From Peter at 10MinuteWorkshop

August 2022

Hi there, and welcome to the first 10MinuteWorkshop email newsletter. This is a monthly catch-up for anyone interested in what's going on at the 10MinuteWorkshop channel and behind the scenes in the actual workshop, where actual work does actually happen, occasionally!

As this is the first newsletter I just want to reassure you that you've received this because you opted in via the website at 10minuteworkshop.com or when purchasing a 10MinuteWorkshop product; if it's not your kind of thing then you can opt out at any time using the links at the foot of this message, and I promise that I won't take it personally.

So the big news this month is that after a lot of testing by my wonderful channel members, the new independent member platform, 10MinuteWorkshop Plus, was revealed to the public for the first time. In marketing terms this was a 'soft launch' – less than a minute of VoiceOver explaining the benefits of membership during a slightly dull-but-necessary hole-drilling segment in the 'Open Cubes; a Basic Build' video; I have to be honest, I wasn't expecting much from this one-off mention, but the response has been extraordinary, and over the course of the weekend we more than doubled the size of the membership. Amazing! There’s a link to that segment of video here and I’ll post a link below to a Plus members video (opens in a browser) where I explain why I’m doing this, what I hope to achieve by moving away from well-established member platforms like Patreon and YouTube Memberships, and also answer a few questions posed by existing members.

What’s been happening in the 10MinuteWorkshop?

I’m trying a few experimental things at the moment; the photo up top came about after a little bit of ‘playing’ – there’s no other word for it – with some offcuts of Birch Ply and Finsa Fibracolour after the storage cubes video; there’s nothing new in this ‘patterned plywood’ idea – I made some Christmas coasters like this, way back in my first ever Gift Ideas video and guys like Michael Alm have fine-tuned this into an art form – but in the back of my mind there might be a decorative application for this (drawer fascias?) in a future workshop project.

The other thing that’s been keeping me occupied is making a small footstool in Walnut, with a Danish Cord woven ‘seat’. My last school woodworking project was a footstool – my Dad has it and still uses it – and this stool is based on that mid-70s design, but with a couple of small additions.

I made a test piece in MDF which worked out well, but as you can see from the photo, my first attempt at Danish Cord weaving was terrible! There’s more on that in the members-only ‘A Week In The Workshop’ vlog 146 where I explain the process of Danish Cord weaving, and ‘fess up to all my terrible mistakes – the number one being hammering in all seventy-two L-shaped nails upside down…

The public-facing YouTube video of this is due out soon, so if you’d like the back-story then head on over to 10minuteworkshop.com and take a look – login is required, but it's currently on a free signup, with big discounts for existing members when the paid plans come in at the end of the August.

Things we’re loving this month

So many gadgets and so little time to use them, but I’ve been especially taken with a simple idea from John Hatfield. John's British and a former painter who spent may years prepping and spraying kitchen doors for refurbs. The SanderCard is just that – a plastic card with velcro attached that allows you to stick a piece of abrasive to it. That’s it! We’ve all done something similar I’m sure, with a piece of sandpaper double-sided to a filler knife, but John did his due diligence and product development, found a plastic base sheet that flexed enough to be useful but didn’t deform permanently, and put them into production. The product is nicely sized using standard 125 x 70mm abrasives, and is available through Amazon** at less than a tenner for a starter pack with an assortment of grits. Very impressed.

**affiliate link; I may earn from qualifying sales 

Member Projects and workspaces

For me one of the stand-out successes of the member platform has been the enthusiasm shown for the Forum; this is an old-school internet forum where members can ask questions – and maybe answer a few as well – and generally take part in a social aspect of woodworking that’s unfortunately lacking in the hobby – or the job. Spending hours alone in your workshop doesn’t exactly encourage social interactions, and while I don’t expect anyone to be sitting around a campfire singing Kumbaya any time soon, it’s good to see folks making good use of the facility. There are categories covering many aspects of the hobby and the channel, but a popular one is where members show their workspaces; here in the UK ‘workshops’ are typically small shed or single-garage sized, and a recent post by Plus member Paul shows just how much you can get into a small (12x9’) workspace. That's so well-organised, clean and tidy – and clearly what every compact workshop needs is a microwave! That MFT-alike is kind of familiar too...

Farewell Festool MFT

And finally, let me pour one out and say a fond farewell to my old Festool MFT/1080. As part of the general clearing out of the workshop I’m giving away some of the ‘still useful but lesser used’ items to channel members, and my Festool MFT was the first to go last week.

While the original MFT has been a feature of the channel since my first video, it was a feature of the workshop long before that. I’ve often said that the MFT – along with the tracksaw – were 'enabling' tools that let me compete with makers with much bigger workshops, but I’m very happy with the Workshop MFT I made for the space I have available, and let's be honest, I need all the space I can get my hands on!

All channel members are eligible for the giveaways – just put your name down in the Forum if interested; the Atomstack laser that was next on the list will have gone by now, but my Workbee CNC is still available (forum comments close on Friday 26th) and then I'll be moving on some of the smaller items…

That’s all for now, so until next month, stay safe and take care.

Peter

10MinuteWorkshop

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