For all his potential hypocrisy, there’s no debating that he knew his way around hand tools. The first chapter of Walden, “Economy,” includes a fussily detailed description of the supplies, carpentry, layout, and furnishings of his cabin. He describes how he first visited his homesite in March 1845, bringing an axe he’d borrowed from a neighbor. He notes that “it is difficult to begin without borrowing, but perhaps it is the most generous course thus to permit your fellow-men to have an interest in your enterprise.” (He also reassures us that he returned his neighbor’s axe “sharper than [he] received it.”) He spent days felling and hewing the timbers for his home, sturdy pine studs 6" square. Thoreau rhapsodizes that...
The house project is getting real now. The “tiny house” cottage in which my family will live during the 1810 house restoration is closer to “ready” each day. Today we were installing the last of the outlets and trimming windows and doors. The only large item that remains inside is the kitchen installation. Mike C has already done the prep work for the small utilities addition which will house the bathroom and washer and dryer. We should be making good progress on that tomorrow. We are as of this writing less than three weeks away from moving in and I’m just starting to feel a bit nervous about it. It’s not that we’re behind schedule, but we are facing at...
OK, sure, making your own furniture is rewarding and engaging and meditative and enjoyable and all that. But in practical terms, as we’ve been looking at the value of learning to do things for ourselves in an increasingly specialist-dependent society, can you actually save money doing it yourself? If you’ve ever roamed the spacious aisles of a big-box store, you may find yourself aghast. Here are desks, chairs, and bookshelves that (at the low end) feature a price tag less than you just spent on lunch. “I can’t even buy the materials I’d need for that price!” you might exclaim, shaking your head in amazement as you wander off in search of a gallon-sized jar of pickles. And it’s true...
Photo: Xueguang Lyu Congratulations and thank you to the Mortise & Tenon Apprenticeship Program Spring Term graduates! Congratulations on persevering and meeting the challenges of the 8-week online course, learning to use hand tools to prepare stock and cut the joinery used in practically all pre-industrial (and contemporary) furniture. Thank you for such excellent participation in completing the weekly assignments, engaging in the forums, and presenting questions for Joshua and Mike to address in Office Hours. Building upon the first four weeks of the program where we learned to sharpen all our tools, prepare stock, cut mortise and tenon joints, and through dovetails, we went to on learn half-blind dovetails and rabbets and dadoes, tree felling, splitting, riving, and carving...
