Take the Fear Out of Chairmaking
When you make a table it’s fairly straightforward. Four legs (or some variation thereof) and a top. Not too hard. If you choose to splay the legs, then you’ve added...
Steam Powered
Successful wood bending with heat and water is more art than science. Long ago, some caveman made a curious discovery: Wood becomes pliable when it is both hot and wet,...
Galbert Drawsharp in Use
Before you read beyond the first few sentences of this blog entry, there a couple things you should know: I have no problems sharpening a drawknife. Never have (except that...
Scoop a Chair Seat on the Table Saw with Mario Rodriguez
Mario Rodriguez of the Philadelphia Furniture Workshop has an article in our August 2013 issue that shows you how to build a clever table saw jig he uses to carve...
A Visit with Woodworker/President Jimmy Carter
No matter what your political bent, you’ll want to check out the latest episode of Charles Brock’s The Highland Woodworker, which Popular Woodworking proudly sponsors, and [...]
Chair Joinery: Tapered Tenons & Tapered Mortises
Because chairs take abuse like a rented mule, the simple mortise-and-tenon joint is sometimes not enough. In traditional Windsor chair construction, the legs and spindles are attached to the plank...
A Better Clamp for Angled Joints
Gluing and clamping angled assemblies – like most chairs – can be a hassle. There are some great strategies for approaching glue-ups, angled and otherwise, in various books including “Glue...
Is It Cheating at Chairmaking?
Where is the craftsmanship line crossed between between handwork, machine work, and machine work driven by computers? Or, is there a line at all? I certainly don’t know the answer....
Exploring the Roorkhee Chair
I’m gearing up to build a run of Roorkhee Chairs for some customers and (fingers crossed) this magazine. But before I can even order the wood I had to do...
Build a Sculptured Rocker with Charles Brock
"Two DVD's + Book + Full-Size Patterns + Online Support = Success! Most woodworkers' ""bucket lists"" of projects include crafting a Maloof-inspired rocking chair. Brocks' [...]
Saddle a Chair Seat
“(Chairs) are too hard. Chairmakers are doomed to poverty.” — Gary Bennett (1934 – ) furniture maker and artist If I were a full-time chairmaker, I don’t think I’d be...
Pattern-sanding Curved Parts
This is straight from André Roubo’s “L’Art Du Menuisier” in the section on oscillating spindle sanders. True, the spindle sander shown in plate 322 is treadle-powered, and the menuisiers shown...
