Katherine “the Wax Princess” Schwarz has a fresh batch of Soft Wax 2.0 now now available in her Etsy store. It’s my favorite finish for Shaker trays and tool chest tills, and Chris uses it on just about every not-painted chair. It looks great, smells great, is easy to apply, is non-toxic – and it…
Read moreThe Florida School of Woodwork is holding a raffle and silent auction to raise money for woodworking scholarships. This week’s silent auction item is a Kentucky Stick Chair made earlier this year by Christopher Schwarz. Plus you can buy raffle tickets to be entered to win one of this week’s raffle prizes: a Dixie Biggs…
Read moreFred West was a modern-day Medici when it came to hand tools – a true patron of the fine arts, and a driving force behind the hand-tool renaissance of the last two decades. If you were into hand tools before 2014 and attended any woodworking shows, you likely knew Fred – or at least heard…
Read moreThe following is excerpted from “The Joiner & Cabinet Maker,” by Anonymous, Christopher Schwarz and Joel Moskowitz, from the chapter on making the dovetailed schoolbox. In this chapter, as with the other projects in the book, Chris builds “alongside” young Thomas, the main character in the charming 1839 fictional account of an apprentice in a…
Read moreThe following is excerpted from “Mechanic’s Companion,” by Peter Nicholson. It is one of the foundational English-language texts in woodworking and the building trades. First published in 1812, “Mechanic’s Companion” is an invaluable and thorough treatment of techniques, with 40 plates that provide an excellent and detailed look at the tools of the time, along…
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