Make and buy local

Insight into the world of furniture making is offered by this article in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/world/asia/malaysia-trump-tariffs-furniture.html?unlocked_article_code=1.wU8.Fauy.3O12GHjGlkGl&smid=url-share I have offered this link so that you can read without being a subscriber.

On the other hand there are makers in our own communities and while multinational investors may be concerned with tariffs and all there are direct reasons to invest in our own communities and each other. 

We are smarter when we apply our minds and hands in the making of the things we need. We are better communities when we have invested in each other. We have stronger families, better schools, safer communities when we have applied ourselves in the making of useful beauty.

I am in the process of selling a few hand made things, that I've placed for sale on Esty,(https://www.etsy.com/shop/dougstowe/) and shipped to the Arkansas Craft Gallery in Mountain View. I have also been making tables that are for sale. One of them is shown the photo.

How is this table different from what you might find in your mail order catalog? It is made from solid wood using a type of joinery that lasts for generations. The top is made from a single piece of wood that was grown here, on the same property upon which it was crafted. It is one-of-a-kind. It is locally grown and locally made.

Make, fix and create...

Oversized finger joints

Today I'm making oversized finger joints as shown to form the sides, top and bottom of a small wall-hung cabinet. The joints are formed by ripping the stock to uniform width and then gluing back together with the boards offset from one another.

It's a technique that I first introduced in my book Rustic Furniture Basics. https://amzn.to/4htXiPR

Make, fix and create. 

New Cherry hall table

I just finished this cherry hall table and am ready to move on to a new project.  When faced with troubling times, proceed to do unquestionably good things.

Make fix and create. 

Fresh sample boxes.

Finishing a 3 day class at ESSA, my students and I managed to near finish a number of boxes as sample for student work. Mine are shown in the photo and include 1 box with mitered corners and floating panel top, one finger jointed box tapered hinged lid and two mitered boxes with spalted white oak lift off lids. 

A class photo with all the student made boxes will come later in the day. My boxes will require additional sanding and finish. The woods you see in the photo are cherry, walnut, white oak, and cedar.

Make, fix and create...