Anytime I go somewhere and anticipate the possibility of having some free time, I like to have a knife with me to carve. My First Modified Carving Knife I started with a German #8 chip carving knife with a fixed blade. I modified the blade to extend the cutting edge right to the handle, and … Continue reading Woodworking On-the-Go with Modified Knives
There was certainly a little creativity and cleverness that I put into the design of this box. Because of that, I have enjoyed the process of making them. Yesterday, I had three batches in various stages of completion and began detailing one group. Chamfering the Edges The first step was to chamfer the edges. This … Continue reading Adding Chamfers
This Thursday, I am teaching a seminar called Understanding Wood Grain. In this seminar, I discuss various methods of reading the grain and demonstrate how to use this knowledge to work wood efficiently. For the hands-on component, I guide students through a variety of situations and explore a multitude of practical techniques using a bench … Continue reading Fundamentals: Understanding Wood Grain and Using a Chisel
Inspiration fuels me. When I am inspired, I have seemingly limitless energy. When I'm not inspired, I employ a few strategies to try to rekindle that fire. One of them is experimentation which is fun and a good way to practice woodworking. I usually start with a piece of wood about 18" long and square … Continue reading Connect the Dots
On the morning of Sunday, April 15th, Morton and I exchanged ideas about trestle tables, spurred on by a recent sketch of a table on which he was working. That got me yearning to build a trestle table. I documented my progress live on Twitter which was useful because each update had a time stamp so followers could … Continue reading Maple Trestle Table, Session 16 – Angled Mortises and Tenons
Sunday afternoon, I started a project with a board of butternut (I thought it was walnut at first). The idea was to let the wood dictate the end result. I documented the process of building and mounting wall brackets live on Twitter and what you see below are the updates from Day 2: Monday (you … Continue reading How to Listen to the Wood – Carving, Day 2
Sunday afternoon, I started a project with a board of butternut (I thought it was walnut at first). The idea was to let the wood dictate the end result. I documented the process of building and mounting wall brackets live on Twitter and what you see below are the updates from Sunday (the project wasn't … Continue reading How to Listen to the Wood – Carving, Day 1
This post is part of Get Woodworking Week, an initiative started by Tom Iovino of Tom's Workbench, to build interest and participation in woodworking. I know that every one of my readers except for Paul-Marcel, for whom I made the first one, is scratching their head wondering what the heck a Br'all is, what it does, … Continue reading Every Workshop Needs a Br’all
Many wooden-handled tools that you can buy come covered in a tough, shiny finish. These tools look so perfect and pretty and would look right at home in a glass display case under a spotlight in the Museum of Modern Art. While the shiny handles are pretty and easy to wipe clean, they are slippery … Continue reading Shiny Handles Suck
A slick is essentially a large chisel that can be used to pare or trim projections in the middle of a large surface. Many slicks have cranked handles (angled upwards) to provide the necessary clearance. They are often used in timber framing but their size makes the overkill in the shop. Useful or not, it's … Continue reading Slicks and Handles for Socket Chisels
Sculptural Woodwork by Chris Wong 