In this episode of our podcast, Mike and I discuss our handmade Christmas gifts. This time of the year is a great excuse to get into the shop. We’ve been making gifts for years, and there are many ideas one could try out. We spent this episode discussing several of our projects in order give you ideas for the next gift you give.
Handmade gifts are a special thing. It is not an easy to commit to making gifts instead of buying them, but it is rewarding to invest yourself in something that will mean so much to those you love.
This podcast episode (listen above) is all about filling you in on our incredibly intense summer. Between the workshop with our six students, Issue Seven shipping out, and our hand-tool-only timber frame blacksmith shop, we’ve been out straight busy. Also, in this episode, meet Grace, our new team member. You’ll hear our enthusiasm for the whirlwind of events that happened as well as the new projects we’re working to wrap up now! A new book, a documentary film, and another apprenticeship video all on the horizon!
This episode of our podcast was recorded on the road yesterday as we headed back home from Portland, Maine. Fortified by delicious caffeine after a whole day of weaving rush seats, we reported on a number of research trips we’ve made in the past few weeks. We were given the opportunity to look deeply into an extensive collection of early 19th-century furniture and document their construction, and we share about the experience in this episode. Also, we discuss our visit into the workshop of Peter Lamb. Peter has a massive collection of antique tools and many of them have stories connected to people he’s close to. His philosophy of handcraft, creativity, and social justice is rooted in his relationship to...
Ever wonder what ancient tool marks, a Swedish chair shop, Söetsu Yanagi, computer coders, spoon carving, philosophers, and communal singing have in common? This M&T podcast episode ties them all together as we discuss Joshua’s recent talk at Fine Woodworking Live, in which he made a case for sweaty, gritty, hand-tool-only furniture making in the 21st-century. Built on excerpts from the talk itself, we look at this presentation point-by-point. If you spend large amounts of time in front of screens and are dying to discover something tangible, this podcast is for you. Items Mentioned in this Podcast: The Humanure Handbook, Joseph Jenkins Photos from FWW Live: #fwwlive Swedish Chair Shop Video The Unknown Craftsman, Söetsu Yanagi Technology and the Character...
This Saturday, Kyle Barton and Sean Wisniewski of the Modern Woodworkers Association Podcast published a new podcast episode of a conversation I had with them last week. We talked about why I believe pre-industrial woodworking is valuable in the 21st-century, my upcoming presentation at the Fine Woodworking Live event, my book “Hands Employed Aright,” and new things on the horizon for M&T.
Listening to recordings of myself talk is always weird. I tried not to step on any toes, and think I was mostly successful reining it in when it comes to my views on hand tools and power tools, advertising, and the industrial consumer economy. But you be the judge.
Link here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/modern-woodworkers-association-podcast-conversations/id502349432&ls=1
- Joshua
In this episode of our podcast, Mike discusses his article “A Tale of Two Trees: The Radical Efficiency of Green Woodworking” in upcoming Issue Six. Mike presents a big picture view of procuring lumber by comparing industrial logging and milling with harvesting your own with hand tools. He makes the startling (and compelling) case that green woodworking is more efficient in the big picture than highly developed industrial processing. We discuss the value of curved branches, the genius of coppicing, and working the material before it dries.
Items Mentioned in this Podcast:
Issue Six
Dawson Moore – Michigan Sloyd
Our newest podcast episode titled “Barriers to Woodworking” is now live and can be listened to above. In this episode, Mike and Joshua talk with content editor, Jim McConnell, about common barriers to hand-tool woodworking. We discuss things like accessibility to tools (new and old), workable workshop space, decent lumber, wading through the sea of woodworking knowledge available, and scarcity of time to get any time in the shop. This was a rich conversation. Let us know what you think. What barriers have you come up against in your journey into hand-tool woodworking?
Items Mentioned in this Episode:
Brendan Gaffney’s Lumberyard Map
The Tool Barn
During Jim’s visit a few weeks ago, we recorded this new episode (listen above) in which we further explore the topic of Jim’s article from Issue Three: “On Perfection: Both Practical & Practiced”. Jim talks about how this topic developed in his own life and what happened when he enlisted others to contribute their own answers to a series on his blog. Jim was surprised to find different perspectives on perfection in woodworking which eventually inspired his M&T article. In this podcast, we dive a little deeper into this topic of perfection in woodworking.
Items Mentioned in the Podcast:
Issue Three featuring Jim’s article “On Perfection: Both Practical & Practiced”
Jim McConnell’s “Perfection” blog series
This new episode of our podcast (listen above) was recorded after two weeks of traveling to meet inspiring craftspeople of many different specialties. Mike and I share some of what we learned on our trips and discuss how learning hand skills is essential to surviving in a hyper-consumerist culture. Joshua also discusses his recent explorations into a pragmatic approach to wooden planemaking.
Items Mentioned in the Podcast:
Packing party blog post
My recent Port Townsend workshop
Steve Voigt's PW Planemaking Article
Photo of textured flooring
Colonial Williamsburg
Issue Three
Will Lisak
Our “Apprenticeship: Tables” video
Issue Four
Thomas Thwaites “How I Built a Toaster – From Scratch”
This episode of our podcast is the first to feature a guest. Since our friend, Ben Strano of Fine Woodworking, was up in our neck of the woods this week, we invited him to join us in a discussion about the importance of hand skills and making things with personal meaning. And because Ben is not only a passionate woodworker, but he is a tech-nut, we also discussed how both print and digital media support those two vital things for this next generation of woodworkers. Ben describes his work behind the scenes at Fine Woodworking and tells us about what it’s like working with the woodworkers he looks up to most. Notable Links from this Podcast: Ben Strano’s...
