Epilogue

Recently I drove into Sheffield for a work meeting, and as I travelled past defunct engineering businesses and closed-down machine tool retailers it put me in a reflective mood. The City of Sheffield was once a global superpower in steel manufacturing and engineering. Now, other than a few remaining niche businesses, that industry is gone. The relics of Sheffield’s industrial past are on every street corner to remind us what it once was, which gave me a deep sense of sadness for the loss.

That is only part of the picture though. Sheffield is a resilient city and if you take a step back you can see it’s actually thriving and is now defined by other things. Sheffield is the UK’s second fastest growing city economy, with three times the growth rate of London. It’s now a centre for research and advanced manufacturing, with a strong academic sector, and growth areas like creative and digital industries. Sheffield still celebrates it’s industrial heritage, but without nostalgic melancholy. The focus is on the future of the city. The tone is very much one of optimism if you look in the right places.

When I started this Substack the premise was moving to hand tool centric woodworking, in order to protect my respiratory health. The hand tool part was fun, however the idea that it would be dust-free and safe for my lungs just wasn’t realistic. My lungs are fine when I’m not woodworking, and when I am, the dust exposure can make me feel unwell for days afterwards. Masks don’t wholly address the issue, and even brief stints in the workshop can badly affect me.

I haven’t posted here for 8 months, because there’s been no woodwork to write about. I did intend to let this blog slip quietly into obscurity, but a few recent Substack recommendations made me think I should close things out properly. So in short, that’s it. There will be no woodworking and therefore no further posts on this Substack. Who knows, in a couple of years I might make another chair to see if the problem has cleared up, but for the time being that’s me done. That might sound a bit over-dramatic, but I’m kind of a black and white guy. If I’m in, I’m all in. Or out, as it is in this case.

Across several projects, I managed to hack together 41 posts over a period of approximately 9 months. I enjoyed the writing and gathered over 2,000 readers. Thanks to everyone who subscribed and read my work. Hopefully I either made you laugh or told you something useful. If I did neither of those, I am offering refunds to the full value you paid. On that note, sincere thanks to all who pledged subscriptions to this Substack. I never took any money from you, but it was really motivating to think people would be willing to pay for what I wrote.

I recently turned 50 and my woodworking life covered at least 30 of those years. When you’re in that deep it’s not easy to walk away, but I’m fond of breathing, so the imperative is definitely there. I’m surrounded by furniture I’ve made in every direction I look. Less so surrounded by tools and machinery, as I’ve disposed of everything other than a core set of hand tools which will be with me until I die. The workshop (and house) I’ve lived and worked in for the last 20 years is up for sale, and we’ll be moving on in every sense.

Places like Sheffield, and people like me, might appear to be defined by their primary industry. The truth is that change is one of the few certainties in life (along with death and taxes) and across a lifetime we all experience paradigm shifting alterations. And I, like Sheffield, will evolve to focus on something else. Thanks to you all for reading, and happy woodworking.

Ed