In the summer I started a very exciting project which has been derailed, or at least shunted into the sidings, by a slipped disc. Now that I’m getting back on my feet, both figuratively and literally, I’m itching to get out to the workshop and crack on. Wiser, more patient, people have urged caution and so instead I’m editing video from the sofa. All of this was shot back in early August and it’s been very encouraging to remind myself of the progress so far. I can’t help but feel that stitching these butterfly keys into a crack is a metaphor for the exercises I now do every morning to save my own back. Or is that the diazepam talking?

It’s been a while since I built a Windsor chair. In the last few years I’ve focussed on ladder back or post and rung seats which don’t require a slab of mature tree. However an extraordinary opportunity to reproduce a very interesting eighteenth century chair has presented itself and I put on hold a number of other projects. I’ll be going into details about it in future posts but for now here’s a video of me rescuing a very precious bit of Scottish elm from a creeping shake.