I recently came across this at an auction: George Kent’s Antique English Rotary Knife Sharpener This lot has sold for $700. Description: 19th century, oak case with iron and brass mounts, with direction plate and labels. Size: 18 x 17 x 8 in. Condition: Surface stains and separation cracks to case; appears to be in working order. For an explanation of the device, read the device: The label says it all. Not that informative, I just like the look. Some information from the Live Auctioneer website: A Rotary disc hand-operated knife sharpening and cleaning machine. The oak drum ..read more

We are not the Waltons. My step-mother believes we are. Or, perhaps, she believes that if she acts like we are the Waltons, we will become the Waltons. We know better. We are scattered geographically (Georgia, North Carolina, Missouri X 2 and California) and by age, I am 8, 14 and 16 years older than my siblings. When I left for college in Pittsburgh my family moved Denver. And I never lived with the family again except for four to six days occasionally at Christmas and three weeks when my father died. How the sibs turned out is not my fault. So, like many other families, I assume, we do a Chr ..read more

A rather well-known author/publisher/editor/woodworker/furniture maker/journalist/educator/entrepreneur/raconteur/anarchist/cicerone/father/husband has now gotten two blogs out of something I found and shared with him. Now,  it’s my turn. It all started with a unique pair of winding sticks I found near Charleston, SC. I was told there are no tools to be found in the Charleston area but I am too stubborn/stupid to listen and went out looking. To be fair, I wasn’t only looking for tools and there weren’t all that many to find. But find them I did and these are them: The famous/infamou ..read more

You are a proud and dedicated hand tool woodworker. Equating religion and hand tool woodworking to you trivializes both. You were quietly resentful of the workers at the sawmill when they used a forklift to load your wagon. There was a perfectly good jib and several block and falls that could have accomplished the same task more appropriately. Since your spouse suffered a back injury, the pit saw has been a challenge. You’ve tried both methods. Both have their advantages. This is how you do it. This is how the Dutch did it. You’ve tried using your six-year-old twins. If you put ..read more

When he sees this, Roy’s heart breaks just a little ..read more

I spent some time in Cincinnati earlier this year, first at Popular Woodworking in America and then a week-long class with the boys  at 360 Woodworking. I am neutral. My friends call me Switzerland. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about here, be thankful. Not being a drinking person, I anticipated having some serious time to kill in my hotel rooms at night. Not that many antiques malls stay open past 6:00 PM. For situations like this I have been trying to find some sort of woodworking project. Chip carving might work but the group scheduled their class while I was away. I was driving ..read more

Or at least it did based on all the workbenches and tool chests I saw at a Cincinnati antique mall. I recently spent a week in the Cincinnati area for Woodworking in America and then a pier table class at 360 Woodworking. Through strategic planning and determination I managed to carve out some time to explore Ohio’s past. The largest antique mall in the area stays open until 9:00 PM making this much easier. First bench I came across is this large conventional bench: Large bench with a face vise, a big tail vise and a drawer. Poodle not included. Detail of the tail vise. I’m not su ..read more

I just got back from the launch party for Crucible Tool at the Lost Art Press, Covington campus. For those not paying attention, Crucible Tool, LLC is a venture by John Hoffman, Raney Nelson and Chris Schwarz  to  design and domestically manufacture high-quality, hand tools for building furniture. They perceive a niche that they need fill. Interesting event. It looked something like this: Like this but it’s dark out,  there are close to a hundred people milling about consuming beer and Mr. Schwarz’s hair is almost to mountain man length. We all knew about their ..read more

I first met Roy Underhill at a UCLA chapter meeting of the Trilateral Commission. (That’s the Upper Chatham, Lower Alamance Counties chapter.) He was on the steering committee. I was the bartender. You might think it odd for a non-drinker to be the bartender but it’s not. Trilat’s, as we call them, like their drinks the way they like their members, neat and powerful. Ice is provided if accompanied by a look of scorn and derision. Water is available in the men’s room. Or women’s room. A member was once banned for life for ordering an umbrella drink. On appeal, it was reduced to a ..read more

Today, I was on the receiving end of some cranky phone calls from disgruntled interior design professionals representing the two national interior design/decorating trade organizations. They were upset about my post concerning the polishing plane. They felt it mocked and diminished their profession. The controversial polishing plane. It seems that in 2011 both organizations independently voted to replace the antique bicycle horn with the wooden jack plane as the decorative item to be artistically placed on a stack of slightly worn copies of either Garden & Gun Magazine or Architectu ..read more