The first thing (or perhaps that should be things) that first interested me in furniture and cabinet making were the tools, nice new good quality ones and old good quality vintage ones, the thing that has kept me interested in this craft is simply the wood itself, below are two pictures of two pieces of Poplar, this is what is known as a secondary wood, its normally used where you can`t see it, hidden frames, structural components and painted items, rarely is it used as a "show" timber and I'm not sure why, the grain colour can be quite amazing.

A bad craftsman blames his tools, or so the saying goes, but good quality tools certainly help and some can even inspire you to do good work. If you would like to see some of the lovely tools pictured below and meet me, I will be demonstrating hand cut dovetails at the Court House Gallery, Somerton, Somerset, during Somerset Art Weeks September 26th & 27th Friday & Saturday, you can even have a go yourself!