Archives

If you’ve followed our website for any time, you’re bound to know the name Yoav Liberman. Yoav has contributed to our website for over a decade and has published numerous books on various topics. [...]

Make a habit of applying finish to end grain first. Why? It’s all about avoiding drip shadows.    Sounds creepy, doesn’t it? Here’s the deal: let’s say you’re finishing a top. You’re merrily [...]

The Adventure of the Pilgrim’s Chair. Sometime in the haze of the 1970s, Armand LaMontagne, a wood sculptor from Rhode Island, sought revenge against the museum world. He had been rebuffed by [...]

Real ebony… or is it? ThermalWood Canada is offering specialty material to woodworkers all over the world, including an ebony alternative. One of my favorite woods to use is ebony. This [...]

Accidental musing on craftsmanship and building things to last. On a cold rainy day in December 2014, I was returning home from running errands in my Washington, D.C., neighborhood. Diane Rehm [...]

After a woodworking course, this student has tools, a chest – and friends. In spring 2016 I took my first woodworking course, an “Introduction to Hand Tool Woodworking.” The class promised to [...]

Little things, such as allowing a child to spend time in your shop, can shape their future. I first learned about exploding outhouses when I was about six or seven. Maybe you’ve seen them: little [...]

Morgan library pieces get extended shelf life. The call came as monumental calls do – in the middle of hanging upper cabinets. “My name is D—, and I need you to build me two walk-in closets using [...]

Turning woodworking into a pastime helped me love it again. There are two ways I hear the term “hobbyist” thrown around. The first is by “professional” woodworkers and, more times than not, it is [...]

Proportion and structure outweigh ornament and showy materials. Have you ever found such a stunning piece of wood that you were almost afraid to cut into it? You know the boards I’m talking [...]

Mr. Sheffield’s two-year writing slope. About a decade ago, I walked into my English professor’s office for advising and couldn’t take my eyes off of his homemade writing slope. He was talking [...]

Ease and speed versus the idealization of the past – sometimes. When Lord Acton wrote that “absolute power corrupts absolutely,” he was referring to politics, but he could as easily have been [...]