The Neighborhood Joiner

Qui non operatur instrumentum est / Use tools, don't be one

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  • Workshop Update: April 2021
  • Tools and externalities
  • The thin edge of the wedge of scientific engineering
  • Hand tools and “traditional woodworking”
  • What is a “hand tool,” anyway?

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Having successfully bent kiln dried ash without a Having successfully bent kiln dried ash without a steam box (finally!) I realized I didn’t know how to shape the crest. Sketching directly on the dry fit chair with a 6B pencil seems like the best approach to figuring it out. #chairmaking #furnituredesign #chair #stickchair #fanbackchair #woodworking #handtoolwoodworking
Hey folks, I’ll be at @curatedcraftmarket in Fuq Hey folks, I’ll be at @curatedcraftmarket in Fuquay-Varina this Saturday from 1 to 5 selling, among other things, this really gorgeous cherry lazy Susan. Come on out if you are local! . . #woodworking #handtoolwoodworking #ncmade #shoplocal #lazysusan #cherrywood
I had a chunk of poplar big enough for a chair sea I had a chunk of poplar big enough for a chair seat but not big enough for a chair with arms, so I’m experimenting. Windsorish seat, fan back, twice tapered legs. We shall see. #chairmaking #woodworking #handtoolwoodworking #chair #stickchair #windsorchair #furnituredesign #experimental
A couple days late for May Day, aka the feast of S A couple days late for May Day, aka the feast of St Joseph the Worker, aka the feast of St Joseph the Communist: a photo of my great grandfather (at right) c. 1949 helping himself to another beer at the Labor Day picnic he held every year for his crew, with a couple of his tools that were in service yesterday building a chair. . . #woodworking #handtoolwoodworking #family #tools #handtools #beer #laborday
Here at last is the table I was working on awhile Here at last is the table I was working on awhile back. I finished it early last month but haven't had a chance to get good photos until now. We bought a new couch, you see, and it was lower than the old one, and so the old console table was too high... Anyhow. It's a table, it's made of cherry, it has drawers. It looks good with a brown leather couch. Now, of course, we need a new lamp. . Building the inside, for three drawers and a forty-inch span, was the interesting part. I can't recommend enough Will Neptune's article “Engineering a Table with Drawers” from @finewoodworkingmagazine back in about 2000. Clear, concise, and extensible to whatever sort of table you're designing. I never got to go to North Bennett Street, so his articles are my consolation prize. . The knobs are hammered black iron from @whitechapel.ltd. This is the third piece for which I've used these knobs. From a distance they look like your basic turned knobs and fit the simple aesthetic, but then up close you have this wonderful texture. Really nice stuff! . #woodworking #handtoolwoodworking #table #consoletable #shakertable #shakerfurniture #finefurniture #cherrywood #drawers
I try to only make spoons and whatnot out of scrap I try to only make spoons and whatnot out of scrap from furniture projects— partly from frugality and partly to limit the number of spoons I make. If a scrap is usable for wooden ware and nothing likely nothing else, i trace the template on it and stack it in a shelf. The shelf was full, so today I’m gouging bowls and sawing out blanks. Then when I have a spare hour or two I can pull a few out and carve them. (I know this is not as exciting as green wood carving, but it works.) . . #spoons #carving #spooncarving #woodworking #handtoolwoodworking
I keep trying to think of a woodworker’s equival I keep trying to think of a woodworker’s equivalent of earrings— something I can sell at craft markets in the neighborhood of $20. I came up with these votive holders. Flickering candlelight really highlights the carved edge! You can check them out in person this Saturday at the Western Wake Farmers Market @wwfarmersmkt in Morrisville, where I’ll be a guest vendor. . . #woodworking #handtoolwoodworking #votiveholder #candleholder #candleholders #votiveholders #handmade #buylocal
Another stool, this one chair height. It replaces Another stool, this one chair height. It replaces one I made ten years ago that I liked at the time… you know the feeling? Slate #oldfashionedmilkpaint over dark brown stain, because I wanted to try something new and inexplicably had two packages of slate paint. The understain gives a weathered look, I think. #stool #chairmaking #woodworking #handtoolwoodworking #milkpaint
By Jove, it’s a table! I thought there had to be By Jove, it’s a table! I thought there had to be one in there somewhere. . . #woodworking #handtoolwoodworking #table #consoletable #furniture #furnituremaker #finefurniture
Done. Leather tacked on, dust cover attached, and Done. Leather tacked on, dust cover attached, and the oak finished with Osmo Polyx Oil. . I'm pleasantly surprised by how well the design works, given that I (a) really needed to get an ottoman made for the easy chair that I reupholstered four years ago, (b) wanted to use up some upholstery leather I couldn't use for its original purpose, and (c) cut down a previous design on something of a lark. I think it's a winner, especially with the oak and leather. It winds up being maybe the most modern-looking thing I've built. . I do wish I'd cut a couple of practice mortise and tenon joints before diving in... but the second pair were good and the last several were near perfect, and with glue and pegs it's all fine. Not entirely happy with the upholstery corners; it was my first time using leather, but the pleats are still fairly inconspicuous. And the grain on the legs is a little funkier than I'd like (the rays at least are straight), but it's a practical design in that it all comes from a single piece of 8/4 lumber. . Overall, I'm satisfied, and it looks good with the easy chair. A good way to close out the calendar year. Onward and upward in '22! . #woodworking #handtoolwoodworking #footstool #stool #ottoman #seating #finefurniture #furniture #upholstery #traditionalupholstery
Middle steps, upholstering the footstool. For awhi Middle steps, upholstering the footstool. For awhile there is nothing that makes a nice picture. On top of the webbing goes artificial horsehair,* a modern convenience I prefer to real horsehair hand crimped with an iron, as I understand it was done in the old days. The plastic stuff also lasts longer. Then a layer of cotton batting. Once it’s held in place with a muslin cover, it sits quite comfortably. Fairly firm; the slight yield in the webbing is all the give the seat really needs. . I forgot to take a photo of the muslin cover but it is also white. . Tomorrow I’ll post photos of the finished piece. . *no artificial horses were harmed in the making of this footstool. . . #upholstery #traditionalupholstery #footstool
First step in upholstering the slip seat for my fo First step in upholstering the slip seat for my footstool: stretched jute webbing. I think it would once have been linen or hemp? but this is nearly traditional. #upholstery #traditionalupholstery #footstool #slipseat
En freehlicher (zwedde) Grischtdaag from me, Hildy En freehlicher (zwedde) Grischtdaag from me, Hildy, and our Belsnickel!
Pegged, sanded and ready for finish and upholstery Pegged, sanded and ready for finish and upholstery (the slip seat is around somewhere). Best picture I could manage on an overcast solstice. #woodworking #handtoolwoodworking #footstool #furniture
Did the dry fit last night and was annoyed to find Did the dry fit last night and was annoyed to find that one of the tenons was not seated square. Dang, I thought, I really am out of practice! Then looked at it just now and realized I’d put the rail in upside down. 🙄 #oops #woodworking #handtoolwoodworking #mortiseandtenon
Frost on the yard waste #leaves #frost #december Frost on the yard waste #leaves #frost #december
Hey folks, I’ll be at @curatedcraftmarket in Fuq Hey folks, I’ll be at @curatedcraftmarket in Fuquay-Varina again this Saturday for my last market of the season! Come on out if you’re local! #woodworking #shoplocal
With the year’s last batch of spoons done, it’ With the year’s last batch of spoons done, it’s time to make something rectangular. If I remember how. . Of course, you’ll still be able to sit on it. . #furnituredesign #woodworking #stool #footstool
Question for the woodworkers: is it worth buying a Question for the woodworkers: is it worth buying a dedicated shooting plane? (Normally I finish with a block plane, which is more convenient. This is one case where I suspect if I used wooden planes things would be easier.) #handtools #handplanes #handtoolwoodworking #shootingboard
Hey folks, if you are in Durham or thereabouts, co Hey folks, if you are in Durham or thereabouts, come out and see me at the @themakrssociety market at Central Park 11-3 tomorrow! It looks like a great lineup of artisans and beautiful weather. And yes, handmade stools do make excellent holiday gifts! Pulling up your socks, stoking the fire, cleaning out the bathroom cabinet, reaching high places, or just sitting and looking really good: they keep you off the ground in style. #stools #footstool #milkingstool #handmade #shoplocal
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