In 1994 I was living and working in London. I am a Chartered Accountant with the Australian Institute of Chartered Accountants and I was working for merchant banks in London on a contractual basis.

I had a beautiful basement flat in West Kensington and out the back was a small workshop area where I could tinker with wood and make things. Woodworking was a hobby of mine.

One day, I went to an exhibition of fine furniture and other arts. It was at this exhibition that I saw a magnificent piece of furniture made by Mr Alan Peters of Somerset, England. The chest of drawers I saw that day is similar to the chest that is shown in Mr Peter's excellent book "Cabinetmaking, the Professional Approach". The display pages are not numbered in this book, but it is after page 80 and the piece is made out of walnut, and has through dovetails on the drawers. Well I was mesmerized by this chest. I had no idea that furniture could be so fine and that joinery could be so perfect. The action of the drawers was perfect. I spent a considerable amount of time looking at this piece.

A few days later I bought one of the English wood working magazines and I noticed that four men in England were advertising as teachers of fine furniture making to exhibition standard. I wondered.... could I learn to make furniture of a similar standard.

I organised to meet with two of these men the following weekend and when driving back to London I knew that this was an adventure I was going to take. I was very impressed with David Charlesworth and his workshop in Hartland, Devon. David was a fulltime teacher and was not using students to subsidise a professional workshop. The examples of his work and his students work that he showed me were incredible. I was sold.

In June of 1995 my adventure began with David in Hartland. I had saved enough money to spend six months with David in his workshop. I honestly feel it was one of the best experiences I have ever had in life. For the first five months I was David's sole student. This was wonderful for me, but perhaps not so good for David. I was very fortunate to be able to rent a room in Jill's cottage right in the middle of town and only a couple of hundred metres from David's home and workshop.

What I learnt from David are the techniques of fine furniture making. Once you know these techniques, you can make any piece of furniture. Any problem can be solved. It encompasses the understanding of wood, the preparation of tools and blades and the use of these tools, the making of tools to achieve a result and of course the making and finishing. I was gobsmacked at what was actually involved in making fine furniture. I have learnt the best way to make furniture that will last forever and remain fully functional.

When I returned to Australia I commenced working with Rob Malcolm in Yallingup at his workshop "Design Wood". There we made one off pieces to commission.

I also bought six acres of natural bushland and started to build the "Steading". My dream was to work for myself in a beautiful stone workshop making fine furniture. The "Steading" took me between four and five years to build in every minute of spare time I had. The Steading is made from limestone and when the rocks arrived they were the size of a small car. I spent many days swinging a large, heavy sledge hammer to break them up to manageable sizes. One friend commented that he thought that sort of punishment had been outlawed with the convicts. That also was a wonderful journey. I lived in a rugged shed on the block with no phone or TV and no running water for two and a half years. I showered under a tree all year round and cooked by the open fire. Life was simple. That shed is now where I keep my main machinery - a large 400mm wide planer, a 400mm wide thicknesser, a bandsaw and dust extraction unit. All of the handwork is done in the "Steading".

At long last I am now devoting my life to the designing and making of fine furniture. If you want to be infected by some of my passion and enthusiasm then I will be producing a comprehensive library of DVD's that will cover everything I have learnt.

This series of DVD's that I am now creating will encompass all of what I now know in a methodical and easy to understand manner. These DVD's will be listed on this website as they are created and when they are listed they will be available to be purchased.

I will be filming these DVD's from my workshop in Yallingup, Western Australia, which is called "Yallingup Steading".

Fine furniture making is a lifetime of learning. There is not just one way to do a job, there are many.

I am sure you will find these DVD's to be of great benefit. Have fun.

BTW. If you are wondering why I have called my workshop Yallingup Steading, well my father is a Scotsman and workshops or barns are known as 'steadings' in Scotland.

Scotty Horsburgh

Yallingup Steading