In addition to discussing how to get started in woodworking (hint: it involves a stick), we chatted about how many woodworkers think young people are interested only in their Atari 2600s and Intellivision consoles. I mean, if we can’t stop them from playing Pong, the craft will surely die.
As you might have guessed, I think this attitude is a steaming pile of Oscar Mayer.
Gary writes: I’ve tried to hold my tongue, but I cannot do it any longer. You are about to loose me as a subscriber to your blog and you should know why.
First there was Jeff Burk (Burks?), who put up those boring blogs I never could figure out. Thank goodness he left or you got rid of him because I didn’t get it. I learned nothing from it, except where my DELETE key is.
Now we have Suzanne the saucy indexer whose at the same thing. Her attempts to be funny – which landed in my email today, just aren’t. Sorry but its true. You should know.
This blog used to be great, and I learned so much about tools and woodworking. Now its just stupid jokes, photos of old furniture and sophmoric humor.
You should write more about dovetails and panel-raising, for example. I’m building a hope chest for my granddaughter and could use some tips on making panels. How about comparing all the sharpening systems? Or showing how to fix up old tools?
How you respond to this letter will decide if I am going to stay with Lost Arts Press or not.
I’m not trying to come off as mean, just a truth teller.
For the last three years I’ve done an informal “gift guide” for woodworkers over at my blog at Popular Woodworking Magazine. Unlike other gift guides, this one is not filled with high-price junk that a retailer paid me to promote.
I try to focus on smaller items that will make your life a little nicer in the shop. Stuff your kids can buy you without taking out a loan. Oh, and I own every one of these items and personally use them in my own shop.
The first entry is up now. Nine more to go. You’ll also find links there to the previous two gift guides.
Joshua Klein during a visit to Jonathan Fisher’s Maine home.
Joshua Klein, a woodworker and conservator in Maine, is now accepting pre-publication orders for the first issue of Mortise & Tenon Magazine, which looks to be very interesting reading.
You might have heard of Klein through his blog, The Workbench Diary, or some of the stories I’ve written about his research of Jonathan Fisher (Klein is writing a book about Fisher for us, by the way).
In addition to his conservation work, a young family, taking apart a house for later reconstruction and writing a book for us, Klein has poured an enormous amount of energy into Mortise & Tenon Magazine to make sure it is a high-quality, well-made publication.
Take a look at the table of contents for the first issue here.
Then click on the “Pre-order Now” button. The first issue is just $24 – a bargain for such a labor of love. I ordered mine as soon as I got up this morning.
Whether you like old furniture, handwork or conservation, you’ll find a lot in the first issue to love.
It has been about three months since I became a blog minion so it must be time to lob a mudball towards Chris. Afterall, in my first post I revealed Chris’ “special” relationship with a certain jack plane. You can read about Schwarzlandiahere.
The Harry Potter-Chris Schwarz connection came to me while working on the post Fear and Anarchy in Fort Mitchell (and thanks to all of you who joined in and twisted some literature with me). The opening sentence to the first Harry Potter book just didn’t work for that post. Next, I tried the second chapter and things got a bit more interesting and uncanny.
“Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their anarchist on the front step…” And a few more pages into Chapter 2 we find this passage, “…Chris had a thin face, knobby knees, black hair and bright brown eyes. He wore roundish glasses held together with a lot of hide glue because of all the times Wally the cat had punched him on the nose. The only thing Chris liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a swooping A.”
When I showed the Harry Potter photo comparison to Chris his response was not about his resembleance to Harry but about his smile. His exact comment was, “Oy, I look so manic in that photo. I hate smiling with teeth.” My response to that nonsense:
A little tilt to his head and Chris and the Cheshire Cat are simpatico.
Chris, there is nothing wrong with smiling with teeth. There is no mania, or at least not very much. Smile, Chris, smile.
Now, I must get back to reading (and preparing to index) the portion of “The Anarchist’s Design Book” that Chris sent me a few days ago. Except for some artwork the first two-thirds of the book are done. As for the first two chapters, Chris is….feisty.
–Suzo Ellison
P.S. Thank you to whoevertook the smiley photo of Chris.
