Would you say hand tools are slower than power tools? That is totally dependent upon the “programming” of the operator. A person using hand tools can produce a piece of furniture just as fast, if not faster, than a person using power tools provided that the wielder of the hand tools thinks the appropriate way. There is virtually no need to four-square boards for the hand-tool woodworker; we just make a reference edge and face before making the other side look “good enough.” We don’t have to make test cut after test cut to set up a router table; we grab a molding plane with the shape coded in and go to town. If your try plane is appropriately sharp...
“Woodworking requires many skills. Acquiring them provides an apprenticeship for the thousand judgments that must be made to shape a good wood object.”
– George Nakashima, The Soul of a Tree: A Woodworker’s Reflections
Mike and I are working on the launch of a new program (soon-to-announced) that has brought us deeper into research of some historic texts. Although I’ve read through many of these, it’s always interesting to take a fresh look at the way processes or tools are described by various authors throughout history. Take for example the trying plane. Is it just another name for a “jointer” plane? What in the world is a “long” plane then? Nicholson lists all three as distinct. Moxon only knows of the jointer. Denning sees them as distinct, but believes cabinetmakers rarely have any use for the jointer. And don’t get me started about the “fore/jack” plane discussion. I settled into my own understanding of...
We just got some new stickers in the other day! Two designs this go-around. The first is a die-cut profile of my fore plane with an abbreviated saying from technology scholar John Culkin: “Our Tools Shape Us.” If you’ve read through Issue Ten, you’ll know that this was the theme that wove those articles together. As we use our tools to shape the world, our tools influence us and ultimately shape our perspective on the world. Not sure what I mean? I recommend reading my article in that issue called “Ready Hands” for further explanation. The second sticker is based on a quote from John Ruskin’s The Seven Lamps of Architecture: “Therefore, when we build, let us think that we...
We receive a number of unlooked-for visitors to the M&T shop during the warmer months of the year, when we tend leave the front door open. There must be something particularly appealing that draws passersby in, diverting from their important errands. These guests tend not to stay very long, often flying through the building in a single hyperactive lap before heading on their way. I’m talking, of course, about birds. The springtime chorus around the shop can be clamorous. There are the red-winged blackbirds down by the pond, nuthatches and chickadees in the woods, a family of phoebes nesting by the blacksmith shop, woodpeckers in the pines, not to mention the occasional osprey or bald eagle crying from some great height....
Now that we’ve covered the shop and benches in our video series, we’re moving into tools. This time, Mike discusses the use of the fore plane (as well as his scrub plane). These planes are our workhorses – at least 75% of our planing is handled by these guys. If you don’t have a heavily cambered plane with a wide-open mouth, you’re not going to be able to work with any efficiency. You need one of these planes.
I didn’t know what to say. I was there because I knew that Another Work is Possible was selected as a finalist for “Excellence in Publishing,” but I never expected to hear my name announced as the winner. The 2021 Maine Literary Awards took place last Thursday evening, and I am still in disbelief. My first book, Hands Employed Aright: The Furniture Making of Jonathan Fisher (1768-1847), was a finalist at the 2019 ceremony, but ultimately not the winner. I felt honored to even be a finalist in 2019 and was content with that achievement again this year. Regardless of the fact that I knew it was still a possibility my book would be selected this time around, there was...
In the southern Appalachian Mountains of the eastern U.S., a unique folk culture developed through centuries of hewing an existence from the ancient mountains. This hardscrabble way of life was marked by music (bluegrass has its roots here), faith, extreme poverty, storytelling, and a resilient connection to the land. I gained an early appreciation for Appalachian folk art when, as a child, I discovered my grandparents’ Foxfire books in their basement. Family trips to the Smoky Mountains, a fascination with old log cabins, and (more recently) learning to play the mountain dulcimer fed that appreciation. The folks who lived here (known as “mountaineers”) exemplified “making do,” surviving for centuries in mountain coves and inaccessible valleys while fashioning all...
Furniture scholar Dean Fales noted in American Painted Furniture, 1660-1880, “Painting preserves and embellishes furniture, and it surely is economical. These three qualities are the main reasons for the great popularity of this pleasing lesser art. It could be performed by both amateurs and professionals, and its appeal was widespread. Since it is not constantly striving toward the heights of style, painted furniture can be an accurate reflection of the everyday tastes of regular people.” I’ve long been a fan of grain painting. Any knowledgeable antiques dealer will tell you that painted decoration was a staple form of ornamentation in pre-industrial cabinetshops. There are so many plain-grain chests, beds, and tables which have been layered with pigments to simulate...
If you haven’t yet learned about the insights of psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced “Mee-high Cheek-sent-mee-high”) regarding optimal and satisfying life experience, you’re missing out. People have been talking about his concept of “flow” since his book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, was published in 1990. The basic idea is that when someone is “in the groove” and totally absorbed in an engaging activity, they typically experience a deep sense of satisfaction and enjoyment. He explains that to be in a flow state, we must balance the challenge of the task with our skill level. If the task is much too difficult for us, we will experience anxiety, but if it is well below our skill level, we will be...
