Author name: Enthusiast

A couple of weeks ago I posted why Philly chairs were just better (read it by clicking here). In the comments pmac mentioned including a SketchUp drawing in future posts to illustrate the joinery I discussed in the body of the post. Even though pmac understood the joinery I mentioned, I thought it would be a good idea to post a follow-up with the SketchUp drawing for those who still […]

The post Furniture Details: Philly Explained appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

  When it comes to understanding the history of furniture, I think John Gloag put it best when he wrote: “Nearly all articles of free-standing furniture are variations on two basic shapes: a platform or a box.” (“A Social History of Furniture Design: From B.C. 1300 to A.D. 1960” pp. 3-4, Crown) Platforms include: tables, chairs, stools, beds and benches. Boxes include: chests, cabinets, bookcases, cupboards, dressers and the like. […]

The post Meet the Aumbry (You Know its Grandkids) appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Last week I started down the slippery slope of defining some of the differences between the various periods of furniture. This week, I’m just jumping off the cliff. Even if you’re not into period furniture, this series of posts can help you understand where your style of furniture came from. The whole idea is, everything is based on what has come before and everything is recycled somewhere. Picking up from […]

The post Design in Practice: Stylin’ Too appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

The overwhelming majority of the August 2014 Online Extras are posted (and the one or two that are still “tk” will be added later this week. Visit PopularWoodworking.com/aug14, then click on the title of each article post to get a preview of each article and to access the extras. In “Craftsman Wardrobe,” for example, you’ll find links to Robert W. Lang’s videos on making a using a router jig for […]

The post Free Articles, Videos & More in August Online Extras appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I don’t turn pens much, and the word “fireplace” is a dirty word in our house (thanks to an incident involving a flaming log and full nudity). So my scrap pile is always overflowing. I give away scraps for kindling to my neighbors or I burn them in our outside firepit, but that is a hard sell during the hot humid months. Recently I’ve been building ancient layout tools with […]

The post Free Plans: Ancient Squares for Ancient Scraps appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

These days when you read about high school wood shops, it’s almost always in the context of a program shutting down, the equipment auctioned off and resources diverted to sending every kid that graduates high school to college. That makes sense if you think we don’t need to make anything domestically and that blue collar jobs are dead-end jobs. In spite of this, there is a high school wood working […]

The post There is Hope for High School Woodworking Programs appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.