Chris Schwarz Blog
Contributing Editor Christopher Schwarz has been writing this woodworking blog continually since 2005. He covers the world of hand work, plus he writes about building furniture, visiting tool makers, and his travels.
To receive Daily Update e-mails with Chris’s latest blog posts, click here.
[keywords] Chris Schwarz, Chris Schwartz Blog, Schwartz Blog, Hand Tool Blog, Workbench Blog, Roubo Workbench, English Workbench, Hand Tool Reviews, Old Woodworking Books, Handplane Techniques, Woodworking Hand Tools[/keywords]
A New Bookmark: Hardware City Tools for Totes
When you buy vintage Stanley planes in the wild, one of the most common problems is the tote – and sometimes the knob – are trashed. My first No. 5 had a crude replacement tote that was so poorly rasped that it looked like it was furry. I’d always intended to make a replacement but [...]
The Case for Hidden Joinery
When I took my first woodworking class in 1993 I was gung-ho to learn two things: through-tenons and through-dovetails. At the time I was intoxicated by Arts & Crafts furniture and exposed joinery. For many woodworkers, I suspect that exposed joinery sends a message: This piece is made well. It’s not made using corrugated fasteners, [...]
Why You Should Visit Midwest Woodworking Co.
In this business, there are a few things you don’t share: Finishing secrets, wood sources and saliva. This post breaks one of those three cardinal rules – revealing excellent wood sources. Last week Andy Brownell took me to a lumber supplier that has been sitting under my nose since I moved to Cincinnati in 1996. [...]
Hardware Review: Ansaldi & Sons Campaign Hardware
While Horton Brasses has agreed to produce some custom pieces of campaign hardware for the chest/secretary I’m building for Popular Woodworking Magazine, that doesn’t squelch my desire to see what other makers have on offer. So I ordered a load of campaign brasses from Ansaldi & Sons of Hudson, N.H. The company has a wide [...]
A Little More on the Fork
After posting this story about the campaign-style fork and knife, I got an e-mail from woodworking researcher extraordinaire Jeff Burks. Burks, a trade carpenter, is a voracious collector of books, magazines and journals relating to woodworking. He also spends a lot of time researching patents related to tools and the trade. Which brings us to [...]
Things Woodworkers Don't Say
When I hang out with other woodworkers, the conversation almost always turns to what we are building now and what we are building next. Recently I said something I didn’t think I’d ever say: “I want to build a fork.” As I’ve been digging deeper into the 250-year history of campaign furniture, I’m turning up [...]
The Black Knife
In 19th-century English workshops you could be sacked (fired) for wearing eyeglasses. There are even accounts of how a shop might have a certain phrase that was spoken when the master was about to walk through the workroom. When that phrase was uttered, all the eyeglasses would go into hiding. I would have been fired [...]
