My blog at Popular Woodworking- Medieval Method Can Improve a Modern DesignI recently finished building an Enzo Mari table from the 1970s as part of an article for Popular Woodworking Magazine, and I have only one worry about the project. It looks great. It feels stout. But I’m worried that the joinery might not last forever. The joinery? Lots of properly installed wood screws, with diagonal bracing to reduce or eliminate racking. […]
- Don’t Sand – Burn off your Machine Marks InsteadShou sugi ban – the Japanese finishing process that chars the outside of wood – is an ideal surface finish for some furniture pieces. One of the unsung advantages of burning the wood is that you can reduce (or even eliminate) sanding or planing your boards before finishing them. There are limits to this, of course. If your jointer, thickness planer or saw le […]
- An Enzo Mari Table – and a Puzzle“Mari is right, everyone should have a project: after all it is the best way to avoid being designed yourself.” — G.C. Argan, L’Espresso, 1974 In 1974, Italian designer Enzo Mari published a series of furniture designs that were free to the public. People were encouraged to use his drawings to produce tables, chairs, beds and bookshelves. What’s more, Mari d […]
- John Brown for the 16th TimeEvery time I read John Brown’s book “Welsh Stick Chairs,” I latch onto something different. When I read the book for the first time in the mid-1990s, I became obsessed with the Welsh stick chair’s form (and I remain so to this day). After a few more readings, I became obsessed with the history of Windsor chairs and wondered if JB was right that the origin of […]
- Medieval Method Can Improve a Modern Design
Category Archives: Gallery of Work
The Not-IKEA Gateleg Table (Sold)
Recently on Facebook I was mocked for this gateleg table with the quip: “But in the picture, do not you see a Ikea style table?” This table design pre-dates IKEA by about 150 years. Gateleg tables with clean lines and … Continue reading
Posted in Gallery of Work, Uncategorized
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A Chair from Hall’s Croft in Stratford-upon-Avon
While teaching in England in the summer of 2015, Roy Underhill and I had a day off together and headed to Stratford-upon-Avon with his wife, Jane, to check out all things William Shakespeare. While touring Hall’s Croft, where Shakespear’s daughter … Continue reading
Posted in Gallery of Work, Uncategorized
8 Comments
Officer’s Strong Trunk
Trunks such as this – sometimes called “strong chests” or “barracks chests” – are a common form of campaign furniture. They were available in a variety of configurations, from plain deal boxes to elaborate affairs lined with zinc, camphorwood or … Continue reading
Posted in Campaign Furniture, Gallery of Work
30 Comments
Benjamin Seaton Squares in Old Mahogany
This week I’m finishing up a run of a dozen Benjamin Seaton try squares for friends and customers (sorry, they are all spoken for). Oh, and I’m going to talk about building them on “The Woodwright’s Shop” during a taping … Continue reading
Posted in Gallery of Work
7 Comments
Another 6-board Chest
For me, naming things is akin to violence. So you can imagine how fond I am of the habit of people “naming” their pieces of furniture. But no matter. Today I finished up a six-board chest made of Eastern white … Continue reading
Roorkhee Chair in ‘Crazy Horse’ Leather
We’re starting to stitch and ship out the latest run of Roorkhee chairs to customers. This one – bound for Virginia – is in “Crazy Horse” leather with stitched seams and copper rivets at the ends of the seams. For … Continue reading
Posted in Campaign Furniture, Gallery of Work
17 Comments
Nothing to Divorce
“After he moved to Indiana, and from there to Ohio, Chester (Cornett) again held his raw materials in a gentle embrace as he shaped them, once more using hand tools which were extensions of himself and with which he caressed … Continue reading
Posted in Gallery of Work
9 Comments
