The Adventure of the Pilgrim’s Chair. Sometime in the haze of the 1970s, Armand LaMontagne, a wood sculptor from Rhode Island, sought revenge against the museum world. He had been rebuffed by curators when he questioned the authenticity of some antique furniture, so he set out to vividly demonstrate their gullibility. Armand painstakingly built a…

Real ebony… or is it? ThermalWood Canada is offering specialty material to woodworkers all over the world, including an ebony alternative. One of my favorite woods to use is ebony. This dark wood turns beautifully, takes a polish, and holds crisp detail. Plus, no matter what you make, it always seems a little “extra” being…

We’re interviewing makers from across the country. Today we’re featuring Mehedi van Hattum, a woodworker from New Mexico. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? My biggest inspiration and mentor in life is my father, who is a master woodworker/carpenter. I grew up apprenticing under him, learning his craft and working in…

Devon Campbell is designing and building world-class tools from his shop in Queensland. Sometimes, the universe has a way of connecting the dots, whether you’re looking for it to or not. Back before the last Handworks Tool Show in the Amana Colonies, I was browsing some of the Facebook groups, seeing who was attending. Someone,…

Jim Moon produced a faithful replica of this iconic cabinet, with a decorative touch or two of his own. In the world of historic furniture-making, Jim Moon casts a long shadow. He is not only a highly respected furniture maker but also has the remarkable output of someone who works hard and fast. His entree…

Accidental musing on craftsmanship and building things to last. On a cold rainy day in December 2014, I was returning home from running errands in my Washington, D.C., neighborhood. Diane Rehm was discussing Russia on NPR. I was thinking about the leftover pizza I was going to eat for lunch before heading into the shop….

In 2005, I loaned my French workbench to a friend to use in his booth at a woodworking show. As I rolled the 350-pound behemoth onto the show’s floor, I heard a couple wolf whistles (really?), then one of the show’s vendors stopped me. “How much for the bench,” he asked. I didn’t know what…

After a woodworking course, this student has tools, a chest – and friends. In spring 2016 I took my first woodworking course, an “Introduction to Hand Tool Woodworking.” The class promised to teach students to fix up some tools and build a tool chest – but I learned more than that. Mike Siemsen, of “The…

We’re interviewing makers from across the country. Today we’re featuring Barry Dima, a woodworker from North Dakota. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? My dad was Norm Abrams devotee and my mom’s dad was a jack of all trades, so tools and wood were always in the air for me growing…

We’re interviewing makers from across the country. Today we’re featuring Sylvie Rosenthal, an artist and designer from Wisconsin. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? Woodworking found me pretty early in life. When I was five, I started hammering nails into pieces of wood with my grandfather when he would visit. Soon…

“So this is what they used to look like. Wow!” That’s what I told all my friends after spending hours completely disassembling, cleaning and polishing a Porter-Cable Model 507 Extra Heavy-Duty circular saw, made in 1956. I went to all this extra trouble because I thought this particular saw was something special. It had what…

I bought this old 18” bandsaw for a song from a used machinery dealer over 30 years ago. “It came from a local high school,” he said. “I heard that it was purchased by the school back in the 1930s with funds from the WPA—one of those Depression-era back-to-work programs.” This bandsaw needed a lot…

Not only living beings retain a soul; some objects do as well. The word “Pantheism” is defined as “the religious belief or philosophical doctrine, which identifies the universe with God.” And, “The doctrine that God is not a personality, but that all laws, forces and manifestations, etc. of the universe are God.” God is everything…

Little things, such as allowing a child to spend time in your shop, can shape their future. I first learned about exploding outhouses when I was about six or seven. Maybe you’ve seen them: little banks in the shape of an outhouse with a coin slot on top, and a hidden mousetrap inside. Dropping a…

I’m not sure if I qualify as a tool nut–machine crazy is more like it. I started out using a ShopSmith, but I now have 17 industrial-grade machines. It all started when my wife saw an ad in the local paper for a planer. They were asking $350, so I figured that it would be…

Some of the nicest saws around are coming out of Warwick, RI, at the hands of Charlie Earnest. The story behind Spring Green Saws is one that I’ve followed for years. I became aware of Charlie Earnest and his saws as I watched his saw building journey over the last several years (via social media)….

Morgan library pieces get extended shelf life. The call came as monumental calls do – in the middle of hanging upper cabinets. “My name is D—, and I need you to build me two walk-in closets using J.P. Morgan’s Library.” I sent a tack into the cabinet, stepped onto the porch, and asked D— to…

Turning woodworking into a pastime helped me love it again. There are two ways I hear the term “hobbyist” thrown around. The first is by “professional” woodworkers and, more times than not, it is in a disparaging tone: as if a hobbyist couldn’t possibly be as good, fast or talented as a pro. The other…

Proportion and structure outweigh ornament and showy materials. Have you ever found such a stunning piece of wood that you were almost afraid to cut into it? You know the boards I’m talking about. The tiger maple with such unbelievable striping you just want to put a frame around it and hang it on the…

Mr. Sheffield’s two-year writing slope. About a decade ago, I walked into my English professor’s office for advising and couldn’t take my eyes off of his homemade writing slope. He was talking credits and prerequisites; I was thinking this guy didn’t know a tenon from a tang. A couple of quarters later, I felt comfortable…

About 30 years ago, my girlfriend led me to a dark, cluttered basement workshop to meet a sweet, 70-ish gem of a man: her grandfather, Hayes. He was surrounded by a lifetime’s collection of tools, and it was obvious that this was his domain. This was the first of my many enjoyable visits to his…

Woodworking with all the comforts of home. One glance in my shop reveals an unusual device—a reclining chair. But don’t get the wrong idea; things do get done here. It’s just that my 70-year-old back isn’t what it used to be and occasionally I need to sit down, put up my feet and catch a…

Ease and speed versus the idealization of the past – sometimes. When Lord Acton wrote that “absolute power corrupts absolutely,” he was referring to politics, but he could as easily have been referring to tools. After all, he wrote this now-famous phrase in the spring of 1887, one year after Karl Benz patented his first…

Situated in a picturesque Ozark town, the Eureka Springs School of the Arts has something for everybody. About an hour south of Branson, Missouri is the small town of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. It’s home to about 2,100 people and it has a rich history. Walking down the historic main street, you’ll be surrounded by a…

Vermont-based toolmaker Will Adams offers some of the best hand-made tools around. A marking knife. There are few tools that can, nearly instantly, increase the accuracy of a woodworker’s work. But for Vermont-based toolmaker Will Adams, a marking knife was so much more. His first tool, a marking knife, was made from his great-grandfather’s straight…

This hand surgeon likes meeting fellow woodworkers – but not at work. I long ago lost track of how many people, upon learning of my interest in woodworking, have puzzled aloud over my table saw. They follow up with, “Do you know how important your hands are?” or, “Do you know how dangerous that thing…

We’re interviewing makers from across the country. Today we’re featuring Ed Cardona, a soon-to-be full-time woodworker from New Jersey. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? As a youngster I always loved building model cars and airplanes. The process of taking all of those small plastic parts and having them come together…

We’re interviewing makers from across the country. Today we’re featuring Eden Klinger, a furniture maker and designer from Louisiana. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? Woodworking didn’t really enter into the picture for me until 2020. My partner and I had been wanting to start keeping chickens for a while, and…

We’re interviewing makers from across the country. Today we’re featuring Autumn T. Thomas, a wood sculpture artist from Colorado. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? My journey as a wood sculpture artist was a bit of a surprise to me. After finishing graduate school at the University of the Arts, having…

Hobbies, like woodworking, have been shown to improve mental wellness by helping reduce negative emotions like stress, anxiety, depression, etc. They do this by giving your mind a break from whatever problems you may be facing and by grounding you in the basic need of staying active and having fun. Whether you woodwork to unwind…

A lifelong dream of woodworking comes to fruition. I stared up at the silent giant, standing twice as tall as me – polished wood, crystal-clear glass, full of brass gears and weights that seemed like gold to my young eyes. I was waiting for the top of the hour, when this sleeping giant, quiet other…

A stay-the-course attitude turns phobia into appreciation. I don’t know many woodworkers who enjoy finishing. We will gladly spend an eternity devising a jig to help with an operation that we’ll perform only once. Time stands still when we’re at the lumber mill looking for that elusive, perfect board for a project so far down…

A Shop with a View A few years ago, I moved to a Colorado mountain area on five acres, which gave me plenty of room to build my dream shop, a two-story design with 850 sq. ft. on each level. The upper floor houses my woodworking equipment in a spectacular room with a vaulted tongue-and-groove…

Your early projects don’t have to end up as firewood. When people see the Philadelphia-style secretary I built, they inevitably want to know how long I have been making furniture and how many pieces I have completed. The simple answer – 2 1⁄2 years and three pieces. The truth – 3 1⁄2 years and four…

You, too, can determine moisture content simply by feeling a board. Murphy had never bought lumber from us before. He watched his boards carefully as they were loaded onto his truck. “They look good,” he said. He picked up a board and caressed the surface. “Yeah, this is really dry, about 7 percent. I can…

Over the last several years, I’ve had the opportunity to meet and work with various people, and sharing their stories through this magazine is one of the things that I genuinely enjoy. For example, I’d like to introduce you to my friend Lupe Nielsen.  I met Lupe through my friend Jimmy Clewes, who you’ve seen…

I purchased this classic tool chest at a yard sale in Maine, while on vacation. The case had only two drawers remaining, and no handle. The seller said he had every intention of restoring it, but never got around to it. I bought it for $15 and proudly showed it to my friend Roger, who…

No doubt, you’ll fit right in. A woodworking club offers countless rewards to the aspiring craftsman. It provides a platform for displaying your work. It offers the chance to learn new techniques. It affords you the opportunity to find tutelage and mentoring, like Croesus consulting the Oracle, Luke studying with Yoda, or Chachi hanging with…

So you can’t afford (insert dream tool here). Boo hoo. Hit the flea markets then start making sawdust. Yeah, you heard me. Oh sure, I know exactly how it is. The new catalogs come piling into your mailbox and you’re drooling on your shoes. You need a 36″ planer and an infill plane stuffed with…

The best work is often built one piece at a time, so toss your cutlist. I have been in professional piano repair and tuning for more than 30 years. My father taught me how to tune by ear. That’s “old-school” style. The piano is an imperfect instrument. When a note is played, a series of…

I built my wedge-shaped workshop twelve years ago. It’s 470 square feet, which is too small, as every woodworker knows, but my options were limited, because the shop had to fit between my house and garage. I love how the windows flood the space with light. My biggest challenge has been to make my stationary…

Find woodworking education, fellowship, and shop space at a woodworking guild near you.  I am an avid woodworker. Let me rephrase that. I am an avid woodworker with a chronic disease. I’m not an expert woodworker; I’m average, at best. But I put my best into every project. You see I have Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)…

Most of us share this pathological habit that’s hard to break. I have a problem. A compulsion, really. It’s not as serious as, say, alcoholism, a food addiction, or an unhealthy fascination with Megan Fox. But it’s a problem. Fortunately, most people are too polite to point it out. Or they don’t even notice. But…

Youthful energy sparks the experience, but careful work takes time. Editor’s note: this article originally appeared in the February 2018 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. Recently, the young boy a few houses down the street wanted to make some things out of wood.  His father told him that Mr. Bill (that’s me) would be the…

The bogs of New Zealand yield gargantuan Kauri logs. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in American Woodworker #139. Ancientwood is listed as permanently closed on Google but the website is still up at ancientwood.com and appears to have slabs for sale. As I drive toward Ashland, Wisconsin—home of the company that lays claim to…

Passing up gold for a treasure with more lasting value. The holidays are a time for visiting and catching up. While visiting my parents one Thanksgiving, my mother handed me an envelope. I could tell at first glance that it was old. The acid in the paper had turned the envelope to a coffee-brown color….

We’re interviewing makers from across the country. Today we’re featuring Alexis Dolese, a furniture maker and woodworking instructor from Montana. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? I grew up in a family of woodworkers. My dad, Tom Dolese, has had a fine furniture business for over 30 years and my mom,…

A nervous woodworker is aghast as his best projects arrive from storage. The message “Up”(with a directional arrow, no less) seems unambiguous. When displayed prominently on all four of what should be the vertical surfaces of a crate, the intent of the person who went to the trouble to emblazon that simple message, multiple times,…

Kite frames to cabinets: A 50-year journey back to woodworking. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the February 2015 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. Before mom’s shop bustled with warmth, woodcraft and cheer, the location of her future endeavors hoarded what dad called, “Relics from the Golden Age of Aviation.” Mom would rebut, smiling,…

We’re interviewing makers from across the country. Today we’re speaking with Jess Hirsch about Fireweed Community Woodshop in Minneapolis, Minnesota. How did Fireweed Community Woodshop get started? Were there certain people that inspired its creation? Fireweed Community Woodshop started as a DIY project in 2017 called Women’s Woodshop and after burnout running an LLC, a…

The amazing tool cabinet of piano-maker Henry O. Studley has fostered intense admiration and contemplation surrounding its origins and creator for nearly three decades. I’ve heard a lot of this speculation while conducting research for the book “Virtuoso: The Tool Cabinet and Workbench of Henry O. Studley” (Lost Art Press). About the only thing I’ve…

Walk down Main Street in Anysmalltown, U.S.A., and people acknowledge your existence from their porch rockers. They don’t have to say anything, just use their body to move the chair in a friendly, neighborly sort of way. Porch rockers are a part of our popular culture, a bit of Americana. The chair I bought was…

We’re interviewing makers from across the country. Today we’re featuring Chris Davis, a shop teacher at Henry Ford II high school in Michigan.  How did you get started woodworking?  I got started in woodworking at a young age with my dad. He was always building something, and I learned a lot of the basics from…

Basements aren’t recommended in this part of North Carolina, and our lot was too small for a detached shop. That meant my woodworking was either going to have to dodge cars in the garage—or I could turn the space above the garage into a shop. As this was going to be my first real shop…

We’re interviewing makers from across the country. Today we’re featuring Lee Scheffey, a spoon carver from New Hampshire.  How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? I came to green woodworking by necessity, with a need to ground myself in my humanness and the interconnected expansiveness found in wood. As a child, I…

The world’s best custom-made apron is handmade by husband-and-wife team Patrick and Michelle Melchior. When I step into my shop,a few things happen each and every time — so much that they’re nearly primal instincts. In one motion, I flip all the lights on and slip my shop apron off its hook. My apron goes…

Rebuilding a toy chest is a connection to the past and the future. I do not stem from woodworking lineage, at least not the kind you hear about. My dad wasn’t overly handy. While growing up, I recall most things either went unfixed or someone else was called to remedy the situation. My grandfather worked…

The perilous flight of the world’s most valuable tool. Half of the airplane’s hydraulic system had failed at take-off; the other half failed as the plane was 10 minutes from the Atlanta airport. So the flight crew prepared the passengers for an emergency landing because they were going to hit the ground at about 200…

How one woodworker got over her fear of dismemberment: more fear. Industrial Technology. That was the name of the course I took in the autumn of 1993. Beats me as to why it was entitled thus, because anyone with two brain cells to rub together could easily see that it was really woodshop, but I’m…

Beating it requires knowing the right way to nail a board. When I was about 8 years old, I decided that I needed to construct a sturdy fort to protect myself from the army of aliens (who cleverly had taken the form of my older sister and her friends) that were constantly invading my backyard….

A project with a bite. This article originally appeared in the February 2011 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine How do three carpenters feed an abandoned baby squirrel? Glass dropper in hand, huddled around a kitchen table in the historic district of downtown Alexandria, Va., we discovered the answer: with great difficulty. The day previous, atop…

We’re interviewing makers from across the country. Today we’re featuring Amanda Ewing, a luthier from Tennessee.  I was chosen by my path not so long ago. Thanks to all of the twists, turns, and detours along the way, lutherie is where I find myself now. It is at times difficult for me to forget the…

A 12-step program for regrowing forearm hair. I head through the main doors, down the stairs to the basement, arriving at the third door on the right. Like everyone else, I grab a cup of coffee before finding a seat. By the time the clock gets close to 7 p.m., the entire group is sitting….

Craft is a part of well-rounded college education. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the August 2018 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. I recently moved to Kentucky from Maine to head up the woodcraft program at Berea College. Most of the undergraduate students who join the woodcraft crew do so without having ever set…

We’re interviewing makers from across the country. Today we’re featuring Sammy D, a woodworker and entrepreneur from Connecticut.  How did you get started woodworking? I began about eight or nine years ago when my (now)ex-husband bought a fixer-upper and, oh man, did we learn just how much of a fixer-upper it was! We laugh about…

We’re interviewing makers from across the country. Today we’re featuring Trey Lord, a woodworker and entrepreneur owner from Washington, D.C.  How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? Honestly just kind of picked it up, and never had a single mentor that I could name. I learned some here and there as a…

A Game of Thrones inspired coffee table meets a tragic (and ironic) end.

An illuminating look at the life of a 19th century country cabinetmaker. Daydreaming in my shop, I’m imagining a warm summer day way back in 1899. Just after supper, Henry Lapp sits at a pine table outside a tavern on the Lancaster Turnpike, a few dusty miles past the long bridge over the Schuykill River….

The beauty of utility: coarse and fine combined. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the April 2018 issue of Popular Woodworking. One of my favorite pieces of furniture is a chest of drawers I bought at an antiques store in Reading (the English town, not its Pennsylvanian equivalent) circa 1984. At least a century…

  A sharp reminder and remembrance of a life cut short. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the October 2014 issue of Popular Woodworking. A chisel roll is an unlikely time capsule. Untouched in the three years since his death, the green canvas Ian salvaged from a discarded patio umbrella has protected his tools…

My shop may appear rustic, but you won’t find a dirt floor or antique machinery inside. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in American Woodworker #146. In fact, my friends all make fun of me for having a shop that’s so nice, someone could actually live in it. One friend even asks if he has…

A gifted teacher preserves and shares the legacy of James Krenov. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the June 2017 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine To reach the Inside Passage School of Fine Cabinetmaking, you head northwest from Vancouver, B.C., leaving behind the glass-towered city to board the ferry at Horseshoe Bay. Pull up…

Designer and builder of elegant but simple iconic furniture. Editor’s note: This piece was originally published in the December 2009 issue of Popular Woodworking in memoriam of Sam’s passing that year. Sam Maloof is the reason I became a furniture maker. I used to teach shop in the early 1970s. The Portland (Ore.)Public Schools maintained…

Through teaching, this master craftsman’s work lives on. Learn more about the work and influence of Tage Frid.

In Conversation with Plane Maker Karl Holtey. Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the December 2020 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. In 2015, acclaimed hand plane maker Karl Holtey announced his impending retirement and was working on the 984 panel plane: what he intended to be his final production run of hand planes and…

When a family friend recently visited my new cabinet shop, he commented, “Your dad and grandpa would’ve loved this place. It wasn’t always like this!” He meant that although both men were pro woodworkers at various times in their lives, neither ever experienced the pleasant working conditions, robust tools, or the wide variety of materials,…

Meet Reid Schwartz: artist, interested human, maker of tools, worker of wood and restorer of old things Crooked Knives & Curved Lines A canoe is a study in curved lines. The curves allow it to slip silently through water almost without effort. Even the few parts that are straight, like thwarts (cross braces), are rounded…

A chairmaker explains his fascination with the ancient art of blacksmithing and being able to make his own woodworking tools. It was April of 1986, and I’d just arrived at a craft show up a long dirt road, an hour’s drive into the redwood-covered mountains of Northern California. I was setting up my treadle lathe…

After designing and building custom furniture in southern California for 24 years, I finally got to build my dream workshop. Inspired by the Craftsman style and the designs of the brothers Green, my shop cradles a 100-year-old eucalyptus tree in our backyard. The space is 900-sq.ft., with 12-ft ceilings at the peak. Photovoltaic panels installed…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Nadia Dugger, a woodworker and small business owner from Oklahoma.  How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? A little background about me: I grew up in Kharkiv, Ukraine. At 10 (in 1999) my parents moved our family to Vancouver Canada, and in…

Whenever I admire a fellow woodworker’s finished piece of furniture, I never ask how they did this or that because, quite simply, I am afraid they are going to tell me. Listening to someone describe how they accomplished a difficult or clever woodworking feat is, for me, like listening to someone recount their dream: I…

The best measure of success comes in the doing. I don’t know if I am alone in this matter, but I have to admit that quite often I consider myself a couch builder. Maybe you know the drill yourself. You sit on a couch and read a woodworking magazine not just to get inspired –…

Good Bye Garry I lost a friend and mentor recently, and the woodworking community has lost an icon. Garry Knox Bennett’s accolades are far more than can be mentioned in this article, but I’ll share a few: a 2004 Award of Distinction from the Furniture Society, he was a Fellow of the American Craft Council,…

A look into the larger-than-life. Sometimes inspiration comes from the strangest places. Take a tree stump bust and an inlay backgammon table for example. Two very different woodworking mediums that couldn’t be further apart, but for artist Michael Ferris it’s the original source of his unique sculptures. His father, who was Lebanese had a pair…

Following a Passion Two years ago, Steve Thomson fell in love with creating art, with wood as his medium. The graphic-designer-turned-marketing-director decided to steer his artistic passion toward the workshop. Beginning merely as a hobbyist, he created gift items like cutting boards and jewelry boxes, gradually learning enough to move up to quality furniture. However,…

In this last wrap-up entry of my four-part series on Dan Dargon’s Torii table I will show how Dan build the table’s drawer, applied finished, and finally assembled it all.  Read: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 With its grill-like front, Dan’s drawer is definitely an unconventional furniture part. But once we try to understand…

After portioning out some of the Paulownia logs into smaller units Dan set up his lathe and began the turning process (read about the genesis of this great project here: part 1, part 2). He turned the raw wood into a cylinder and then marked the leg’s specific turning zones with a parting tool. After…

Dan’s wood of choice for the Torii table (read part one of the story here) was Paulownia, a fast-growing tree that is both soft and strong, and that has been part and parcel of the remarkable Japanese woodworking tradition. I wrote about this light color and silky-looking wood a few years ago in a story…

Under a makeshift awning in a quiet valley near Jerusalem, Israel, Dan Dragon, a multi-faceted maker, has just finished one of the most interesting pieces that I have seen to date. It’s a sophisticated knockdown table that draws its esthetic and joinery vocabulary from the rich Japanese building traditions. Dan based his design on the…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Astrid Beatriz, an artist and woodcarver from Oregon. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? My husband, Brent, is a trained luthier (he builds guitars) and graduated from Minnesota Technical University. I initially used chalk pastels as my artistic medium. My husband…

Editor’s Note: Back when we began putting the 40th-anniversary timeline together, we reached out to some of our previous editors with a few questions of what PW meant to them. Rob Cook, editor from 1992-1994, said “your questions brought back a lot of memories when I had your job.” Little did we know that we…

If all you have is a hammer, well, you might need another hammer. One of my favorite quotes is Baruch’s Observation: If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. It seems like an accurate observation of the way people adapt to their surroundings. When it comes time to move out of…

The gift of a handwritten letter shows appreciation for Canadian forces. Editor’s note: this article originally appeared in the February 2007 issue of Popular Woodworking. About two years ago I was selling some of my woodworking and pens at a craft show. After the show, I had several pens left and remembered reading about a…

I was about to make a desk for my son John’s bedroom and in my mind it was a beautiful thing: simple, sleek and with elegant proportions. Drawings and a cut list were completed. Walnut boards were purchased and transported to Cerritos College in Norwalk, California where I am a community-ed student on Sundays. There…

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in American Woodwork #142, June/July 2009. I stumbled onto pen making seven years ago, as I was scouring through my husband Jerry’s woodworking magazines and catalogs, looking for a special Christmas gift for him. I came across a mini-lathe that was advertised as the perfect tool for making custom…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Terry Streetman, a sustainability-focused woodworker from Nebraska. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? I got started with woodworking relatively recently, back in early 2019 when my wife Emily and I bought our first house. I had always been interested in the…

If anyone ever sees that, they’re looking too closely. I spend a lot of time looking at antique furniture, often from below. My interest is pieces made about 100 years ago, from the Arts & Crafts period of the early 20th century. I share a passion with those who collect these pieces, but I look…

Editor’s note: this article originally appeared in the February 2013 of Popular Woodworking A dream deferred – and that’s just fine. I’ve dreamed about my Workbench for years. It will be solid maple, top to bottom. It will have traditional face and tail vises, with a sliding deadman between. The top? Two 31⁄2“-thick laminated slabs…

Working wood with a sense of humor. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in American Woodworker #154 Most woodworkers have gotten a chuckle or two out of a piece of furniture they or somebody else has built—maybe an armoire that’s too big to fit through the workshop door or a bookcase with two left sides….

The best source for learning is right there on your bench. At a seminar I found myself saying that I mostly taught myself woodworking. It was an easy way to get the idea across that I did not go to woodworking school or take seminars. Later, I regretted not responding more thoughtfully. What a pity…

Research gives names to unknown artisans. David Rowley, Freegift Wells, Amos Stewart, Orren Haskens, Eli Kidder…ever hear of these guys? They were Shaker cabinetmakers, the names behind one of the most unified and influential movements in American furnituremaking. You might think that they would have been completely anonymous, like most woodworkers of that era, but…

A brief history of a not-so-romantic woodworking education system. Ever since the renewal of interest in woodworking in the 1970s, especially among amateurs and small-shop professionals, there has been talk of reestablishing an apprenticeship program similar to what existed hundreds of years ago. But what was that apprenticeship system like? To describe it I’m going…

Combine power and hand tools to improve your joinery skills Building a toolbox much like this one was a real turning point in my woodworking career. It was 1999 and I had begun classes at Boston’s North Bennet Street School’s Cabinet and Furniture Making program. At the time, I was a pretty good carpenter and…

Editor’s note: this article originally appeared in the February 2013 issue of Popular Woodworking I’ve got router planes and shoulder planes, cabinet scrapers, drawknives and shaves to tackle most any task, but chisels are my particular kink. It’s something about their deceptive simplicity. In one sense they’re just pieces of steel with handles attached; but…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Meggan Smith, a woodworker and small-business owner from Kansas. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? My woodworking career began with a patio project with my husband. He is very handy and decided to take on the project ourselves, which involved a…

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the October/November 2009 issue of American Woodworker The impetus for building my shop was to satisfy a passion that my late brother Glen and I had for building boats. After occupying his garage and my sister’s storage, we knew we needed a dedicated shop. The building, which overlooks…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Erin Bell, a woodworker and small-business owner from Vermont. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? About 5 years ago I left my job and started working on some residential construction projects with my father. On a whim, I decided to enroll…

This Canadian school has its roots in the College of the Redwoods. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the August 2004 issue of Popular Woodworking. Christopher Schwarz visited Rosewood again in 2013 at their new location in Perth, ON, where it still exists today. The photographic image of cabinetmaker and teacher James Krenov looks…

Having been a woodworker for well over fifty years, I knew what I wanted in a shop: an ample assembly area with plenty of natural light and my tools close at hand. As I live on a small farm, my shop also had to provide room to work on my farm equipment and allow occasional…

Grab your torch and pitchfork; the hand-tool guy has a table saw. Editor’s note: this article appeared in the November 2016 issue of Popular Woodworking People react with shock and horror when they learn I have electric machinery in my Kentucky workshop. After all, I’ve been writing almost exclusively about handwork for almost 20 years…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Curtiss “Buck” Carr, a woodworker currently interning at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking in Indiana. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? I started woodworking by doing general DIY projects with my dad. We would always spend our Saturday mornings watching…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Stephan Cheney a Lakota woodworker of the Kul Wicasa Oyate in South Dakota. He currently lives in the Wiyot Territory in California. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? My initial introduction into woodworking came by way of a relatively short but…

Exposure to great furniture hones the eyes for quality and proportion. Woodworking is, all at once, frustrating, elating, challenging and straightforward stupid simple. It combines the elements of design, vision, accuracy, artistic intent and manual ability like no other pursuit I’ve found. Just in the moment you believe you’ve mastered a part of its scope,…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Richie Robinson, a grad student from Hawaii. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? I can’t recall exactly how I got started though from an early age I always enjoyed creating with my hands (I loved doing origami when I lived in…

My shop is in a single car garage bay that occupies approximately 10ft x 20ft (~3m x 6m). I designed my layout to be mover-friendly, while preventing many of the limitations that often come with working in a small space. I grew up woodworking and apprenticing under my father. He was a shop teacher for…

The hands are the tools that mean the most.

A global pandemic derailed William Brown’s 2020 plans for his new woodworking school, but he’s not giving up. When I last spoke with William Brown, it was January 2020 and he was getting ready to launch a brand new woodworking school in Camden, Maine. He had a workshop, a great set of instructors, and a…

Gustav Stickley is perhaps the most nationally and internationally-recognized name among American furniture designers and manufacturers. His seminal contribution to the rise of the American Arts and Craft Movement is unprecedented and has earned him an honorary seat at the pantheon of the great American Men and Women. Stickley to the United States is like…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Katie Williams, a woodworker from South Carolina. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? I️ was originally interested in doing historical preservation, but felt I️ needed to invest in learning how to do the work, not just read and write about it….

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the May 2008 issue of American Woodworker I share my workshop with about 12,000 others. It’s the military woodshop at Offutt Air Force Base (AFB), in Nebraska. Military woodshops exist on large bases and posts around the world. They’re open to all military personnel (including dependents and retirees)…

In between the many different projects April has going, we were able to ask her (via email) a bit about Assembly Required, a new TV show premiering on the History Channel tonight. In addition to April, the show stars legendary TV tool guys Tim Allen and Richard Karn. Tell us about the show. We filmed…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Milton Mizell, a box builder from Florida. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? Growing up, I watched my super handy Dad build all sorts of things with his hands. He was a “tool junkie” and a jack-of-all-trades. I marveled at his…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Larissa Huff, a maker and woodworking instructor from Pennsylvania. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? Like so many traditional craftspeople before me, I started woodworking by answering a Craigslist ad. After college, I moved to a new city and was in…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Sophie Glenn, a furniture maker and metalworker from Mississippi.  How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? I became very interested in furniture making about 10 years ago while I was a student at SUNY Purchase College. Though Dennis Fitzgerald (my woodworking professor)…

More than 30 years on TV hasn’t softened his approach to the craft, tools or people. Editor’s Note: This interview originally appeared in the November 2012 issue of Popular Woodworking It’s a typical day at The Woodwright’s School in Pittsboro, N.C. Sunlight floods the storefront room through two enormous plate-glass windows. Six students carve ball-and-claw…

From apprentice to craftsman to fine toolmaker, he’s always had a passion for woodworking. Torben Helshoj’s passion for woodworking started when he was a boy watching the skilled craftsmen in the boatyards of Denmark. But his path to becoming a skilled craftsman, tool designer, and cofounder of Laguna Tools included a number of detours. After…

I’m sure I’m not the only reader who is astounded by the pristine, seemingly unused shops that frequently appear in this department. Here are a couple of pictures of my shop, showing the carnage after turning two salad bowls and sixteen serving bowls as wedding gifts. Piled in front of my bandsaw are left-over scraps…

I have read with envy about spacious shops with room for many dedicated stationary tools. But alas, my shop is confined to a 200 sq. ft. corner of my basement. After tinkering with layout plans, I finally concluded that the “dream” cabinet saw I wanted to buy wouldn’t fit in my pint-sized shop. I didn’t…

At the base of Mt. Fuji in Japan, world-renowned woodworker Tak Yoshino creates custom, handcrafted chairs that promote proper and healthy posture through the practice of Zen. As a result of his chairs receiving worldwide acclaim and an increasing number of woodworkers learning Japanese carpentry from Tak, he is currently building a woodworking school with…

I met Gal Tel Vardi about fifteen years ago when I spent a semester as a visiting lecturer at Shenkar College of Design. Gal (“Wave” in Hebrew) was the head of the advanced fabrication lab, overseeing (among other things) the laser cutters, the rapid prototyping, and the CNC machines that helped our students in executing…

Thoughts on Adam Savage’s Every Tool’s a Hammer Buy the book here You may recognize the man on the cover of this book, Adam Savage, as one half of the duo from TV’s “Mythbusters.” The show ran for more than a decade in its original incarnation, spawned multiple spinoffs and showed the world that making…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Elizabeth Spotswood Spencer, an artist from North Carolina.  How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? While I was at art school, studying drawing and painting, I took a woodworking course. Immediately, I was drawn to building and using my hands in a…

Years ago, I made a corner cupboard from black walnut. I thought the wood was magnificent, but a can of rusty cut nails I used in building it proved to be far more important, taking me on an unexpected journey into my past. My father gave me these nails, saying that they were left over…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Loni LaCour, a designer and woodworker from Missouri.  How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? It’s an interesting story. I had never thought I would make a career or even a hobby out of woodworking. My father was a carpenter and worked…

Reimagining the Ball and Mallet [View the virtual gallery here] It wasn’t supposed to turn out quite like this. Out of Bounds: The Art of Croquet, co-curated by Jennifer-Navva Milliken, Artistic Director at the Center for Art in Wood in Philadelphia, PA, and furniture maker Silas Kopf, from Northampton, was an opportunity for “artists to…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Taryn Pratt, a full-time DBA and part-time woodworker from Arizona. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? While I’ve always been enamored with the smell of wood, woodworking is a very recent adventure for me. A few years ago, during our DIY…

Back in the early 1920’s, my grandfather, John Rudzki, built wooden truck bodies in Pittsburgh, PA. Customers would order the chassis for a refrigerated truck, a moving van or some other kind of specialty vehicle, and he would build the body behind the cab. The trucks are long gone, but I still have the home-made…

There is no field of woodworking that puts wood – our material of celebration and choice, to the most extremes of tests, use, and abuse, as in the discipline of boat building.

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Richard Smith, a woodworker from New York. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? It was only 3 years ago – I was moving into a new apartment with my girlfriend in Brooklyn and she would not stop showing me furniture that…

Shortly after arriving in the USA Vlad began working at Thomas Newman’s studio (read part one of this story here). At first, he helped in building the designs that Tom created or that were commissioned by interior designers, but gradually he branched out and started developing his own unique style and language.  Above: Created by…

My wife and I were walking through a Home Depot store about 20 years ago, when I noticed a small Makita tablesaw and mentioned that it would be fun to have a tool like that just to fool around with. That very saw appeared under the tree at Christmas, and it ignited my passion for…

Woodworker and designer Cristiane Martins has a thing for puzzles, and her journey to fine marquetry is a culmination of the pieces she has picked up along her path. Born in Belém do Pará, in the Brazilian Amazônia, Martins has created her own unique contribution to the world of woodworking in just a few short…

Vladimir Krasnogorov was born and raised in Central Asia and overcame his humble beginnings to become one of the most sophisticated and avant-garde furniture designer-makers of our time. He is a man who can use a pencil, a rasp, and a hand plane with the same level of dexterity as he exercises command over CAD…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Paola Jiménez, a mixed-media and resin artist from Arkansas. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? I have a friend who works with wood and I’d watch how he made kitchen cabinets. I wanted to make furniture on my own so from…

There aren’t too many designers-makers who produce cutting edge work which is original, elegant, and visually stunning. And yet I was able to find such a team just around the corner in our metropolitan “neighborhood” of Hoboken, NJ. Thomas Newman and Vladimir Krasnogorov’s shop is a fascinating furniture lab; in it you can find a…

Make no illusions that Lupe Nielsen’s creative passions are filled with magic and a little bit of sawdust. As a woodworker and professional magic prop maker from the magic capital of the world, Las Vegas, NV, Nielsen calls herself a “general practitioner” of woodworking. “There’s lots to do and lots to learn,” she laughs. Nielsen’s…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Aspen Golann, an artist and furniture maker from Massachusetts. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? I didn’t start woodworking until a few months before my 30th birthday. I have always been an artist and a maker but never a woodworker and…

A boring task turns into a history lesson. This article originally appeared in the April 2010 issue of Popular Woodworking One day in Williamsburg, a message reached me at the carpenter’s yard that the cabinet shop was shorthanded and needed help. I figured it was some high-end task like dovetailing a chest or shaving cabriole…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Peter Griffin, a furniture maker from Ohio. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? Woodworking for me was born out of a desire to do something different. I am an accountant by profession. Although it is a profitable business, when you close…

When needs change, there’s no shame in repurposing. I have a confession to make: I don’t do nearly as much woodworking as I should. As someone with limited time and resources, I like to do things once, the correct way, and not have to worry about it again. This philosophy can cause some trouble when…

A well-kept treasure lies dormant under a few rivers, ponds, and lakes in eastern Europe and Siberia, and awaits redemption. Bogwood is that treasure and Allen Telt is one of its chief redeemers. I met Allen a few months ago in New Jersey to hear about his enterprise and see some fascinating pieces of furniture…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Baboucarr Faal, a woodworker and philanthropist from Virginia. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? As someone who studied Engineering, my 9-5 isn’t remotely close to working with my hands or creating. Woodworking has given me that outlet to pursue my desire…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Char Miller-King, a woodshop educator from Georgia. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? I am a self-taught maker. My first project was a platform bed that I made in 2003 with a borrowed drill and battery-powered screwdriver. My bed was inspired…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Jess Crow, an epoxy/wood artist from Alaska. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? I entered the woodworking field by accident. I wanted a coffee table for my bedroom, and I couldn’t afford one. I found some free dunnage and had just…

A look at Ken Richards’ life in woodworking. After six years as a draftsman at Boeing—his first job out of high school—Ken Richards had enough money put aside to buy five acres and a barn in nearby Maple Valley, Wa., and he was ready for a career change. “Six years of sitting at a desk,…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Jenny Boles, a woodworker from Kentucky.  How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? I have always had a love for building and creating things, even as a young child. As a little girl I would wander off into the woods by our…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Massood and Sasha Nouri, a father-daughter woodturning duo from Washington.  How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? My father spent his childhood in Iran and was inspired by his big brother. When he was only seven, his brother gave him several old…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Angela Hollis, a carpenter from Alabama.  How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? My greatest influence in becoming a maker and builder was my grandfather who taught me from the time I was 5 years old that it didn’t matter if I…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Anika Gandhi, a DIYer and woodworker from California.  How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? I got started with woodworking about 8 years ago when I was looking for fun toddler furniture for my 18-month-old. The online trail quickly led me down…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Darryl Dunn, a furniture maker from Texas who specializes in reclaimed lumber. How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? 6 years ago, My best friend introduced me to repurposing shipping pallets. For the next three years I taught myself woodworking. Year three…

We’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Lauren Matthews, a custom woodworker from Maryland.  How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? I was originally in the market for a live edge entertainment console and everything I found was beautiful but very expensive. I challenged myself to make it on my own…

As part of our Woodworking in America initiative, we’re interviewing makers from all 50 states. Today we’re featuring Alma Villalobos, a woodworker and artist from Illinois.  How did you get started woodworking? Who were your mentors? For as long as I can remember I’ve always been a maker. My grandfather was a professional DIYer. He…

Christmas, 1956. I was a little fella, and my seeing the Tonka Hi-Way series display in the W.T. Grant store months earlier had captured my entire attention. In my letter to Santa, I asked for the Tonka set. What I didn’t know was that my folks had already put the set in layaway at Grant….

Two days on the set of ‘The New Yankee Workshop’ reveal surprising truths about the way Norm Abram works. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the August 2005 issue of Popular Woodworking  We’re lost. I’m trudging through two feet of snow in what looks to be someone’s backyard and there’s no sign of the…

The best rationale for these ultra high-end tools might not be what you think. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the December 2015 issue of Popular Woodworking Over the past decade, I’ve made somewhere approaching a couple hundred custom handplanes, both for my own enjoyment and (since 2010) as my full-time occupation. I’d like…

Chris Vesper strives for precision and perfection in toolmaking (and dancing). Editor’s note: this article originally appeared in the December 2013 issue of Popular Woodworking When it comes to settling the issue of who is the most dedicated toolmaker on the planet, Chris Vesper has the plumbing – or rather, the lack of it –…

A St. Louis physician spent years assembling the perfect shop. The problem with many “dream shops” is that their visionaries never wake up and get on with building any furniture. There’s nothing inherently wrong with building a hobby shop and having the shop alone being the hobby, but this magazine is about building wooden things…

Trading Wall Street for molding planes. Editor’s note: This interview originally appeared in the October/November 2012 issue of American Woodworker Matt Bickford’s story is quite unusual for a guy in his thirties. He used to be a “market maker” in one of the most competitive environments in the world of finance, living in a big…

Can America’s most recognizable woodworking personality actually retire? Editor’s note: This interview originally appeared in the November 2012 issue of Popular Woodworking Norm Abram first stepped in front of a television camera in 1979 as the lead carpenter on “This Old House,” a show on which he still appears. A decade later, Norm began “The…

Lessons from a big box guide my approach to woodworking. I love Ikea. Yes, I said it. This store has provided me with an understanding of furniture design and with products I use on many of my projects. For some I’m happy to pay, but for most I haven’t had to pay a penny. I…

A rescue and careful work reveal the spirit of land and sea. I have lusted for years after the wide, irregular planks used by the legendary George Nakashima to capture what he called “the soul of a tree.” I would give them new life as a piece of furniture emphasizing the natural figure and sculpted…

A gnarly old conifer finds new life on a recognized California estate. In 1908, architects Charles and Henry Greene built one of their most famous residences, the Robert R. Blacker House. In addition to designing the home and interior furnishings, they also designed the landscaping which included a Bermuda cedar tree in the front yard….

Enthusiasm and people skills are the keys to Ejler Hjorth-Westh’s success. On California’s Mendocino coast, you really never know who you are talking to by looking. Institutional “costume” doesn’t fly around here, so it is not always easy to tell who belongs into which socially recognizable box. So, when you first look at Ejler Hjorth-Westh,…

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the April/May 2013 issue of American Woodworker When I came to America eight years ago, I was able to get a work permit and a job at LA Fitness because I’d earned a license as a personal fitness trainer in my hometown of Ciechanów, Poland. I’d also learned…

Just keep saying ‘micron.’ Woodworkers who use hand tools to lay the quality touch on their work know what can be accomplished with these wonderful inventions. Along with skill, supplied of course by you, a good hand tool is an exquisite blend of simplicity and sophistication that is capable of sweetening your work well beyond…

A Backer Board Prevents Chip-Out Chip-out is always an issue when you even up the stiles and rails of a door with a plane. If you plane all the way across the door, from one end to the other, you’re bound to chip out the outside edge of the stile. That damage is not easy…

My shop is located in a spare bedroom. As a luthier, I don’t need a lot of space—just enough to allow working on a double bass. What I do need, though, is storage for lots of small parts, tools, patterns, etc. Before moving to this space, I drew designs and configurations for chests, drawer stacks, hutches…

The lessons I learned from Dad’s crumpled and worn-out abrasives. Whether you’re a professional or hobbyist woodworker, having a keen sense of proper material utilization reduces the cost of projects while extending increasingly hard-to-find resources. Conservation means taking advantage of carefully thought-out plans, cut lists and diagrams, board selection and myriad other techniques – all…

Spring 2020 Edition One of the best places to be inspired as a woodworker is on Instagram. Here’s the woodworkers and makers our editors are following this spring. @barbieworkshop – Barbie Of All Trades Not only is this account a lot of fun, but it features some amazing miniature tools and woodworking projects. You haven’t really…

This antebellum free black man was the most successful cabinetmaker in North Carolina. My introduction to Thomas Day came in 1998 on a shopping trip to High Point, N.C., for a bed. I stumbled across a reproduction of an antique piece that had soaring mahogany posts supporting a tester that authoritatively defined the space that…

You could take the entire annual output of Phllip Weber’s woodworking shop and fit it into the trunk of a VW bug. But oh, what a wondrous load you would have: Ebony, holly and Osage orange. Brass, aluminum and copper. Influences from Art Noveau, Art Deco and Asia. Geometric shapes and others so unique they’re…

This article originally appeared in the February 2010 issue of Popular Woodworking Last week I stood in a beautiful living room and relived a scene for at least the 10th time in my career as a writer. George R. Walker, our new columnist at Popular Woodworking, was showing me around his well-kept home in Canton,…

Consider yourself a midwife to creativity.

By Brian Boggs
Page: 64

My boat shop is the result of years of frustration. I used to build cedar-strip canoes and sea-kayaks in an attached 1-1/2 car garage and was constantly fighting both the confined space and the shop dust that kept migrating into the house. So, when I retired and had a bit of extra time, I had…

Mark Sfirri isn’t just a wood turner—he’s a turning teacher, turning researcher, turning author, turning lecturer and turning exhibit curator and judge. What’s odd about this well-rounded turner is that he doesn’t turn in the round. Multi-axis turning is his specialty—and few do it better. A Circular Path Mark, who is 60 years old, became…

I always look forward to reading “My Shop” in American Woodworker. I envy those guys who have woodshops the size of a five-car garage that look more like castles than workshops.  Some are heated and air conditioned; others have windows with a spectacular view. My shop overlooks the hot water tank and laundry tubs, because…

For more than 30 years my workshop consisted of a workbench and my Shopsmith tucked into a corner of the garage. I either had to set up and tear down every time I worked or park the car in the driveway until the project was done. In 2007 my husband said that if I’d give…

I live in Sun City, a retirement community of about 6000 homes located north of Austin Texas. It can seem as if we also have over 6000 golf carts, as Sun City residents are constantly on the go from one activity to another. My favorite is the Sun City Woodworkers Club. This club was included…

Sixty-something year old George Wurtzel has turned porch posts for mansions, built furniture for R&B stars and crafted hundreds of kitchen cabinets. He’s run a cabinetmaking and countertop fabrication shop, worked as a Volkswagen repairman and taught industrial arts. He’s attended design fairs in Milan Italy and skied 500 miles across Finland. An impressive resume—made…

While visiting with chairmaker Bob Erickson (pictured above with his son Tor), it seems appropriate to ask, “What chair are you sitting in right now?” He explains it’s an unfinished Van Muyden chair part of a dining room set he’s building for a client in New York City. Bob’s Van Muyden Chair—three-legged, crafted of quilted…

by William Mikus My woodworking career began at age 7, in 1935, cutting out lawn ornaments from grocery store boxes and crates with an old coping saw. Paint was the only expense. My inspirations were my father, who was a farmer (and by necessity a carpenter) and my older brother, who was an aspiring woodworker….

My wife and I bought a 100-year-old farmhouse near Bristol Indiana that came with a decrepit 30′ x 40′ barn. I planned to save the barn after we finished restoring the house. However, plans don’t always work out. A couple years later I was facing my second knee replacement and knew I wouldn’t be able…

Restoring one of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s greatest accomplishments 150 years after it originally opened. LOCATED AT: 215 Sauchiehall Street Glasgow G2 3EX, United Kingdom www.mackintoshatthewillow.com Willow Tea Rooms Trust www.willowteamroomstrust.org As an architect and designer, Charles Rennie Mackintosh is synonymous with Glasgow—the city where he spent most of his life, and where several of his…

Kimberly Winkle is one of 43 fine woodworkers who was showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? The exhibition is important to me in a number of ways….

Erin Irber is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? This exhibit has importance on a number of levels. Laura and…

Briana Trujillo is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? I am honored to be included in the Making a Seat at…

Sarah Watlington is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? On a personal note, it feels powerful to share a platform…

William Brown is a lifelong woodworker who’s decided to channel his passion for the craft into a brand new woodworking school, Maine Coast Workshop. We interviewed him to learn more about the school, himself, and the future of woodworking. Why are you starting this school? Why now? I’ve been making high-end reproduction and historically inspired…

Jodie Prud’homme is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? On a personal level, it’s felt like a tremendous honor to…

Katrina Tompkins is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? If she can see it she can be it. When I…

Heide Martin is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you?  I had heard about the book project that Laura and Deirdre…

Bec Evans is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? It’s just wonderful! The exhibition came right as I move home…

Melanie Hamilton is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? I’ve been working in near isolation on the east coast of…

Laura Kishimoto is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? This exhibition is important to me because it was so groundbreaking. When…

Annie Evelyn is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? In my personal experience, I have always been surrounded by incredible…

Kate Davidson is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? I’m still very new to the field of woodworking and had…

Heidi Earnshaw is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? For community and for the exposure to the work of a…

Leigh Dotey is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about their work. Why is this exhibition important to you? Having the opportunity to show work at The Center for Art…

Teresa Audet is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? This exhibition was important to me personally because I was able to show…

Before I give my students their sandpaper for the first time, I ask them if they have noticed the depressions in the treads of our school’s stone stairs. Most of them have not, so I continue to ask: what do you think created these eroded areas? Now I see some raised hands and I begin…

Vivian Chiu is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? This exhibition was such an incredible experience to be a part…

Alex Clarke is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? Making a Seat at the Table gave me the opportunity to…

Emma Chorostecki is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? I would echo Katie Hudnall’s experience and say this is the…

Christy Oates is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? Woodworking has always been a male-dominated field, and I get strange…

Katie Hudnall is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? For one thing, the quality and breadth of the work in…

Here’s what the Pop Wood editors are listening to this fall. Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments! Made for Profit In this weekly podcast, Brad Rodriguez and John Malecki help you monetize your passion and achieve your business goals.             Making It With Jimmy Diresta, Bob…

Fall 2019 Edition One of the best places to be inspired as a woodworker is on Instagram. Here’s the woodworkers and makers our editors are following this fall. @anneofalltrades – Anne Briggs Alway full of energy and featuring a little something for everyone, Anne is one of the most popular woodworkers on instagram. @elliot_jokelson –…

Make no mistake: This is must-see exhibition. Curated by Laura Mays and Deirdre Visser, Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking showcases a collection of works by 43 artists. From well-crafted functional forms to experimental materials and idea-driven designs, the exhibition encompasses the wide range of work that women are contributing to the…

You need to watch this video that was just released from the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship. It centers on the founder of the school, Peter Korn, but it really talks about why people make furniture. You’ll see some familiar names from the pages of woodworking magazines, and it’s filled with beautiful shots of workshops and…

Is there life after running your own professional furniture shop? Absolutely, says Russell Gale in Part 2 of my series on different kinds of furniture makers.

It’s hard to hide the loot when your wife has detective skills. I am a toolaholic. There, I’ve said it. I’ve admitted my weakness. I am in need of a 12-step program. A 12-step program or a good surgeon. For you see, my bride has the sense of humor of a cat after it has…

At Women’s Woodshop, no one has to prove themselves to be a maker. Purchase the June 2018 issue of Popular Woodworking here. I fell in love with woodworking because of the material itself; wood’s movement with the seasons, its reactions to metals and oxidation and a grain that holds a history of seasonal storms, heavy…

In the forerunner to Popular Woodworking Magazine, a small, California-based publication titled Pacific Woodworker, there are some excellent interviews – including this one with woodworking legend Sam Maloof, from issue 7, by Bill Farnsworth. We don’t have digital files or the original photographs for these early issues, so I can’t easily post the text and images – but…

Look for the new “Woodworking Legends: Garry Knox Bennett” video in mid-May (it will be available at ShopWoodworking.com). On it, fellow furniture making giant Alf Sharp chats with Garry about his life, his work, his woodworking philosophy and more. On this excerpt (rated PG-13 for language), Alf and Garry take a walk through Garry’s shop…

This legendary planemaker’s career has been dedicated to innovation. There is no straight path between a childhood spent in a camp for displaced persons in Germany’s Black Forest at the end of the Second World War, and a workshop in the Scottish Highlands making some of the most desirable handplanes in the world. Nonetheless, that…

A former musician brings an improvisational skill to the craft. by Christopher Schwarz Somewhere between street musician and the symphony orchestra, between an 18th-century hand woodworker and a contemporary designer, is Jeff Miller, a Chicago furniture maker, teacher and author who defies every pigeonhole. In fact, if given the chance, he might just redesign that…

As managing editor, one of my duties is to pull together the “Letters” column for each issue, so please send in your questions or comments for me, the other editors or even for magazine contributors. We’ll do our best to provide answers as soon as we can. As I worked on the upcoming August issue,…

First, thank you for the many fine articles you sent in for our End Grain contest – I had the pleasure of reading more than 250 funny, poignant and/or philosophical tales of woodworking. And while I enjoyed every one of them, it did make for a difficult job in selecting winners. I read each entry…

Paddling through a woodworking past.

By Eric Heydorn
Page: 64

We’re looking for a handful of amusing and/or thought-provoking articles for our End Grain feature (the last editorial page in every issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine). So, we’re running a contest. The writer of the best submission (in the editors’ collective opinion) will not only get paid for the article ($250, plus $75 for an…

Persistence (and a crazy mother) can help.

By Elia Bizzarri
Page: 64

A proper chest to store prized chisels.

By Glen D. Huey
Page: 64

The most prominent piece of furniture in my mom’s living room is a Queen Anne lowboy my dad built. As you can imagine, the piece is coveted by family members, as it was the first piece he tackled as a furniture maker. Dad had experience in home construction, but was new to furniture making. Right out of the gate he chose cabriole legs and a carved fan – that’s the way he approached woodworking and life.

Farewell TV, DVDs and http.

By Roy Anderson
Page 64

We sat down (metaphorically) with A.J. Hamler, author of the upcoming “Easy to Build Birdhouses” to get his take on the subject: Q: Why birdhouses? A: Birdhouses are among the most satisfying of woodworking projects. They’re fast to make, require only small amounts of materials, and can be made with just a basic toolkit. Besides,…

Check your cell phone and dozuki at the door when you enter Roy Underhill’s The Woodwright’s School.

Ron is the owner of Hock Tools, a 25-year-old cottage industry that makes acknowledged superior blades for planes and other woodworking tools. His interest and expertise regarding sharp edges comes from a blade-maker’s perspective and he imparts this knowledge in a clear and concise way in his new book, "The Perfect Edge." We got a chance to talk with Ron to hear the author’s perspective on penning this upcoming title, and now you can have a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into writing the book.

Sam Maloof, a world-class craftsman, has a new location for his shop but the same dogged attitude toward his work.

A 1982 interview with woodworking icon Sam Maloof.

What tools would Norm Abram and Scott Phillips grab on the way out the door if their shops caught fire? Find out next week when Popular Woodworking presents exclusive video interviews with Norm Abram and Scott Phillips. On Friday morning at the AWFS show in Las Vegas, Publisher Steve Shanesy sat down with these two…