Arts & Mysteries

In my mind, I only have two choices. I either leave the line when I cross cut saw, then plane the end grain down to it, or saw to the...

So I’m cutting this 4 foot long dado, running my plane against a nailed on fence, and guess where stupid puts the nails. I didn’t want to sink the nail,...

This is what I’m building (click the picture to enlarge): This is a joinery plan. It defines what joints go where. Period craftsmen would not have drawn such a thing....

I wrote to you about the English Method because I want you to try it. But I wouldn’t go plugging the hold fast holes in your bench top just quite...

English craftsmen worked on benches with only a single planing stop to secure their stock for facing. Images of the Nicholson benches have no dog holes like my bench shown...

When we talk about stock preparation by hand, we always talk about planes. But I find saws are far more important to the process. Blow a cross cut, and you’re...

I began this project like every other- looking at wood. Though some level of intimacy with wood is inescapable, my interest in these boards is practical, not spiritual. I’m looking...

I wanted to be encouraging. I wanted to be funny. I wanted to tell folks in no uncertain terms that it isn’t necessarily the case that every plane needs to...

Each year, 400 or so woodworkers attend Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s “Working Wood in the 18th century” conference. Attendees are treated to scholarly lectures on period [...]

January was a really busy month for me. It started with a trip to Williamsburg for the annual woodworking conference. For those of you who were unable to attend, I...

I’m taking a class called “What style is it? Furniture styles through the Ages”at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (www.philamuseum.org). It’s essentially an art history [...]

I’m ashamed to say that despite Chippendale’s advice, I know very little about the classical column orders. I know they are used to define ancient architectural styles. I generally [...]