Because it’s National Mentoring Month I have to say that the single biggest influence in my professional development is without a doubt Mitch Kohanek, founder and instructor of the National Institute of Wood Finishing. Although I first learned sharpening and basic hand tool skills during my time at luthiery school, it was Mitch who introduced me to historic furniture and conservation. His contagious enthusiasm for furniture set me on a trajectory from which I’ve never recovered. In that program, I learned furniture history (especially through weekly book reports), joinery methods, repair techniques, inpainting, spraying, brushing, French polishing, color matching, conservation ethics, and even basic organic chemistry. But Mitch was one of those teachers that brought more than lectures and bookwork...
As we’re only days away from the packing party to ship out Issue Two, I can’t help but reflect on the year (11 months actually) since Issue One was released. 2016 has been a wild ride for me. Before M&T launched, I spent my work week alone in my studio regluing chairs and refinishing dining tables. I ran a little blog documenting some of it but, for the most part, I was pretty much in my own little world. This leap-in-the-dark magazine idea was simply the culmination of my many thoughts and observations working on period furniture. I never knew if it would resonate with anyone else. Mortise & Tenon has completely flipped my life upside down. The interest...
In this video, we talked with Chris Schwarz about the fascinating article he has written a titled “Decoding the Roman Workbench” for Issue Two. His article, which looks at the practical usage of the bench, has been informed by meticulous research in ancient texts, surviving European artifacts, and in-the-shop exploration. As it turns out, this experimental archaeology approach has yielded some compelling discoveries about pre-industrial woodworking.
You can order your copy of Issue Two here.
What is it about the hand plane that draws people into woodworking? What is it about that block of wood with an iron that connects with woodworkers at such a visceral level? I think about this question a lot when I’m working in the shop because there are days when it seems I just need to shape wood – as if it’s some sort of therapy or something. The feeling of satisfaction that comes from using such a simple tool to work the lumber must be something rooted in us at the deepest level. Creativity, I think, is something rooted in our humanity. We were all made to work with our hands. But also, to lose touch with...
We just got done loading Issue Two off the delivery truck and into storage! They will be heading out from our packing party on January 6th and 7th! Coming soon to a mailbox near you!
Order your copy here!
We just got a small box of Issue Two copies shipped to us from our printer! This new video on our YouTube channel is the first look into this new issue of our traditional hand-tool woodworking magazine! We are so excited about how it turned out... It’s even better than we could have hoped for! We can confidently say that if you enjoyed Issue One, you will love Issue Two. The freight delivery is in route now! We should be seeing those boxes soon!
Starting tomorrow morning, orders for Issue Two will have the regular $5.00 shipping cost added in at the cart. If you want that free shipping, now's the time, folks!
Order here!
I guess I have a weird sense of humor but about a year ago I was delighted to hear of someone filling in the “Special Notes” sections of online order forms with off-the-wall requests for drawings on the box. The one that made me chuckle the most was “Please draw Godzilla on the box.” Making that kind of peculiar request to everything from pizza places to Etsy stores was just the kind of unusual habit I like to pick up. Over the past year or so I’ve been filling the comment box with precisely this request. I was curious to see which of my suppliers would indulge such inanity. Turns out seminary bookstores don’t. Nor does Amazon.com. Neither do conservation...
I've been adding new videos to the YouTube channel! Above is the latest addition: a full (11 minute) excerpt from our "Foundations" video showing how I cut through dovetails by hand. You can order the full video here or Subscribe to our YouTube channel if you'd like more behind-the-scenes M&T stuff!
Right around the end of September every year, I get bitten by the bug of inspiration. It generally bites without warning, triggered by some random sentence in a book by Stewart Edward White or James Oliver Curwood, an autumn trip to the Adirondacks of NY, or an old black-and-white video of Swedish clog-makers at work. Symptoms of infection include hours spent researching old, obscure handcraft methods, scouring online used-book sources for lost titles, and gathering materials for wintertime workshop nights (stuff like this). A few years ago, the obsession was Adirondack guideboats. Before that, it was restoring and rehanging old axe heads. The ubiquitous spoon carving. Canoe paddles. Hickory self bows. You get the picture. This malady usually runs its course over the...
