Ben Willis Woodcraft

Contact Name: Ben Willis

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Address:
Stoney Lane Studios
Stoney Lane
Crystal Palace, London
Greater London
SE19 3BD

Ben Willis Woodcraft

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Ben Willis Woodcraft's Courses

Introduction to green-wood furniture making

Introduction to green-wood furniture making

This course runs over four consecutive weekday evenings between 7 and 9.30pm and offers an introduction to making furniture from 'green' unseasoned wood using techniques that have been practised for thousands of years. You'll learn how to split logs into rough billets using a maul, wedges and froe, and then how to shape them further using an axe and drawknife. After that, you’ll then get to experience the wonders of turning wood on a foot-powered lathe. This magical device has been superseded by the electric-powered lathe, but you’ll be shown...

Make a chair

London’s only dedicated greenwood chair-making course…. Run over 10 weekday evenings, it’s a commitment, but at the end you’ll have made your own simple Windsor-style chair. You’ll learn how to fashion fresh timber, straight from the log, into the chair’s main components – the legs, stretchers and spindles – using axe, drawknife and spokeshave. For the more adventurous, or for those who’ve taken part in my introductory courses, you can try your hand at turning these parts on a traditional foot-powered lathe. You’ll then make your seat, using traditional ‘bottoming’...

Make a live-edge bench or table

Make a live-edge bench or table

This course runs over six consecutive weekday evenings between 7 and 9.30pm. The project is to fashion a beautiful bench or side-table from live-edge timber, using traditional green-woodworking techniques. The design is based on the traditional ‘pig bench’ used historically as a piece of agricultural equipment, but it makes an excellent dining bench or occasional table in the modern home. You’ll learn the process of crafting the legs and undercarriage of the bench from green timber using traditional hand tools such as the froe, drawknife and spokeshave. You’ll then smooth...

Make a Welsh stick chair

Make a Welsh stick chair

The Welsh stick chair is the vernacular style of Windsor chair that evolved west of the border several hundred years ago. They’re simple but striking, and will grace any hearth with a charismatic presence. Over this seven-day course in a beautiful woodland workshop you’ll be taken through the process of crafting a Welsh stick chair from log to finished piece. You’ll fashion the legs, spindles and other frame parts from locally sourced ash using a range of simple tools, including drawknife and spokeshave. You’ll also use an adze and travisher...

Make a Windsor-style stool

Make a Windsor-style stool

This course will run over two consecutive Saturdays between 10am and 5pm and involve the creation of a beautiful three-legged Windsor-style stool using traditional chair-making tools and techniques. You'll learn how to split freshly felled timber straight from the log, then fashion the legs of your stool with a variety of simple hand tools such as the axe, drawknife and spokeshave. You'll then use an adze and travisher to shape a comfortable saddle. This process is called bottoming. No smirking now! Finally, you'll be taken through the process of assembling...