Woodcraft Ninjas

We’re delighted to have Matt Bickford, author of “Mouldings in Practice” (and he’s working on a book on making moulding planes!) on Open Wire today to answer your woodworking questions. (And he knows a lot more about making high-style furniture than do Chris or I – so now’s your chance!) Here’s how it works: Type…

This Saturday’s Open Wire will be hosted by Matt Bickford, owner/planemaker at M.S. Bickford, which offers reproductions of 18th-century-style British moulding planes. Matt is the author of “Mouldings in Practice,” and he worked with Lie-Nielsen Toolworks to release a DVD with the same name. Both the book and DVD illustrate the process of creating moulding…

We just finished up the chair class with students selected by Chairmakers Toolbox, and we are both inspired and exhausted. Building eight stick chairs in five days with limited tools is no joke. But working with a group of chair-crazy enthusiastic young woodworkers gives me hope for the future of our craft. So today I…

This weekend is the calm period before our class with The Chairmakers Toolbox next week. The wood in the above photo? Y’all paid for that with your contributions. The money you donated will also feed them all week. And there was extra cash ($2,700) left over, which was donated directly to The Chairmakers Toolbox. So…

After Open Wire Live last week in Amana, Iowa, we are happy to be back to the electronic question-and-answer format. (Yes, we loved hugging you in Amana. No, you didn’t smell too awful. And it’s OK about the drool.) Also, people tended to duck every time I yelled “Open Wire!” when I was asked a…