Latest Articles

Chimney Advent Calendar
There’s a lot to be done in the weeks leading up to Christmas: decorating the tree, making sure the chimney is ready for Santa’s visit, and of course, counting down the days till his arrival.

Encourage Kids to Write Veterans Day Letters
Helping kids write meaningful Veterans Day letters to active duty or retired service members is a simple way to celebrate this holiday. Our friend Julie at Happy Strong Home provides tips, letter writing prompts and a free printable to help kids get started!

25 Router Stocking Stuffers
Be sure to include your router on your gift-giving list this year. It does a lot of hard work for you, so reward it with…well, more work. But with these accessories, you can make it work smarter, not harder.

Book Tree
To me, no room is complete without at least a few books at hand. But not every room needs or has the wall space for an actual bookcase. After seeing a free-standing book “tree” used as a promotional display in a bookshop, I set about designing one that would look good in a residential setting.

Scrollsaw Sleigh
T’is the season to break out the holiday décor and lay in a supply of holiday treats. This year, why not add to your celebrations with a classic: a miniature sleigh sized to deliver a party’s worth of chocolates?


Glass-Topped Coffee Table
For the last few years, the “table” between my couch and fireplace has been an old leather steamer trunk. A holdover from my bachelor days, it was too bulky for our small parlor, and obscured our view of the fireplace. It was time for something new. In its stead, I designed and built this minimalist, mid-century inspired table.

Picture Framing Basics
As a woodworker, it’s tough to buy pre-made picture frames or shell out big bucks at the custom-framing shop—especially when you have so much nice wood lying around.

Shop-made Soap Finish
Soap finish, a shop-made polish with a long history of use in Europe, is becoming increasingly popular among furniture makers here in the States.

Contemporary Dining Chair
Last May, we had the good fortune of teaching a chairmaking class together at the Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Warren, VT. As we were putting the class together, we knew we wanted a chair that was: comfortable, contemporary yet classic, and relatively easy to build for woodworkers with limited experience.