Author name: Enthusiast

Christopher Schwarz’s next book (I’ve been urging him to refer to it as a monograph, given its single subject and form – and perhaps my penchant for hyperbole) will be on two Roman workbenches – one ancient design based on an 18th-century drawing of a fresco at Herculaneum and a surviving fresco at Pompeii, and one early modern design (he’s calling that one the Holy Roman Bench) from a drawing […]

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While I love making cabinets, tables and bookcases, I have always been drawn to making chairs. At first I made Morris chairs because they were very cabinet-like – lots of 90° angles and traditional square-mortise joinery. There might be an odd angle or two for a builder to conquer, but nothing outrageous. Then I encountered John Brown, a Welsh chairmaker who made stick chairs that didn’t look like a frilly […]

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How I Make Parts Using Hybrid Woodworking Techniques In previous posts, I wrote about what led me to get my own CNC. Now that I have one, a couple of questions come up. What’s changed in how I do my work? What do I do with a CNC? In the next two posts, I’ll explain how I previously made furniture using a combination of power and hand tools and how […]

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Perhaps it’s because I’ve become a father myself – or maybe it’s just a sign of getting older – but I’ve found myself thinking fondly of old toys. I’m not talking about the Transformers, Stretch Armstrongs and Star Wars figures of my youth (though, I love those toys with all my heart). Those kinds of toys are special in their own way with their wonderfully cheap plastic and bright colors, […]

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I got a call recently from a friend who runs a mid-size woodworking shop. He was making several dozen walnut tables for a restaurant and finishing them with pre-catalyzed lacquer. He sent off a sample of the finish to the restaurant owner, who came back with an objection. The restaurant had hired a professional potter to make the dishes (nice!). And the plates and bowls scratched the finish when they […]

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Let’s continue the story of my student Chad’s coffee table built at a live edge class at Peters Valley. In this entry I will show how we found a convenient way to trace the shape of the shelf, cut it and connect it to the legs. Because the shelf was intended to span an irregular trapezoid-shaped gap between the four legs, it had to be custom cut. We had to devise […]

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