A.J. has gotten me thinking again about ‘new’ woods. The thing is, most of these woods are not new. They have been there all along but have been ignored for various reasons. (more…)

Every project starts out with a plan. Sometimes it’s not an elaborate plan and it may be little more than a sudden inspiration. But even that qualifies as a plan in my mind. (more…)

The funny thing about going into the business of woodworking is that it seems like the further you go, the less woodworking you get to do. (more…)

It’s probably an axiom that when times get tight, people want to do more for themselves. There is lot of this going around right now. (more…)

Here in California, we recently voted for a bunch of tax hikes. We did this thinking that it was obvious that the state needed money if we were going to maintain our schools and highways. (more…)

In my last post, I said that 90 percent of the work I had done over the course of my woodworking career has ended up in the Dumpster. That comment elicited a comment which suggested that this had occurred because I was working in the style of the day rather than focusing on a work that might have more staying power. (more…)

There is another trend afoot. OK, go ahead and smack yourself in the head. But this trend is a byproduct of reality. The reality, in this case, is that we are realizing that we cannot sustain a throw away mentality much longer. (more…)

For years now, we have been bombarded with economic doomsday scenarios. We were convinced of the need to funnel massive infusions of cash into banks, investment firms and major corporations, the failure of which would cause an economic disaster of biblical proportions. (more…)

Yes. I said woodworking. That’s what this blog is supposed to be about. But not about the nuts and bolts of woodworking. That would be too easy. (more…)

There was some talk of the sequester being prevented but that didn’t happen. As it became apparent that the deadline was going to pass, the talk shifted to the idea that after the sword fell, a deal would be struck. (more…)