Editor’s note: Due to extensive work on “The Stick Chair Book,” it’s been a little while since we published a chair chat, today we are back with a Swedish chair assembled with Fish Glue and primitive IKEA joints. Salty language about pizza, electrocuted meatballs and potatoes will follow so be warned. For those who are …
Chair Chat No. 17 with Rudy and Klaus: Kermit Sändwich™ – Read More »
That gunk is bad news. No matter how expensive or well-made your handplane is, there are times when you have to perform a “hard reset” on the tool when it starts to behave unpredictably. I use my handplanes every day, so I have to do a hard reset almost every year. My smoothing plane and …
We’re just received the laser proofs from our Maryland-based printing company for “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker,” and so we’re still shooting for a late October or early November release date for the book. Though I need to look closely at the proofs this evening for typos and the like, overall I’m pleased with the …
In those days a journeyman’s full tool chest was quite a costly investment, and many a man found it an expensive undertaking to supply himself with all the tools he needed. Besides his ordinary bench and everyday working tools, he was obliged to carry a lot of odd tools that are not much thought of …
Memories of Fifty Years Ago in the Building Trades – Read More »
When I break down rough stock, I almost always use three sawbenches, a framing square and a handsaw. Even when I had access to a monster radical-harm saw, I stuck to my handsaw because the process gave me loads of information that is lost in the roar of an electric tool. The biggest advantage to …
In this excerpt from our book, “From Truths to Tools,” we show how the carpenter/geometers of antiquity used the simplest of tools – those mentioned with almost annoying alliteration in the title – to solve for an unknown distance. Note that the solution does not necessarily require a number as it physically reveals the …
Solving Spans with Sticks, Strings, Sightlines & Stones – Read More »
Wrong PhotoOriginal caption: On the left, the parts aren’t arranged ideally. That top board should be flipped 180°. On the right is a leg that is glued up ideally. On page 228 of “The Anarchist’s Workbench,” I printed the wrong photo. In the wrong photo (shown above), the boards in the left leg are oriented …
The third floor with the not-to-code partitions taken down. During the last few weeks there has been so much going on at the Anthe Building I don’t know where to start. We are now waiting on permits and inspections (we passed our first electrical inspection last week), so things are at a bit of a …
Author’s Note: This is the second of a three-part interview with Chris about the Anarchist’s Tool Chest, which is nearing its fifth anniversary. If you missed the first part of the conversation, you can read it here. — Brian Clites, your forum moderator and author of thewoodprof.com. brian@lostartpress.com Brian Clites: Good evening Chris. I’ll try …
That’s steam. You can get away with using wet stock if you know the risks. The following is excerpted from “Ingenious Mechanicks: Early Workbenches & Workholding,” by Christopher Schwarz. “Ingenious Mechanicks” is my least successful book – commercially – but it probably the one I’m most proud of. The research the Suzanne Ellison and I …