From August through May, I spend a total of about 135 hours in the classroom with each of my five classes, a number that causes some non-teacher friends and acquaintances to cringe. “How do you lesson plan for all that time?” One friend from college asked me one time when we were catching up over coffee. “And how do you keep teenagers occupied that whole time?” It’s telling, I think, that we use the same verb to refer to educating kids that military commanders use when they talk about violently annexing enemy territory. The word “occupy” has an interesting spectrum of meanings, though. We get “occupation” from it, of course, in the sense of what one does to earn...
Joshua and I had a blast building the dovetailed pine boxes to house our Issue 1-10 commemorative Boxed Sets. Cutting the joinery, planing, gluing up, and branding dozens and dozens of these was a tremendously fun learning experience. I don’t think there is a better way to improve woodworking skills than to practice these kinds of operations over and over again. In fact, so convinced was he of this truth that Joshua decided to write about the benefits of batch production for Issue Eleven. We made a few extra boxes for the last batch, and also had a handful of people drop off the waiting list as the project continued. So we’ve put the remaining few Boxed Sets up for sale in...
If you’re a subscriber to Fine Woodworking, you might notice a familiar name on the very last page of the October 2021 issue. Joshua was honored to pen a short reflection that was published in their “From the Bench” column, about why he uses hand tools. He managed to reference both Sōetsu Yanagi and Albert Borgmann, quite the feat for a brief article. But our friend Barry Dima from Fine Woodworking is visiting today, doing the photography for a full-length article Joshua wrote for a future issue. Not to give anything away about the subject matter, but it may involve historic furniture making, wide pine, and a coarsely set fore plane. Keep your eyes peeled for it. Our relationship with...
It is always an exciting moment to finalize and release the new issue’s cover design. Though we never premeditate any theme, we always look for naturally occurring threads running throughout the articles. The cover often reflects some of the content in the issue, though it is not even close to regurgitated material. Unlike all the rest of our seat-of-the-pants, natural-light photography, we take great pains with the cover shots. We bounce around ideas and fuss over minutia to get it right. Believe me, I know how dumb that sounds. But what we’ve learned over the years doing this is that hands and the work they do can communicate more than most people can put into words. Take the cover of...
This post is part of a blog series revealing the table of contents of upcoming Issue Eleven. 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 Eleven is open now. To get Issue Eleven when it ships early October, 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 Eleven is coming your way soon! ___________________________________ Dr. Mike Epworth – “The Drawknife & the Butterfly Effect” When a...
This post is part of a blog series revealing the table of contents of upcoming Issue Eleven. 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 Eleven is open now. To get Issue Eleven when it ships early October, 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 Eleven is coming your way soon! ___________________________________ Chair made by Richard Poynor. Photo courtesy of Yale University Art Gallery....
This post is part of a blog series revealing the table of contents of upcoming Issue Eleven. 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 Eleven is open now. To get Issue Eleven when it ships early October, 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 Eleven is coming your way soon! ___________________________________ Courtesy of the Foxfire Museum Michael Updegraff – “Mountain Music: The Story of Foxfire’s...
This post is part of a blog series revealing the table of contents of upcoming Issue Eleven. 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 Eleven is open now. To get Issue Eleven when it ships early October, 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 Eleven is coming your way soon! ___________________________________ Examination of an Early 19th-century Chest of Drawers Heirloom furniture carries with...
This post is part of a blog series revealing the table of contents of upcoming Issue Eleven. 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 Eleven is open now. To get Issue Eleven when it ships early October, 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 Eleven is coming your way soon! ___________________________________ Ray Deftereos – Unto this Last Book Recommendation As woodworkers, we are all...
This post is part of a blog series revealing the table of contents of upcoming Issue Eleven. 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 Eleven is open now. To get Issue Eleven when it ships early October, 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 Eleven is coming your way soon! ___________________________________ Elia Bizzarri – “For Speed: Fancy Windsor Chair Production in Early...
