Back Issues

The Idyllic Woodworking Life of Grant Vaughan

BY TERRY MARTIN
Despite the notion that the woodworking life is very romantic, full of sweet-smelling plane shavings in a peaceful workshop, for many the reality is dusty, noisy and sometimes tedious work. Yet many of us became woodworkers in pursuit of an idealized lifestyle. When I recently visited Grant Vaughan, I was impressed to see… »

6/8 Tables - All in a Day’s Work

BY JOHN SHERIDAN
Although I’m a professional furniture maker, not every piece that I build is an heirloom. In fact, I’ve discovered that designing attractive, durable pieces that can be built in a short amount of time can be just as satisfying as making fine furniture. I call these my “6/8” designs, because they can be… »

The Pair of Shoes

BY TOSHIO ODATE
PHOTOS: LAURE OLENDER
Toshio Odate apprenticed as a young woodworker in Japan during the 1940s. He moved to New York in 1958, became a renowned sculptor, and was instrumental in introducing America and Europe to the Japanese craft tradition, publishing the seminal work Japanese Woodworking Tools: Their Tradition, Spirit, and Use in 1984.
This article… »

2008 Design in Wood Exhibition

GALLERY
2008 Design in Wood Exhibition
DEL MAR, CALIFORNIA
In 1982, 35 members of the San Diego Fine Woodworker's Association (SDFWA) participated in the first Design in Wood Exhibition. Today the SDFWA has over 1600 members and Design in Wood now averages over 300 entries and awards over $20,000 in prize money to entries in 22 classes. Pictured… »

Wooden Grooving and Rabbeting Planes

BY KERRY PIERCE
A tablesaw equipped with a dado set is brutally efficient for cutting dozens of grooves, dadoes or rabbets. I tend to build just one piece at a time, though, so I rarely find myself faced with making such a large number of joints. More typically, I need dadoes for two or four shelves,… »

Fineply

A remarkable new form of shop-built plywood can stretch your imagination!

BY JERRY SPADY
The things humans have made over the millennia have depended upon both the materials available and our understanding of their properties. Secondarily, we’ve had to develop appropriate tools and techniques to manipulate these materials. This is true on the grand scale of, say,… »

Recreating A 17th-Century Carved Box

BY PETER FOLLANSBEE
Most 17th-century households in England and New England contained one or more small boxes for storing a variety of everyday objects. These boxes were made in a joiner’s shop and were usually decorated with carving on the front, and sometimes the sides. Making a box is a good introduction to some of the… »

Studio Furniture at the Renwick

Furniture historian Oscar Fitzgerald discusses his new catalog of contemporary artisan-made furniture at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery.

1. George Nakashima “Conoid Bench”
1977 Walnut, hickory, 31-1/8″ × 84-1/2″ × 35-5/8″
Photo by Edward Owen

Tom Caspar: You’ve been writing about woodworking in the United States for quite a while, including the comprehensive book Four Centuries… »

Seeing the World with David Upfill-Brown

BY PATRICK DOWNES • PHOTOS BY DAVID UPFILL-BROWN
It’s impossible to fall asleep while David Upfill-Brown talks. At the very first word, you’ll cock your head like a terrier, trying for your life to figure out his accent. Born in South Africa and raised in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, David has lived across the English-speaking world, from… »

Shopmade Handscrews

Thread your own wooden screws
BY STEVEN BUNN
Even though I have a small fortune invested in tools, I always seem to be short of wooden handscrew clamps. But daydreaming about buying ten more of these versatile tools runs smack into the reality that such a purchase requires spending anywhere from $200 to $450, depending on the… »