Every weekday until the February 1st opening of Issue Four pre-orders, we will be announcing one article from the table of contents here on the blog. If you have yet to sign up for a yearly subscription, you can do so here. Last fall, I was fortunate to spend some time with Charpentiers Sans Frontières in Romania, hand hewing a roof system from local ash and oak. I found that there are some corners of this nation where one can still experience a cultural landscape mostly unaltered from what much of Europe must have looked like for centuries. Hillsides patchworked with subsistence farming, folks scythe-mowing hay in the high pastures, the knell of the woodcutter’s axe in the woods, the sounds of horses and...
Every weekday until the February 1st opening of Issue Four pre-orders, we will be announcing one article from the table of contents here on the blog. If you have yet to sign up for a yearly subscription, you can do so here. My article titled 'The Quest for Mastery Through Production Work' highlights some of the major events, teachers, and experiences that shaped me during my career as a woodworker and maker/designer of utilitarian objects. I share my ideas of mastery and how it can be cultivated through incorporating 'production work' into the workflow. I hope that sharing my stories about this approach will turn people on to the idea that it’s ok to make lots of things back to back. In fact, there...
Every weekday until the February 1st opening of Issue Four pre-orders, we will be announcing one article from the table of contents here on the blog. If you have yet to sign up for a yearly subscription, you can do so here. From time to time, wonderful anomalies turn up in the furniture record and the corner cupboards from the Swisegood School of cabinetmaking (early 19th c. North Carolina) are no exception. These cabinets are renowned for their peculiar drawer construction, each employing a single board steam bent at oblique angles to form both the sides and back. While kerfed steam bending was ubiquitous among coffin makers of that time, it seems to be unparalleled in cabinetmaking which left me scratching my head a bit....
Every weekday until the February 1st opening of Issue Four pre-orders, we will be announcing one article from the table of contents here on the blog. If you have yet to sign up for a yearly subscription, you can do so here. Soon after I proposed an article to Mortise & Tenon about making and using a straightedge I got a mild to middling case of cold feet. How, exactly, was I going to come up with enough material to fill more than a paragraph about this subject? After all, I’m just talking here about an implement than need do nothing more than find the shortest distance between two points! You don’t even need a straightedge to do that: Ancient...
Pre-orders for Issue Four open on February 1st. If you’ve already signed up for a yearly subscription, you’re all set. If you haven’t yet subscribed and prefer to purchase each issue individually, remember that the free shipping offer is for pre-orders only. Also, when the Issue Four pre-order window closes after Wednesday, April 4th, the pre-order brown paper wrapping with tradecard will no longer be available. If you want to make sure to never miss this special wrapping, the best way is to sign up for a yearly subscription and select “Auto-renewing Subscription”. Every weekday beginning today, we will announce one article from the Issue Four table of contents here on the blog. Stay tuned. There’s quite a mix of...
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...
It’s still hard for me. After hours of working on a small cupboard for my wife this Christmas, I brought the pile of parts to my eight- and three-year-old boys to help me assemble it. I lined up all the parts just so and started the nails in their places before nervously handing them hammers. Every little boy I’ve ever known loves hitting things with hammers. Back and bottom boards I have no problem with – it’s the top that makes me nervous. As they drove the parts together, I had opportunity to teach them how to control the hammer’s swing so as not to dent the surface below. Despite our best efforts, the top got a bit dented. By...
After extolling the virtues of metal planes a few months ago, I began to wonder if I had truly given wooden planes their due. I have had a hard time finding usable wooden planes locally, and so in a fit of curiosity I emailed Joshua to see if he could put a set of wooden bench planes together for me to use in the shop. I had a good excuse. As part of an article I’m writing for Mortise & Tenon issue four I’ll be re-creating some pre-industrial techniques as part of a build and I wanted to limit myself to working with the tools that would have been available to the original craftsmen. Wooden planes fit the bill...
We’ve just uploaded Episode 4 of our podcast which is centered around sourcing lumber for furniture making. In reality, Mike and I both source our wood from all sorts of places. We harvest our own from the woods, use a lot of salvaged material, and also order from lumberyards. In our discussion, we go over the best way to store lumber for air drying (it’s simpler than you think).
You can listen to the whole episode above.
Links for this Episode:
Our Apprenticeship: “Tables” Video
Wim Hof – The “Ice Man”
Rusted Pulchritude – Deirdre & Aaron
Brendan Gaffney's "Local Lumberyard Map"
Questions about this episode? We welcome your comments about how you source and store lumber...
A few quick things: First of all, Mike just completed a trailer for our new “Apprenticeship: Tables” video. This short trailer gives a quick walk-through of the chapters. You can check it out above. The press is almost done printing the “Tables” DVDs and so we expect to begin shipping them out very soon. Hang tight, folks. You should be seeing your DVD before the end of the month. We’ve received a number emails from folks asking about expedited Christmas delivery. While we don’t have shipping options listed on our website, if you really need expedited shipping service, please put in your order like normal and then email us at info@mortiseandtenonmag.com with your order number immediately. We will check...
