My youngest boy built a box the other day. Made me think of an excellent passage from Coperthwaite: “Out of fear of misusing children, we have deprived them of the opportunity to do real work. The work of most adults is hidden from the children. Even worse, most of the adults they meet do not enjoy their work. As a result of this coercion, and the corresponding lack of opportunities for fully applied imaginations, is it any wonder that kids turn for their thrills to stimuli that are antigrowth and antisocial? Kids need to see productive work being undertaken by those around them and to be given an opportunity to take part at an early age. Useful work as...
In part two of this series, Mike and I talk about the value of having a mentor to pull on when things don’t work as smoothly at your bench as in a professional demonstration or YouTube video. It’s essential to be able to ask questions and to get specific feedback on your specific struggles. And the more woodworking becomes part of a person’s daily life, the more success they will find. We would do well to focus on cultivating craft in our normal daily routines.
In my last post, I discussed tambour doors’ history and theory, as well as describing how I routed the groove for some doors in a small hand plane till I made earlier this summer. Today, let’s talk about making slats by hand. I had some poplar from a past project sitting around that I resawed and planed down to just over 1/4" thick. I cut shallow rabbets on either end, double-checking that the slat ends would fit in the groove with a little wiggle room – I’d guess maybe 1/16". Ripping the 24 slats themselves was quicker work than I thought it’d be, especially once I found a rhythm. “Ripping by hand” is a phrase that tends to make some woodworkers...
Mike and I have been thinking all year about the ways people learn woodworking. This video covers some of the problems we’ve seen with the conventional routes.
While Colorado’s high desert climate is more tool-friendly than others, over the past few years I’ve found myself wiping off more flash rust and blowing off my metal planes more than I’d like, so I decided a plane till with doors to keep dust at bay was in order. And, because I try to tackle a new technique or operation with each new project, I wanted to see if I could make some tambour doors by hand. The word “tambour” comes from the French word for a small drum (á la “tambourine”), a fact of which I was uncomfortably reminded when I first tried feeding my door into the cabinet and it produced a terrifying, percussive grinding noise before shuddering...
Our good friend, Marshall Scheetz, published an excellent video last year showing the process of riving oak stock for buckets and barrels. It is 15 minutes of super crisp videography without any commentary. Its vibe is akin to the famous “Primitive Technology” YouTube channel. Marshall shows the use of a variety of steel and wooden wedges, a froe, and a hatchet to break down this massive log into primo stock. It is well worth watching. Marshall’s video is a great compliment to Peter Follansbee’s in-depth video of splitting stock published earlier this year. Peter provides some great commentary, especially for those who haven’t done this kind of work before. Thanks to Daniel, Peter’s son, for his production of these films. In...
Of the Hatchet. The Hatchet marked L, in Plate 4. Its use is so well known (even to the most un-intelligent) that I need not use many Words on it, yet thus much I will say, Its use is to Hew the Irregularities off such pieces of Stuff which may be sooner Hewn than Sawn. When the Edge is downwards, and the Handle towards you, the right side of its Edge must be Ground to a Bevil, so as to make an Angle of about 12 Degrees with the left side of it: And afterwards set with the Whetstone, as the Irons of Planes, &c. – Joseph Moxon, Mechanick Exercises: or, The Doctrine of Handy-works (1703) Recently reading Mechanick...
Ever had one of those “Eureka” moments in the shop? Maybe while using a new tool or facing a workholding conundrum, you all of the sudden realize why artisans did things the way they did? In this episode, Joshua and Mike were joined by archaeologist-in-training Nevan Carling to talk about specific tool epiphanies they’ve had over the years. They discuss various workholding methods, styles of hand planes, and even touch on controversial saw nib theories. Join the guys in the M&T workshop, with the recorder on the bench, for this let-it-all-hang-out woodworking conversation.
ITEMS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
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2021 Grant Program Recipients
New “Build For Ever” T-shirt
Have you ever experienced those unique moments when sounds or movements in your immediate environment randomly fall into sync and create a rhythm? Like that iconic Volkswagen commercial from 20 years ago, your car’s windshield wipers start swiping to the beat of the song on the radio, or two friends’ strides fall into step on a long walk. Hand tools are particularly rhythmic, and workers have forever played percussion with their tools. Here’s one example that boatbuilder and author Douglas Brooks shared with us, from a traditional Japanese boatbuilder. The other day, I noticed essentially the opposite of this synchronizing effect in the shop. Joshua and I were doing identical tasks (chopping out waste between dovetails with a chisel) at opposite ends...
I know you were hoping that the new “Build For Ever” sticker we just came out with would be our new T-shirt design. It is. And it is the most intense shirt we’ve made to date. This vintage-black tee features a rigorously bearded Joseph, patron saint of hand hewing (among other things), swinging an axe next to a handful barely clothed woodchip-collecting cherubs. Framing the scene are a few words – “Build For Ever” – from one of our favorite quotes from John Ruskin in which he exhorts artisans to build in a way that will outlast them. The shirt’s back features the entire quote: “When we build, let us think that we build for ever.” We LOVE this...
