Why I Love Ikea
From the April 2015 issue. Buy it now I love Ikea. Yes, I said it. This store has provided me with an understanding of furniture design and with products I use on many of my projects. For some [...]
How a Tree Became a Whale
A rescue and careful work reveal the spirit of land and sea. I have lusted for years after the wide, irregular planks used by the legendary George Nakashima to capture what he called “the soul of [...]
End Grain: Blacker House Garden Bench
A gnarly old conifer finds new life on a recognized California estate. by John Ipekjian page 64 In 1908, architects Charles and Henry Greene built one of their most famous [...]
New Names for Old Tools
Just keep saying ‘micron.’ Woodworkers who use hand tools to lay the quality touch on their work know what can be accomplished with these wonderful inventions. Along with skill, [...]
10 Tips for Working With End Grain
A Backer Board Prevents Chip-Out Chip-out is always an issue when you even up the stiles and rails of a door with a plane. If you plane all the way across the door, from one end to the other, [...]
Sandpaper Drawer
The lessons I learned from Dad’s crumpled and worn-out abrasives. Whether you’re a professional or hobbyist woodworker, having a keen sense of proper material utilization reduces the cost of [...]
End Grain: The Myth of Original Design
Lessons from a Lifetime Maker
Every Tool’s a Hammer: Life is What You Make It Simon & Schuster, $27 You may recognize the man on the cover of this book, Adam Savage, as one half of the duo from TV’s “Mythbusters.” The [...]
End Grain: A Shaker’s Life
Research gives names to unknown artisans. By Tom Caspar David Rowley, Freegift Wells, Amos Stewart, Orren Haskens, Eli Kidder…ever hear of these guys? They were Shaker cabinetmakers, the [...]
End Grain: It Wasn’t Always Like This
When a family friend recently visited my new cabinet shop, he commented, “Your dad and grandpa would’ve loved this place. It wasn’t always like this!” He meant that although both men were pro [...]
End Grain: Turnabout
Learning from the past can secure our future. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases made through affiliate links. By Tom Caspar On a sultry day in September, 1832, [...]
When Irony is Unintentionally Built Into a Coffee Table
A Game of Thrones inspired coffee table meets a tragic (and ironic) end.
