We may receive a commission when you use our affiliate links. However, this does not impact our recommendations.
We like to attach significance to arbitrary dates; “Best of the Year” or “Best of the Decade” lists appear everywhere. It’s a good chance to reflect, but real life happens at random. Earlier this year we experienced the loss of two woodworking icons known to most American woodworkers, Sam Maloof and James Krenov. Less well-known on this side of the Atlantic, but equal in stature, was British woodworker Alan Peters. Peters revised and updated the classic text “Encyclopedia of Furnituremaking.” The influence of each of these men is great, and the combined influence on woodworkers who followed them is incredible.
It’s safe to say that 2009 will be remembered as the year the men who led the revitalization of woodworking as a craft went on to better things. We never wrote about Alan Peters in Popular Woodworking, but we have written many times over the years about Maloof and Krenov. The links that follow will take you to the things we published about them.
It’s also safe to say that you’ll see more in our pages about these men. It may not be specifically about them, it will likely be in the form of a nicely planed surface, a subtle curve or a well-made joint. These men are important for their own work, but more important is the way that bits of them will continue to show in the rest of us. Thank you gentlemen for teaching us about craftsmanship.
For an article about a Maloof table originally published in Pacific Woodworker (the predecessor of Popular Woodworking) click here.
For an interview with Sam Maloof originally published in Pacific Woodworker click here.
To read John Eckonomaki’s tribute to Sam Maloof from the December 2009 issue of Popular Woodworking click here.
To read about a visit to the shop of Sam Maloof, click here.
To read Ron Hock’s tribute to James Krenov from the December 2009 issue of Popular Woodworking, click here.
To read an article about the College of the Redwoods, the school founded by James Krenov, click here.
Leave a comment below to share how these men have influenced you.
