I can't believe tomorrow is the 6th of November already. The main shipment of books should be in Ohio and I'll be receiving my copies asap! I'll be signing them and sending them off in the next two weeks. If you'd still like to pre-order your own signed copy, today and tomorrow is the cut off. You'll still be able to order a signed copy after it's in stores but shipping will unfortunately be more expensive. I've managed to get the shipping costs down to about a third of what it would be if I ... Read Full Story

After the Witching HourWell another October came and went without so much as a pandemic -my kids and I lurked about seven blocks on Halloween before they started to burn out. Three steps away from a flu bug we called it a night. A crisp Autumn wind was blowing and the leaves seemed to keep time as they danced around our feet. The wood shop feels like an empty canvass without the mass of the Oak Door present. I've started drawing up some plans for my next project. A Dedicated Sharpening Bench.... Read Full Story

TechnoPrimitives StyleIn case you haven't heard, there's a new breed of hand saws on the market today and they've been completely blowing wood workers away. Do a quick search for Bad Axe Tool Works on Google and you'll see what I'm talking about. This post isn't about my Bad Axe saws, although I could write about how easy they are to start and how fast and straight they cut, maybe a note or two about the fine detailed handles or the incredible etching in the saw plates but no, this post is ab... Read Full Story

You'll have to read on to find out...Another busy week around here, between book orders and life in the city it sometimes seems I can't find enough hours in the day. (who can right?) The door is 'complete', and that's the good news; I'll save the bad news until the end of the post...So it was assembly time and I took the door components up stairs into our dining room; if assembled in the shop it would never fit up my basement stairs! Ah, the rub of having a basement work shop eh? So I moved a... Read Full Story

A Book by Pamela ToddMy wife gave me this book as a birthday present a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to let you know about it. If you search Amazon for books on Arts and Crafts then you'd better start building yourself a new library! There are hundreds of books published on the style but this one really stands out from the bunch. It's a beautiful book and while most of you 'manly' woodworkers out there may walk past it on a book shelf, perhaps because of its pretty pink cover, I assure you... Read Full Story

I'm out of CD's !!If you've already pre-ordered your copy of Made by Hand: Furniture Projects from the Unplugged Woodshop then with your pre-order you'll be getting a free copy of my last CD, Beyond Before. I recorded the CD the year before my son, Nelson was born. He's five now and having a child quickly changed my 'musical career' and I stopped touring and playing gigs and with that stopped promoting and selling copies of my CD. So as it goes I was left with a couple of boxes sitting in my ... Read Full Story

A Wall ShelfI built this wall shelf a couple of years ago using hand cut dovetails and solid Mahogany. The drawer is Flame Birch and made using half blind dovetail joinery incorporating side runners to give the appearance of it 'floating'.It was a fun little project to make and will help you hone your dovetailing skills. If you'd like to learn the details on how I built it as well as a complete cut list and specs, you can pick up the next copy of Canadian Woodworking Magazine (Dec/Jan 2010, i... Read Full Story

Door UpdateI'm just finishing off the door project and will have the last few coats of finish on by Sunday. I thought I'd show the process from earlier this week when I finally got around to the scroll detail underneath the window.To begin, I worked off of the pattern I took from an original door example in the neighbourhood and made a template. I only make a 'half template' so there's no discrepancies between the two sides. I attached it to the blank, carefully tracing the pattern and then f... Read Full Story

My Advance copy has Arrived!I picked up my advance copy of Made by Hand last night and feel a great weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. This past year of writing and building, editing and writing some more now finally seems complete and I couldn't be happier with the results! Staring at a computer monitor is really like night and day when I compare it to the pages within the book. Crisp and clean everything just looks better- cleaner and larger.I read through about half of the book la... Read Full Story

Working WoodLast Sunday I was all set to cut out the scroll detail on the heritage door project so I went down into my shop, took out my bow saw and because I'm sawing a piece of 3/4" white oak needed to change out the fine tooth blade for my coarse one. The saw, made by Gramercy Tools in New York, came with an assortment of three 12" long blades: 10, 18, and 24tpi. I needed the 10 tpi for this application. So away I go into the 'ol tool cabinet to fetch it. Hmmmm, not in there; maybe the too... Read Full Story