It’s easy to find lots of scolding about the hazards of using woodworking machinery. I have seen some stuff. I have cleaned the interior of a jointer after someone else’s accident. I have seen a man wrestle a grinder (and lose). I’ve seen a guy try (and luckily fail) to cut off his finger with…
Read moreWendell picked up a maul, which Meb had made from a hickory tree. It had a smooth handle and a bulbous head, squared off at the end. “With it,” he told me, “you can deliver a blow of tremendous force to a stake or a splitting wedge.” Thinking about a modern sledgehammer, I asked how…
Read moreI get asked (a lot) why there are so few stick chairs in the furniture record of the United States. To that question, I reply, “Just you wait.” Ever since I built my first stick chair in 2003, my aim has not been to reproduce the chairs I adore from Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Sweden….
Read moreBecause I have written books on workbenches and chairs, I am regularly asked what sort of workbench is best for making chairs. Here’s my answer: the same bench you use to make cabinets, boxes and snake toys. Unless you are a professional chairmaker who makes chairs and only chairs in a tiny space, there is…
Read moreWe all have a list such as this. Here’s mine. If One is Good, 12 is Better When you acquire a good tool, such as a block plane, and it really, really works, the tendency is to buy all its friends. After I bought my first No. 5 (about 1996-97), I fell in love with…
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