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From the M&T Daily Dispatch 

We’re excited to again open our Craft Research Grant for applications! If you haven’t heard, this program offers up to two grants per year to individuals or groups who are pursuing a craft, doing historic research, interviewing a master, or exploring museum collections. Besides offering up to $2,000 for each recipient, we also publish their work in a future issue of the magazine. So far, the Craft Research Grant has led to a fascinating look at vernacular violin making published in Issue Thirteen, and Issue Fourteen will include research on the disappearing craft of Taiwanese plane making. In the works are research on traditional Hawaiian ukulele makers, as well as a deep dive into the roots of Brazilian handcraft. I...

The third installment of Joshua and Mike’s walkthrough of David Pye’s The Nature and Art of Workmanship. This time they look at chapter 2 in which Pye lays out his fundamental (and famous) distinction between workmanship of risk and workmanship of certainty. It might not mean what you think… SHOW NOTES  Order your copy of the book here: The Nature and Art of Workmanship Joshua Klein’s article in Issue Seven: ”A Fresh & Unexpected Beauty: Understanding David Pye’s ‘Workmanship of Risk’”

From the M&T Daily Dispatch 

Traditional coopering in Europe employed quarter-split or riven wood to make the walls and heads of the vessels. In a world where sawing was time-consuming, splitting straight-grained logs into flat bolts of wood was the most expeditious processing method. Riving a knot-free log is a satisfying experience, because it’s surprising how easily it yields to iron wedges, wooden gluts, and a froe.  Quarter-split material is a pleasure to work with hands tools, even after several years of seasoning. Any type of wood that grows with clear grain, quartered from a mature log, is ideal for coopering. Different species historically used for coopering include red and white oak, chestnut, white ash, spruce, fir, yellow pine, white pine, tulip poplar, cypress, and...

From the M&T Daily Dispatch 

In this latest episode, the guys explain the setup to David Pye’s discussion about the value of workmanship. Pye explains that it would be a mistake to give too much credit to the design when the quality of the finished object is greatly determined by the artisan’s touch. Pye asserts some bold things in this chapter: “Good material is a myth” and “a street full of parked cars is jejune.” Listen to Joshua and Mike discuss this foundational chapter. SHOW NOTES  Order your copy of the book here: The Nature and Art of Workmanship Joshua Klein’s article in Issue Seven: ”A Fresh & Unexpected Beauty: Understanding David Pye’s ‘Workmanship of Risk’”

From the M&T Daily Dispatch 

It seems like everyone these days is developing an app for their business or product – download the app to your smartphone, and you can carry books, lectures, and blog archives with you wherever you go. Most apps simply streamline content that’s already available on a website for easy, one-stop access on the little screen of your phone. This can make information easier to get at and use, especially for the ham-handed among us. And that, I suppose, is a valuable thing. I'm sure we were Googling something important here.  It’s interesting to think through the progress of our smartphone technology since the first iPhone was introduced in 2007 – really, just a few years ago. Think of all the...

From the M&T Daily Dispatch