When the time comes around to pore over our authors’ newly submitted rough drafts, I can't help but reflect on the process for past issues of the magazine. It might be because we print the magazine “just” twice per year, or because we invest ourselves so heavily into our authors’ worlds and spend a ton of time with each and every sentence, or because we intentionally don’t recycle content, but every published article sticks out in memory with a funny or compelling story behind it. Some, you might easily guess. For example, spending days hanging out with Roy Underhill for Issue Eight was a riot. We went for lunch one day at his favorite local burrito joint, then strolled to...
Because of the way our production schedule is arranged, the change from December to January always brings a new beginning. Some folks think of the year’s turning as a trifle – just another day. But for us, it summons a complete change in focus. After a week’s worth of holiday off, Mike and I join back up to start the next project: the upcoming issue of the magazine. This week, we’ve begun wading through Issue Fourteen’s articles and planning the cover shot. Each issue is like a jigsaw puzzle. All the pieces first get laid out on the table and then we begin to sift and arrange them into a coherent order. And that is what new beginnings are all...
True to my initial vision, I had determined to keep my methods and tools for blacksmithing old-school. I banished the arc welder early on and sought ways to bring my shop closer to those of the 18th century in most (but not all) ways. Not only did I want to keep my work fun and interesting, but I wanted to preserve a sadly neglected side of blacksmithing: the historical approach. I greatly enjoy the “experimental archaeology” side of things, figuring out “how they might have done it.” This decision has invoked criticism from some of my friends who are full-time smiths, and even after three years, with a grinder as the only power tool I use in the blacksmithing shop,...
After last week’s big windstorm, my kids came in from a trek through the woods to report (with sadness) that the Twisty Pine had been damaged. Now, the Twisty Pine is a behemoth of a tree near the back corner of our property whose twin leaders spiral around one another as they climb into the sky like the double-helix structure of DNA. In recent years we’d seen woodpecker holes appear in one of the leaders, high up, and the green needles on the other began to dwindle. So we knew that things were going downhill. But it was still sad, and a little shocking, to see such a giant so violently topped – a massive weight of limbs and trunk...
