Jennie’s clock
By now you all figured out that clocks are a hit among my young students and, from my experience, most clocks builders are girls. Perhaps the thing that makes a clock unique among the various [...]
New CPSC Report: Human Factors in Table Saw Safety
Note: Executive editor Robert W. Lang was quoted in this article in USA Today. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued a new report on table saw injuries, and the report is [...]
Revamped Moser’s ‘Shaker Furniture’
We were excited about the opportunity to bring Thomas Moser’s “How to Build Shaker Furniture” up to today’s publishing standards. While the book has been an inspiration to [...]
‘Annie Oakley’ Comes to Town
Two months ago, I wrote about two new saws from Bad Axe Tool Works – a 10″ dovetail saw and a 12″ dovetail/small tenon saw. I joked that that I was going to rename the “Doc [...]
Ripping Thin Stuff Safely
One of the issues of using a table saw safely is that many of the things intended to keep us safe don’t work well when you really need them. Ripping thin pieces on the table saw is a good [...]
YEW YEW YEW
THE YEW TABLE. THIS IS A PIECE FROM A TIMBER MILL. MADE INTO A TABLE. YEW IS THE TIMBER OF ALL TIMBERS. IF WORKED RIGHT YOU CAN MAKE AMAZING FURNITURE THAT WILL LAST DECADES. THIS TIMBER IS NOT [...]
The English Layout Square: A Mystery and a Slideshow
Today I’m in Portland, Maine, eating myself sick at Duckfat and studying the architectural details on the old houses in this coastal city. As I started picking apart some Victorian houses on the [...]
Alexi’s studies part 2
Alexi's fourth baluster was, to my taste, the best one. He decided to carve an oval foot and then spiral it up with a bead. Once he finished working on all four feet, he continue to created [...]
Phi in the Sky, or Leg, as the Case May Be
When designing a piece of furniture, you really can’t go wrong with using the golden ratio. The same might be true for workbenches, but we’ll have to see about that. For my bench, [...]
Easy Curvaceous Edge Joints
Last winter, I was puzzling out a way to make edge joints that are just the opposite of what we normally want – perfectly straight. I wanted free-flowing curves and I wanted to join contrasting [...]
Alexi’s studies part 1
How do we teach design to a young student? Should we show him past "specimens" of good woodworking or furniture design, then use that new-found knowledge to inspire the student's [...]