If you take only one thing away from this article, it should be this: Hand tools rely on reference faces. When you use a square or marking gauge to thickness stock or lay out joinery, it is essential that you be consistent about which surface you use for reference. This is important because of human error but also because it frees you from having to perfectly and consistently thickness and square all sides of a board. With this system, all you need is one flat and smooth face and one square edge. That’s it. The rest can be hatchet marks for all we care (and sometimes is) because all your layout is referencing off the one good face. This system...
Undeniably, the natural effects of the centuries on surfaces, finishes, and structure play into that first impression, at least to some degree. Entropy has a way of softening edges, moderating pigments, and altering the appearance of wood in a way that is difficult to replicate artificially. One exception, likely the most famous example of artificially produced patination, is the Brewster Chair made by Armand LaMontagne in 1969. After handcrafting a near-replica of the famous chair of William Brewster, a signer of the Mayflower Compact of 1620, LaMontagne spent months aging the chair. He scratched the wood in typical wear areas, burned parts with an acetylene torch and scraped away the carbon, then stained, smoked, bleached, and adhered centuries worth of...
For those who seek to continually grow in their craft, production work isn’t something to be afraid of or to avoid. It may seem contradictory to think that repetition can open us up to new experiences, but it does. It also helps us to solidify the traits and characteristics that we need to take our work to the next level. It is when we refine our processes as craftspeople that we can increase our level of professional maturity. Production work develops our physical skills through practice and repetition, and helps us find inspiration when we reflect on the process of even the simplest task. Most importantly, production methods tune our mental state with focus, right attitude, and observation. All these...
I hate working in circles. There once was a time that I came at woodworking as an artist – I wanted to experience, to play, to create unfettered by time or convention. Back then I just wanted to be in the shop, regardless of what I accomplished. I loved making shavings and agonizing over tight-fitting dovetails. During the past few years, though, as I’ve learned to walk in the footsteps of the craftsmen before me, I’ve grown weary of this kind of meandering. Any good student of historic furniture making will tell you that apprenticeship-trained, full-time cabinetmakers didn’t fool around at their workbenches. As they set out to tackle yet another table build for another customer, they had a construction...
I flew into Bucharest and caught a long ride north with Mihai Bodea, our documentarian, through the broad, flat Moldavian tableland along the Siret River. In addition to breathtaking views of the Carpathian Mountains in the far west, I caught a few glimpses of distinctive Romanian traditions: vineyards; market fairs by the side of the road; lots of small roadside stands selling onions, peppers, grapes, melons, and other produce; and the iconic caruta horse carts the country is famous for. Many people still use horses in daily life as a practical option, part of a widespread living tradition of regional self-sufficiency. This way of life also manifests itself in other ways such as keeping a home milk cow, scything hay, keeping a...
Issue Four is now sent out in the world. This past Friday and Saturday, a bunch of our friends drove up from all over Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New York to help with the special wrapping and packaging. Leading up to the big event, Mike and I did massive construction clean-up, we set up our shipping materials, and I spent at least a day and half printing postage. There are always a lot of pieces to this event. Because Friday morning started out around 25° F, I woke up at 4:30 to fire up the propane heaters. This much-needed calm before the storm enabled me to get in one last vacuuming and set out all the food. By the time...
The Issue Four pre-ordering window is now closed. Phew. (It’s always a relief when the wrapping quantity is a fixed number!) Today, Mike and I are making last minute preparations before our packing party crew arrives tomorrow! You’ll be seeing your copy of Issue Four soon, readers! If you missed your chance to pre-order, you may still order Issue Four but please note that it will no longer come with the brown paper wrapping and wax-sealed trade card. Bummed? We suggest you purchase a yearly subscription (and select “auto-renewing”) so that you never have to miss another pre-order. Thank you for your support again, everyone! We’ve really got our work cut out for us this time around! Good thing...
Today is the last day to pre-order M&T Issue Four. Starting tomorrow morning, any order for Issue Four will not get the pre-order free U.S. shipping discount and will not come wrapped in brown paper with a wax-sealed trade card.
Also, please note that M&T subscriptions always start with the next-to-be-released issue. This means that after this pre-order window closes tomorrow, all new subscription purchases begin with Issue Five (due out October 2018). If you want the wrapped copy of Issue Four, it’s now or never.
You can
purchase a subscription here
or a copy of
Issue Four alone here.
Just got this photo from the printer… Issue Four is hot off the presses! Today they’re loaded in cartons and will begin making their way from Wisconsin to our storage facility in Maine. We’ve arranged for them to arrive next week several days before the big packing party on Friday the 23rd and Saturday the 24th where we (with a handful of readers’ help) will wrap them in brown paper, affix the wax-sealed trade cards, and mail them out. Because we’re shipping these out next week, you only have one week left to pre-order. To get a wrapped copy of Issue Four, you can purchase a yearly subscription or order Issue Four individually. After next Wednesday, March 21st, the pre-order...
I moved slowly, advancing through the rough landscape in search of my elusive quarry. I could sense that I was close. A turn here, another there, and… Aha, found it! I uncapped my red pen with a satisfying pop and drew a red circle around the end of a sentence. Three words, linked together inseparably but missing that penultimate punctuation: The Oxford Comma. Another copy editing crisis averted. The world of drop caps and compound modifiers hasn’t exactly been my professional stomping grounds in the past, but I find the editing process to be among the most satisfying tasks in the life of M&T. We like to think of this as a team sport, with Megan, Joshua, Jim, and me...
