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I’m ashamed to say that despite Chippendale’s advice, I know very little about the classical column orders. I know they are used to define ancient architectural styles. I generally [...]

Golden section is the division of a length at which the ratio of the division to the whole is equal to the ratio of the smaller division to the longer. 18th century craftsmen very likely [...]

If you’re interested in reading detailed stories about modern toolmakers, their wares and how they fare in the shop, I have some good news. Clarence Blanchard, the owner of the Fine Tool [...]

Master Cabinetmaker Thomas Chippendale (1718-1779) recommended that cabinetmakers learn drafting so that they could “shew…the Conduct and Effect of the Piece.” I haven’t [...]

Side Chair, Philadelphia, c.1750 Philadelphia Museum of Art The axiom “form follows function” guides our designs and our esthetics. I can’t think that there is a woodworker who [...]

Each Holiday season we are blessed, or cursed, with that Hollywood production of Home Alone starring Macaulay Culkin. And each year I wonder why this is an annual presentation. This year I had a [...]

Whenever I build a piece of furniture, I keep a log of the time I spend at each step in construction: 60 minutes to glue the top, 75 minutes to cut the mortises and tenons, 30 minutes to remake a [...]

If you’re like me, somewhere in your house you have a pile of old magazines. You have to keep them, but they take up space, and when you go to find the article or imformation you need, it [...]

We’ve created some nice pdf files that will assist you in building the Creole Table featured in the February 2007 issue of Popular Woodworking. These are the same working files I used to [...]

Next to my workbench at home, I keep an antique tool chest that has a tricky, sticky and unpredictable lock. Most days, I can open the chest with ease. I rotate the key. The cylinders turn. The [...]

“I can teach a man to sail but I can never teach him why.” – Timothy E. Thatcher, published in “The American Scholar” The March 2007 issue of Woodworking [...]

A Festool table saw ready for ripping. During the last seven days, I’ve eaten a lot of foreign food, drank a lot of foreign beer and listened to a lot of foreign languages (such as [...]