Do you use a mallet?

On Tuesday I was removing some wood from an opening using a chisel when the young apprentice sparky came up to me and asked what that "wood thing" was I was using to hit my chisels with.
I thought he was joking at first, and I said that he must have seen one on other sites or at college but he said he hadn't, the chippies he knew just used their hammers.
I was referring to my mallet.

(A 7 year old picture of me cleaning out a mortise to accept a large oak beam with a slip tenon, using my mallet and chisel)

I know that chisels have changed and plastic handles are much less likely to split with a hammer blow, but aren't we loosing something by using our hammers instead.
I'm fussy with my chisels, I keep them sharp and I only hit them with my mallet.
In an age where it seems craftsmanship is dying, on site at least, I'm glad that I was taught the "proper" way and it'll be a cold day in hell before I put my mallet on the wood pile.
Who's with me?

Work Benches

I've been working for a builder over the last few weeks who has pretty much left me to the disposal of lovely couple who want certain things making and finishing off. Some of these jobs have been awful tto do - like the two automatic garage doors I've just fitted - and some have been great, like these work benches I made.

My brief was simple; they were to be a metre high, roughly so long (makes gesture with hands) and to make them strong. With 6x2 rails notched into 4x4 legs and 1inch marine ply on top they were really pleased, no chance of these falling down anytime soon.

So vain

Last week i made a vanity unit for a customer insitu. The room is built with one sloping wall and a whole host of pipes behind it, so a brought in unit wouldn't do.

I had to make it out of ply and MDF with a softwood frame, the ply as some of it was to be tiled and the MDF for the painted areas. The customer changed her mind 7 times whilst I was making it though, she couldn't decide what to have as a top. in the end she decided against kitchen worktop (luckily). Bit of a nightmare but we got there in the end!

Now with a lick of paint I'm quite pleased with it, I really like their choice of painting the doors white.

A New Blog

Well its almost a year today that I lost my big job in the city and although its taken me a long time to truly come to terms with it, I think that ultimately I'm happier as a carpenter rather than a manager (although I get tempted by job security and salaries).
Having been in management for three years you start to loose touch with what you can create with your hands. The simple pleasure of going to bed and being physically tired rather than being stressed mentally and having a nights restless sleep. Five years previous to this I was a happy chippy working in the countryside enjoying what I did.
I did enjoy being a manager most of the time and the responsibilities that came with it, but I also enjoy the simple thank you of a job well done.
If I stay as a carpenter then this blog will document my quest to become the best craftsman I can possibly be. My work will be site based carpentry, small joinery projects in my workshop and as I improve with my wood turning I'd like to include this more into the way that I earn my living.
At 27 I've got a lot to learn, but if I didn't then I think it would be quite boring...