My focus so far on this job has been in building the furniture for the Japanese space. That furniture consists of three benches, of varying lengths, and a small table with compound splayed posts. This form of construction is near and dear to me, forming the contents of TAJCD Volume IV, however it had been more than a year since I last tackled this sort of work. With a relatively complex topic like that, the challenge upon revisiting is to ... read more

I've been working on the plant-on corners for the Japanese room, and that work forms the focus of this posting.This week I took a trip to Colgate to check the room out, meet the parties involved, and take some measurements. I found that none of the room corners where the plant-on posts would be located had square corner. Not even close in fact - the angles were on the order of 86˚. i'm glad i waited to check this aspect ... read more

I’ve split the videos into parts to make it for easy viewing. ... read more

My Journal Entry Wednesday 18 April 2018   Today was a good day to move the office from the dining/rest/meeting room area upstairs. The now new dedicated space seemed ready for everyone after a very long wait for the promise of premium working conditions. I am not yet allowed to move until the latest series […] Read the full post Moving In on Paul Sellers' Blog. ... read more

Caterpillar (my employer) is no stranger to making significant infrastructure improvements to all areas of the world. One area of significant involvement and investment by Big Yellow is in making sure water reaches those that need it. It's admirable the efforts the company puts forth in this arena, for instance consider this recent press release:https://www.caterpillar.com/en/news/corporate-press-releases/ih/caterpillarfoundationlaunchesvalueofwatercampaigntohelpitspartne.htmlToday, I want to give a "shout out" to Caterpillar, not for providing water to far flung reaches of the earth, but instead someplace much more ... read more

The Wood and Shop Traditional Woodworking School is finished, so I wanted to share these photos so you can see inside! 10 workbenches fill the school, which includes six Moravian workbenches, two traditional Roubo workbenches, one French pine bench, and one Swedish made workbench. This lovely maple workbench top was cut last year by a ... read more

You can see that Mike’s mandolin has been set-up; the action and intonation is now what I consider to be the optimum for one of my mandolins. It’s a long iterative process to get everything spot on. The strings are brought up to tension and the instrument rests, measurements made and then adjustments- maybe one slot in the nut is cut a bit deeper or the whole saddle is lowered. With the action correct, next on to the intonation and ... read more

Like most people, we spend lots of time (way too much time) surfing the web, entranced by various videos. In Video Roundup, we offer some videos from all over the world that we found especially intriguing.This week's selections offer a tip of the hat to froe enthusiasts. (Last time we showed a customer our showrooms selection of Ray Iles collection of scorps, froes and travishers, they said, Some Scrabble words!) See the froe in action in two videos showing how ... read more

On tuesday it rained all day long and wednesday was bright and sunny but breezy and cool. Tomorrow will be a repeat of tuesday. The purpose of this lead verbiage is a bitch. Not a rant, but a bitch. When I left for work this morning I had checked the temp and it was 43°F (6.1°C) so it was cold but not freezing. Nobody told my windshield that. There was no frost on it but #%^**@!)*$*^@ ice. The rain from ... read more

I have finally, nearly, almost, come to grips with the movie settings on my trusty camera.I thought it was about time I made a movie of a complete spoon carve.This is not a film of close up detail but a film covering all of the motions one needs to carve an eccentric Jon Mac pocket spoon using my three trusty edge tools, Axe, knife and hook knife.I was joined in the movie by one of my Red Robin helpers.I do ... read more

I am embarrassed to admit I don’t feature much Italian furniture. But it’s not my fault. There just isn’t that much identified Italian furniture at the local auctions and antiques shops. Identifying Italian furniture in the absence of clear labeling would require research and actual knowledge, things I avoid as contrary to my better nature. Recently, a local auction house had two sales with an interesting selection of identified Italian furniture. They frequently have things like mirrors, lighting fixtures and ... read more

I found another good quote from the back issues of Woodwork. This one is from the article titled Judy Ditmer: The Power of Acceptance By Kerry Pierce in issue #45, from June 1997. It resonates with me, as this way of working is not unfamiliar to me. “‘Stephen Jay Gould, the archaeologist and teacher… discussed a popular misconception about the work of archaeology and physical anthropology: the idea that you can take one bone and from that you can postulate ... read more

“A wise man once said: Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” — Chapter 10, “Legion” ... read more

I write about the dichotomy occurring in present day woodworking. The clash between the growing movement towards traditional hand tool woodworking versus the rise in automation along with a plethora of machinery to expedite woodworking processes. This is from the perspective of a traditional woodworker determining how much current woodworking technology to embrace in his studio practice. I write this because today we are bombarded on two fronts in woodworking. Go traditional with hand tools, go modern with the latest ... read more

Today I did a little work in the shop for the first time since having back surgery on February 5th. It was wonderful being in the shop again! I did some work on a curly walnut dulcimer that was left close to completion in February. I leveled, crowned, and polished the frets and started working on the nut. This was gentle work with small tools but after about half an hour my body told me it was in my ... read more

This Canadian woodworker is one of three awarded scholarships to Fine Woodworking Live 2018 ... read more

If I was a farmer I would grow chairs.  A couple years ago, Curtis Buchanan sent me photos of chairs by the company Full Grown.  I think they are brilliant: Apparently it takes seven years to grow a chair, exponentially less than it takes to grow the trees I use to make chairs.  For more info, visit their website or read an interesting article about them. The company has a six year backlog. Why are we fooling ... read more

For most of you time is not money when it comes to your workshop. But I will always stand by my belief that it could be. Small scale furniture making can be a profitable business, and as crazy as it sounds hand tools are the key. Single maker, small workshop, minimal tools. It’s perfect for low overheads. There’s two important points that you’ll need to master though. Continue reading at The English Woodworker. ... read more

If you’ve ever met Mary May, author of “Carving the Acanthus Leaf,” then you probably know this already: Mary does not do anything halfway. Her book is an exhaustive look at carving this iconic motif with hundreds and hundreds of detailed drawings and photographs that illustrate the process. But if you still need some more assistance, Mary has you covered. Having a 3D representation of what you are carving is a great advantage. So Mary offers resin castings for ... read more

David Russell checking running sheets of his book on press at the printers in ItalySometimes a person you have never met, and know only through a book, can have enormous influence on you. David R. Russell, the eminent tool collector and author of Antique Woodworking Tools, was such a person for me. I was saddened to hear that he passed away a few weeks ago at the age of 82. I never met David Russell, although I own a half ... read more

David Russell checking running sheets of his book on press at the printers in ItalySometimes a person you have never met, and know only through a book, can have enormous influence on you. David R. Russell, the eminent tool collector and author of Antique Woodworking Tools, was such a person for me. I was saddened to hear that he passed away a few weeks ago at the age of 82. I never met David Russell, although I own a half ... read more

I am not a Scrooge with my woodworking and I will spend what I think is a fair price. Most times I will just buy the stock I need if I have the money. With the model bureau build I did say that I would try to do it all by hand. So that is what I picked back up on tonight.monday night workAfter supper on monday I went back to the shop and flattened this board (far left) down ... read more

There is an acronym that may change your perspective. Fear is: FalseEvidenceAppearingReal How would your life change if you approached fear this way instead of allowing it to be the driving force in your life? This article is for me, I’m writing about me, I’m thinking aloud and sharing my inner deepest darkest secret; Fear. Writing articles is the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. It’s much simpler to build than to write.  I’m competing with professional journalists and writers ... read more

The tools at the bottom of my chest are the heavy and expensive stuff – the planes and saws that get constantly used. At the back of the chest are my moulding planes. And the front wall of my chest has a tool rack that contains the stuff I need to grab without even looking at it. Let’s start with that rack. The Tool Rack From left to right: My […] The post The Tools in the Bottom of my ... read more

Yup! After an anxious few weeks and two years in the planning, I am very ready to take up occupation. I want you with me as I develop and build my creative workspace. The two cleaning specialists just left this evening following the builders handover and did a sterling job following four weeks of an […] Read the full post Paul’s Garage Workshop? It’s built! on Paul Sellers' Blog. ... read more

My brother, is a carver. He started out carving masks and moved on to, believe it or not, skateboards. Here is a pre-skateboard carving: There are two carved hands in the back attached to cords and an ignition coil. When the hands are pulled the eyes rotate and each bird sparks in turn. Below is his first octopus. His Skateboards are in the shape of birds and marine creatures.  He seldom shows his work and never promotes it. ... read more

The carcase is glued-up so you can now see some of the construction details that are interesting:The only major hiccup was that I cut the curve in the front stretcher upside down.  The reason is quite complex:  when a board has an arrow on it pointing up and you turn it over, it points down.  🙁   In this case I got lucky and it still fit.I deviated from the plans in a major respect.  They call for the legs to ... read more

"If it breaks, it breaks. You cannot be precious about these things. I don’t want to live in a display case." Jonathan Anderson of Loewe has many interesting things to say about craft. Continue reading → ... read more

The weather has turned colder and dreary of late. There was a hint of a spring last week but this weekend things went south on the nonstop express.  On sunday the temp was 20 degrees less than saturday's. Today was warmer but it rained off and on all day. I got stuck in a mini downpour when I went out to get chinese for lunch. It's a good thing I thought to take my umbrella just in case. The rest ... read more

The half pin on the right did not have hide glue applied to the end grain. Note that this photo was taken after the glue had dried but before the joint had been cleaned off. While at David Savage’s shop, Rowden, a couple years ago we assembled a bunch of dovetailed tool chests using hot hide glue. That’s not weird. What was weird was how some of the students applied the glue. They brushed the glue on the interior surfaces, ... read more