Hello! My name's Nick Abson and I created this website when building a small workshop in my back garden a few years ago. I also enjoy a bit of woodworking, mainly using hand tools, and I'm interested in the historical aspects of the trade. There are articles covering a range of topics from the history of steel manufacture to the refurbishment of tools.

More recently I have been enjoying some amateurish mechanics while I learn how to fix up a number of old Honda motorcycles, including a 1963 CA95, a 1969 CT90 and a C90 super cub from the 1970s. I also do a bit of work on my Piaggio Ape 3-wheeled van.

If you interested in the workshop build, it follows a similar design pattern to many of the garden offices sold in the UK and uses SIPs, mini-plinths, cedar cladding and EPDM roofing. The plans and drawings were done using Sketchup.

Finally, I run this website using Ghost installed on an Amazon AWS Lightsail instance and there are a number of posts explaining what this entails.

You can use the menu or the search buttons above to find out more.

I hope you enjoy the website.