Podcast episode 3 is now up and can be listened to above. This time, Mike and I tackled one of the most common discussions we have with readers: how to get started on the hand-tool route. What change of mindset is needed to make the switch from power tools to hand tools? Should we be cutting practice joints? What are the biggest hurdles we encounter on this journey? We hope this episode is an encouragement to you to get into the shop to work with your hands. Have further questions? Leave us a comment and we’d love to help. Thanks for listening! Notable Links in this Episode: Our new Apprenticeship: Tables video Shop Class as Soulcraft by: Matthew B. Crawford ...
As I guarded our “Apprenticeship : Tables” video while it exported and uploaded (at rural Maine internet speeds, this can take many hours), I reflected on a phrase that Joshua and I have heard quite often as we represent M&T at various woodworking shows and events. If you’re a hand-tool woodworker, you’ve probably heard it before. I’ll present the scenario: You might be giving a tour of your humble workshop to an acquaintance, or showing a little side table you made to some friends. You get a smile and some complimentary words. Further conversation uncovers the fact that you build using only hand tools. You sheepishly confess that you don’t even own a router. The whole tone of the encounter changes,...
At long last, this “Tables” video is done and in our store. Mike has been laboring over this thing for a long time now perfecting each transition and tweaking each clip to get everything just right. I am blown away. It turned out better than I even envisioned. If you enjoyed watching our “Foundations” video, we think you will love this sequel. This “Tables” video focuses on pre-industrial table construction. Rather than simply demonstrate each different operation of table making and its variations, we decide the best way to teach is in the context of a build. For this reason, I chose a table that has many of the construction variables one is likely to find in period work....
Our new podcast episode is up and can be listened to above. In this episode, Mike and I discuss the relationship between tradition and innovation in our woodworking culture. This topic is near to our hearts and something we talk about often. Based on our interactions with readers about this over the past few years, this conversation touches on defining “tradition” and “innovation”, the advantages to one over the other, and how our individual and personal motivations for woodworking inform the way that balance plays out in our lives. Theme Music by: Austin V. Papp and Jesse Thompson You can subscribe to our Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or Soundcloud. Notable links from this podcast: The new “Kill Your...
Sometimes it’s important to remember to not take yourself too seriously. It’s no surprise that we here at M&T are wildly passionate about hand-tool woodworking. We eat, sleep, and breathe this stuff and work hard to inspire others to “cut the cord” along with us. It’s good to be able to laugh at yourselves sometimes too, though. Because of our reputation for being zealous for pre-industrial woodworking, we thought this spoof sticker would be a great way to have a little fun. As you may know, the classic “Kill Your Television” sticker epitomizes paranoid anti-technology fanaticism. The radicals that adopt this slogan swear that the downfall of modern society is catalyzed by mind-numbing tube worship. It seems, for them, that...
After ripping fifty feet of 6/4 Southern yellow pine by hand the other day I sat down to give my arm a rest and I snap a picture for social media. It wasn’t long before a friend commented on my post that there is, in fact, such a thing as electricity these days and I was welcome to use his table saw. Curiously, I had no urge to take him up on it. I’m the first to admit that my shop is hand-tool centered, but not exclusive. I have a few machines for specific purposes - a powered lathe, drill press and bandsaw. The lathe and drill press I make no apologies for. I love them. I am sometimes tempted...
Mike and I have resisted for a while now (too many commitments already) but finally feel able to commit to periodic podcasting. You can listen to the first episode above and look for future installments here on the blog or at our SoundCloud page. Feel free to offer your feedback below. We’d love to hear your thoughts. In this episode, we talk about the shipping out of our new Issue (#3) as well as the new book in our store: Zachary Dillinger’s With Saw, Plane & Chisel as well as two new stickers (one of which is soon to be revealed). We then discuss the progress on our new timber frame workshop. Links mentioned: http://www.theenglishwoodworker.com/plane-build-video/ https://www.instagram.com/blackthunderstudio/ Books mentioned: “Country Furniture”...
Because of a wind storm that knocked the power out this week (stalling progress on the Tables video edit), Mike and I have been working on sheathing the shop the past few days. We are just about finished with the first floor and we have one of the gable ends upstairs complete. This part of the project has been fun as we are able to work to carpentry tolerances rather than furniture tolerances. This is no normal carpentry job, though. Choosing the right board for each spot has definitely made this a slower process because we’ve got all kinds of random lengths and widths (often tapering) to work with, not to mention the waney edges and ragged ends. We are...
Mike and I just posted a new installment of our YouTube series: “Ask M&T”. In this video, we cover one of the most frequent questions we get online or at shows: What is a fore plane? Mike recounts his early struggles with hand tools using a little block plane to remove bulk material and eventually realized he was using the wrong tool for the job. What he needed was the coarse roughing tool called a fore plane. In this video, we explain why we believe this tool is absolutely essential for every hand-tool woodworker. We then touch on the history of the terms “fore” plane, “jack” plane, and “scrub” plane and explain our preference for the wooden version. There...
A little while back, wooden planemaker, Jeremiah Wilding contacted me to get some feedback on a plane he was developing. He had been fine tuning a “Yankee” style fore plane and wondered if I could give it a test run. This plane was a joy to use. Because of the precision of his workmanship and the lack of warpage (from a century of neglect) this plane adjusted easily and predictably—a luxury not every antique plane offers. Wilding explained that the “Yankee” style planes lacked carved eyes and had rounded edge chamfers and flat end chamfers. It’s a simple and classy look that I quite like. The plane Jeremiah sent me was made of maple and was 15-3/4” long with a...
