I’m in the thick of designing Issue Ten right now. I’m a few articles in and already find myself wonderfully lost in fine-tuning and finessing. There’s always a pile of bookmarked inspiration material laid out on the table, and edits and re-edits of photos stack up in my folders as I play with different presentations. It is a delightfully creative process that I’m consumed by every time. But that’s not what this post is about. I thought I’d give you a heads up that starting Monday, we will begin sharing the Issue Ten Table of Contents here on the blog. We’ll announce one article per weekday, sharing a few photos and a description of what you’ll be seeing in print....
Soon after high school, I spent a few months working with a very no-nonsense carpenter. I suppose it was the enthusiasm that often comes from inexperience, but I was full of innovative ideas on tasks like batch-cutting decking boards and scribing interior trim. However, this guy was old school – under his name on his business card was the moniker, “The Bigger Hammer.” You know the phrase – if it doesn’t work, get a bigger hammer. The saying perfectly embodied his work philosophy, as did the mammoth 2-lb framing hammer that never left his hip. I remember him telling me (and others), “You’re overthinking it,” as he pulled that hammer out and beat some framing member into submission. I learned...
I recently received an email inquiring about the reason I made the tenon before the mortise in my new book, Joined: A Bench Guide to Furniture Joinery. I knew I’d be asked this one as I’ve taught it the other way around before. In my article in Issue Four, I wrote, “I prefer tackling mortises first.” The truth is that in regular shop practice, it just depends on my mood. The reason it doesn’t matter is because I size both the mortise and the tenon to the width of the mortise chisel. The only advantage to chopping the mortise first is that you can final-fit the tenon right away, rather than waiting to pare it after the mortise is chopped....
“It is important to stress that few period cabinetmakers made a living exclusively by building furniture. Especially in rural settings, artisans had diverse sources of income. Warren Roberts has said, “craftsmen were usually part-time farmers who had some land on which they grew crops and raised animals, devoting time to their own farm when they could. Hence it is difficult to draw a hard and fast line between the farmer and the specialized craftsman.” If the Arts and Crafts legend of the rural craftsmen working in isolation, doing everything by hand and by the sweat of their brow is true anywhere, it is in Fisher. In rural towns such as Blue Hill, the craft tradition gave the maker more freedom...
Yesterday I got an email from Ken Schwarz, master blacksmith at Colonial Williamsburg, in which he shared a delightful video of nailmaking in Liège, Belgium in the 1930s. Besides the speed with which these smiths work and the fascinating dedicated nailmaking setup, I thought the dog-powered bellows were too cool not to share. As Ken described the video to me, “Note that the tooling and process are the same as those described in Diderot and by Thomas Jefferson more than a century earlier – right down to the dogs operating the bellows. This is how most commercial nailmaking was carried out.” Here’s the video: Below is a 1763 ink, wash, and chalk illustration from Jean-Michel Moreau le jeune called “The...
I’ve found the best way to learn a craft is to see the created item in person. Taking a class is a good way to develop general techniques, but unless you have a good amount of time to study the finished objects for yourself, you will stagnate in your development as an artisan. You’ll never know how it’s “supposed” to look or discover other ways it could be made. I learned to build furniture with hand tools by studying the furniture that was made with those tools. Those objects became my standard and reference. I’ve also taken this approach with the green woodworking crafts: spoon carving, pole-lathe turning, etc. I first learned the techniques by reading and by asking others,...
Throw together a couple $5 words, and you have a solid title for a blog post. Actually, this phrase popped unbidden into my head as I was splitting firewood, contemplating how the process of swinging a hefty edge tool at a standing chunk of hardwood, over and over, helps center my thoughts. There’s something about a repeated manual task, built around muscle memory and a degree of unconscious problem-solving, that functions as a relief valve for the mind. Once I get into the groove with a woodpile, the jacket comes off, the stack of split fuel grows, and the loud problems I’ve been wrestling with seem to sort themselves out. Running is another of these elemental, physical practices that is...
Mortise & Tenon Magazine · 23 – Blacksmithing for Woodworkers
In the latest episode of the podcast, hosts Joshua Klein and Mike Updegraff explore their early explorations into blacksmithing. They talk about their small forge setup, their struggles in the learning process, and the benefits of exploring new crafts all the same. Joshua also talks about his upcoming article in Issue 10.
Mentioned in this Episode:
Custom Tools for Woodworkers by: Joe Petrovich
Mike just reminded me that back in 2019 we took video footage of Harry Bryan’s human-powered bandsaw in action. Just the other day, we posted an excerpt from his article in Issue Eight, in which he describes this arrangement and how he’s used it in his off-grid boatshop for many years. The above is a compilation of few clips of Harry at work. He swears by the simplicity of clever, human-powered equipment applied in just the right ways, and this saw is a great example of just that. I’ve not had a bandsaw in my shop for several years now, but Harry’s rig looks like a blast to build and use. Maybe someday I’ll have to tinker with such an...
Warning: If you do not own a business and have no interest in ever doing so, this post was not written for you. You’re welcome to stay and read on if you’re curious, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. A couple weeks ago, we walked away from our social media accounts and published a blog post explaining the factors in that decision. I won’t rehash all the reasons here, but I will say that we received hundreds of supportive notes, emails, and messages for the decision. It seems there are many people out there who are wary of the personal and social effects of these platforms. One of the most surprising things in all the feedback was the...
