In this latest podcast episode, Joshua and Mike tackle a particularly thorny question head on: What is “craftsmanship,” exactly? While woodworkers of all kinds share a mutual appreciation for craftsmanship, surprisingly, there have been different ideas of what it even means. Is “craftsmanship” the same thing as “making” or is there something more to it? Can woodworking skill be reduced to the ability to repeat precise hand motions? Joshua and Mike argue that there’s more to it than that. Throughout the course of the discussion, they explain that the aim of technology is to displace skill for the sake of ease and precision. While technical developments provide real, tangible blessings in so many areas of life, Joshua and Mike...
Last fall, I defended the economic and aesthetic value of working with veneer – both in the 18th and the 21st century. What I didn’t talk about were the brass tacks of actually making your own by hand. The fact is that producing and working with thin stock will sharpen your craft like almost nothing else. It’s definitely been an escalator for my skillset as a hand-tool woodworker. So you, too, should consider learning how to resaw veneer. Plane veneer. Prepare veneer with a toothing plane. Nervously hammer veneer on a curved substrate while butt-clenchingly praying to every pantheon that the hide glue will hold. String, band, and inlay veneer, And then – Yes! – finally finish veneer. Carving off thin stock...
Show a rail to the table leg to determine the amount of reveal you’d like. (Many tables’ rails are not flush to the legs but are recessed a bit.) To envision how far the mortise should be from the leg’s outside face, you can set your mortise chisel to it. Typically, the mortise is approximately centered on the rail’s thickness. Mark the mortise position onto the leg with your knife and set your mortise gauge to scribe the lines. It is common practice to allow the gauge lines to run a little past the bottom mortise line, so don’t bother trying to make a perfect stop there. If you’ve resisted buying a mortise gauge, you really ought to remedy that....
“Once more, we play our dangerous game.” Captain Marko Ramius, The Hunt for Red October. Issue Twelve is nearly ready. Joshua and I have been working through all the details – properly formatting endnotes, gathering image citations, scratching our heads over obscure terms. Very shortly, we will hand the issue over to the capable hands of Megan Fitzpatrick for copy editing. Then we have a full, out-loud read-through to do and last-minute loose ends to clean up before the whole thing is sent off to the printer. There, this digital potential becomes a real, physical thing. Bits and pixels and concepts and arguments, ethereal stuff, gets arranged and impressed onto 70# Enviro Print Opaque FSC uncoated paper and bound together...
“There are no passive aspects of hand-tool woodworking, no downtime as you absent-mindedly feed that board for another trip through the planer. Our bodies are integral to every motion, every operation. And this engaged work is actually beneficial for us: Much ink has been spilled declaring the positive effects of physical activity, especially as we age. There are myriad studies that universally proclaim the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle, and they can be summarized with the words use it or lose it. A habit of physical inactivity will eventually kill you, but before it does that, it will take away your ability to meaningfully engage in creative work. If using our bodies and maintaining physical fitness is the ideal,...
What these men taught me about production work turned my world upside down. Originally, I had thought that production work would turn me into a machine making soulless objects. Those soulless objects for me were tied to a system that cared more about profit for shareholders and less about quality workmanship and design. But I had confused production work with mass production, because production work, in its most basic form, is intrinsically connected to the crafts. Throughout history, quality objects have often been made in large quantities with a high degree of skill by using craft production methodology. When I came to terms with that, the stigma of production work was lifted and I began to feel free to experiment...
Here’s our latest installment in our “Setting Up Shop” video series: bench chisels. There’s not a lot I am picky about regarding chisel selection, but there are a few things I think are worth considering.
-Joshua
This cover design, based on the Spanish chairmaking which was written about by Masashi Kutsuwa, was the result of several experiments. First, we purchased an antique blade (an English beet knife, actually) that we modified with a second (perpendicular) handle to be a cuchilla, a Spanish push knife. Then I made a wooden stop fitted to my staked bench to brace the stock while shaving. We did some experimenting to get a feel for the skill and are delighted to find that it is quite effective. We knew this technique belonged on the cover. So, a hearty “thanks” goes to Masashi for making these ways of working known to the rest of the world. We believe that the craft is...
This post is part of a blog series revealing the table of contents of upcoming Issue Twelve. As is our custom, we’ll be discussing one article per weekday in order to give you a taste of what is come. The subscription window which includes Issue Twelve is open now. To get Issue Twelve when it ships early April, you can sign up for a subscription here. If you aren’t sure about your subscription status, you can reach out to Grace at info@mortiseandtenonmag.com. Keep in mind though, if you are set to auto-renew, you never have to worry about getting the next issue of Mortise & Tenon. Issue Twelve is coming your way soon! ___________________________________ Michael Updegraff – “Risk and Reward” Risk. It’s a concept we’re all...
This post is part of a blog series revealing the table of contents of upcoming Issue Twelve. As is our custom, we’ll be discussing one article per weekday in order to give you a taste of what is come. The subscription window which includes Issue Twelve is open now. To get Issue Twelve when it ships early April, you can sign up for a subscription here. If you aren’t sure about your subscription status, you can reach out to Grace at info@mortiseandtenonmag.com. Keep in mind though, if you are set to auto-renew, you never have to worry about getting the next issue of Mortise & Tenon. Issue Twelve is coming your way soon! ___________________________________ Masashi Kutsuwa – “The Van Gogh Chair” Half a century ago in...
