Adventures of an Imperfect Man In Search of a Handmade Life
Someone recently shared this house with me and I've seen her (Ana White's) work popping up all over the Internet lately. Ana White uses readily available materials to create some genius storage and living solutions for small homes. These could easily be applied in many other situations in order to make the most of any …
Continue reading "Ana White and Some Truly Brilliant Ideas"
Joinery doesn’t have to be a mystery or an unknowable. Have a read of Mr. Merritt’s take on joinery. I’m looking forward to more!
I love joinery.
There is something magical about fitting two or more pieces of wood together.
Before the advent of mechanical fasteners, joinery reigned supreme. At that pre-industrial time is was the cheapest, fastest and strongest way of building with wood. As nails, bolts and screws became less expensive they began to displace joinery for building with wood. Mechanical fasteners required less skill and were faster. Thus the products produced became less expensive and the structural and aesthetic compromises were accepted as “progress”. Machines too brought an end to joinery’s reign. Some joints that can be “easily” cut by hand are either impossible to cut with a machine or the setup is too costly. So joinery was simplified or abandoned to accommodate mass production.
I have no intention of delving into a philosophical diatribe on the pros and cons of the industrial revolution. My intent with the preceding was to…
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Here's a beautiful trestle table coming together in Andy Rawls' studio; spotted on his Tumblr this morning. Seeing this makes me realize I can't wait to get some projects done over the three day weekend. It makes me a little sad to say something like that. Choosing a job for pay instead of a love …
I’ve heard people say they have to put a piece of wood aside until the spirit hits them. That’s procrastination. Pick it up and work it – you’ll feel the spirit. No, I think it’s an advantage being self-taught.
— Sam Maloof, December 1980, Fine Woodworking
People just like what I do and buy it. As for schooling, my clients are my teachers. They’re the ones who bring me the design problems. Schools get too easily divorced from the real world. In many places students graduate and become teachers without ever making a living from their work. They grow stale. There’s a preciousness I see in a lot of student work that comes from having too many hours to put into it. Perfection is fine, and nothing has left my shop that I’m not proud of, but you have to produce if you are going to make a living. I’ve heard people say they have to put a piece of wood aside until the spirit hits them. That’s procrastination. Pick it up and work it – you’ll feel the spirit. No, I think it’s an advantage being self-taught.
— Sam Maloof, December 1980, Fine Woodworking
From the issue of "Work" made available today by the good folks at Tools for Working Wood. Minimalist yet fairly ornate. It would sit well in a corner to get it out of the way when not needed. While you are in the internet neighborhood, have a look in their store for some great and …
This video has it all; raw logs, chainsaw, lumber mill, cutting, chopping, steaming... It's a remarkable process to watch. http://youtu.be/q3utt2Y5aH0 See more of his work HERE: http://www.mikejarvi.com/ WARNING, LOTS OF NOISY POWER TOOLS!
Here's an interesting piece of "gone native" campaign furniture. There was much bad about empire building (and still is) but the bringing together of foreign cultures often created new and interesting art and craft styles. While on the topic, if campaign furniture is of an interest, or if you want to even know what it …
I gotta make a couple of these.
Sticky? Yes. It’s made from three sticks. So it’s quite “sticky.”
I just finished up this campaign stool based (loosely) on A.J. Roubo’s model shown in “L’Art du Menuisier.” I turned round legs, whereas Roubo shows legs that are pie-shaped in section. When those legs fold together, they make a cylinder. Clever.
I know how to make legs like this, but I have to come up with a way to do this that doesn’t waste a lot of wood.
As I explained in an earlier post, the pivoting hardware is made using an eye bolt, all-thread rod, washers and acorn nuts. It looks OK, but I’m going to use different hardware for the next version to make it look bad-asser.
The leather, oiled latigo from the saddle industry, is great. Ty Black finished hand-stitching the seat last night. I attached the seat to the legs using No 10 x 1-1/4”…
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I have had many requests for dimensions of the stools and table so I finally sucked it up and measured some things to include here. The only ones apparently on the web cost money so here are my dimensions. Please modify them to fit your style, needs, or lumber. A little time with some graph …
I've been making folding camp furniture. The stools are sometime called "pea-pickers". They were somewhat difficult to figure out without a plan but some photos of others and experience making other furniture helped. They're not as easy to make as I thought they would be. The holes must be very precise and dowels tight-fitting. If …
