In the above video I share my visit to the amazing workshop of Bill Anderson, owner of Edwards Mountain Woodworks in Chatham county, North Carolina (near Chapel Hill).
Bill teaches a variety of traditional hand tool woodworking classes at schools like the Wood and Shop Traditional Woodworking School, Roy Underhill’s Woodwright’s School, and the John C. Campbell Folk School. He also teaches small groups in his cozy workshop, which you’ll see in this article.
Bill makes marvelous historical furniture and owns more molding planes than I’ve ever seen in one location.
Molding planes have become my passion, so a visit to his shop was better than a trip to Disneyland.
Bill told me that he picked up many of his tools when he worked in England years ago. He reminisced about the perplexed faces of customs officers when they inspected his suitcases.
Bill does, however, have a good excuse for having so many tools. Wait a minute, does he really need an excuse? Anyway, he justifies having so many tools because of all the classes he teaches. It really helps for each student to have access to quality woodworking hand tools.
I asked Bill if he has used all of his planes. Without a moment’s hesitation he replied, “of course not.” I instantly felt better about all the old tools that I’ve purchased, but haven’t yet used.
Bill and I spent several days filming video for our DVD “Building a Traditional 18th-Century Jointer Plane“. We loaded my truck up with so many gorgeous hand tools for the molding plane class that he invited me to stay for the next day. I felt a great temptation to just keep on driving back to Virginia…but fortunately for Bill, I resisted that urge.
If you’re interested in reaching Bill for private/group classes or custom historical furniture, you can call or email him here.
***You can purchase Bill’s DVDs here: Click here
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