Among the woodworking charities Chris and I support, and to which we donate our time and teaching to every year, is The Chairmaker’s Toolbox (CMT). This organization, founded by Aspen Golann, works to remove barriers to learning by championing woodworking education for those who have been underserved in traditional woodworking shops – particularly in the…
Read moreComments are now closed (but Chris will be in the blog back end later to answer the chair questions and any I missed…either on purpose or by mistake.) Got a woodworking question or a question about what’s cooking at Lost Art Press? It’s your lucky day –it’s time for Open Wire! You have until 5…
Read moreDon’t dally! We’re offering free shipping on EVERYTHING only through the end of October. Want a set of five Lost Art Press shop pencils? Only $13 for those and they ship free. So does a $25 jar of Soft Wax 2.0. And a $20 signed copy of “Sharpen This.” And a $24 Lost Art Press…
Read moreNick Offerman learned as a child to work with his hands, to respect tools and to fix things in his hometown of Minooka, Illinois. “Sometimes, they’d let me nail a shingle,” he joked during his book reading last Saturday at the Berry Center. (Or maybe he wasn’t joking – but I suspect he was allowed…
Read moreIt is with grief that I report Kelly Mehler died early Sunday morning, Oct. 5, 2025. As you might know, he’d been fighting cancer for some time, but I heard from him recently when he told me he was feeling great and doing well, and working on a tool chest in his shop. So this…
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