absolute beginners, and you have simply outgrown them. That does not mean they are not great channels for beginners, or are not teaching well. It simply means they did their job and you graduated. You do not need to write about something incredibly advanced for it to be worthwhile, absolute basics will have a larger audience.

I’m often surprised that what I consider very simple tool diversions often get the most comments. No matter how common a piece of knowledge is, someone just learned it today. You may think how and when you skew a plane is not worth writing about. There is an army of beginners out there whose day would be made by reading that article. You might think your favourite honing guide is unremarkable. Break down exactly why its your favourite, and how it compares to others you have tried, and a lot of people are going to value that.

Most humans have a habit of trivialising the knowledge they know best. If you know about to do something really well, you tend to think of it as easy and simple. You probably don’t think of it as interesting. That makes you incredibly qualified to write about it.

I can put an 90 degree edge on a flat board very quickly and easily now. I don’t really think much while I do it. It is a quick and simple process for me. It is only when I think back to a few years ago I realise this is not simple.

I remember going out of my mind trying to get it done as a beginner. Going from one high side to another, not really understanding the tolerance required. Not even really knowing the best ways to check. Not holding the plane well for the job. Not applying pressure properly at the start and end of the board. All of that had to be painfully and slowly learned over time.

Once you have it, you stop thinking about it, you consider it easy. If I asked you if you could write a diversion here, it would probably never enter your mind as a possible topic. So if you have considered writing here, and don’t think you have anything to write. Think about what you did the very last time you worked on something in your shop. What was the easiest thing? Break that down and write about it.
I’m very clearly not an expert. I’ll often write about my mistakes and how I learned. If you learned how to do something recently, you are the perfect teacher for someone about to learn to do the same thing. I’ve been frustrated by trying to get clean countersinks in pine recently. I now have a solution. I’ll be writing about it soon. Just a short piece on a better countersink. It can be that simple.

This applies everywhere. Not just to writing here. I’ve spoken for over an hour on Brace bits for Bench Talk 101 (you can see it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKdIYOQL00s. There are many people who know more on the topic that me. But I know enough to be useful, and the people who know more are not recording talks like that. I’m on the Board of Directors of Union Manufacturing Company. We are trying to resurrect the Union X-Plane. I’m not an expert on manufacturing. But I have useful IT skills, combined with a beginners perspective that provide value. Despite being an under skilled amateur I’m now relatively well connected in the tool world. A huge part of that is simply being willing to get stuck in and give things a try. If I waited to feel qualified to do any of these things, I would still be waiting, and I would not have learned half as much. The best way to learn, is to do.

You may not consider yourself much of a writer. You do not need to be a great writer. I was looking at old patch posts tonight as I figured out how much I had written. I spotted spelling and grammar mistakes left, right and centre. I read paragraphs I wrote a year ago, and shuddered at how convoluted they are. You get better as you do it, and most people simply do not care that much. Keep it simple, break it down into relatively short paragraphs. Run a spell checker on it, and you will be good. People are here for woodworking and tool knowledge, not booker prize winning prose.

Woodworking can be a solitary past time. My bench time is usually late at night completely on my own. Connections to a wider community can bring an extra dimension of richness to it. To build your community, share. A very simple way to get talking to others, make new friends, learn new things and get new opportunities, is to take a little bit of time and write about what you do. I’d love to see your writing here.

When I walked into my local hardware store 7 years ago, and grabbed a block plane and a chisel, I had absolutely no idea where it would lead. So this weeks images are of the groups, communities and events that have made it so worthwhile. If you are reading this, you are part of that. So a big thank you to everyone on the Vintage Tool Patch. You make ever week of my life richer!

My little workshop. Taken tonight. Messy, small and overflowing with tools from the patch. It’s my happy place.

The patch. Not only a place to get tools. A wonderful group of people who are always willing to pull together and help. There are no dumb questions on the patch. Just wonderful, helpful, patient folk.

Bench Talk 101 - “A modern style guild/fellowship for like minded woodworkers.” A wonderful bunch who meet up every Thursday night to talk tools and woodworking on zoom. Often until the small hours of the morning. Hard to believe that it will have been running for 4 years come May. I have this group to thank for a lot of great friends all over the world. Open to all, but largely UK based.

Hand Planes & Coffee - Regular zoom calls largely focused on Hand Planes, but often diving into all things tools and woodworking. US based, but with regular attendees from all over the world. Everyone on this call is always so happy to share what they know. An absolute goldmine!

Touring Union’s foundry. How a third rate woodworker from Ireland ends up involved in tool manufacturing in Pennsylvania is not something I fully understand myself.

Carving with Friends. Find the time to meet up with online woodworking buddies in person. You will make the best memories.