For posts related to the stories behind Woodwork-magazine.com
More than a mecca to the aspiring woodworker, the North Bennet Street School– lying a few steps from Old North Church (“one if by land, two if by sea”) in Boston’s historic North End neighborhood–operates as a veritable university of innovative training programs across eight different craft disciplines. The school draws students from across...
By: Manya Chylinski Lance Patterson is a bit of an enigma. His colleagues and students at Boston’s North Bennet Street School seem to think they don’t know the real Lance, who doesn’t spend much time socializing. But they’re the people who know him best. Woodworker, teacher, brilliant craftsman–that’s the real Lance. He just happens...
BY YOAV LIBERMAN This story is about the evolution of a project, from its infancy as a pile of scrap lumber (1) and some very vague ideas about how it is supposed to look and be built, to its maturity as a cohesive creation that stands firmly on all four legs. Most of my...
BY KEVIN WALLANCE Terry Martin is a craftsman and sculptor, writer and critic, teacher and student in the field of wood art. He is a man who constantly changes hats, doing what he can to document and promote a field in which he is also a player. It is not an easy route to take,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
