My Grandma West spent a large part of her life observing my grandfather, Joe, and my uncle, Tom, at work – either on a house or in the shop. Both were skilled woodworkers, among other things, but each had a different way of looking at the craft. “Joe could look at a staircase or some…
Read moreWe have two new titles for sale today: “The Belligerent Finisher” by John Porritt and The Stick Chair Journal No. 1 . Both are available for immediate shipment. “The Belligerent Finisher” is a hands-on, no-secrets finishing book that details how John Porritt adds years of age and patina to a piece. John is a life-long…
Read moreEditor’s note: With the first Stick Chair Journal shipping out very soon, we wanted to highlight the woodcut on the cover. >>Stay tuned for a shipping date!<< Making a Woodcut When making a woodcut you need to make sure to remember two things: The printed image will be a mirror of the image you see…
Read moreEditor’s note: Here’s another essay I wrote in support of my new “Build a Stick Chair” video. My plan was to record these essays and set them to music with some images. I tried it, and it looked like the most boring slideshow with a narrator on quaaludes. So I present my script here, which…
Read moreTemplates are the foundation of my design process. While I occasionally make a full-size mock-up of a new design using cheap wood, it’s my templates that guide the process. And when I teach a class, I encourage students to trace whatever templates they like onto the huge sheets of butcher paper we keep here. My…
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