In this episode, Joshua and Mike kick off a mini-series chapter-by-chapter walkthrough of David Pye’s classic book The Nature and Art of Workmanship. Lots of craftspeople have heard of Pye, but few today understand (or have ever even read) his illuminating book. In this episode, the guys discuss the introduction which charts the course to dispelling myths and misunderstandings. Craft matters. And because of this, Pye invites us to engage in it thoughtfully. 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’” Jeff Miller’s article in Issue Ten: “An Exercise in Precision & Randomness: Replicating David Pye’s...
Good ideas often come from unlikely places. My most recent inspiration came from a dusty old pile of books in an antique store where my wife uncovered a decades-old exhibition catalogue featuring the furniture of the Swisegood school of cabinetmaking. The exhibition opened in November 1973, at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and featured a growing collection of furniture made by a group of little-known craftsmen from the Yadkin River Valley in Rowan (now Davidson) County, North Carolina. One of the chief forms of furniture produced by the Swisegood school was the corner cabinet, and in leafing through the catalogue, I became enamored with the way these particular craftsmen mixed rustic, country charm...
I made my earliest attempt at earning a living through woodworking as a teenager by making canoe paddles. I had a table saw, a Stanley block plane, a palm sander, a small bandsaw, and inspiration. I built a workbench with a particle-board top and fastened a cheap vise to the corner, and also employed one of those Black & Decker Workmate portable benches (still, the Pinnacle of Portable Workholding, in my mind). I had recently taken up canoeing, my brother and I having saved to buy a red plastic 15' Coleman craft for our voyageur adventuring in the local waterways. Problem was, the only paddles available were those ugly plastic-and-aluminum t-handled things you see everywhere, as well as flat and uninspiring...
I don’t care what style of workbench you’ve got – you can make it better with a few simple tweaks. The recommendations I make in this video will cost you nothing. I do not pump exotic fixtures or elaborate wagon vise mechanisms. Instead, I try to help you think about your bench differently. With a more flexible mindset, you will be able to approach your work with an openness and creativity that task-dedicated fixtures rarely inspire.
-Joshua
