Consulting Swordsman
I was in Dumfries in April visiting my mum, and a friend of the family there happened to buy a set of four balloon-back chairs, and mentioned it when they came over for dinner. I immediately asked whether they were coming apart in the usual place (where the balloon top rail meets the uprights). Of … Read more
I recently turned 50, and my sister gave me a “ Forge a Viking knife” day course at the Boneyard forge in London for my birthday. I went a couple of weeks ago, and it was great fun. I’ve done a couple of similar courses before (I wrote up the first one here: https://www.guywindsor.net/2020/01/forged-in-fire/), so … Read more
Don’t tell anyone I said this, but there’s more to life than swords. Pens are important too. As are chisels, saws, planes… Pencil Box in Brown Oak, Maple, Cherry, Walnut, and Resin On my recent trip to the USA I was sitting in my friend Heidi Zimmerman’s garden when she dropped a truth bomb on … Read more
My friend Eleonora Rebecchi has designed several covers for my short ebooks, including the entire The Swordsman’s Quick Guide series, and my Swords in the Time of Corona. So it seemed apt to me to show her that I can make book covers too! And I thought that putting her initials on the cover, in … Read more
I came across the idea of a book nook quite recently; one just popped up in a search for something else (a book, I think). And I just had to have a go, as it’s a perfect crossover between several of my interests. I was about half way into it when I realised it would … Read more
I’m in that funny limbo state between a book being finished and being published. My translation and interpretation of Fiore’s longsword plays (of which the current working title is now From Medieval Manuscript to Modern Practice: The Longsword Plays of Fiore dei Liberi. What do you think?) is back from the editor, his 2,370 comments … Read more
There is magic in sharp steel. The feel of a perfectly honed edge slicing through wood, leather, or other targets, it’s as if the thing being cut parts before the blade like the Red Sea before Moses. I’ve spent my whole working life with blades, first as a cabinet-maker, then as a swordsmanship instructor, so … Read more
I’ve had my woodworking bench for twelve years now. It’s been a good workhorse, small enough to fit into my bijou little workshop spaces but big enough to be useful. It first lived in a corner in the old salle, then the tatami shed in the ‘new’ salle: then my garage in Ipswich, and now … Read more
I’ve set this post to go out automatically on Christmas day, so as not to spoil the surprise (in the unlikely event that my nieces actually read this blog). Don’t worry, I’m not sat at my computer right now! My nieces were thrilled with the broomsticks I made for them four years ago, and they … Read more
Sitting will kill you. It’s almost as bad as smoking. Don’t believe me? Read Arsebestos, by Neal Stephenson in his compilation Some Remarks, or more fully, Deskbound by Dr Kelly Starrett. So as a matter of urgency, I created a standing desk adaptation for my work space at the Waterfront Studios. The heart of the … Read more