A long and steady decline has initiated worldwide in the 50’s. And no one would bet on a Jack plane until the early 2000. Hand tool woodworking has then started to spread widely in the US and in the UK in the past decades. No need to say that France has experienced the same decline, in the middle of the past century. The reasons for the huge jointer wooden planes being sent to fire was structural. And of course, in spite of what we all say here (read this with the french accent to make it even frenchier!), France is not an exception. Yet, the country has only started its HTWW revolution not earlier than in the past years, which is quite surprising. And if many reasons drive this lag, things in France are starting to grow.
When it comes to hand tool woodworking in France, there was very little available as I started in the early 2010s. Very few toolshops, and nothing but blunt blades on dangerous power planers and jointers in the woodworking communities. Nevertheless, talking about hand tool woodworking to an 8 fingered man bred in the 100% machine world would undoubtedly generate disdain and scorn. And I am not referring to anything but my own experience. People would stare at you like as if you were mentally insane or a funny innocent poet. Which for some means exactly the same! At least they would seriously question your ability to chop a mortise or cut dovetail joints.
Handtool wood working in France: very little as I started...
The litterature about hand tool woodworking in France was virtually nil. There were some unbelievably hard to bite technical references but despite this country is one of the craddles of the craft, the technical information used to be kept by some very skilled and yet too grumpy old guys that were more than reluctant in passing over the information outside the very little number of the padawans they would have the kindness to train. Like a knowledge secretly kept that they would only pass on to the ones who would show them deference and obeyance. Since no one showed them deference and obeyance (the world has changed), the secret would die as they would pass away… Which is what actually happened!
No, no slobbery kisses, thanks!
I was not passed over this knowledge. And I am gald I did not have to deal with these slobbery grumpy old guys. Their arrogance and overboosted selfesteem would have simply driven me nuts! So I was pretty much naked as I started in the craft some 15 years ago… Naked? Well, not that much actually. My aerospace engineering education brought me the knowledge to send rockets in space and aircsrafts in the air. But it also tought me, and I know that may seem not be self-evident, to understand hand tool woodworking. And I guess a somehow rigorous mindset to approach the craft. Structural mechanics, material mechanics, steel and alloy engineering helped me a lot in understanding what’s behind this very strange material that is wood or how the steel defeats the chip. But as far as the techniques and gestures are concerned, I was litterally on my own. I had to retrofit engineer all the processes to achieve a good level of quality. With one goal in mind: build high end quality pieces of furniture.
Hand tool woodworking revolution has started in France
Well, and that worked! And here we are now. If hand tool woodworking in France was virtually inexistant 15 years ago . These remote workshops defended to death by dwarves and mighty dragons being set aside, obviously. And it has started to grow in the past years. Well, it can grow bigger and, my friends, I am sure it will grow bigger. Because there is no better way to understand what is going on in the intimacy of the relationship between the steel edge and the wood shaving that when working with hand tools. And whether you’re French, swedish, japanese or from the US, there is no more pleasant and yet rewarding way of building a piece of furniture that working wood with your own tools and hands!
So much has been achieved
At least here we are here today. With the help of valuable friends and this community that we managed to build. Hats off by the way to Michel Auriou (yes, the famous hand stiched wood rasps) who lead the trend and set a huge energy for this community to be strong and to hold so tight today. Here we are with all these guys, these friends. Lucas Mainferme and Cray Birkenwald and Tom Fidgen that we met last year (c’mon, he’s almost french now: ask him for his passport!!!), just to quote a few of them. And so many more who are into hand tool woodworking, whether they are partly or 100% hand tool woodworkers. Here we are also with 100% hand tool woodworking classes taught in France that are open to everyone (whether you are fluent in French or not…!). From the least skilled person to the professional woodworker who wants to widen the range of its gesture and techniques. Things are simple here: you are more than welcome to join if you happen to cross the border. Just like Craig did this week when he opened the doors of the La Manufacture workshop to raise his hand tool woodworking skills to the next level. You’re fancy a woodworking class in english? Send me a message on lamanufactureatelierbois at gmail dot com and I’ll let you know what i can do for you! Here we are with a book that was published not earlier than last year and with my name on it. The very first book in decades that was written by a French author about the handtools woodworking tools.
Even an annual venue!
Here we are with an annual show taking place in Epinal every year in September. By the way, Tom Lie Nielsen from Lie Nielsen Toolworks Inc. paid us a visit in 2017 and we even had the huge chance to welcome Tom Fidgen during the show last year!
See? The adventure of hand tool woodworking in France has just started. And I am more than thrilled to know where we’ll all be in no more than five years!
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Hand tool woodworking in France
A long and steady decline has initiated worldwide in the 50’s. And no one would bet on a Jack plane until the early 2000. Hand tool woodworking has then started to spread widely in the US and in the UK in the past decades. No need to say that France has experienced the same decline, in the middle of the past century. The reasons for the huge jointer wooden planes being sent to fire was structural. And of course, in spite of what we all say here (read this with the french accent to make it even frenchier!), France is not an exception. Yet, the country has only started its HTWW revolution not earlier than in the past years, which is quite surprising. And if many reasons drive this lag, things in France are starting to grow.
When it comes to hand tool woodworking in France, there was very little available as I started in the early 2010s. Very few toolshops, and nothing but blunt blades on dangerous power planers and jointers in the woodworking communities. Nevertheless, talking about hand tool woodworking to an 8 fingered man bred in the 100% machine world would undoubtedly generate disdain and scorn. And I am not referring to anything but my own experience. People would stare at you like as if you were mentally insane or a funny innocent poet. Which for some means exactly the same! At least they would seriously question your ability to chop a mortise or cut dovetail joints.
Handtool wood working in France: very little as I started...
The litterature about hand tool woodworking in France was virtually nil. There were some unbelievably hard to bite technical references but despite this country is one of the craddles of the craft, the technical information used to be kept by some very skilled and yet too grumpy old guys that were more than reluctant in passing over the information outside the very little number of the padawans they would have the kindness to train. Like a knowledge secretly kept that they would only pass on to the ones who would show them deference and obeyance. Since no one showed them deference and obeyance (the world has changed), the secret would die as they would pass away…
Which is what actually happened!
No, no slobbery kisses, thanks!
I was not passed over this knowledge. And I am gald I did not have to deal with these slobbery grumpy old guys. Their arrogance and overboosted selfesteem would have simply driven me nuts!
So I was pretty much naked as I started in the craft some 15 years ago…
Naked? Well, not that much actually. My aerospace engineering education brought me the knowledge to send rockets in space and aircsrafts in the air. But it also tought me, and I know that may seem not be self-evident, to understand hand tool woodworking. And I guess a somehow rigorous mindset to approach the craft.
Structural mechanics, material mechanics, steel and alloy engineering helped me a lot in understanding what’s behind this very strange material that is wood or how the steel defeats the chip. But as far as the techniques and gestures are concerned, I was litterally on my own.
I had to retrofit engineer all the processes to achieve a good level of quality. With one goal in mind: build high end quality pieces of furniture.
Hand tool woodworking revolution has started in France
Well, and that worked!
And here we are now. If hand tool woodworking in France was virtually inexistant 15 years ago . These remote workshops defended to death by dwarves and mighty dragons being set aside, obviously.
And it has started to grow in the past years. Well, it can grow bigger and, my friends, I am sure it will grow bigger. Because there is no better way to understand what is going on in the intimacy of the relationship between the steel edge and the wood shaving that when working with hand tools. And whether you’re French, swedish, japanese or from the US, there is no more pleasant and yet rewarding way of building a piece of furniture that working wood with your own tools and hands!
So much has been achieved
At least here we are here today. With the help of valuable friends and this community that we managed to build. Hats off by the way to Michel Auriou (yes, the famous hand stiched wood rasps) who lead the trend and set a huge energy for this community to be strong and to hold so tight today. Here we are with all these guys, these friends. Lucas Mainferme and Cray Birkenwald and Tom Fidgen that we met last year (c’mon, he’s almost french now: ask him for his passport!!!), just to quote a few of them. And so many more who are into hand tool woodworking, whether they are partly or 100% hand tool woodworkers.
Here we are also with 100% hand tool woodworking classes taught in France that are open to everyone (whether you are fluent in French or not…!). From the least skilled person to the professional woodworker who wants to widen the range of its gesture and techniques. Things are simple here: you are more than welcome to join if you happen to cross the border. Just like Craig did this week when he opened the doors of the La Manufacture workshop to raise his hand tool woodworking skills to the next level. You’re fancy a woodworking class in english? Send me a message on lamanufactureatelierbois at gmail dot com and I’ll let you know what i can do for you!
Here we are with a book that was published not earlier than last year and with my name on it. The very first book in decades that was written by a French author about the handtools woodworking tools.
Even an annual venue!
Here we are with an annual show taking place in Epinal every year in September. By the way, Tom Lie Nielsen from Lie Nielsen Toolworks Inc. paid us a visit in 2017 and we even had the huge chance to welcome Tom Fidgen during the show last year!
See? The adventure of hand tool woodworking in France has just started. And I am more than thrilled to know where we’ll all be in no more than five years!