I’ve built more workbenches than any other woodworking project. I’ve taught more workbench classes than any other type of class. And I’ve written more words about workbenches than I care to remember. During the last two decades, I’ve encountered six distinct personalities of workbench builders. These are the six little angels (or devils) that sit …
Roy Underhill playing around in Christopher Schwarz’s tool chest before a taping of “The Woodwright’s Shop” a decade or so ago. The two paragraphs below are excerpted from Anna-Rhesa Versola’s article in Chatham Magazine on the closing of The Woodwright’s School and what’s next for Roy Underhill. Click here to read the article in its …
‘Roy Underhill’s Impactful Woodworking Journey’ – Read More »
Rhett Fulkerson of Nice Planes in Frankfort, Ky., showed me a cool trick for setting a chipbreaker quickly, precisely and perfectly parallel to the cutting edge. Take a feeler gauge whose thickness is equal to the distance you want to set the breaker back from the cutting edge. In this example, I used a .005” …
Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore. –Dorothy The three of you who pay close attention to my ramblings may recall that a couple of months ago, I wrote about the origin of the name sycamore, applied to both a kind of maple in Europe, and a kind of planetree in North America. …
As I recall from years long past there is in Miami a notorious interchange known as “The Spaghetti Bowl,” no doubt the result of some distant urban planner making a dot on a map and saying, “This is where all the highways meet!” I have no doubt that similar complexes exist in many metropolitan areas, …
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At long last (thank you USPS), I received a box of the production-bound copies of “The Book of Plates.” Like many readers on Twitter and Instagram, I was smitten. It is a bit intoxicating to hold, page through and examine. We have had several customers who – having received “The Book of Plates” – have …
‘The Book of Plates’ and ‘The Custom Box’ – Read More »
This is an excerpt from “Carving the Acanthus Leaf” by Mary May. DRAWING THE SYMMETRICAL ‘S’ CURVE This example works with multiple curves and shows how to draw a symmetrical design that identifies the midrib of the leaf for Chapter 5. By using a compass and a horizontal line divided into eight segments, a slow, gentle “S” curve (also …
Moxon’s jointer plane. Ever wonder why the handles look so odd on the plane? I don’t think they’re particularly British. These illustrations were borrowed from the French. This is an excerpt from “The Art of Joinery” by Joseph Moxon; commentary by Christopher Schwarz. The jointer is made somewhat longer than the fore plane and has …
Nothing drives a trained journalist crazier than an unanswered question. As you probably know, the book “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker” doesn’t name the original author. He (and it almost certainly was a “he”) didn’t put his name on the book for a variety of reasons: 1. Perhaps the work was too “lowbrow” for someone …