Chuck Bender's New Blog

I just stumbled across a blog by Chuck Bender, who runs the Acanthus Workshop. He has started posting step by step as he builds an Oxbow chest. Already in the two main posts Chuck has introduced a couple of techniques that had not occurred to me, including the modification of router bits to create a custom profile, and erasing part of a profile with a well set straight bit.

The blog is called Parings - A woodworker's journal. Check it out.

Inspiring Boxes

All week I've been admiring these pencil boxes at Mushashi's Woodworking Diary. Each of them illustrates a traditional Japanese timber framing joint and makes a stunningly beautiful and intriguing work of art.

Each box is made from a different kind of wood, selected carefully for clear and beautiful grain, and each box lid has a different joint. This is part of what I find so admirable about far eastern woodworking: careful attention to material and execution; the appearance of simplicity and ease in complex work.

The joints and grains on these boxes match so carefully that they might almost be imagined as a single solid piece of wood, and the contrasting pins, which would have held the timbers of a house together, become a single striking irregularity that pins the box lid together. What we see of the slide promises a careful fit and silky smooth action.

I am inspired.

Photo courtesy of and copyright Musashi Kutsuwa

"The Woodwright's Shop" On Demand

Roy Underhill, one of the heros of the early woodworking world, has produced 26 seasons of the PBS program The Woodwright's Shop. If you haven't seen this show, it is amazing even for those who might never use a hand tool.

Until recently, if you were in a market like Greater Boston, where the PBS affiliate doesn't carry "St. Roy", there was little option for watching the show: even purchase of episodes was impossible, since the VHS versions were out of print and DVDs have not been produced for sale.

Today I found that season 26 has been published on the Web. Now even in towns that don't love Roy we can all enjoy the show. Any time. At no cost.

So pull up a computer monitor and enjoy The Woodwright's Shop - Season 26.

Photo courtesy of PBS

Rosewood Studio reopened in September

Back in June I mentioned that Rosewood Studio had closed. I'm happy to say that one of the instructors purchased the school assets and reopened the studio.

Information and class schedule can be found at Rosewood Studio's Web site. A quick look through the schedule reveals a schedule full of interesting course topics and continued opportunities to take classes with well-known furniture makers Garrett Hack, Michael Fortune, and Adrian Ferrazzutti.

Here are a few of the classes I would like to take:

• Curved Furniture Construction
  
• Make Your Own Hand Tools
  
• Studio Veneering Techniques
  
• 6-week Craftsman Program
  
• 9-month Craftsman Program
  
• Exquisite Surfaces and Details
  

Rosewood Studio Closes

From the Popular Woodworking blog I learned that Rosewood Studio is shutting down. This is a big dissappointment to me, as I had hoped one day to take a class there.

I'm lucky to be near the North Bennett Street School where I can take classes fairly easily, but I won't be taking it for granted any more. Now if I can just see my way clear to a 3-month leave of absence to take that Furniture Making Intensive before it's too late.

Adam Cherubini Blog

There's a new blog from Popular Woodworking: Arts & Mysteries with Adam Cherubini. This one so far has a serious focus on theory, and the entries are well written with great graphic support. If you like Chris Schwartz's posts at Woodworking Magazine, I'm thinking you might also like the new blog from Adam.

One of the posts is a good entry on the Golden Section, which I'm going to go back and add to my post on the Fibonacci Series.