We turned over the keys yesterday. My workshop of the last 27 years, and the house to which it is attached, is in new hands. To say the least, it has been an especially busy couple of months. I’m behind ..read more

I’ve been meaning to mention this for over a week, but my spare moments have been hard to find lately (More news on the home transition coming soon). Fine Woodworking recently announced a new way to access the “Carve a ..read more

Some cherry branches with nice crooks fell during some recent windstorms. I snapped a few photos while splitting them into spoon blanks to show how I typically go about it. They can be split with an axe or wedge, but ..read more

Saw a king fisher on a tree over the water. Does not its arrival mark some new movement in its finny prey? He the bright buoy that betrays it! Henry David Thoreau, Journal Entry, April 11, 1856 As I was ..read more

High winds blew over a lot of trees in our area in two separate episodes recently. The tall maple in the photo stood strong in round one but was toppled in the second. Fortunately, it missed the shed — just ..read more

I began sketching an idea on this page of my notebook last September, then added a bit here and there since then. Nothing revolutionary, just some thoughts on a design with rising ends and an underside that goes from convex ..read more

This evening, I was alerted by a bowl horse builder of a typo in the materials list portion of the plans. The swing arm length is correctly labeled at 31 1/2″ everywhere else on the plans, but in the materials ..read more

The house project has been progressing in spite of the typical delays and hiccups. It has been inspiring to meet and watch the many skilled tradespersons working on the project. From the framers, to the electrician, to the HVAC pros ..read more

Following a couple recent posts on carving a sign in white oak, here and here, there were some questions about how I carved the leaves. Below are two photos of the leaves before and after painting. I’ll expand on my ..read more

Over twenty years ago, I designed and built my first bowl horse and it has been an important carving partner for me ever since. I use it for every bowl, but also for shrink pots, spoon blanks, and all sorts of other things. It is an integral part of my workshop. For the past year or so, I’ve put a lot of thought and effort into developing an improved design to share, with detailed plans and clear instruction. This horse is built with common materials and simple techniques, yet it performs better than my previous horses. A few critical details really matter. With very little woodworking experi ..read more