I've always enjoyed designing furniture… I LOVE the whole design process, from gathering inspiration to bringing a concept to fruition! Before this week though, I had only been able to doodle my designs since I didn't have the joinery know-how to build my wooden creations. Thanks to my time at...
i have several 4' logs from a sycamore tree that i want to turn into a desk i have cut a few planks about 2'' think that i plan on sanding/routeing/planing to a final thickness of about 1'' thick for the table top not sure if i need to plane first or join them together then plane. i don't...
What did I do this summer? Wrote a book of course. "_Quiet Woodworking: In An Unquiet World_". This was my summer project over a 3.5 month period. Write about the dichotomy of hand tool woodworking in a modern world. I delve into how my furniture pieces are created using hand tools. Why we...
A daydream, a tool chest and a blue shed
I set myself the project of making a chair from a tree without the use of electricity or machine tools around a year and a half ago - and recorded some of my thoughts as I did so. Since joining LJs, I felt that others might like to read my 'story' of...
Joinery Details
Joinery is the art of knowing what wood to remove and what to leave behind. Reductive & simple, yet seductive in its intricacies balancing negative space with strength. Take too much wood away and you leave no strength. Take too little and you've compromised the tenon. You are...
Is the 'reclaimed' trend good or bad for woodworking?
The current craze for reclaimed furniture, or primitive furniture, means unique opportunities and challenges for woodworkers. The main benefit is that interest in reclaimed is tied to a desire for handmade furniture, and that's good for...
Using a Router and Hand Tools to Shape a Seat.
I've used routers many times to do the bulk removal of wood when shaping a solid seat. But, I've never done it totally freehand like I do in this video. In the past I've made large patterns that a router-on-sled would follow with a collar...
I have a fairly large amount of roughsawn oak (white and red) boards for sale ($2/bf). I'm in central New Jersey. Let me know ASAP if you are interested.