About Me and this Blog

Hello,
My name is Dougal Charteris. I am a Scottish master craftsman furniture maker.
I have over 35 years of experience teaching apprentices in real world workshops..
In the mid 90′s I made  a 4.5 hour educational video series on the subject of fine furniture making.  The series recieved very good reviews and was distributed, though only to the educational/institutional market.
I am in the process of putting the entire video series on the site www.furnituremakersapprentice.net for all to share. So far there are only some videos of sharpening chisels and plane irons and the infamous steel cabinet scraper, with a bit about the use of these tools (see the sample below)

Where Did I learn Furniture Making
I served my time in the 1970′s with my Father and older brother in the family business “Joseph Charteris & Sons Cabinetmakers & Chairmakers”, Markich, Fife, Scotland.
My dad served his time with Donald Grant & Sons, Edinburgh, Scotland, in the 1930′s.
The “old timers” who trained my dad served their time in the late 1800′s, passing to him and thus to me an oral tradition of fine hand woodworking that is rooted in an apprenticeship system that dates back at least 300 years. The oral tradition of woodworking came from the bench-rooms of woodworkers and is very, very different from a college woodworking course. My knowledge of this apprenticeship systems, where the prime directive is to do the least amount of work possible to achieve the required result, the very definition of skill,  enables me to guide others easily and painlessly into the wonderful art of fine hand woodworking.
Below is an example of the teaching I will be presenting and discussing on this blog.
When time allows I will respond to any questions about woodworking and furniture making sent by anyone who subscribes to this blog.

Best Wishes
Dougal Charteris