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  In this new video, Mike shares some tips for particular (but common) boring operations. Awls, eggbeaters, braces, and augers – it’s all covered here.  

From the M&T Daily Dispatch 

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...

From the M&T Daily Dispatch 

If any of M&T’s work is worth pausing to reflect on at the close of the year, this year’s would be a prime candidate. Not only has the House By Hand project occupied the bulk of Joshua and Mike’s time in 2022, but M&T also published a new book (Worked: A Bench Guide to Hand-Tool Efficiency), ran several Apprenticeship terms, hosted a Summit gathering, and more. Before blindly setting out on the next 12 months of hurried activity, Joshua and Mike take this episode to recap this season of work in order to resolve to make the most of the next steps.  SHOW NOTES: The House By Hand Project Issue Fourteen

From the M&T Daily Dispatch 

From the M&T Daily Dispatch 

With a bit more understanding, and an awful lot of gusto, I set to work restoring the loom. My internal archaeologist told me that I needed to take detailed photos with scales in black-and-white, medium-format film in order to properly record the state of each piece before I irrevocably changed it. With this done, I separated the pieces that were sound from those that needed serious work, and at random chose the most difficult piece of the whole restoration: the right-hand cape. Its ends were fine, but insects had chewed and bored through the wane present in the middle of the piece on two faces. I cut a 1/4"-deep grave (recess for a patch) from one face and a 1/2"-deep...

Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, Caspar David Friedrich, 1818. This is an admittedly heady title for a little blog post. And while I can’t possibly write anything remotely worthy of that title here (in a thousand words or less), the topic itself is one that will keep coming back. Our vision at M&T is “to cultivate reverence for the dignity of humanity and the natural world through the celebration of handcraft.” While there’s a lot to unpack in that statement, it basically means we’re going to talk about more than just how to make nice furniture by hand. So for example, when society starts down a slippery slope of creative self-immolation, Joshua or I might casually bring it up....

From the M&T Daily Dispatch