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...
Some people hate them. It’s thought that this particular species of lumber is glorified firewood, a slash species suitable for the pulp mill or crate-making, but not for fine joinery. (Or even rustic stuff, for that matter). And, look, there’s no debating that the cottonwood is no Honduran mahogany or English brown oak. It’s cantankerous when it dries. Its surface fuzzes into splintery Velcro when you send it zipping through a planer. The reaction wood can be nightmarish to work. Its humble yellow-cream grain is often devoid of figure. The rancid smell it gives off if you cut it while it’s wet will make your eyes roll back into your head. And arborists and parks departments here in Denver...
As we mentioned in the podcast yesterday, we are excited to offer Danielle Rose Byrd’s new book, The Handcarved Bowl, for sale in our store. Danielle is an amazingly talented artist – her work speaks for itself. Whimsical and beautiful, her bowls, trays, and panels push the boundaries of practical art in new directions, while maintaining a connection to the age-old practice of carving woodenware. The Handcarved Bowl is the best book we’ve seen on the practice of creating a carved wooden bowl from beginning to end. From selecting and maintaining the proper tools, to harvesting material in the woods, to design and execution, Danielle has knocked it out of the park with this reference. There’s even a chapter full of stretches...
Mortise & Tenon Magazine · 28 – Should Work Be Easy? This question of ends (goals) and means (methods) is an important issue in woodworking discussions. Some swear by hand tools and wouldn’t touch a table saw with a 10' pole. Others see hand tools as inherently backward and nostalgic. Many say each has a place but are fuzzy about what that place is exactly. In this episode, Mike and Joshua tackle this thorny question head on. When do they choose pre-industrial methods over modern technology? Don’t they see the irony in podcasting and blogging about hand tools? How do they see these things as coexisting? In this episode, they suggest that before examining our “means,” we would...
The first time I saw the lathe assembled, I was bemused. With the crotch wood on one side and the plank on the other, it comes across as quaint and impractical. On close examination, it is clear that this lathe saw years of serious use. Of all the discoveries made during this research, the lathe might be one of the most exciting. At the Fisher house, there are several storage areas with unidentified objects. Early on, I spent considerable time sorting through all the objects but was unable to identify anything notable. After months of sorting through the archives, I opened one box that contained, among other things, a handful of old photographs of objects in the barn. There was...
“We have spent millennia devising ways to avoid this sort of physical work, and yet we always return to it. It is a part of us.”
– Roy Underhill, The Woodwright’s Shop
Boxed Set Batch #3 is just about complete. We still have a few backs to fit before we carve the wooden pins to fasten them in place. Depending on the task I am doing at the moment, I will tell you the one I am currently working on is my favorite of the whole project, because each step has its own idiosyncrasies and joys. It’s hard to choose just one. But today, making and fitting the backs is my favorite. A heavily set fore plane driving down a white pine board lets out the most distinct zipper sound: R-R-R-R-I-I-I-P-P-P! And then the meaty shavings thud on the floor. One time at our booth at Fine Woodworking Live, Mike and I...
Green woodworking with hand tools isn’t just about carving spoons or turning Windsor chairs. The method is immensely practical for building all kinds of outside-the-box structures in the woods, whether a log footbridge to span a stream or a lean-to for a quiet resting place. A few months ago, we heard from Seth Gebel, owner of Backyard Trail Builds, LLC, and proprietor of the popular (with millions of views) “Backyard Trail Builds” YouTube channel. Seth constructs incredible mountain biking features in the woods, and lately has been focusing his efforts on what he calls “Primal” builds, utilizing only hand tools. These creations involve clever hand-cut joinery, timber that is harvested, rived, and hewn on-site, pegged decking, and even incorporates reverse-twisted cordage from...
