Michael Cullen demonstrates one of his favorite hand-tool exercises— making a perfect octagon—which tests a woodworker’s skill from material selection and careful layout to tool preparation, blade sharpening, and sawing and handplaning skills.
Making the octagon was the final exercise of the first segment of the year at Leeds Design Workshops in Massachusetts, where Michael Cullen trained to be a furniture maker. Up to that point, the class had focused solely on tool preparation, sharpening, and hand-tool skills through a series of core exercises. The octagon was the culmination of everything they had learned to that point: a test to see if one could cut straight and plane true without hesitation or flaw. Teacher David Powell had worked in Edward Barnsley’s workshop in England in the early 1950s, and Michael and the other students were at Leeds to learn the same set of skills. The successful execution of that simple-looking octagon provided the confidence to begin making entire pieces of furniture by hand.
Michael uses the same octagon exercise as the culmination of hand-tool training for his apprentices and students. Making the octagon tests everything from material selection and careful layout to tool preparation, blade sharpening, and sawing and planing skills.
Videos in the Series
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Flattening a board with hand tools
November 30, 2022
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Squaring an edge with a jointer plane
November 30, 2022
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Sawing and truing up the final edge of the board
November 30, 2022
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Bringing the board to final thickness
November 30, 2022
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Laying out an octagon
November 30, 2022
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Planing an octagon
November 30, 2022
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Adding beveled facets to finish off the octagon exercise
November 30, 2022
