PlyCreations

15/11/2025

Let me be the first to say that you should NOT be afraid of the machines in your workshop.

Let me also be the first to admit that my router table SCARES me no end 😳 or at least it used to until a pen blank cutoff came to the rescue!!

The latest video on my YouTube channel shows you how I use this little DIY pin to tame the BEAST 🦖

You can check it our at the link below:

🎥 https://youtu.be/hCZuoDiUKlc

Remember, respect your machines but don't fear them 😉

04/11/2025

🎉 We’ve just crossed 1,000 watch hours on YouTube!

A huge thank you to everyone who’s been watching, learning, and building along with me.

Your support truly keeps me motivated! 🪚

If you're not subscribed to the channel yet, please consider doing so and check out what I'm up to at my channel.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmyDfn5AEYztKCKiX5v3_Vw

27/08/2025

100 people have decided to watch me make sawdust on YouTube 😅
Thanks for the support — here’s to the next 100!

17/07/2025

It's that time of the year again!

The guys at the are getting ready to host their annual Winter Woodworking Expo and as always I am very fortunate to have been invited to contribute to the festivities 🥳

This year is different for me though and they are letting me loose on their range of Laguna and Axminster equipment to show visitors how these world class machines operate in a workshop setup.

Apart from meeting visitors during the day I will also be presenting a workshop on raw lumber processing 🪵🪚

Why not join us on the 26th, there might even be a surprise demo of a brand new sharpening system available on our shores 😉

10/07/2025

We’re excited to welcome expert woodworker Dylan van Graan to the Winter Woodworking Expo 2025 for a live, hands-on workshop on raw lumber processing — featuring machinery from both Laguna and Axminster.

Whether you're a seasoned woodworker or just getting started, this workshop is packed with insights that will help you take your woodworking to the next level.

What You’ll Learn:

📏 Preparing for Processing – Key considerations before milling: dimensions, layout, and machine capacity.

✏️ Marking on Raw Lumber – Tips for accurately marking parts directly on rough stock.

🆚 Bandsaw vs. Table Saw – Why the bandsaw is often preferred for rough stock processing.

🪵 Flattening & Squaring Stock – See the jointer and thicknesser in action for creating flat, parallel faces and square edges.

🔖 Tracking Reference Faces – How to mark and maintain reference faces and edges for precision throughout your workflow.

📐 Final Dimensioning – Bring your pieces to near-final size with the table saw.

📍 Where: Hardware Centre, Cnr Malibongwe & Rocky Street, Ferndale Randburg

📅 When: 26 July 2025 (9:00 AM - 2:00 PM)

🎟️ FREE ENTRY

This is a rare opportunity to watch, learn, and ask questions as Dylan walks you through the full journey of transforming raw wood into ready-to-use stock — with professional techniques and real-time demonstrations.

👉 Stay tuned — we’ve got more workshops, special guests, competitions, and promotions to announce in the weeks leading up to the expo!

PlyCreations

18/06/2025

🥳 We’ve hit 10 videos!

And to celebrate, I turned something special for someone special — a kitchen utensil holder for my wife.

If you’ve ever thought about trying your hand at turning or just want a fun idea to make for your own kitchen, check it out.

📽️ Watch here: https://youtu.be/gYapX4UsOow

🙏 Thanks for following along on this woodworking journey. Hitting 10 videos feels like a big milestone — and your support makes it worthwhile.

👉 Got ideas for future projects or something you'd like to see turned or built? Drop a comment — I’m all ears!

I turned a wooden kitchen utensil holder on the lathe for a certain "internal customer." This is Project #1 on a loooong list of items for our home 😏From ro...

28/05/2025

I bought a coffee on my way to a very cool meeting with the guys from Hardware Centre yesterday and on my way out I noticed that the wooden slats covering one of the walls was from very nice oak.

They were also riddled with tear out! 😠

The guy who did the installation either didn't care about the quality of his work or hadn't read my two recent articles on the how to avoid or fix the problem or at the very least download the free infographics I've just added to my site giving tips on the matter.

Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and believe the latter shall we? 😉

The free downloads are still available by the way, and you can get them at the link below!

www.plycreations.com

27/05/2025

I’ve been on a real tear out binge these last two months!

My second article on tear out tips and techniques went live last week. In this latest piece, I share 12 general strategies for managing tear out in your workshop—quite a shift from my previous article, which focused on two methods specific to tear out I often use in my own shop, which are high angle planing and scrapers.

I've been working hard over the past week to distill everything into two simplified infographics you can now download for free from my website.

If you’d like to grab them, just sign up at the link below, and I’ll send you an email with access to the download page.

https://www.plycreations.com

30/04/2025

My very first build video on YouTube went live over the weekend and it's the first of 2 episodes detailing the build process for my Universal Mobile Base!

In the series I'm building the base for my pedestal drill but the dimensions in the plan can be modified for almost any machine in the woodworking shop 🏭

I am making the plans and step by step build instructions for the mobile base available for ✨FREE✨ and if you are interested just follow the link below and I'll send you a set. The plans are available in both imperial and metric dimensions and the hardware needed to build the base is readily available.

https://www.plycreations.com/mobile-base

I am curious to hear if you would be planning to build one of these mobile bases and if there would be any improvements or changes you would like to implement?

You will find the 1st episode of the video at the link below and the next episode will be going live this coming weekend.

https://youtu.be/Jr_PP8Z3kGo

16/04/2025

I have yet to meet a woodworker that hasn’t had some part of their day spoiled by tear out! At the very least one that uses cutting tools to finish or shape wood.

Sanding doesn’t count 😏

Of all the options available to me in my workshop to either avoid or fix tear out, it is scraping and high angle planes that get my vote as the best techniques to do both. I know there are a LOT of ways to limit tear out even before you need specialist intervention but I wanted to focus on the ones that relate more or less directly to the problem.

The latest article on my website details why I like these methods and I share the tools that I use to manage the bane that is tear out!

https://www.plycreations.com/blog/prevent-amp-fix-tear-out-card-scrapers-cabinet-scrapers-amp-high-angle-planes

One of these is the York pitch and in an effort to explain how it works I’ve drawn up this schematic to visually show how a back bevel effectively increases the cutting angle of a std bevel down hand plane.

Those are my 2 go to’s, how do you guys manage tear out?

09/04/2025

Want to learn more about sharpening your own chisels and blades?

I am partnering again with the guys at the Hardware Centre to offer a class in hand sharpening this coming Saturday the 12th.

We'll be covering a wide range of topics from what constitutes a sharp edge to sharpening systems, blade geometry and much more!

Class starts 09:00.

For those unable to join us in person you can follow the live stream of the event at the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg3cDwG7yGQ

For those who need some incentive to join us in person, a little bird has told me that the team at the Hardware Centre will be offering a 15% discount on all EZE-Lap diamond sharpening stones on the day, but you have to come along to their workshop to make use of the offer ✨

If you can't make it at all, the morning's talk will be recorded and can be viewed at the same link.

Hope to see you there or on-line and I look forward to spending the morning in your company!!

02/04/2025

As a “one man show” it can sometimes get quite lonely in the workshop and if it wasn’t for the pups I would likely have gone insane some time ago.

One’s own company can get boring rather quickly!

Rocky has the uncanny ability to find himself in frame when shooting footage for YouTube, he especially has the bad habit of walking into frame and stopping with just his backside visible on the LCD before moving off at his own pace 🤨 he also has a penchant for barking just as I come to the end of a good take! Usually after about 5 bad ones……

What he excels at though is having the ability to make himself comfortable in the deepest pile of shavings he can find and then forcing me to set off after him to brush him out before he leaves a trail of shavings all over the house!! 🤣

This was the case while filming the flattening of my workbench for the latest video released on my channel and this snippet of him lounging in a pile of shavings features in the episode. He also stars in another two parter due to land sometime towards the end of the month.

Check out the link to see his grand appearance 😏

https://youtu.be/s59QvgdZWAs

Mmmmmm, maybe I should set up his own channel and call it “The Life and Times of Rocky the Workshop Pup”!