In summertime when I was a kid my family would make the annual pilgrimage to the Connecticut coast to visit my mother’s parents, who lived in a converted ‘pony barn’ a few hundred yards from the Long Island Sound. My grandfather was an accomplished woodworker, and their humble home was filled with furniture he had […]
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Lessons from Samone
I had a tiny shop in our garage in the flatlands of North Oakland when Ene and I first moved to California in the early nineties after circuitous travels through West Africa, across the United States and into Alaska. I had been deeply inspired by working with the village menusiers of Togo, and was just […]
Bull Kelp at Salmon Creek Beach
Jig-Cam on the Elder Chair Production
Wooden chair frames traditionally have a bent back leg. The legs need to splay out towards the floor to carry the load back and keep the chair from tipping, and they need to splay out upwards to ease the sitter back to a comfortable angle of repose. Round stock is often steam bent to […]
Dairy Barn Chair
I discovered this chair in an abandoned dairy barn in Tomales, California, among artifacts from a formerly productive cattle ranch just down the coast in West Marin County. It is a good example of “maintenance equals improvement” in that the original rush-woven seat has been replaced by a woven leather seat improvised by the deceased […]
Peg and Awl
Peg and Awl, (version by the Carolina Tar Heels) In the days of eighteen and one, peg and awl! (twice) In the days of eighteen and one, peggin’ shoes is all I done, Hand me down my pegs, my pegs, my pegs, my awl. In the days of eighteen and two, peg and awl! (twice) […]
Lightning Tree House at Mildred’s Lane
Beach Lake, Pennsylvania NOW AVAILABLE: Rare archival footage of the construction of Lightning House 2001. Click here for details. I am continuing with the theme of revisiting old projects as a way to reflect on my current trajectory, see old friends, and make new discoveries. This past fall I traveled to upstate Pennsylvania to assess […]