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Clinching Nails
When your nails are driven home, you’ll have a small forest of nail tips awaiting you on the inside of your bottom assembly. You’ll be turning these over and back into the bottom boards using the power...
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Chisels Needed for Dovetailing
Here is a trusty Marples chisel that I have tuned up for dovetailing. I filed the chunky side bevels until they met the flat face of the chisel. This is an excerpt of “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker” by...
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Coming Soon: ‘The Joiner & Cabinet Maker’ Original Text
One of our earliest and favorite books is “The Joiner & Cabinet-Maker,” a fictional early 19th-century account of young Thomas coming of age in a British furniture shop. The book was intended to...
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New in Store: ‘The Joiner & Cabinet-Maker’ Historical Reprint
This is a digital mock-up of the cover. The real cover will have far more texture. You can now place a pre-publication order for our historical reprint of “The Joiner & Cabinet-Maker,” which will...
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A Change in Plans/Color for ‘The Joiner & Cabinet-Maker’
There was a mixup at the printing plant, and they ordered the wrong color paper for the cover of our special reprint of “The Joiner and Cabinet-Maker.” While we had ordered a dark green for the cover,...
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‘The Joiner and Cabinet-Maker’ Historical Reprint Ships Next Week
After fighting printing plant delays for the last eight months, we received good news on Friday. Our historical reprint of “The Joiner and Cabinet-Maker” was complete and being trucked to our...
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Bend and Screw the Hinges for the Schoolbox
Saw the extents of the mortise for the strap hinges, then chisel away the waste between. This is an excerpt from “The Joiner and Cabinet-Maker” By Anonymous, Christopher Schwarz and Joel Moskowitz....
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An Introduction to the Construction
Here is an English-style set-up for mortising. The handscrew grasps the workpiece plus a second block that is pinched in your face vise. Like many of the best techniques, this one I learned from a...
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On Nails
In 2007, a lightweight box showed up on Christopher Schwarz’s desk from Joel Moskowitz, who runs the Tools for Working Wood store in Brooklyn, N.Y. Inside was “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker,” a book...
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You Were Born Too Soon
“De dorpstimmerman” by Tony Lodewijk George Offermans (1854-1911) “I served my apprenticeship in the country as a carpenter, but have been 49 years in London this July. I am now 79. I have worked all...
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Free Download: ‘The Joiner and Cabinet Maker’ Audiobook, Read by Roy Underhill
Roy Underhill in his office, recording the audiobook of “The Joiner and Cabient Maker.” “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker” is a short book written by an anonymous tradesman; it was first published in...
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Flattening Panels With Planes
Before you can begin traversing with your jack plane, you should bevel off the far edge of the board with a few good strokes of your jack plane. This bevel reduces the “spelching” on that edge....
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The ‘Right’ Angle for Dovetails
The following is excerpted from “The Joiner & Cabinet Maker,” by Anonymous, Christopher Schwarz and Joel Moskowitz, from the chapter on making the dovetailed schoolbox. In this chapter, as with...
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Rules, Deals & Chalk
Here I’m using a zig-zag rule and a carpenter’s pencil to lay out the cuts on the pine stock for the Packing Box. I dislike zig-zags for this work because they don’t lay flat. They have the precision...
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Why Collect Stuff?
These are some of the tools of the joiner shown in “Spons’ Mechanics’ Own Book” (1885). The following is excerpted from Joel Moskowitz’s history of trades and explication of trades in England at the...
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‘The Joiner and Cabinet-Maker’ Historical Reprint Ships Next Week
After fighting printing plant delays for the last eight months, we received good news on Friday. Our historical reprint of “The Joiner and Cabinet-Maker” was complete and being trucked to our...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bend and Screw the Hinges for the Schoolbox
Saw the extents of the mortise for the strap hinges, then chisel away the waste between. This is an excerpt from “The Joiner and Cabinet-Maker” By Anonymous, Christopher Schwarz and Joel Moskowitz....
View ArticleClik here to view.
An Introduction to the Construction
Here is an English-style set-up for mortising. The handscrew grasps the workpiece plus a second block that is pinched in your face vise. Like many of the best techniques, this one I learned from a...
View Article