The Workshop

Two people, one drying shed and a bench each. There is no production line here, which is why the lead times on this site are long and why they are honest.

What we actually do by hand

Machines do the dull, dangerous and dimensionally critical work: ripping, thicknessing, rough mortising. Everything after that is hand work. Tenon shoulders are pared to a knife line. Dovetails are sawn and chopped. The final pass on any show surface is a smoothing plane rather than an abrasive, which is why our tops catch light in soft bands instead of the flat haze a sander leaves.

The five joints in the whole catalogue

There is no sixth. Every piece on this site is made from some arrangement of these five, and each of them is here because it answers a specific force or a specific seasonal problem.

[hg_joinery]

Finishing

Almost everything gets hardwax oil — two or three thin coats, cut back between them. It is not the toughest finish available and we do not pretend otherwise. What it is, is repairable: a ring or a scratch can be dealt with by anyone with a grey pad and a cloth, in place, in ten minutes. A cured lacquer cannot, which is why a lacquered table with one bad mark tends to end up on a skip.

Chairs get a soap finish instead. It stays pale, it feels like bare wood under the hand, and it is refreshed with a bucket of soap flakes.