Respect
- This topic has 6 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 5 months ago by Bruce Pritchard.
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8 October 2015 at 10:04 pm #131161
A couple of months ago I fell in love.
It was during one of those evening when you browse the Internet and you stumble into something new and it feels as if a whole new world just opened in front of you. I had stumbled into Paul’s video lessons.
Watching them I fell in love with his approach working wood with just his hands and a relatively simple set of tools. I fell in love with how he appreciated the wood grain and explained the structure of the tree by just looking at a board, and how he enjoyed the smell of the wood while working it.
It didn’t take long before I ordered my essential toolkit to start woodworking at home. In the mean time, I have been watching Paul’s videos for a couple of months. All the tools have arrived and finally tonight I started my first project, something very simple, building the diamond plates holder. Nothing crazy, I just had to cross-cut three pieces of pine from a long narrow board and glue them together, side by side. Tomorrow I plan to carve out the areas where I want to lodge the three plates.
Every little thing I have seen in the videos done with extremely simple gestures by Paul turned out to be difficult to do in reality. One of his sentences came up to mind: “I am making this look easy, but it can be complicated”… Yes, Paul, you really make everything look easy, while in reality even sawing a board straight between two knife-walls seems to be nothing but trivial 🙂
My respect goes to you and to all the woodworking members of this forum. I hope one day to become skilled enough to find these relatively trivial tasks as trivial to execute as they really should be 🙂- This topic was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by gallarotti.
Agreed!
Nothing but respect for the man…
In my opinion he never has to say the words, “I’ve been doing this for 50 + years”…it shows with every movement of a tool in his hands or in the number of options he gives to complete a task (Technique)Look forward to seeing your projects…
My Dad was a farmer in Texas from the 1920s until his death in the 80s. I can’t count the number of times I saw him squat down, pick up a handful of rich soil, and squeeze it in his hand…..obviously loving the land and what he was doing. I see the same look on Paul’s face every time he picks up a tool or runs his hand over a piece of wood he has just surface planed. In addition to what we learn from his lessons, just watching him work is one of my favorite activities.
10 November 2015 at 3:46 am #132229I don’t think I’ve watched a lot of TV lately because I’ve been watching Paul’s videos over and over again.
I just finished his wall clock minus the clock, need to order one, and now I want to perfect the dovetail,that might take some time, and then who knows the possibilities are endless because Paul has giving us so much knowledge.
Maybe some day we can have a get together with Paul and all his followers.Pete
@petervalcanas, I agree! A get together between all us wood nerds with Paul and Crew would be superb. I certainly have about a billion reasons to want to personally shake Paul’s hand and give him thanks, we all do really. I have to emphasize thanks to the crew, i can barely fathom the work load in creating one episode, let alone a project series. All this done by what, a four person staff? These aren’t crap videos from fingerless jerry in his uncles greasy shop, these are REAL productions. Eternally grateful for establishing, and maintaining the Quality of instruction that comes from MasterClasses.
It doesn’t stop with just the videos either. What about the creation of, management, and moderation of the blog and this very website? These things dont come out thin air! Good people are putting in good hard work here, it truly shows.
16 November 2015 at 11:47 pm #132485Hi, i’m new to this website, and to traditional woodworking as well.
I am in agreement with the gallarotti. Paul Sellers is a very likable guy and his videos are very well done. When i first discovered his videos on YouTube i fell in love with traditional woodworking.
I still like using power tools however, and i think i would rather joint lumber with a electric table saw, router or jointer, instead of using hand planes which are a lot of work. I would also rather use a power saw to rip boards instead of using a hand saw, but i’m glad that Paul teaches us how to properly hand cut lumber, because its still a very useful skill. I do think that hand planes are very useful for smoothing and doing small jointing tasks, this is just my personal preference though, and i’m still a beginner anyway so maybe my opinion will change one day.
Having said that, i love the idea of hand cutting dovetails and using wood chisels for joinery, and the idea of splitting and paring wood. I look forward to mastering these techniques, but again i would rather avoid all heavy labor and use a electric saw or router when necessary.
Even if you use power tools, learning to use hand tools will still help us to keep things simple. A handheld circular saw and an electric router, along with jigs, can be enough to build anything i would think. WE don’t need a shop full of big, heavy, expensive woodworking machines. Keeping it simple is my thinking, and Paul Sellers is a good teacher for keeping things simple. He is very skilled yet he doesn’t allow tradition to dictate every thought and action, but instead he uses whatever works for him as an individual, and he understands the value of individual style.
I am very happy to have found Paul sellers online, and i thank him for his passion and his service.
- This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Bruce Pritchard.
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