I like chamfers as much as I like grits. And making stop-chamfers with a little lamb’s tongue detail at the end is like adding crispy pork belly and goat cheese to my grits. As a result of my design fetish, I feel like someone in New Britain, Conn., was thinking of me when they invented … Read more
Shaping
Rehandling a Chisel
For the last week or so I’ve been researching the science of smacking the snot out of things. I’ve been reading lecture notes from a Harvard course on “fracture mechanics,” learning what the Timber Construction Manual has to say about “design values for bearing on end grain” and hearing about the construction of escrima (a … Read more
Review: '17th Century New England Carving' with Peter Follansbee
I never cared for carved furniture until I saw some 17th-century American chests in Wallace Nutting’s “Furniture of the Pilgrim Century.” (A low-resolution GoogleBooks version is available here.) The book’s first chapter is about carved chests, and as soon as I saw them, I knew I had to build one (especially the example on page … Read more
Review: Lie-Nielsen Curved Drawknife
Though I don’t talk much about it here on the blog, one of my long-standing obsessions (aside from my “goat” problem) is with chairmaking. I’ve taken a few classes, built a bunch of chairs and dream about doing work as nice as Curtis Buchanan, Peter Galbert or even Dave Sawyer. Since I started making chairs, … Read more
Review: 'Unlocking the Secrets of Traditional Design: Moldings'
I like city life. Nothing pleases me more than walking the streets of old cities, ducking down the alleyways of Charleston, S.C., stumbling unexpectedly into the squares of Savannah, Ga., or just absorbing the 19th-century vibe of German Village in Columbus, Ohio. In fact, I’ve often thought that my entire life has been an effort … Read more
I am That Nutjob
Sometimes with woodworking, what seems crazy one day can be quite sensible the next. I distinctly remember reading in the late 1990s a manuscript from an author who was building some Morris chairs. He used an 8′-long beam compass to lay out the shallow curves on the chairs’ stretchers and had to enlist his sons … Read more
Auriou Rasps Available Now
Find your credit card. You know the one. It’s one your spouse always hides when you get caught reading my blog. Auriou, the venerable French toolmaker that closed it doors last year after a labor dispute, re-opened for business on Friday. Thanks to new owners and the same plant manager, the new Forge de St … Read more