Category Archives: Uncategorized

Framed

I recently had the opportunity to play a part in a very special occasion, the celebration of fifty years of marriage.  The family had decided to honor the occasion with a lovely painting of the family tree by one of the … Continue reading →

Posted in holding, layout, Lettering, sketch, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 19 Comments

Boxwood Blunder

This is the closest I’ve come to working in clay.  Over the winter, I was asked to design and carve a pottery chop, a.k.a. pottery stamp, featuring the ABS initials of the ceramic artist.  I had even been supplied with … Continue reading →

Posted in finding wood, Lettering, trees, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Finding Follansbee

Several years ago, as I walked around Plimoth Plantation with Peter Follansbee and his peanut butter and jelly sandwich (it was his lunch break), I realized this was not your average dude.  I had been blown away by the work and … Continue reading →

Posted in green woodworking, Uncategorized | Tagged | 2 Comments

Making Things from Trees

  Not long ago, this book arrived in the mail, an unexpected and thoughtful gift from a friend.  In it, Robert Penn writes of his experience of felling one ash tree in Herefordshire and having as many things made from … Continue reading →

Posted in books, finding wood, green woodworking, nature, quotes and excerpts, trees, Uncategorized, walnut | Tagged | 1 Comment

Getting Started

For those interested in starting to carve bowls and spoons from green wood, the unfamiliarity and variety of the tools can be a little intimidating and confusing, especially when they see the large kits built up over many years by … Continue reading →

Posted in adze, axe, carving, green woodworking, tools, Uncategorized | 15 Comments

Surely You Can’t be Serious?

That’s what I was thinking when Fine Woodworking Magazine’s Jon Binzen contacted me about the Back Cover for the March/April edition.  Turns out, he was serious and payed a visit to my workshop.  To call this an unbelievable honor would be … Continue reading →

Posted in classes, publications, teaching, Uncategorized | Tagged | 23 Comments

“Fish Say…” Shrink Pot

As I was shaving down the walls of this cherry shrink pot, I couldn’t help but notice a few small tight pin knots, mostly because the swirling grain direction around them was causing me fits.  Then I thought they might … Continue reading →

Posted in cherry, Lettering, quotes and excerpts, sharpening, shrink box, tools, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 16 Comments

Winter Window

I like working in front of this window.  The directional light creates shadows that honestly reveal form and surface.  I have a small high bench there, too high for heavy work, but perfect for finer bits like cleaning up the … Continue reading →

Posted in bowls, carving, events, holding, nature, patterns, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Tradition and Jane Mickelborough

We dwell with satisfaction upon the poet’s difference from his predecessors….Whereas if we approach a poet without this prejudice we shall often find that not only the best, but the most individual parts of his work may be those in … Continue reading →

Posted in classes, historical reference, quotes and excerpts, spoons, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

The Ongoing Journey of Drew and Louise Langsner

There was a time when I didn’t know an adze from a hoe in the ground, then I found Drew Langsner.  Here was a guy who could make anything from a tree, and explain the process in writing so that even … Continue reading →

Posted in books, green woodworking, historical reference, quotes and excerpts, tools, trees, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 8 Comments