But to get the best out of it, we have to let it absorb us, to take us right out of ourselves. Then it will be the best kind of antidote to brooding and worrying and war nerves. And to do this, we want to make it as many-sided an interest as possible. Not to be content with advancing the skill of our hands alone, although this is no small thing, but to find out all we can about furniture – good furniture – and design, all we can about past masters of the craft.
And last, but not least, to train ourselves to see beauty in all its forms, from a shaft of sunlight striking like a shining sword athwart a dingy street, to the glory of an evening sky; to watch for it in books, in pictures, in poetry, in music, anywhere and everywhere, according to our own natural predilections.
For it is that which moulds the taste, makes us able to create lovely things as well as appreciate them.
— The Woodworker, June 1940
Amen!! This ia a great one Chris.
On an other note, i wish to meet you one day, you certainly influance a lot of us in a positive way! Love the work you do and the way you do it(even if I liked Woodworking Magazine beter the new Popular Woodworking Magazine) I think you might be the Roubo of our time!!
Keep up the great work!
Cheers
David
As a hobbiest woodworking can be an escape where one can spend as long as possible crafted by hand that perfect piece.
Dan
Well Chris, it looks like you’re really puttin’ in some hours on that chest, do you build according to a plan or example or is it ‘design while you build’?
Also, since you ‘overhauled’ your home shop, space is created for that 8′ Roubo you’re wanting to build I guess. Plans for that in 2011?
Andre,
No new plans for benches. I promise.
The tool chest is a plan that I drafted after studying about 20 historical examples. It is not a copy of a particular chest, but it combines features of many designs to obey what I think are the "rules for building tool chests." More on that in April 2011.