This blog post should have been titled “In the Groove” but I just couldn’t quite get myself to do it. But in the groove, we are. Mike and I have been plugging away at the first batch of these Issues 1-10 Boxed Sets, and now have all the stock worked out and the joinery underway. We’ll be busy dovetailing and rabbeting tomorrow. I’m curious to see how far we get in one day’s work. Batch work is good for growing in patience because everything in me wants to get the thing assembled as soon as possible. But batch work is lots of the same and success is incremental. Then, before we know it, we’ll have finished boxes stacking up all...
Whenever Mike and I are asked about upcoming issues, we try to contain our enthusiasm so as not to oversell our products. But we are usually so excited about the upcoming material because we bust our butts trying to make each issue even more refined, fascinating, and beautiful than the last. We are constantly honing the variety of skills it takes to bring this magazine into being. It seems like each time we discuss the latest issue on our podcast, we end up saying this one is “the best one yet.” The temptation is so strong that we’ve even made a rule for ourselves to refrain from that particular phrase so as not to tire our readers. With Issue...
Photo by Jeshua Soucy Last weekend, I climbed Katahdin with a group of friends. This mountain, at almost exactly a mile in height, is the highest peak in Maine and has the greatest local elevation of any North American mountain east of the Rockies. Viewed from the south, it forms an imposing, craggy ridge that dominates the horizon. And like Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, it catches a serious amount of wind. With well over 4,000 feet of climbing, the way up is taxing even in perfect conditions. Thoreau, wild-eyed, called the ascent “scarcely less arduous than Satan's anciently through Chaos.” He was both ecstatic and unnerved by his time on the mountain, and his party failed to make the...
When Mike and I started discussing the potential of M&T Boxed Sets, we joked about making a pile of boxes completely by hand with traditional joinery. We laughed to ourselves and began looking into other options. Cardboard sleeves? Machine-made custom boxes? Hmmm. None of it seemed like something that would reflect the M&T vision. As we approached the production of Issue Ten, we knew we had exhausted every other option and our time to find an alternative was running out. After we closed off every other path, we knew these boxes needed to be handmade. We decided that since we were going to be doing this ourselves, we might as well design them to be the embodiment of the...
“The earliest depiction of the foot-powered spring-pole lathe is from the 13th century. An illustration (above) from the Bible of St. Louis (circa 1226-1234) shows a turner making a bowl. The pole is seen pulled into tension downward by means of a cord attached to a treadle.
Mike and I recently decided to begin a little YouTube series dedicated to the key considerations in setting up a hand tool shop. We plan to walk through the basic kit tool by tool, discussing essential bench features, etc. The first of the series was posted this afternoon – Mike begins with a look at the shop space itself. You’ll notice in the background some of the white pine stock for our first batch of the Issues 1-10 Boxed Sets, all planed and clamped flat. This week, Mike and I have been working out the stock in preparation for joinery. There will be lots of tails, dadoes, and grooves to cut. Can’t wait. We’ve already been fielding emails from...
If you’ve been listening to our podcast or you saw my webinar for North House last Thursday (the recording of which is available here), you know I can go on and on about Albert Borgmann’s book Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life. This book, more than any other, has helped me think through a way that a person’s philosophy of technology can work out in practical life. Though many technology critics and philosophers make astute observations, I’ve found that few are able to give much real-world advice. Borgmann is one of the exceptions. Though no lightweight in the intellectual arena (he is one of the leaders of his field), Borgmann has a real concern to teach people how to...
The humidity drops to desert-level lows in New England during the wintertime. Our pine floors become gappy, and the old frame-and-panel doors throughout the house close a little bit differently than they do in the summertime. Wood is hygroscopic, constantly absorbing or releasing moisture in response to changes in humidity and temperature. And when moisture leaves, wood shrinks. This can cause all kinds of interesting problems if you’re a boatbuilder, a cooper, or if you happen to swing a hammer or axe. Many of my wooden-handled tools seem just a little loose right now – not dangerously so, but enough to be aware of it. I find myself thumping the bottom of my hammer on the benchtop before using it, just...
As mentioned in our most recent podcast episode, we are seeing the end of Issue Three coming soon. A long time ago, you all cleared out our inventory of Issue One and Issue Two. Now, Three is not far behind. We will be posting some excerpts here on the blog until this one goes out of stock. If you don’t have a copy of Issue Three, now is the time to order. Honestly, we get emails all the time from folks begging for Issues One and Two, so we recommend ordering Issue Three right now before it’s gone for good. In related news, we just revealed in that same podcast episode mentioned above that Mike and I are beginning...
Tomorrow night, I will be broadcasting a live webinar from the M&T workshop for the North House Folk School. I’ve turned down almost all of these offers over the past year, because… Zoom. But this is a rare exception. I’ve long wanted to get to know the North House folks better because our interests and visions overlap in several important ways. Also, I’ve been anxious to get talking about my research into technology and craftsmanship. If this webinar is the way I can do these two things right now, so be it. When asked about a topic I’d like to cover, I knew exactly what it would be. The webinar’s description is below: “With Ready Hands: Exploring the Interplay...
