Planing teak wood is no cake walk
At my day job as wood-shop manager at Robert Lighton Furniture in New York, I often need to fine-tune furniture parts before I pass them over to our skilled sander,...
Jason’s fold-out table
Jason was one of my students in the cardboard furniture class that I teach at 3rdWard NY. For his project he found an old World War II design of a...
The most "Woody" commercial you’ve ever seen
I have said it before in this blog, actually just a few weeks ago: Japanese have an affinity to perfect everything and take it to a new level. Even a [...]
Why we should teach our children Woodworking in school
Doug Stowe is one of the greatest proponents of Woodworking education in America. In this short video he lays out a compelling case for children to learn woodworking in schools:...
The secrets of Japanese wooden toothpicks
While visiting New York's Greenwich Village neighborhood this afternoon, I entered a Japanese American pop-up store that sells amazing chocolates and other [...]
Visiting an Israeli Luthier
While visiting Israel during the holidays, I paid a visit to the shop of Yaron Naor. Yaron is one of a few craftspeople who has mastered the art of Oud,...
A woodworker character is born on TV’s Portlandia
Everyone knows Portlandia as the quintessential showcase of Hipster culture. Part of becoming a hipster involves striving toward some sort of self reliance or at least dexterity of [...]
Gun control and the trajectory of a furniture project: Artillery table en route to Baltimore
My friend Jake Wright is a very talented maker-designer. He creates graphic and web design, exquisite furniture, and is a skilled woodworker welder. Jake is perhaps best known for incorporating [...]
Turned wood teapot to be included in an upcoming show at the Fuller Craft Museum Part 3
In my last post I mentioned how I completed the piece and brought it to the gallery. The gallery owner looked at the teapot and seemed surprised, explaining that she expected a...
Turned wood teapot, to be included in an upcoming show at the Fuller Craft Museum Part 2
My last entry focused on the fortuitous way I found the raw material and tracked the design process. This time I will show how I created the teapot. First, I glued together the...
Turned wood teapot, to be included in an upcoming show at the Fuller Craft Museum Part 1
Some of you might be wondering if a real teapot be made of wood. The truthful answer is, unfortunately, no. Wood is obviously not the best container for hot water....
Thoughts about Krenov-style wooden planes
I spent the last two weeks of 2012 in Israel interviewing woodworkers, touring shops, and visiting places of interest to us furniture makers that I never even knew existed. I am...
