LowfatRoubo

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07/08/2026

So that’s a wrap. Last day Florida School of Woodwork and the Joined Cricket Table class.

Today it’s all about attaching the tops, a final bit of fettling and making everything look pretty. By the end of the day there’ll be six more cricket tables in existence - I can live with that.

If you couldn’t make this class, there are still a couple of ways to get started. Cricket Tables is a good place to begin - use the link up top for options. Better still, come and build one with me in October at the London International Woodworking Festival in my own workshop.

As a tutor, Florida School of Woodwork is a world class facility. For students - it should be on your bucket list.

06/08/2026

It’s Day 4 of the Cricket Table course at Florida School of Woodwork where everything starts to come together.

Mortise & tenons are cut, we’re into the fettling stage which is the difference between a fight and a smooth glue-up, drawbore holes are next.

If all goes to plan, by lunchtime we’ll be standing around doing what furniture makers have always done at this stage… watching glue dry - a surprisingly rewarding spectator sport.

04/08/2026

Days one and two of the cricket table course Florida School of Woodwork is in the bag.

The table tops are made, the leg components have been broken down, and the first mortises are being chopped out by hand.

One thing that’s making this course a little different is the timber. We’re building these tables from sapele, which I suspect might be a first for this project. Traditionally these little joined tables would have been made from whatever material was readily available nearby. Oak, ash, elm, any kind of softwood and in any combination locally sourced and affordable rather than exotic.

Mahogany didn’t really begin arriving in Europe in any meaningful quantities until the 17th century, and by then furniture fashions had moved on. It would have been an unlikely choice for a humble joined cricket table. Here in 21st-century Florida though, the equation changes. Sapele is readily available, relatively inexpensive, stable, beautiful to work with and therefore makes perfect sense.

History gives us the pattern. We simply adapt it to the place and time we’re in.

02/08/2026

Well… I needn’t have worried.

Everyone headed home today from Florida School of Woodwork with smiling faces and a Japanese toolbox under their arm. I’d call that a successful couple of days.

Day one in the workshop finished with far more done than anyone had any right to expect.

I didn’t want to speak too soon, but this little bunch made it look easy.

By 4.30 on the first day the box sides and ends were joined, the handles shaped and fitted, everything glued up, the lids trimmed and the base boards routed. That’s not bad going for a project that usually keeps people on their toes.

There was even enough time left to wander down to Café Rialto for an iced matcha latte with oat milk - aways on trend my friends - you know how we roll at LFR classes!

They’d run out of scones by 2.30, which isn’t half as surprising as there being scones on the menu in a Florida coffee shop. This continent is full of surprises. 🍵

Thanks to a great group for making teaching feel effortless. Safe travels home, everyone.
Tomorrow we build cricket tables

01/08/2026

Day one Florida School of Woodwork
Over the next week I’ll be teaching two very different projects. We start with a two-day Japanese toolbox - a deceptively simple piece that introduces accurate layout, careful joinery and a clever wedged locking mechanism - all good entry level techniques.
After that, we’ll move on to a five-day build of the joined Cricket Table (or Tavern Table), exploring draw-bored mortise and tenon joinery, compound angles and the deceptively complex geometry that sits behind this humble vernacular form.
It’s always a privilege to spend a week in a workshop with people who have chosen to invest their time in learning something new.

29/07/2026

Long-time followers and close friends will know I’m just as happy in the kitchen as I am in the workshop.

In fact, I’d argue they’re pretty much the same place. Different tools perhaps, but the same process: observation, patience, repetition, and the quiet satisfaction of getting something right.

So imagine my surprise when, completely out of the blue, I received a text message from someone I hadn’t heard from in over fifteen years.

To be fair, it was a misfire.

The message was meant for another Derek.

Still, I’ll happily accept a culinary tip from anyone.

If the perfect poached egg has always eluded you, then we’re already kindred spirits. I’ve lost count of the gadgets, widgets and assorted contraptions I’ve bought - and eventually sent to landfill - in pursuit of that elusive café-style egg.

Until now.

Poachies A poached egg in a paper bag.

It sounds ridiculous until you try it. The results are consistently excellent, they’re almost impossible to mess up, and they’ve earned a permanent place in my kitchen drawer.

I don’t use the phrase game changer very often, but this genuinely is one.

Do your own research. Buy a pack. Tinker with them for a week.

Then come back and tell me…

”…yes, the world is a slightly better place.”

09/07/2026

Progress.

I’ve finished fiddling and faffing with a few of the details. The legs are now octagonal, the stretchers have found their place, and the frame has been slimmed down a little. Small changes individually, but together they’ve made a much better chair. The next step is to build one properly, probably in oak.

That build isn’t just about making a nicer version - it’s about testing the sequence of operations, refining the workflow, getting a feel for the handling of the components and finding out how long the whole thing really takes to produce. After all, this is destined to become a teaching project.

The seat is still up for debate. A loose cushion? A drop-in upholstered seat? Or perhaps something closer to Allan Peters’ original with its gently curved solid seat. I’ll probably make all three before deciding.

One thing that has surprised me is the template for laminating the back slats. It worked first time. No tweaks, no second attempt and it works for a sculpted seat. Serendipity... or some benevolent workshop spirit looking over my shoulder?
Either way, I’ll take it.

If you’d like the longer story behind this project - why I’m developing it, why Allan Peters’ work still matters, and how a teaching project evolves into a course I’ve written a more in-depth piece over at The Furniture Reader. The link’s in my bio

07/07/2026

Prototype nearly there.

This chair will become one of next year’s projects on the T Level Craft & Design – Furniture course at

t’s still very much a prototype, cobbled together from an assortment of workshop offcuts, and there’s plenty of refining to do before it’s ready for teaching, but I’m getting close.

The design owes a quiet debt to Allan Peters. His book, Cabinetmaking: The Professional Approach, was one of the most influential books I read when I was starting out as a self-employed furniture maker.

What appealed to me then - and still does - was its practicality. Peters wrote for people who wanted to make a living at the bench. His designs reflected the realities of small-batch production, and his advice was grounded in the workshop rather than wrapped up in unnecessary mystique. That’s the thinking behind this project.

The chair isn’t just something to build; it’s a vehicle for learning. Every joint, every angle and every process has been chosen to develop skills that transfer directly to commercial furniture making.

The best teaching projects don’t just produce a chair. They produce a furniture maker.

04/07/2026

Pedestals, platforms, plinths… whatever you call them, today they’re doing what they do best: showing off good work.
We’re open for business at this Saturday from 10am–3pm, and the workshop is ready. On display are projects from the last two years, alongside the ones next year’s students will be making as they begin their own journey into furniture making.
The rest of the college will be open too, of course. But if you’re 16–18 and you wake up wondering, “What can I make today?” then you already know where you should be heading.
Come and explore the T Level Craft & Design – Furniture course. Talk to the staff and current students, pick up the work, look closely at the details, and discover how making furniture can become a career in the creative industries.
Open Day 📍 London Design & Engineering UTC 🗓️ Saturday 🕙 10:00am–3:00pm
We’ll see you in the workshop.

13/06/2026

Like making, I’ve never really managed to kick the writing habit. Not that I’d want to.

So after months - who am I kidding, years - of procrastination, diversions and false starts, I’ve finally launched a new project on Substack: The Furniture Reader.

It’s free to subscribe and gives me a place to explore ideas about furniture, craftsmanship and material culture in a little more depth than the fast-moving world of Instagram tends to allow.

The first Note and Post are now live, including an essay called Before There Was Furniture.
If you’d like to follow along, there’s a link in my bio.

I’m not entirely sure where this little adventure will lead, but that’s part of the appeal FurnitureReader

Address

103 Brighton Road
Brighton
BN99NP

Website

http://www.lowfatroubo.co.uk/

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