Line & Berry Chest of Drawers

Though not traditional, router patterns make quick work of the inlay. In southeastern Pennsylvania, just northwest of Philadelphia, is Chester County. It was one of the original three counties [...]

Three-legged Occasional Table

Steam-bending or bent laminations can be used to make this eye-catching design. The design of this table is part of a series that I revisit from time to time. The original concept for the series [...]

Campaign Furniture

Campaign-style furniture is as sturdy and simple as Shaker. It is as masculine as Arts & Crafts. And it is free of adornment, like Bauhaus pieces. Yet many woodworkers are unaware of this [...]

Southern Lady’s Desk

This North Carolina beauty exemplifies the style of the early South. I don’t consider myself a furniture snob, but until recently, I’d not studied furniture from the South beyond pieces featured [...]

Bow-front Entry Table

Learning to work with veneers and curves enables you to design and build almost anything. This bow-front entry table serves as a good introduction to both – without costing a small fortune or [...]

Arch Table

Many interesting pieces of furniture are deceptively simple. Deceptive, because although they appear simple, they are actually very difficult to make. Although this is occasionally true in my own [...]

Bo’s Cabinet

As the old saying goes, sometimes you have to learn to walk before you can run. That’s certainly been true in my career as a cabinetmaker: I’ve tried to learn the basics on small [...]

Summer Table

Remember Lincoln Logs? When I was a kid, my friends and I spent hours building cabins and forts with them. Lincoln Logs locked together, one on top of another, just like the real deal. They were [...]

Distinctive Tool Cabinet

Unique because of its appearance and easy to build because it’s constructed using basic woodworking techniques, this two-part cabinet provides copious storage and signals the work—and the [...]

Try for Your Best Work

  From 1977-1983 I made my living as a studio furniture designer and maker. In addition to making furniture, I found most of the hand tools available at the time so uninspiring and [...]

Half Face Respirator Masks for Our Time

I had this blog entry on the back burner for quite some time now. But, as our current unprecedented set of events has unfolded so rapidly, it became imperative for me to finish and publish it as [...]

Arts & Crafts Buffet

Video: Watch Bob’s table saw techniques for cutting the drawer finger joints. I designed this buffet cabinet a couple years ago for a weekend seminar on Arts & Crafts joinery. After the [...]