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John's Profile

From being a compulsory subject at school, a necessity at times when finances were stretched in the years that followed, through to a favourite hobby in retirement, woodwork has been an activity with which I have been involved most of my life. What has really changed is the time now available in retirement to pursue the activity more thoroughly.
The greatest shift in my attitude to woodwork occurred after I was invited to a meeting of the then Berkshire, Hampshire and Surrey Fellowship of Woodworkers (now Southern Fellowship of Woodworkers) in January 1997 by one of it’s members, Roland Smith.
This was a members’ projects meeting and it quickly became apparent to me that my previous efforts at woodwork had been of extremely poor quality by comparison to the work displayed by Fellowship members that evening.
Two short courses with the late Jim Kingshott (also a Fellowship member) reintroduced me to woodwork basics first learnt at school. Unfortunately, I failed to progress beyond the first term of a one year full time course in Handcrafted Furniture making at my then local technical college due to illness. This was a great disappointment to me as the course tutor was an excellent former Barnsley workshop senior craftsman, Mark Nicholas. 
It is, however, that first meeting and subsequent involvement in the Fellowship’s activities and association with fellow members that has been a key factor in the progression of my woodworking skill and enjoyment.
 I do not undertake commissions - I am too slow, still agonise about the quality of my work and feel that professional woodworkers are best placed to offer this service.

John Cain

Index - click on the name to go to the piece.

Footstool
Built-in Wardrobe
Wardrobe internal detail
Pencil Box
Bedside Cabinets in oak
Maple and Oak Box
Bedside Cabinets in ripple ash
Piano Stool
Perfume Cabinet
Bathroom Cabinet
Bedside Cabinet in sweet chestnut
Workbench

Footstool

This is a footstool in oak and seagrass that I made towards the end of my secondary school days. My parents had it until my mother died and father emigrated to Canada. I am loath to replace the seagrass top.

Built-in Wardrobe

One of two built-in wardrobes at our house in Basingstoke before moving here, this was in one bedroom the other in another bedroom. The carcass was made from 3/4" birch faced blockboard salvaged from a bank in Guildford. The front is in sweet chestnut. Mirrored in the background is a bed I made not long after Jan and I married in 1966, it is still in use.

The inside of the wardrobe

Inside, the wardrobe had pull-out storage trays in the centre section. Fronts again in sweet chestnut, sides & backs in oak and bottoms in cedar of lebanon. Backs of the mirrors was MDF.

 

 

 

 

 

Pencil Box

This is a pencil box I made as a present. The design is from Andrew Crawford's book, 'Book of Boxes'. The lid is MDF lipped with african blackwood and then veneered, rosewood ( I think) one side and lacewood the other. Main carcass is rippled ash with african blackwood detailing.

Bedside Cabinets

A pair of bedside cabinets in oak with brown oak plynth and burr oak fronted drawers together with african blackwood cock beading. The fronts of the drawers are laminated from bandsawn oak. The cabinets are my own design which, to my eye, looked okay on paper at full size but turned out to be something of an eye sore. Though as someone said to me - 'when you've turned the light out you don't notice!'

Maple and Oak Box

I made this box, which is based on a design seen in Furniture & Cabinetmaking magazine, as a thank you present to someone to whom I am indebted. The carcass is brown oak, bottom maple and the lid is laminated maple with birds-eye maple faces. The lift out tray is also maple with african blackwood handle. The front edge of the lid bears the recipients initials in morse code with the handle forming the first dash in the sequence. The hinges are home made knife 'stop' hinges which hold the lid open at 95 degrees.

Bedside Cabinets in ripple ash and oak

Different views of another pair of bedside cabinets this time in ripple ash and laminated brown oak drawer fronts.

 

 

Piano Stool

Piano stool in ( I think) mahogany. Top is traditionally upholstered with webbing, hessian, horsehair filling etc.

 

 

 

Perfume Cabinet

This is a cabinet I had been promising my wife I would make her for years - to store part of her perfume collection. I say 'part' because a walk-in cabinet would be needed to house the whole collection! I started to make it as part of a City & Guilds course in Handcrafted Furniture at Basingstoke College of Technology. I failed to complete the course through illness but pressed on with the cabinet when I could. A Krenov inspired design in lacewood with african blackwood. It features a coopered door, laminated drawer front and wedged through mortice and tenons. Again, the knife hinges are home made. 

Bathroom Corner Cabinet

Bathroom corner cabinet in elm. The coopered door of this cabinet was in fact the 'practice run' for the one made for the perfume cabinet. Some of the joints were cramped up in the manner described by James Krenov in his book, 'The fine art of cabinetmaking' whilst at least one was a rubbed joint using PVA. It turned out to be too good in my view to throw away and so was used for this piece.

 

Bedside Cabinet in sweet chestnut

A collection of  images of  yet another bedside cabinet this time in sweet chestnut and brown oak. Again the drawer fronts are bandsawn laminations of plain and brown oak using the same male and female formers/cauls used for the other bedside cabinet drawer fronts.

 

 

Workbench

Top is hard maple on a base of ash; sides, back, shelf and bottom are more 3/4" salvaged bank blockboard. The tail vice is african paduak. Full extension drawer runners are used for the oak carcassed and birch fronted drawers and the cupboard doors are yet more blockboard lipped all round with birch.Very stable and extremely heavy.

 

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