Small cross-peen hammers are incredibly useful in furniture making. I’ve had one in my chest for almost 20 years. “Wait,” you might be thinking. “Chris didn’t list this hammer in his recent inventory of his chest.” You are correct. That’s because we’ve been reverse-engineering my favorite Warrington to make our own version. It’s now in…
Read moreThe first writing class I took at Northwestern’s journalism school – “B-01 Basic Writing” – was intended to weed out about one-third of the students. You had to make a “B” in the course or you were thrown out. The class was intentionally boot camp-ish. And there were a variety of infractions that would result…
Read moreThe first writing class I took at Northwestern’s journalism school – “B-01 Basic Writing” – was intended to weed out about one-third of the students. You had to make a “B” in the course or you were thrown out. The class was intentionally boot camp-ish. And there were a variety of infractions that would result…
Read moreThis seven-stick comb-back chair is built from a 2,000-year-old oak tree that was preserved in a Polish bog and recently harvested. The wood, which is remarkable and difficult to photograph, varies from charcoal black to a beautiful olive to a warm chestnut brown. This chair is one of my newer designs; it uses a four-piece…
Read moreI use colored waxes quite a lot in my finishing, especially the darker colors. I’m partial to Liberon’s Black Bison Paste Wax, but that’s because it is the only brand I’ve ever used. Colored waxes are a secret weapon when it comes to muting a particularly loud or brash color. They also add a depth…
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