Popular Woodworking Magazine » Arts & Mysteries Blog

Art History v. Experimental Archeology

Adam Cherubini — Tue, 07 May 2013 20:52:12 +0000

I have often found it beneficial to sketch furniture while examining it. Unlike a photograph, a pencil insists a form be understood to be reproduced. But my sketches don’t always look like my subjects. My failing can be attributed to both my lack of skill and lack of understanding of the subject. I’m not convinced … Read more »

The post Art History v. Experimental Archeology appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Beginning Woodworking: Splitting Logs

Adam Cherubini — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 17:28:06 +0000

If I could teach a class on period woodworking and really control the syllabus, I would start in the woods and teach beginning woodworking. And while I doubt I could fill woodworking classes like this with guys like us, this is exactly what I’m doing with my kids. They don’t have their own benches or … Read more »

The post Beginning Woodworking: Splitting Logs appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Shop Cleanup

Adam Cherubini — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 01:26:58 +0000

We all have junk in our shops that we don’t use or no longer need. My junk is sometimes a bit unique, but it’s junk none-the-less. I’m cleaning out my shop, making room for more junk and I’ll probably drop some on ebay. I won’t post links to my auctions because I think that’s icky. But … Read more »

The post Shop Cleanup appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

A Machinist’s Chest for Woodworkers?

Adam Cherubini — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 04:45:30 +0000

I hope you are enjoying my latest series on my new tool chest. The project was born this time last year during the FWW presentations at Colonial Williamsburg’s “Working Wood in the 18th Century” conference. The FWW presenters, in my opinion, were wrestling with the differences between executing 18th-century work using 18th-century approaches, (I don’t … Read more »

The post A Machinist’s Chest for Woodworkers? appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

The Emperor’s New Saw?

Adam Cherubini — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 17:15:46 +0000

I built my Roubo clone frame saw many years ago after seeing a similar one in Colonial Williamsburg’s Hay shop. With my version, which is a closer approximation of the Roubo saw in both style and blade geometry, I attempted to improve on some of the slow cutting attributes of the Hay shop’s saw. … Read more »

The post The Emperor’s New Saw? appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Working to a Line

Adam Cherubini — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 03:27:59 +0000

The basic principle of woodworking is painfully easy: Mark your project carefully, then remove the wood that isn’t part of your project. Over Christmas break, I built my wife a coffee table. Here it is: The table has “clamped” or breadboard ends. Three tenons, integral with the top, fit into attending mortises cut into the … Read more »

The post Working to a Line appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Marking Gauge Maintenance

Adam Cherubini — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 03:38:15 +0000

I’m busy dovetailing the 13 tiny drawers for the tool chest I’m making. I’m using two marking gauges to mark out the drawer fronts, but I was having some problems with the precision of my marks. I first turned my attention to the pins. They get dull and need to be reshaped or just resharpened, … Read more »

The post Marking Gauge Maintenance appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Medieval Stock Preparation

Adam Cherubini — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 02:36:28 +0000

Though planes have been around for millennia, they haven’t always been the essential woodworking tool that we may think they were. In Medieval Europe, and especially England, lots of good woodwork was done without handplanes. Surfaces were prepared and smoothed with wide chisels. I often use chisels rather than saws or planes, to quickly remove … Read more »

The post Medieval Stock Preparation appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Working with Plywood – 18th-century Style

Adam Cherubini — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 20:54:19 +0000

I used plywood for my “Machinist’s Tool Test” project (in the October 2012 issue, and continued in February 2013 issue). In the past, I regarded plywood as being unworkable by hand. But I found a couple tricks to working it by hand: • Plywood can be sawn using fine-toothed handsaws. I think crosscut saws work … Read more »

The post Working with Plywood – 18th-century Style appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

WIA 2012 After Action Report

Adam Cherubini — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 15:46:58 +0000

Just got home from the Woodworking in America Midwest, the second of two conferences held this fall. Just want to say thanks to all of you who attended and supported these conferences. I really enjoyed meeting folks and appreciated the opportunity I was given to do so. Thanks also to F&W pubs and Popular Woodworking … Read more »

The post WIA 2012 After Action Report appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.