Life is good. It got a little scattered over the holidays, but is now returning to form. I thrive when I have passion and purpose. The week I spent down in Phoenix, Arizona with Morgan to build the "Flow" bubinga table was a model lifestyle which I try to replicate. My routine was simple and … Continue reading Living The Life
The Legacy of the In-N-Out Burger
Most years, I get one or two opportunities to fly down to California for five days to work a trade show for Lee Valley. And when that opportunity comes, I take it. Why not? California is sunny, warm, and near nice beaches. Most importantly, it's away from the shop, making it the closest thing to … Continue reading The Legacy of the In-N-Out Burger
The Reward For Hard Work
The past two weeks, I've spent an awful lot of time in the shop, on top of the approximately 30 hours per week I've been working at Lee Valley. One of the projects I am working on is a carved headboard. By far, it has to be the most labour-intensive project I've done to date. … Continue reading The Reward For Hard Work
Finger Joints
For some reason, I have never experimented with finger joints. But recently, while playing with the dovetail saws at one of the woodworking shows, I found myself addicted to cutting them. Here's one of the better joints I cut: While quite time consuming to cut by hand, they are relatively quick to do by machine … Continue reading Finger Joints
Shavings are Fun!
Wood shavings are cool. They are fun to make. They are fun to play with. That is part of why I enjoy working with handplanes so much. It's not just because of the beautiful, polished surface they leave behind. It's because of the fashion in which they remove wood. I've found that different types of … Continue reading Shavings are Fun!
Modern Art
I love modern art. More precisely, I love making modern art. Even more precisely, I love making a mockery of modern art. This weekend, I am in Portland, Oregon working the Portland Woodworking Show for Lee Valley Tools. Popular demos included sharpening, hand planes, and the new dovetail saws. I started out this morning playing … Continue reading Modern Art
A Riddle
Today was a beautiful day - warm and sunny. I went to work and, four hours later when I finished, my left side was completely soaked, my right side was dry, and I was standing two inches taller. What was I doing? Do you need a hint? If not, I know that you have done … Continue reading A Riddle
The Fine Art of Sticking Two Pieces of Wood Together
Woodworkers use clamps for many tasks, but most importantly for clamping work together while the glue sets. Some clamps, like spring clamps are fairly weak and apply about 35 lbs of force. At the other end of the scale, heavy duty bar clamps can exert up to 6800 lbs, and C-clamps can exert well over … Continue reading The Fine Art of Sticking Two Pieces of Wood Together
Some Kind of Work
A few weeks ago, I received a call from my friend Dave. He had just gotten word that two large trees - a large Norway Maple and an even larger elm - had just been brought down. He asked me if I was interested in any of the wood and mentioned that the elm was … Continue reading Some Kind of Work
A Box Called “Tolerences”
This box was built from butternut using only hand tools. I started with green boards of butternut and planed them down with a jack plane, cut the half-lap joints with a chisel and skew-rabbet plane, and glued and nailed the joints. I glued and nailed on the bottom with two nails - the other two … Continue reading A Box Called “Tolerences”
