We have now completed the first four weeks of our 12 week joinery course. Time flies! More joints, of course, “moving on,” as our instructor is won’t to say.

Scarf joints are used when planking hulls, and for building keels and joining them to stem posts. After a lot of planing my stock to make it square and flat, I was developing tenosynovitis by the end of week three. Thankfully, Ibuleve gel was rapidly effective, and it has been OK since.

As we complete each joint, we take them to our Instructor, to get his advice, eager for his approval. “Try another set” means ‘That’s not good enough.’ “Time to move on … we’ve a lot to get through” means ‘It’ll just about do’; “Fine” seems to mean ‘That’s OK,’ perhaps even ‘That’s all right,’ and is a prized response. “Good” is the greatest accolade … only occasionally given.

Funny how we are so anxious to please, to be liked … for our work to be appreciated and approved by others. This ‘need’ is no-doubt found in other walks of life, but it is certainly a key aspect to our self esteem as physicians, and something I find that I miss now that I have stepped aside from mainstream General Practice. No wonder then, that I feel a drive to do well – and to be told that I am doing so.

Anyway, here are my four scarf joints .. in order of increasing complexity!

With our scarf joints completed, we were all on to the ‘dreaded’ Dovetail joints this week – on target apparently. All that’s needed is to saw the dovetails and the pins square and straight, and to get them to fit well … no gaps, but not too tight either. Accurate sawing is a skill that doesn’t come easily – not to me at least. So, it’s humbling – and not a little frustrating – to find that I am having to learn to use a saw accurately. I struggle to get the cut square on to the face of the wood, which makes it so much more difficult to get a good fit. At least I am improving with each attempt.

When each set is complete, the joint is cut off the boards, which are are passed to us to try again. By the third set of dovetails, I was hoping that they would go perfectly, and be the last. But alas no, more attempts were needed … six so far. I do hope this last one is OK. I have yet to get this joint passed, but I have decided to “move on” and have started on Mitred Dovetails.

Once we have mastered dovetail joints – Through Dovetails, Mitred Dovetails, and Hidden Dovetails – we start on our Tool Chest. It’s going to be a real test of our learning and skills, and will take a few weeks to complete … it will certainly test our ability to saw square and straight!

The MoD Police drug sniffer dogs have been in the Historic dockyard this month, and we have been warned that they will detect the smell of cannabis use the previous evening; and that there is a zero-tolerance policy on the base. My guilty conscience means that I have never tried ‘substances’ as they are euphemistically called by those in the know.

It has been another busy week: we completed the oilstone box, and are applying French polish (aka shellac), to give it a finish. A few coats more, and it will be looking really good, I hope.

While each coat dries, it’s straight on: to half lap and cover-lap joints, and to mortise and tenon joints.

I have used some of the techniques I have seen demonstrated by Paul Sellers on his excellent website and videos – worth a look if you are minded to try some woodworking with hand tools – but am also using the more straightforward techniques that we are supposed to follow. There are many ways to skin a cat and it’s worth trying a few out: not only to see what works best, but also to ensure I have tried – and learnt – different techniques.

Now we are on to a Joiner’s Rod: more of the above joints, but with the added challenge of accuracy of measurements to follow a diagrammatic plan. I am trying not to be too much of a perfectionist – our Instructor drops the odd hurry up comment: “There’s a lot to get through.” Indeed, we have yet to face the challenge of dovetail joints – which will then lead on to our tool chest.

Ironically, the students now doing the boat building say that after the three month joinery course with its strictly straight lines, there are no straight lines at all out on the boathouse shop floor … it’s all complex curves – “fair lines.”

We have had heavy rain and strong winds on and off for two weeks now, but I have managed to cycle in most days, and this week I have got to the gym (The Shed) on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, as agreed with my ex-Navy – “I don’t think I told you to do it that way” – PTI. Helps to work off the (once weekly) post college ‘drink at the pub:’ a ritual well worth keeping up!

Yesterday, we attended our great friends’ annual St Patrick’s Day party. Once again, I provided some percussion, of a sort, with the cajon and bodhran. We do a ‘set’ of about 8-9 songs, at the end of the evening – timing I am glad about, as I hope everyone has had sufficient to drink to not notice my shortcomings! It was a great craic, as the Irish say, but I am determined to do some more practicing for next year. But, then again, I said that last year.

For the last couple of years or so, I have felt a certain melancholy come Sunday evening as I face the Monday to come. Now, happily, I’m looking forward to tomorrow and a few more joints – wooden, of course.

Well, six new recruits have now completed the first of the 12 week IBTC joinery course. The picture below shows my bench and the view of HMS Warrior’s masts through the window.

The learning curve is steep, but it’s great to see progress after only five days. Although I have a long way to go, I already feel more confident using my Stanley Bailey No 4 bench plane: better control and, pleasingly, better results.

My arms and shoulders ache, and I have felt exhausted come the evening, but I’m having a great time: enjoying honing (excuse the pun) my sharpening techniques, and enjoying too the whisper-thin shavings and clean cuts produced when a plane blade or chisel edge is really sharp.

Being such a small group is doubly beneficial: we get as much support, advice and instruction as we could possibly want; and we have that small group cohesion I was so looking forward to, sharing our progress – the hiccups and the successes.

Facing and edging a piece of wood, using a marking gauge to plane to width and thickness – it’s all starting to make sense. And, at the end of the week, we have all made our own bench hook, wooden mallet .. and are starting on our (American walnut) oilstone box.

It’s not just the change from clinical medicine to hands-on woodworking. There’s clocking in at 9am, clocking out at 5pm; regular set tea and lunch breaks … and, best of all, concentrating on one job at a time. It’s early days, but I could get used to this!

Today saw the first day of this new chapter. Was I excited? Well, put it this way: last night I had had just about as much sleep as a young child on Christmas Eve.

Our good friend, Craig, had given me a lift – just as well, as I had about half a hundred weight of tools boxed up, lashed to my old sack barrow! The new recruits gathered at Victory Gate, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, and were met and led through to Boathouse 4, home of IBTC Portsmouth.

After an induction meeting and tour, we entered our new home from home for the next 12 weeks – Joinery 1. Find a bench, stow our tools, and straight to “work:” squaring off a piece of wood, to make the sides all parallel and true. Somehow, I managed to make heavy work of this and reduced a piece of 5x5cm stock to almost half its size in my efforts to get it right. Thankfully, a break for a tutorial and practical session on sharpening tools, had me return with a sharpened plane blade and less urgency, so growth of the pile of shavings eased somewhat. Saw cuts and chiselling for lap joints followed, and the afternoon sped by, oh so quickly.

No need for extra layers of clothing today – the planing in particular was a great workout. Come five O’Clock we were heading out, and I was home just after six. What a great day, and a great start to this new chapter in my life … so looking forward to tomorrow!