DIY

New Habits Sometimes Are not Good Habits…

May, 21st, 2014

Drivel Starved Nation!

I just returned from my annual teaching gig at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking – two solid weeks on the Jointmaker Pro. Week one students built their version of my “Fog of War”. Week two you ask? Well… I will share the intimate details in July when I receive pics of what everybody started. I also informed Marc that I will not return as I am hanging up my teaching hat for good. Moving forward, if I feel I have anything to contribute to the community I will post here in the totally awesome and worthless blog.

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Tapered Sliding Dovetail by Hand Video and other News…

December, 24th, 2013

“People forget how fast you did a job – but they remember how well you did it.” — Howard Newton

Drivel Starved Nation!

I know all of you out there in DSN land are wondering, why has John’s Blog been one big void for the past six weeks?

Well, I had a doctor’s appointment and it has taken me this long to chew through the leather straps… Actually, we did a little blog makeover and it took longer than we thought.

Bridge City News Dept.:
Michael Berg, who has basically been running this place for the past nine years has moved on. We wish him well. Because of my travel schedule in early 2014, I will not be seeking a replacement until March. Until then you are stuck with me for production updates.

Production Update Dept.:
I will see the first milled body of the CT-18 Plane within the next week or so. What a complex process.

We have begun shipping the TS-2v2 in both aluminum and stainless. The metric versions will ship last. I anticipate all will be shipped no later than the first week of Jan.

The FC-1v2 Flushing Chisels will also ship in Jan.

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BCTW Tapered Sliding Dovetails: Step-by-Step Pictorial

October, 11th, 2013

"Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time."— Marthe Troly-Curtin

Drivel Starved Nation;

Our Skunk Lab is full of tool parts that are being boxed and will soon be on their way to our fulfillment facility. Soon, you will be able to make sliding dovetails completely by hand. Bunch of other stuff too!

I spent last week and four days this week putting our HP-6 Tapered Sliding Dovetail Kit through its paces. The results are stunning – the image below is 3/4″ thick Ash and the joint is 7″ long.

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How to Build the Economaki Nutcracker …

September, 18th, 2013

Normal perception depends on ignoring, but the appreciation of beauty and the creation, so called, of art, depends not on ignoring. It depends on looking, and the more you look, the more you see. What you see, in anything beautiful, is not only all the features of it but also the visible relations between them. — David Pye

The nutcracker pictured below is currently on display at the Museum of Contemporary Craft. I designed it in the winter of 1975 and made several to give away as holiday gifts – we had no money to buy anything. In 1977 it was photographed by Joe Felzman and was ultimately acquired by the Renwick Gallery in Washington DC. I have made several hundred over the decades and it is a fun project. Since the holidays are quickly approaching, I thought it would be fun to take you through this project so you can make it yourself.

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“The Force” Behind the Jointmaker Pro!

September, 16th, 2013

Conformity Breeds Mediocrity — Unknown

This weekend Michael and I attended Maker Faire in Portland. What a blast that thing is. I am going to the big Kahuna next year in San Francisco, it is that cool. I think it should be a DSN field trip of epic proportions. And I can tell you this, this was way more fun than any woodworking show I have ever attended. Virtually every single booth had something in it that was of interest to me. Way cool.
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