Skill - a Shout-out to The New Yorkshire Workshop

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I can't muster much brainpower at the moment as I've been hard at it getting the final polishings and fettling done on the cottage for our first guests, who arrived this afternoon: lovely couple - Kate and Robert. I managed also to clear the last of my woodworking fallout from the main half of the studio, so I can roll out the table tennis table again: all in all, I'm done in and looking forward to my curry. So here's a little diversion for you:

I've just watched a lovely YouTube of a guy making a hi-fi turntable plinth - a piece of art really, and a testament to the value of craft skills in our current throwaway, robot-manufactured and mass-produced ethos. Some older school types might argue that his use of machine tools doesn't equal craft; to which I would say something very rude indeed, if I were that sort of chap, which I insist is bollocks. The end result of his protracted endeavours at those very machine tools is a thing of beauty: piano-finished and sleek. I can only say hats off to the young man - you deserve to make a very healthy living from your skill, sir!



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