Pocket Screws for Chairmaking? (Yes)

The first time I became aware of pocket screws I was standing in a Grizzly Industrial showroom handing out free magazines to a long line of customers – maybe 200 people. More than half of them [...]

A Much Better Shape for a Card Scraper

In May I got to spend two weeks working with Chris Williams, a Welsh chairmaker who worked with John Brown for many years. While Chris was teaching a class in building his Welsh Stick Chair I [...]

Dent the Wood for Tighter Joints

We’ve all dented some important part of a project and hand to remove the dent with heat and steam. It’s a routine and and annoying fix. But what if we could use the same process to make our [...]

Meet Munich Designer Richard Riemerschmid

Whenever I have a day off when I’m traveling, I gorge myself on museums. Yesterday I had a free day in Munich, Germany, and spent the whole day in three museums. The highlight was getting to see [...]

It’s OK if the Wood Splinters a Bit

During the last decade, I’ve built a lot of six-board chests, including the examples found in this 2013 article in Popular Woodworking Magazine. For as long as I have been building these chests, [...]

Death to Disposable Furniture

In many ways, the Europeans are ahead of us in the United States (like it or no). Their recycling programs far outpace the ones in the Midwest. Public transport is worlds better. Even the basic [...]

Woodworking Overseas is a Rocky Road

This week I’m headed to Germany to teach a couple classes at Dictum in Bavaria. I don’t teach much anymore, but I make a grand exception for Dictum for several reasons. The biggest reason? The [...]