It’s easy to talk yourself out of doing something that’s out of the ordinary. Woodworkers tend to worry and analyze things so much that they often settle for less, when doing things right isn’t that much of a stretch. A case in point is the curved rails on the back of a Morris chair. How … Read more
Tag Archives: Stickley
Match Mortise Size Without Measuring
Whenever I teach a class, at least one student will say to me “you really don’t like measuring, do you?” I don’t dislike measuring, but I try to avoid it whenever I can. When I’m trying to get one part to fit another, the numbers become irrelevant and measuring often becomes an opportunity to make … Read more
April Comes Between Thanksgiving and New Years
Working on a magazine has some elements of science fiction, particularly in relation to the space/time continuum. Even though it’s late November, I’ve been working on a project for the April 2011 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. Here is a “sausage factory tour” of how we select, design and build projects that appear in the … Read more
Reinforcing the Indestructible
Pegging through-mortise-and-tenon joints is an excellent way to reinforce the already strong joint. Good dowels can be hard (if not impossible) to find, so when I need the right size and the right species, I make my own. It doesn’t take long, and the work is a nice relief from fussing with other details. I … Read more
When Arts and Crafts Joinery Becomes Decoration
A large part of the appeal of Arts and Crafts style furniture is the apparent lack of decoration. This project, a reproduction of a Gustav Stickley No. 70 music cabinet and a detail I’ve borrowed from similar pieces is the reason for using the word “apparent”. I’ve always liked this little cabinet, it’s just under … Read more
Why This Detail Was Abandoned
In early Gustav Stickley pieces, doors with divided lights were joined with mitered mullions. It’s an intriguing look, but was used only for a few years. My next project for the magazine has a divided door, and even though I haven’t been able to find an original example of the piece I’m building with mitered … Read more
Going Around and Coming Around
One of my favorite movies is “Little Big Man”. The characters spiral in ironic orbits that periodically intersect each other. Each intersection finds them more tattered as they age, and they appear when and where you least expect them. It is the only movie I ever sat through twice in the theater, and when seemingly … Read more