Shop Talk Live - Fine Woodworking

Mike Pekovich and Phil Huber join Ben to debrief their week-long woodworking tour of England—part museum crawl, part shop class, all inspiration. From London’s Building Crafts College (trade-focused millwork and stonemasonry) to the Snowdon School of Furniture (studio furniture, domestic woods, and a “rip-only” tablesaw philosophy), they compare shop practices and rethink joinery workflows (tenoners, Domino, band-sawn cheeks, using the miter saw’s depth stop). The trip winds through the Westonbirt Arboretum and an unforgettable boxwood deep-dive with a Baroque oboe maker, then into the V&A’s technique-curated furniture gallery. In the Cotswolds, Rodmarton Manor (Barnsley/Gimson) and the Gordon Russell Museum spark lessons in design “grammar,” chamfers, and English drawer slips you’ll want to steal. There’s even a pub-hall turning demo with Paul Hannaby—pints included. Plus: a quick preview of next week’s Woodworking in America in Des Moines and what Ben, Phil, and friends will be teaching and doing on sit