Woodcraft Ninjas

The following is excerpted from Peter Follansbee’s “Joiner’s Work.” Forget what you think about 17th-century New England furniture. It’s neither dark nor boring. Instead, it’s a riot of geometric carvings and bright colors – all built upon simple constructions that use rabbets, nails and mortise-and-tenon joints. Peter Follansbee has spent his adult life researching this…

The following is excerpted from Peter Follansbee’s “Joiner’s Work.” If you like green woodworking, “Joiner’s Work” is doctoral thesis on processing furniture-shaped chunks of lumber from the tree using and axe, froe, hatchet and brake. If you are into carving, Peter dives into deep detail on how he festoons his pieces with carvings that appear…

This week, we’ve had Peter Follansbee (author of “Joiner’s Work“) in the shop teaching six students to carve and make a 17th-century-style oak and pine box with an integral till. The first three days were carving, yesterday was joinery, and today they’re finishing off the joinery, then making and attaching the bottom and lids. The…

The following is excerpted from Peter Follansbee’s “Joiner’s Work.” Follansbee has spent his adult life researching this beguiling time period to understand the simple tools and straightforward processes used to build the historical pieces featured in this book. “Joiner’s Work” represents the culmination of decades of serious research and shop experimentation. But it’s no dry…