Woodworking Education & Museum Quality Furniture
I’m not talking about full-blind dovetails. What I demonstrate in the video below is a technique you use to miter the top or bottom edge of a box, a dovetailed foot molding or the back of a chest or cabinet. For that matter, you can use this technique just about anywhere you want a nice[…]
The foundation of any good finish is proper surface prep. One of the key elements of that preparation is breaking all the sharp edges. I know it sounds fairly obvious, but lots of woodworkers skip right over it and ruin their projects. I get it, you’ve spent days, week or even months working on your[…]
For the year or two before moving to Cincinnati, I ran a class at my school on veneer and inlay (I’m running one in 2019, click here and use the coupon code day3 for a 10% discount off the class – valid for 72 hours). As part of the class, I had the students make string[…]
Tambour doors have (now) been around for centuries. I believe they reached the height of their refinement during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. You find tambour door construction showing up in a variety of furniture forms. Although tambour construction got its start with traditional period styles, you can find doors and fronts using the[…]
Wharton Esherick was a terrible joiner. He hated the joinery aspect of woodworking, and it shows. Even on his iconic pieces, Wharton spent more time on the form and how it looked rather than on how it was stuck together. So, like it or not, I’m going to pick apart the joinery of Wharton Esherick. I’m not bringing[…]
Beading is a great way to finish the edges of your furniture projects. This simple, shop-made scratch beader gets you there quick and easy. Whether you make traditional furniture or contemporary designs, softening the edges with some a bead is not only functional but decorative without being overbearing. There are typically three primary types of beads[…]
The Christmas Candlestick is a video I did in the first season of No BS Woodworking (my old online show). I honestly had more fun filming this episode than nearly any other video I’ve done. And while the acting (particularly mine) was a bit cheesy, the project is a serious one. When I planned the first[…]
I saw the South Windsor, Connecticut highboy on my first tour of Winterthur, and my initial thought was, “That looks like something out of Disney’s Fantasia. I hope I NEVER have to build one of those.” Sometimes things don’t work out the way you want. After including a picture of my version of the highboy[…]
Last year, in preparation for the move back to Pennsylvania I hauled all my layout sticks, patterns, and jigs to storage. They made their way east late last year only to end up going back into storage (a few ended up inside the then far-from finished new shop). Forty years of accumulation, thousands of pieces[…]
Today, I’d like to talk about cabriole legs: Something of which I’ve made hundreds (at least), and haven’t thought much about in years. While prepping for a recent carving class, I started looking at them again from the perspective of someone who hasn’t made many, if any at all. The first questions that come to mind[…]
Yesterday I wrote in Proper Planning about how important I think it is to have a plan for most any project. I know lots of folks are into SketchUp (and I find it a useful tool), but for working out the details of a job, there’s nothing like a full-sized drawing. That’s why, in yesterday’s[…]
Throughout the years, I’ve taught lots of fundamentals classes. The project section of these foundational classes always begins with the proper planning of a one-drawer stand. Even with a plan I’ve seen students struggle with conceptualizing the construction. Which makes me wonder why anyone would attempt to build anything more complicated than a cutting board without[…]
One of my favorite woods to work with, and look at, is tiger maple. I don’t differentiate between “curly” and “tiger” when it comes to maple, as long as it’s striped and captivating. But what is it about curly maple that draws not only my attention, but the interest of woodworkers (and wood appreciators) everywhere?[…]
A few years ago I had an advanced dovetailing class in the shop. One of the students brought along some wood he thought would seriously challenge my abilities by requesting I do a little dovetailing. A Little Dovetailing During a class like the Advanced Dovetailing, there are lulls where the students are wrapped up[…]
Over the past few months I’ve gotten numerous inquiries as to where I am, what and how I’m doing. The answer is simple, I’m back where it all began – sorta. In addition to working on a variety of furniture projects, my wife and I sought out and purchased a new home back in Pennsylvania.[…]