An ironing board met a spindly manual-training workbench at a bar. Drinks were consumed. And nine months later, the Chandler & Barber patented “Handy Bench Cabinet” came into this world in 1902. The “bench” is a testament to human will – that something so odd and ill-conceived could be patented and brought to market….
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… I spent the morning fitting the base joints and assembling my French oak workbench. — Christopher Schwarz Share this: Print Email Facebook Tumblr Pinterest Twitter Like this: Like Loading…
With his black leather nose and beautiful eyes, Oscar reminded me of the puppies that often appeared on boxes of chocolates in England in the early 1980s. Editor’s note: If you ever meet me at a dinner party and ask me what sort of books we publish, I’ll give you a two-word answer: hard ones….
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Building a project in front of an audience is one thing. Designing it and building it on the fly is enough to drive me to drink. Earlier this year I did a two-day seminar for the Alabama Woodworkers Guild where I designed and built a six-board chest. While I usually do a lot work beforehand…
Psst. Hey, man. Wanna have some fun? What kind of fun? Hayraking. [Radio silence.] Building a hayrake table. Killer joinery (exposed tenons with trapped, scribed shoulders; bridle joints; cool geometry), carving lambs’ tongues, decorative gouging and inlaid butterfly keys—all at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking. Laying out a lamb’s tongue Cutting one exposed tenon with…
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During my travels, I’ve met lots of vegetarian woodworkers. And their No. 1 complaint about the woodworking industry is how sheep must be slaughtered to lubricate hand woodworking tools. Yes, the mighty paraffin/home canning industry has tried to provide an ethical substitute called Gulf Wax – the tofurky of the tool-lubrication world. But nothing compares…