Inside the Lovely Wood Workshop of Boring Man James May: A True Sheddie’s Paradise

Welcome to Planet Gin’s Woodworking Section

James May is a man of many talents. He is a motoring journalist, a gin entrepreneur, and to us here at shedblog.co.uk, he is the ultimate Sheddie. “Boring man James” has recently invited the world into his remarkably tidy, utterly lovely workshop, and it is everything a woodworking enthusiast could hope for. It is a space where time slows down, hand tools reign supreme, and patience is the most valuable commodity in the room.

The First Build: A Lesson in Longevity

Every Sheddie remembers their first proper woodwork project. For James, it is a wooden screwdriver rack that hangs proudly on his workshop wall. Built in the Year 1974 when he was just twelve Years old and newly enrolled at “big school”, this simple rack was an exercise in mastering the basics. He had to use a plane, a chisel, a saw, a shooting board, and cut a chamfer.

Over fifty Years later, that very same rack is still holding screwdrivers, some of which are even older than the rack itself. It is a fantastic reminder that when things are built properly with traditional hand skills, they are built to last a lifetime. In his workshop tour, James even unscrewed the rack from the wall to check the date scribbled in pencil on the back: “J.D. May 1974”.

From Screwdriver Racks to Baroque Instruments

While many of us are content knocking together a nice set of shelves or a garden planter, James has set his sights somewhat higher. He is currently tackling a Flemish single manual harpsichord based on a Ruckers design. For the uninitiated, a harpsichord is a predecessor to the piano where the strings are plucked rather than struck.

This is not a straightforward weekend job. The instrument comes as a kit from the Paris Workshop. However, as James points out, calling it a kit is a bit like comparing a Baroque musical instrument to an IKEA Billy bookcase, which Lucy affectionately dubs “adult IKEA”. The instructions are completely in German and entirely devoid of pictures. Fortunately, it includes a full-size technical drawing which James can read perfectly.

A Cry for Help from a Fellow Sheddie

Despite his meticulous checking with try squares, James has run into a slight snag, and he is looking for advice from professional woodworkers. The leading edge of one of the pieces, known as the cheek, has developed a very slight warp of about 1.5 millimetres. This means the lid will not sit snugly when closed.

His current plan is to steam or wet the wood, clamp it tightly between two stout metal bars, and leave it for a week. If any experienced woodworkers in the shedblog.co.uk community have dealt with a similar deflection on a critical piece of timber, drop us an email. Let us help a fellow Sheddie out!

Pure Woodworking and Tool Fetishism

What truly makes James’s workshop lovely is his absolute dedication to hand tools. He admits to a bit of “tool fetishism”, and it is easy to see why. His collection is a beautiful blend of the very old and the very high quality.

He still uses a wooden mallet and a try square he has had since his teenage Years. He even has a set of perfectly functional pincers and a mini spirit level from a tool kit he was given for his fifth birthday! Alongside these treasured relics sit some magnificent modern hand tools, heavily featuring Veritas planes from Canada.

Watching James use his posh Veritas shooting board is an absolute joy. He applies a touch of wonderfully scented beeswax to the plane to ease its passage, slowly advancing the blade to shave off wafer-thin slivers from the end of a spine liner. He explains that these delicate shavings make absolutely fantastic kindling for barbecues and wood-burning stoves. Waste not, want not!

While he could easily use a power router to cut a rebate, James prefers a vintage rebate plane with an adjustable fence and depth stop. He likes working with hand tools because the experience is “pure”. There is a block plane for tiny adjustments, a bullnose plane for getting right into corners, and a trusty jack plane he has owned for forty-five Years for truing up long edges. He even boasts an array of Japanese pull saws and a beautifully crafted Japanese wooden hammer. To finish it off, he proudly displays a vintage set of screw-adjustable dividers from the legendary Sheffield toolmakers Moore and Wright.

James May’s Top Tool Picks

• Veritas Planes & Shooting Board: Premium Canadian hand tools (#notsponsored) that James relies on for absolute precision and wafer-thin shavings.
• Moore and Wright Dividers: Vintage, screw-adjustable dividers from Sheffield, perfect for accurately marking out dovetails.
• Japanese Pull Saws: Designed to cut on the pull stroke for finer control, a sharp contrast to traditional western saws.
• Vintage Hand Planes: A mix of rebate, bullnose, and jack planes, some of which he has maintained and used for over 45 Years.

Measure Twice, Cut Once

Throughout his tour, James imparts the golden rules of the workshop. The most crucial one is simple: you can take wood off, but you cannot put it back on. This absolute truth is why he takes his time. During the build, his camera operator, Lucy Brown, has to hold the far end of a long piece of timber without gripping or pushing it, just letting James control the action at the shooting board to ensure a perfectly square cut.

He estimates this harpsichord will take him two Years to complete. This is the essence of being a Sheddie. It is not about speed; it is about the quiet satisfaction of doing something properly.

The Grand Finale

Eventually, the harpsichord will need to be decorated. Historically, these instruments were lavishly adorned with Flemish printed papers and allegorical scenes under the lid. James is considering marbled papers in the key well but fancies something a bit more modern and abstract for the lid, drawing inspiration from Matisse cut-outs or the bold geometric shapes of Mondrian.

Whether he is carefully pushing a chisel or just admiring an old tape measure, James May’s workshop is a sanctuary. It is a place where a 1974 screwdriver rack sits comfortably alongside a complex Baroque instrument build. We cannot wait to see how the harpsichord turns out, even if we have to wait a couple of Years for the final reveal.

Keep those chisels sharp, James!

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