There is a common perspective in the West that finds a sense of mystique hovering over Japanese woodworking tools. The differing techniques needed to master their use (from the way a tool is held and pulled across a board, to the process of sharpening hollow-back, laminated irons) only serve to increase the intimidation factor for those of us saturated in the Western tool tradition. But author Wilbur Pan throws open the curtains to take a matter-of-fact look at what truly makes Japanese tools different – and how they might share more commonalities with traditional Western tools than you might think.
Every piece of period furniture is alive with story, and we love to crawl under tables, pull out drawers, and look at all the hidden surfaces to learn what they have to say. There are always messages to be found, written in tool marks, layout lines, and even scrawled with pencil or chalk. In Issue Six, we will be examining an early-19th-century Pennsylvania hanging cupboard. This lively piece is noteworthy for both its fanciful decoration and its vernacular construction.
Mike and I are on our way back to Maine after the Colonial Williamsburg “Working Wood in the 18th Century” conference, and what an incredible time we had. I gave two presentations about the life and work of Jonathan Fisher as well as an after-dinner talk titled “Pre-industrial Woodworking in the 21st Century.” It was a blast to see old friends and meet so many new ones. Bill, Brian, Ed, and John from the Hay shop were so welcoming and inspiring to talk to. The theme of the conference was “Five Shops, Five Traditions.” Al Breed, Steve Voigt, Joshua Lane, as well as the CW joiner and cabinetmaking shops also gave presentations covering topics such as carving, molding, foot-powered turning, joinery layout,...
The philosophies of legendary artisans William Morris and George Nakashima might appear to have been formed from vastly differing life experiences, but the two men shared many striking commonalities. Author and woodworker David Lane takes a deeper look into the lives of these makers, and to the influences that called them to revolutionize the craft landscapes of their respective eras. Even as they lived and worked in different centuries, they found inspiration in fascinatingly similar places, and built their legacies around a common reverence of skilled craftsmanship.
Boring an accurate hole is one of the most basic skills in furniture making, but how was it accomplished before the era of the factory-produced twist bit and electric drill? Author Joshua Klein tackles this question as he delves into the world of wooden braces, often called “bitstocks.” Until metal braces became popular after the industrial revolution, a wooden user-made bitstock was the most prevalent boring tool among woodworkers – wielded by chairmakers, coopers, and cabinetmakers for centuries.
As you may have seen in our blog post yesterday, our preparations for the release of Issue Six are beginning to pick up steam. If you’ve followed us for any amount of time, you know that with each new issue release comes the Mortise & Tenon Packing Party! Folks from all around come to the shop for a couple days’ worth of working together – we wrap each issue of the magazine in brown paper, apply a trade card with wax seal, and place it into a mailer with fresh pine plane shavings. The work itself has become almost secondary to these events, honestly – I can’t tell you how much inspiration and enthusiasm we’ve felt by getting to know...
As winter deepens here in Maine, Issue Six has been taking shape. Besides doing our own writing, Joshua and I (along with Megan and Jim) have been working through author’s drafts, polishing sentences, and gathering images for the next issue of M&T. There will be some compelling, informative, and fascinating stuff in this one – we are excited to get it into your hands! Beginning later this week, we will be publishing a blog post every day to introduce each new article in Issue Six. Then on February 1st, we will begin taking pre-orders, which includes free domestic shipping and our customary special wrapping. If you are already a subscriber, you don’t need to do anything – you’ll receive the...
Note: The following post is in anticipation of the announcement about our 2019 summer workshop. Inspired by Otto Salomon, Kurt Hahn, Bill Coperthwaite, and others, we will be adopting a rather unconventional model that is more like Outward Bound for woodworkers than a weekend-long “Build a Shaker ___” or “How-to ___” class. It will involve days of physical labor shoulder to shoulder with strangers on the same mission. In the coming weeks, we will explain the details of our workshop model but the place to begin is discussing the M&T purpose statement… Mike and I have been doing some soul searching lately. Over the last three years, M&T has continued to grow in readership and business maturity, and in the...
Black Friday is less than two weeks away and we invite you to opt out along with us. This post-Thanksgiving “holiday”, with its legendary lines and near-riots for the last remaining big-screen TVs and game consoles, has been around a long time and is used by many businesses to fuel consumerist desires by offering steep discounts for their goods. Of course, we can’t just blame businesses for this mess; if the insatiable hunger for more stuff didn’t already exist within us, these practices would’ve never worked in the first place. Most of us are well acquainted with the dangers inherent in 21st-century commercialism and need no lecture about the damage it causes to our culture, our families, and our own...
Ever since Peter Follansbee wrote about the Chinese firewood carrier that Daniel O’Hagan adapted from Rudolf Hommel’s China at Work (great book), I’ve been itching to make one for myself. With the heating season now full on and my nine-year-old hauling firewood into the house most days, I decided it was time to finally knock one of these together. The Original from Hommel's Book Long time readers here might have picked up that some of my favorite historic artifacts are rural utilitarian objects made with function as a top priority. Although these items are often coarsely made, they always bear the evidence of many generations of use which testifies to the integrity of their design and construction. And, I must admit,...
