Viking style chests

I'm having a great time at ESSA guiding the making of Viking chests. Five students have finished the wooden part of the project while the other five have been making hardware in the blacksmithing shop with master blacksmith Dale Custer. Today the five from the metals shop will join me in the wood studio to do the woodworking portion of the project. On Friday we'll put all together as a group of 10.

In the meantime, I received a complimentary copy of the latest Fine Woodworking magazine that includes my tip on using a hand screw as a vise for beginners or for woodworking with kids.

Making an inlaid walnut box

I've been going through some old photos and beginning to compile some articles for YouTube. This one is about making an inlaid walnut box and was featured in Woodcraft Magazine in May 2005.

 

Coming in two days

My new book, Designing Boxes comes out in two days and can be purchased through this link at Amazon.com  

Hurricane Helene and the crafts.

The effects of Hurricane Helene on the arts and crafts communities in western North Carolina have been severe. This notice from Mia Hall, director of Penland tells describes what their campus and local community have faced. https://penland.org/blog/hurricane-helene-update-from-mia-hall-penlands-director/#sthash.iNsff1BJ.fUz51Lce.dpbs In this link you'll find an additional link to CERF+, and organization that provides emergency relief to artisans. 

This photo from Spruce Pine, a community near Penland, shows the severity of what they've faced.

Over the past 30 years, one particular political party has made a particular point of denying human responsibility for climate change while also fighting against disaster relief funding. Some in that particular party still claim climate change to be a hoax.

The magnitude and disastrous effects of modern hurricanes had been anticipated by science and political obstruction has allowed things to get much worse. In the meantime we seem to be having an early fall in the Ozarks. The leaves are turning brown, perhaps as much from drought as from seasonal effects.

There is an open house today at the Clear Spring School, celebrating its fiftieth year. It is a great time to learn more about hands on learning.

Make, fix and create...

Robyn's Bench

I'm taking some of my old out of print magazine articles and converting them to youtube videos for the enjoyment and inspiration of a new generation of woodworkers, and in the hopes that some of my own works are not forgotten.
 

Making legs for a wooden box SD 480p

My ETSY shop pre-holiday sales sale.

I'm holding a shopwide ETSY 25% off sale from October 1 through October 30 as a pre-holiday sales event. Supplies are limited and many of my objects are one of a kind. Use this link and the coupon code SAVE25 between October 1 and October 30.

A preview of a technique students will use in my upcoming ESSA class on making a Viking style chest. Making a coopered chest lid. Viewers may be curious why the fence in on the left rather than its usual position on the right. The reason is to take advantage of the blade's left hand tilt enabling the cut to be made without stripping away the tape.

 

Gluing a mitered box.

Assembling a walnut and spalted maple box using rubber bands as clamps to hold the box together as the glue sets.
 

Fitting a floating panel lid in a box

 

Making a  mitered finger jointed box is a bit more complex than a regular mitered box or a finger jointed box but offers opportunities you may not want to miss in your box making.

 I'm loading a few processes onto my youtube channel. I have to more than double my yearly watch hours in order to make any money as a "YouTuber."

Attention to woodgrain

Push sticks

 

preparing for class

I have a class at ESSA coming up in which we'll make Viking style chests from white oak. To prepare for the class and refresh my memory, I've made the parts for a coopered lid. Unlike the Vikings we will use power tools, a thing made necessary by the fact that two days from the week long class will be spent forging the hardware. 

In the woodworking portion of the class we'll not shy away from techniques that provide a greater chance for success.

I applied tape to the inside surfaces of the lid staves before the angles were cut. With the tape remaining in place as the edges are glued, excess glue will be easy to remove. The Vikings had no blue painters tape. I do. To glue the staves, we'll simply  tape the staves together on the outside, apply glue between them and then use additional tape to pull the parts tight to each other. The excess glue that gathers on the inside will peel off with the tape.

Make, fix and create.

Sanding table top

I'm getting around to finishing the table I started as a demonstration during my table making class at ESSA   last week. The broad flat surfaces lend themselves to sanding with a random orbit sander. The edges, in order to keep lines crisp, require hand sanding with a sanding block. The wood is white oak. Its color will darken when a clear oil finish is applied.

A photo shows my happy students from last week's class. Mario's table was already packaged for shipping home to Buffalo, NY.

Make, fix and create... 

cyborgs? I hope not.

 

A friend, Josh Pauling offers interesting insight into the Amish use of technology in this article in Front Porch Republic—https://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2024/09/steel-manning-the-amish-the-wisdom-of-communal-discernment/

And a student from last week's table making class at ESSA shared a photo of his finished table. Making Dan's table unique from the others done in class is a gentle inward curve along the front and ends. Our studio assistant Megan made a very cool sanding device to assist Dan in developing a smooth curve along the front edge.

A number of years ago, a writer for Time Magazine was excited to introduce his two year old daughter to the wonders of his first love, gaming. Then he decided to consult experts in child development. One expert he nicknamed Suzie Joykiller in response to her careful explanation of all the developmental hazards computer technology offers to kids. When he asked Suzie about the wonders of hand/eye coordination he expected his daughter's pecking around on flat screens to provide, "Suzie" asked him whether or not he'd heard of scissors.

Josh Pauling, along with co-author Robin Phillips have a new book out "Are We All Cyborgs Now? Reclaiming Our Humanity from the Machine."

Make, fix and create... assist others in learning likewise

moving beyond the junk in American life

An essay in the New York Times by David Brooks alerts readers to the "Junkification of American Life." He doesn't mention the role that crafts can play in altering our American culture, but I wish he had. The junk he's discussing is not of the hand-crafted stuff you can find on Etsy, but instead the diet of empty calories we find on our phones, in our choice of foods and in overly shallow relationships with each other.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/05/opinion/entertainment-junk-psychology.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Ik4.Y1GA.ZQGFRevK-i1-&smid=url-share 

In my shop I've been working on wooden hinges to be used in making small wooden reliquaries, these not for holding samples of Arkansas woods, but that folks might use in housing and celebrating things of great value to them. You may think of them as shrines that folks can use to cherish and celebrate precious things. The chapel shape will alert to what one might find inside.

But the real value is not in the finished product, or even in their use, but in the shaping of myself... my refinement of self into higher form. In simple terms, it's about the value we discover in our own aspirations. 

Otto Salomon had noted that the value of the carpenter's work is in the objects the carpenter makes, but the value of the student's work is in the student. One should never think that carpenters are not learning and growing for they are students themselves. In the ideal life, learning, making, growing and offering value to others must be affirmed as a thing with no seams between.

Yes, I'm sitting on the porch with my dog Rosie, with the flat screen of my laptop staring me in the face. I'm also looking up to see the beauty of the world staring me in the face. I'm preaching (forgive me), just as one might from inside a reliquary of wood. Position yourself if possible to live in the real world that exists beyond your own head.

Make, fix and create.

obsequious observance of flat screens

 There's a story of Captain Cook having arrived at an island, and his arrival was not noticed by the natives on the beach until his men disembarked into smaller boats. Up until that point, the billowing sails of the ship were observed in the familiar as clouds.

A reader reminded me of something I'd written a few years back about Huxley's Doors of Perception and the role that the hands can play in that. I wrote pretty well back then.

https://wisdomofhands.blogspot.com/search?q=doors+of+perception

These days due to our obsequious observance of flat screens, will we see nothing that's not flat? In the meantime, I'm sitting on the porch with Rosie. The woods are alive in quiet sounds. Rosie's nose is lifted to catch scents from which I can only imagine.

making wooden hinges

In the shop I'm setting up to make small wooden hinges. Unlike those I've made in the past, these are made with thinner stock and utilize 1/16 in. brass rod as the hinge pins. My plan is to use the wooden hinges on small white oak reliquaries. The hinges will fold in two points, allowing the sides and roof sections to fold flat giving easy access to the samples of wood within.

I'm working from a picture in my head so the plans may evolve. My first test hinges are reasonably robust. Even in a smaller size they appear clunky. But don't worry, they can be made much more interesting and beautiful.

This link is to my article in Fine Woodworking #234.

https://www.finewoodworking.com/2013/06/06/wooden-box-hinges

Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning lifewise.

A reliquary of wood

I've placed the wood samples in the reliquaries for display. Now it's time to move them out into the world.

I'll begin looking for places they can be displayed or sold. I'll take suggestions. 

Each contains 25 samples of native Arkansas hardwoods in their natural colors. The reliquaries are made of white oak, and based in part on a small tin reliquary in the Nelson Atkins Museum, and also on a Sunday School finger game, "Here's the church, here's the steeple. Open the doors and see all the people."

Make, fix and create.

wooden plant trivets

In 2002 I made some wooden porch and deck trivets to lift our potted plants, provide air circulation and protect the wood underneath.  Being over 20 years old they're ready for replacement. I made these from cedar, so when the year is done and planters are put away the old ones will be composted and the new ones will be ready for the next 20 years. 

wood samples

I've finished labeling and finishing wood samples for the reliquaries. The photo shows 28 different species of wood, all from Arkansas. I turn them to look like little people that children might find in a set of blocks. But later editions of the project may take a simpler approach allowing me to have the names of the woods laser engraved on each piece. My old man handwriting is not as legible as I would like. 

One of the things you may notice in working with Arkansas woods is that they may not be quite as colorful as some imported tropical woods, but they still offer enough variety of color to do interesting things. And we know where they grow, and can devote some resources in making sure they'll be around for the next generation to enjoy.

Make, fix and create...

wood comes to life

I've applied an oil finish to the reliquaries, and had the pleasure of watching the natural color of the wood come to life. The quarter sawn white oak is radiant.

On the radio this morning they were discussing the problem of boys in schools, but would have benefitted by knowing about John Amos Comenius for he had the problem with boys solved in the sixteenth century.

John Amos Comenius, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Amos_Comenius was born in 1592 and was considered the father of modern pedagogy (the science of education). He observed: 

"Boys ever delight in being occupied in something for the youthful blood does not allow them to be at rest. Now as this is very useful, it ought not to be restrained, but provision made that they may always have something to do. Let them be like ants, continually occupied in doing something, carrying, drawing, construction and transporting, provided always that whatever they do be done prudently. They ought to be assisted by showing them the forms of all things, even of playthings; for they cannot yet be occupied in real work, and we should play with them."

What better play can we find for either boys or girls, than the activities found in woodshops? The most important point buried in Comenius' quote is the phrase, "now as this is very useful, it ought not be restrained." And the point is that our best leverage on boys learning is to make use of their most natural inclinations. We can say the same for girls as well. There's a saying that you can't push a rope. You can pull one to very great effect. By ignoring the nature of the child, we create education that is destructive, ineffective and least efficient. But if we were to use their natural inclinations to our best advantage, schooling would become efficient, effective and undamaging. If a great teacher in the 16-17th centuries could understand children so clearly, and if subsequent educational leaders like Pestalozzi, Froebel, Comenius, Salomon and Dewey understood children so well, why has education fallen so far off track?

Admittedly, having children do real things in service to their families and communities requires having smaller classes, more teachers and greater preparation than having large number of students sit idly at desks while lessons are administered. And so we have schools where the primary objective has become classroom management rather than learning and development. And now, according to Republicans and folks from the NRA, classroom management should include ready access to guns.

I have another new tool to be used teaching woodworking to kids. Anyone with experience woodworking with kids and the tiny nails required will know that nails get spilled and wasted, and it takes time to pick them up. The small square of  cherry, as shown in the photo, has rare a earth magnet embedded in the surface and provides an easy means to supply the necessary nails  for a project. Since my students liked working in close proximity to each other, one magnetic block can be shared between two students.

Make, fix, create, and adjust schooling so that students learn lifewise.

 

How refreshing.

I have the reliquaries assembled, ready for signing and finish. Each will display with 25 samples of Arkansas hardwoods. These are absolutely impractical objects, but my hope is that they will end up in museums or in places where their message may have transformative effects.

I submitted an article for publication in an online journal and was told that they'll evaluate it when the staff returns from a no internet retreat. What a refreshing idea. We are each, I think, overwhelmed by too much meaningless and distractive overly shallow connectedness, when getting off the usual online stuff would provide greater insight.

When Arificial intelligence first began to threaten schools by allowing AI services to do student writing I had a simple idea. Require the students to write directly about the things they know from personal experience... Not the BS you find online. In other words, avoid the Kardashians unless you are one.

One of the advantages I've had as a writer is the gift of doing real things. Seek that gift. 

more steeples

I'm continuing to work at the lathe on turned steeples for the reliquaries. They need not be exactly alike (a very good thing). They're easy and fun so I'll make extras and choose the ones I like best.

Make, fix and create... assist others in living likewise.

steeples

With all my turned hardwood samples complete but for touch up sanding and labeling, I've begun turning steeples to fit the reliquaries of wood. I'm using my old Shopsmith as my lathe. With some additional sanding, the first of five will be complete.

The steeple has a 3/8 in. tenon on the lower end so that it can fit a hole to be drilled in the chapel ridge. 

Make, fix and create.

moving toward simple from complex

I'm now at the point of attaching the reliquary bases to the upper assembly. So, with a vast range of experience and the desire to show off, I began thinking of complex ways that I could demonstrate to complete a relatively simple task. Fortunately circumstances directed me back toward a simple approach. 

The interior structure of the reliquary involves drawer guides that run parallel to the direction of the wood grain in the base. While complex thinking directed me to screws or dowels and the challenges they present for accurate alignment, there is actually no stronger joint than wood glued of same species with grain running parallel.

Is it not odd that we often overcomplicate simple operations, adding to them a greater likelihood of error? A question a craftsman must keep at the forefront of mind is this: "How can I simplify this and thus reduce mistakes?" 

If you've used wood glue, you'll have noted the way pieces being glued can slip and slide in relation to each other as pressure is applied. The simple answer is to let the wood absorb enough of the glue and the glue to get tacky before applying pressure. And then one must observe that pieces have remained exactly as you want. If not, a very careful tap with a block and mallet will quickly loosen things if you've noted misalignment before the glue is fully set. Check and check again.

One of the things that I hope is happening these days is the greater recognition of the value of the common person, woman or man. The world is chock full of folks doing wha they can to make the world a better place. We may get mesmerized by money, power or fame, but let's keep things simple. And simply express love for each other. And if your first inclination in dealing with others is not the expression of love. Get therapy. 

One way to express love is by crafting useful beauty to share with others.

Make, fix and create...

For the growth of it.

I'm taking a slight break from the lathe where I've been turning small samples of Arkansas hardwoods to place in the reliquaries of wood. Add it up. Five reliquaries, 25 hardwood species in each, and that's a lot of time on the lathe. They're small, but require intense concentration. Each has to be checked carefully to be sure the bases fit the holes where they're to be placed in the boxes.

I received a nice email thanking me for the inspiration offered by my books and youtube channel. The sender was a retired MD and medical specialist. He included photos of his excellently crafted work. He also had a question about how to sell his work. I get that question a lot.

You’ve probably noticed that the world is overrun with way too much stuff and that folks in general do not recognize any particular monetary value in things made by hand. Medical services are particularly in high demand. Woodworking is not. So we find other reasons to do it. My wife shops regularly in my office for things she can donate to one charitable cause or another. In charity auctions the work brings only a portion of what I would think of as their value compared to what I’ve invested in them.   I do sell things occasionally on DougStowe.etsy.com. I also have galleries in the state and local area that sell my work and I used to sell my work at craft shows, which are a tremendous amount of work and often disappointing.

I will point out that selling things is work. I have a friend that sets up at the farmer’s market each week. He has the process down. He quickly sets up the tent and arranges his merchandise and occasionally sells a few things… mainly  toward Christmas. He likes seeing the folks and seeing them admire his work. But his prices are so low that he can’t make much money if that was his objective.

Make a plan to give away as much as you can. That will clear the decks for making more work. And we must recognize that the best reason to do woodworking (or other crafts) is not to make money from it, but to grow from it. There are so many things to learn from it, and there are no limits to how far one might grow.

If you are recently retired from making the big bucks, a crafts practice like woodworking might be a way to continue to learn and continue to give back.

While away from the lathe for now, I'm hand sanding the bases for the reliquaries. Because they have a 30 degree table sawn angle around the perimeter, hand sanding with a sanding block is the best approach. Machine sanding would round the edges and remove the crisp lines that accentuate the design. 

The sanding block is a piece of birch plywood with a piece of self-adhesive sand paper applied.

Hand sanding is work I look forward to as it can be done as I sit on the front porch and as golden doodle Rosie rests near my feet.

Make, fix and create.

Manual training for all

A friend of mine, Connie Goddard, has published an article in the Front Porch Republic, "Manual Training for All." It is based in part on research done for her new book Learning for Work published by the University of Illinois Press.

You can find the article here: https://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2024/08/manual-training-for-all/

Make, fix and create.

I am now in the most tedious part of making reliquaries of wood... making the turned samples of various hardwoods. I used a dowel forming bit on the drill press to form the tenons on each one, but still fitting tight, they need the touch of a skew and sanding block to allow them to fit with some ease into their spots in the box.

Then to give them human like form, completing the connection with the old Sunday school finger rhyme, I use the skew to shape heads on each piece.

They resemble the kinds of "people" one might find in a set of Legos or blocks. I'm using my old Shopsmith as a lathe to turn the small pieces and a Super Nova Chuck to hold them in the lathe. What we're learning about trees is that they live in cooperative communities and communicate in ways we never even dreamed. And so to place them in a sacred setting may help others to find reason to cherish the trees and forests that we've taken for granted.

The Shopsmith (a model 10 E) is a multipurpose machine that my Dad gave me for my 14th birthday.

Make, fix and create...

adding a base

 I cut a pieces of wood to size so that it protrudes 1/2 in. on each side to form bases for the reliquaries. I then used the table saw to cut each edge at a 30 degree angle. You can see the results, and after the bases are sanded they can be mounted to the reliquaries using screws from underneath.

Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning likewise.

moving toward completion

I'm moving toward  completion on the reliquaries of wood. Bases will be added as well as turned steeples. After applying a Danish oil finish the process of adding samples will begin. Each will hold 25 turned samples of Arkansas hardwoods.

building an odd shape

Making the reliquaries of wood involves fitting unusual angles, and that leads to hand work as machines are too complicated for the casual woodworker to set up. Routing for hinges to fit the sides of the boxes was done prior to assembly, but fitting the lids to the box requires some more typical hinge mortising hand work.

To make things a bit easier and more accurate, I did use the router table to partially rout where the hinges will fit, establishing the depth of the mortises. From there, fitting the lids required careful marking of where the lids would align with the hinges already fitted to the box. So far, so good, but with hand work, there's alway a chance for error.

Make, fix and create. Risk it. You'll be rewarded.

Fitting lids

I'm in the process of fitting lids to each side of reliquaries of wood, in preparation for installing hinges.

Make, fix and create. 

A stand in for fitting lids

I have the roof/lid floating panels assembled for the reliquaries, but then am faced with cutting them to size... a thing complicated by the angles. They have to be cut at a 70 degree angle along one edge and to fit the top rail at the other.

Since it is impossible to put an assembled lid in place and mark it for cutting to size, I use a stand in. By fitting a narrower piece, I then know the angles and table saw settings to cut the lids, taking those settings from the perfectly fitting piece as shown in the photo.

Make, fix and Create. Give your life greater meaning.

things don't come quick or easy

Things don't come quick or easy in woodworking. The photo shows the fitting of the small lids for the reliquaries of wood. Each requires a level of precision and set of operations beyond what a carpenter might face in framing a house.

While a carpenter might erect a series of walls in a single day, the woodworker might spend a week or more working on a small box. 

This is not a complaint.

Make, fix and create... Assist others in learning likewise.
 

bridal joints

This is a bridle joint that I'm using to join the pieces surrounding a floating panel and forming the lids on the small reliquaries of wood. I have a simple jig that fits the table saw crosscut sled for forming this joint. I've proposed the jig and technique for an article in Fine Woodworking.

Make, fix and create...
 

beginning assembly

I'm beginning the assembly of the small chapels that will function as reliquaries of wood. My wife asked why I'm making them. One reason is for fun. The other reason is the story they tell... that our forests are sacred, deserving our knowledge and respect.

I was contacted by a man seeking help in developing a program for home schooled kids from his church. That raises for me the question as to why Sunday schools don't offer the same kind of learning opportunity Jesus found in his father's shop. Are church leaders oblivious to the moral values imparted through the creation of useful beauty? And are they oblivious to the history of the church? And most importantly, are they oblivious to the obvious interest in attending that woodworking would arouse in their young ones? 

I've been contacted over the years by many folks hoping to launch woodworking with kids programs. One of the major challenges they face is that of finding funding for their work. Woodworking Sunday Schools might provide an answer.  

The assembly shown is temporary, and just to provide positioning for the center display as it is glued in place. Real assembly will take place after all the parts are sanded, and after the top rail is given its final shape.

Make, fix and create...

fitting front doors to small chapels

I'm making a bit of progress on my small wooden reliquaries that will hold samples of Arkansas hardwoods. 

As some know, I've made thousands of wooden boxes, but perhaps these reliquaries are the most meaningful as they are intended to convey a sense of sacredness regarding our forests. 

The front doors will be trimmed to length and then fitted as the front of small trays that will hold 10 of the wood samples, with the balance being held in the space above. The wood used here is white oak.

Make, fix and create... assist others in learning likewise.
 

reliquary of wood

Back in around 2000 I was invited along with a number of other Eureka Springs artisans to make a shrine expressing the things we held sacred. The show was held in a gallery at the University of Arkansas. I decided to make a reliquary of wood, inspired by a small metal reliquary in the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City. That reliquary inspired the  shape and size of mine, but rather than making it of metal, I made it from wood to hold 25 samples of Arkansas hardwoods, each worthy of reverence, with that term being inspired by Eric Sloan's book, A Reverence for Wood, and often associated with religion.

The way this box opens is related to a children's hand game, that some might remember. The game goes, "here's the church, here's the steeple. Open the doors and see all the people. In this case, the small wooden chapel is occupied by samples of the hardwoods of Arkansas.

The reliquary in the photo won best of show one year at the Springfield Art Museum. It is currently on display at the Museum of Eureka Springs Art. I made 3 and two are held by private collectors.

I'm currently making more. 

Make, fix and create...

important overlooked consequences

There are important and overlooked consequences of making beautiful and useful things. One of course is that we save money over the cost of buying things. Another is that by investing our time in such pursuits, we're not out shopping for useless stuff that we could easily live without. A third is that we learn. A fourth is that we develop character. A fifth is that we develop relationships in our own communities, quite unlike and on a deeper plane than those from shopping for useless stuff. A sixth is that by example, we model behavior that is more responsible to the environment, and may inspire others to do as we're learning to do ourselves. I can easily go on, but perhaps this is enough to digest in one day.

By embarking on a craft, you'll learn more.

Any craft will do.

In my shop I'm applying an oil finished to the boxes I sanded last week. I've added a few boxes to my Etsy site: http://dougstowe.etsy.com including this walnut and oak box with a fake drawer. I had mistakenly put the lift tab on the base rather than the lid, and this was my fix. The box is unique and available.

Make, fix and create.

Balancing economy vs. THE Economy.

When we spend money, it's good for others as it stimulates the economy. When we save money by doing things for ourselves, it's good for our own households, and also good for the planet, in that it reduces the impact of consumerism and the transport of materials and goods great distances and at great burden to the environment.

One of the differences between Educational Sloyd and the Russian system of manual arts training was that while the Russian system involved the making of useless parts of things, Educational Sloyd involved the making of things useful to family and community life. 

The Russian system was intended to develop workers for industry. Educational Sloyd was developed in response to a flood of manufactured goods that deprived the citizenry of their long standing self-reliance on things they could make for themselves. Its development was partially in response to the loss of community character that commonly came from the making of those things.

By making things useful within the family and community, the student would receive the benefit of being recognized as useful, and families would recognize the importance and value of schooling.

As Salomon had noted, the value of the carpenter's work is in the things the carpenter makes. The value of the things the student makes is in the student, reflecting the deeper relationship the making of beautiful and useful things brings to the student, the family, the community and nation.

The two carvings shown here were done by my great uncle, Charles A. Richards in Ft. Dodge, Iowa during WWII as his nieces and nephews were at war. They brought no benefit to THE economy but brought other things. And as we worship THE economy, we should pay greater attention to other things, and practice of economy, also called thrift.

Make, fix and create...

Sanding Small Boxes SD 480p

a fourth point

 A fourth point in educational reform

The fourth point is that teachers need to be drawn at least partly from the pool of those who didn’t necessarily do so well in school. Late bloomers and failures are important to engage in teaching others. 

A reason for this is that when faced with stress, as happens in most schools, teachers tend to fall back into positions most comfortable to them, often meaning the ways they themselves were taught. And those who go to college are generally the ones who learn comfortably by rote, rather than by doing. We need trained doers in schools whose most comfortable fall back positions are getting things done rather than talking about stuff. In doing real things, all the senses are engaged, more fully engaging the various parts of the sensory and motor cortices in the brain, establishing a deeper level of engagement and remembrance.

A child's use of senses should come first. An understanding presented by Comenius in the 17th century.

"The ground of this business (education) is, that sensual objects be rightly presented to the senses for fear that they not be received. I say, and say it again aloud, that this is the foundation of all the rest; because we can neither act nor speak wisely, unless we first rightly understand all the things which are to be done and whereof we have to speak. Now there is nothing in the understanding which was not before in the senses. And therefore to exercise the senses well about the right perceiving of the differences of things will be to lay the grounds for wisdom and all wise discourse, and all discreet actions in one's course of life, which, because it is commonly neglected in schools, and the things that are to be learned are offered to scholars without their being understood or being rightly presented to the senses, it cometh to pass that the work of teaching and learning goeth heavily onward and offereth little benefit."

Make, fix and create. 

A third point

A third point in educational reform (one emphasized by educational sloyd and progressive educators from the time of Pestalozzi), was the relationship between the concrete and abstract. All abstract studies should be preceded by concrete learning to build a coherent and useful structure of knowledge. Educational psychologist Jerome Bruner and others have called this “scaffolding.” 

For example, we make a huge mistake pushing kids to read before they’re doing real things…. reading is abstract, doing is concrete. Building from abstraction leads to further abstraction, and we never outgrow, nor need we outgrow our connection to the real world. And all children, even those in fantasy worlds of their own making, know the difference between what's real and what's been made up for their amusement or distraction.

How can they possibly know? The real world is full of sensory data, conveyed through the senses without which students are left ill equipped to test the truth of what they are being taught.

In the World Beyond Your Head, Matthew Crawford’s sequel to Shop Class, he’d written in his final chapter of the quote from me used as epigraph of chapter one of his first book, 

“In schools we create artificial learning environments for our children that they know to be contrived and undeserving of their full attention and engagement… Without the opportunity to learn through the hands, the world remains abstract, and distant, and the passions for learning will not be engaged.” 

We put learning in a context of grades and test scores but in essence are telling students that what they're being taught does not really matter, as it appears contrived and undeserving their full engagement.

Crawford stated in his later book, “I don’t think this is true for every student, but it is true of enough students that we ought to worry about it." Taking a wider view, I contend that ALL students even those deemed most successful in the current model pay a toll for the artificiality of hands-off schooling, and they too, deserve more. In fact, as we turn the world over to new generations, we also deserve more, as I mention in my recent article in Front Porch Republic, AI, Misinformation and Manual Arts Training.

 https://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2024/01/ai-misinformation-and-manual-arts-training/

Make, fix and create.

education reform step 2

The second thing to recognize in educational reform is that activities that are by nature real, engaging all the senses create a better network of remembrance, connection and utility in the brain. This has been proven by research. 

Learning that takes place hands-on, meaning it was accomplished by being physically present thus engaging all the senses has much deeper and longer lasting effect. You can think of the brain as real estate, and hands-on activities and experiences are noted in the full breadth of sensory and motor cortices with greater impact and depth of interconnected remembrance. Students sitting at desks with thumbs a-twittle is a waste that serves none well.

Modern classroom learning where students sit at desks, while teachers attempt to instill information into their brains insists on student passivity and leads to passive unresponsive lives. That may be useful to a political society in which direct engagement is to be squelched. But a democratic society requires active engagement of each and all in making the decisions that affect our own lives.

Again, the answer is simple. Insist that classroom teachers lead students in doing real things. Getting out of the classroom into real life is advised.

The walnut and spalted red oak box shown was made as a demonstration box in  class at ESSA years ago. In it I demonstrated hand cut dovetails and the making and use of wooden hinges.

Make, fix and create.

easy as one, two, three, four

There is a great need for educational reform in the US, so to make things easy, please follow for the next three days as I explain. 

The first thing to recognize is that the brain, even among college students is good for only a very few minutes of lecture. Even the best minds wander and must for newly delivered information to be compared both to that which had previously been learned or taught and to the student’s own personal experience. 

Scaffolding, an integrated structure of previously acquired experiential learning supports the integration of new learning. Teachers in classes that drone on and on serve none well, and even the best and brightest may be struck by the triviality of what they’re being taught. 

Steering education away from the model in which a teacher stands at the head of the class could be as easy as requiring each teacher to provide students an opportunity to do real things related to their subject matter. If in doubt, consult the school shop teacher for ideas if one is available. 

In the meantime, 50 boxes are now through the first sanding process, have had the edges routed, and are ready for orbital sanding, grits, 150, 240 and 320 before signing. 

Make, fix and create.

more on fifty boxes

I now have 50 boxes assembled and ready to begin sanding operations. I start with 100 grit on the belt sander, then move to 150 grit before using the router table to contour the edges and corners.

Then I'll use an orbital sander to smooth all surfaces in preparation for applying an oil finish. What will all these boxes be used for? Your guess is as good as mine. But they're an honest product, and made to last.

Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning likewise.


 

A great discount offer

Amazon is offering a three for the price of two sale on my book Wisdom of Our Hands. It's a great opportunity for artisans and crafters to share insight into our own lives and creative inclinations with others. 

The way the offer works is this. Go to this link.  Then where it says "Get 3 for the price of 2" click "add items" and you'll be taken to the offer. Add the number of copies desired and when you go to the shopping cart, normal discounts will be applied and a free copy will be deducted from the price. Buy six and get them for the price of four, each already at a special discount price.

Want to know why to give this book to others? Joe Youcha, writing for Wooden Boat Magazine said the following:

I read it in two big gulps, and as I did, I identified with the book’s message so much that I began making  a list of everyone I thought should read it. By the time I finished, that list included anyone studying at a craft school, all the people I work with, and all the people I’ve ever taught. I especially wish I could buy copies for all the people who taught me, and who are no longer here. I actually want to buy it for everyone I know.

If you have a craftsperson in your life, this book may explain some things about what motivates them. And if someone in your life aspires to become a craftsperson, this book offers insight into having a successful, productive attitude while pursuing a craft. If you're not involved in a craft, this book will raise your awareness of the value of craft. — Joe Youcha, boat builder and founder of Building to Teach.

Some readers may remember the wooden boats we built at the Clear Spring School? Joe was the inspiration for that, and the designer of the Bevin's Skiff. 

Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning likewise. 

fifty boxes

Yesterday I inlaid the lids of 50 small boxes, cut the lids to length and am ready for hinging and assembly. I was helped by having the inlay already made (by myself) and by being of a certain age and experience.

Much is made of Biden's age, while hardly a word is said about Trump being younger by only two years. In the meantime, youth is not always a good thing.

While whippersnappers (of various ages) are running hither and yon, providing evidence of youthful vigor and misdirection, wisdom and experience are on the side of those who may be working at a slower pace while getting more done.

In box making it's important knowing what to do. It is also important to know what things are not to be done that distract one from a straighter path. Two things one may learn over a period of time are what not to do, and what to value in the doing.

I do not know whether President Biden's campaign will survive the stupidity with which he's being assaulted. Agism is rampant in America, even against those in their 40's, 50's and 60's. Young folks, eager to make their own marks, and too impatient to grasp the value of what's gone on before appear to be moving fast. If you look past the motion blur you may find that they may lack the efficiency of some older folks. I'm better at what I do than I was 48 years ago and the small boxes I make are even better and more refined. That happens. I take naps sometimes. They help. And just because we may seem over the hill, we're not.

A note on the boxes—Governor Bill Clinton carried my small boxes as gifts from the State of Arkansas on some of his foreign travels. They are made from Arkansas hardwoods and showcase the value of the forests of the "Natural State."

Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning likewise.

Join with me in a pledge

Yesterday afternoon I prepared lid stock and inlay for making nearly 50 boxes. Today I'll finish routing the tops for pieces of inlay to be fitted and size the inlay to fit. After gluing the inlay in the lids, and they're cut to length, hinging and assembly can begin. Years ago I'd imagined growing old with the making of these boxes and in a few short years I'll be as old as Biden and I'll still be making boxes as beautiful as ever. 

Trump is now trying to distance himself from project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's plan to put radical right wing policies in place. He says he wishes them luck but doesn't completely agree with all of their proposals that were put forth in his name, put forth with the promise that nothing violent will happen unless liberals interfere.

We're in deep trouble as so called "conservatives" threaten revolution. There are so called red states and so called blue states and we live in the United States of America, where as Lincoln noted, we have the challenge of working toward a more perfect union in which the rights of all are respected, including the rights of women to make their own decisions regarding reproductive health, and in which industries are controlled to prevent our early deaths and the deaths of those we love from toxic air and water.

In a more perfect union, we take care to protect the voting rights of others, and we vote to make sure the rights of all to the benefits of that more perfect union are upheld.

Join with me in a pledge. I will not vote for anyone who refuses to stand for the rights of others to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness or refuses to accept equality under the law. I will not vote for anyone that supports a would be, want to be king or a president who claims the authority of a king, or a Supreme Court that offers him that power.

Yesterday morning we assembled two new router tables at ESSA to replace two that I'd made for the school when the shop was first opened. The old router tables with new wheels added will become rolling carts, useful when planing stock.

Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning likewise.

Making small boxes

I try to keep an inventory of boxes to fill orders, as they're much less expensive to produce in multiples, and therefore cheaper for customers to buy. When supplies get low, I make more. The photo shows yesterday's labor. I cut and machined parts for nearly 50 small boxes in walnut and linden. Processes involve forming small mortises on the box ends for the front, back and bottoms to fit, then forming matching tenons on the front and back and rabbets along the edges of the bottom panels.

Because these are regular production items, I keep routers set up and ready to serve, thus cutting time that would have been spent setting up, and thus avoiding errors that might occur in setting up tools.

Most Americans know at this point that if defeated in the November election, Donald Trump will claim election fraud and turn his minions loose to restore him to presidential power. It will be like January 6, 2021, but worse. Then with the backing of the Supreme Court, he'll be given unprecedented power to do what ever he likes. Here are a few things he and his Project 2025 plan for us.

• Abandon support for NATO and allow Russia to defeat Ukraine.
• Remove protection for women's reproductive health.
• Cut Social Security "in order to save it."
• End the Affordable Heath care Act that provides health insurance for millions of Americans.
• Round up millions of migrants in camps and export them, threatening our agriculture and construction industries as well as the lives of millions.
• Deregulate industries, and abolish the EPA thereby allowing us to be poisoned by toxic waste and left with nothing we can do about it.
• Withdraw from climate accords and continue to insist that the climate crisis we all face is simply a hoax, and that we should "drill baby, drill," as forests burn, cities are flooded or bone dry and insurance rates soar.
• Increase tariffs on all imported goods, thereby adding greatly to inflation.
• Weaponize the Department of Justice against all political opposition. That means me.
• Appoint more corrupt Supreme Court justices, making sure we're screwed for the next generations.

Some will say, "surely he's just talking and won't really do all that stuff." Let me assure you that he will. given the power of a king by the Supreme Court, he surely will, and must be stopped.

In the meantime, I have little power, so I say what I know to be true and  I make boxes. The box making provides some solace. 

Happy Fourth of July.

A Garden of Children

This is a new article I've been working on, just published this morning at the Front Porch Republic.

 https://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2024/07/a-garden-of-children/

The rise of kindergarten was closely associated with the rise of the manual training movement.

Make, fix and create.

black jobs, hispanic jobs

During the Trump-Biden debate this week, in which an elderly man confronted a very slightly younger serial liar with great vigor at lying and a distorted sense of reality, Trump warned that millions of immigrants were coming to take "black jobs, and hispanic jobs" clearly characterizing some jobs as lower, less worthy of respect and placing them along racial lines as though there weren't a large number of white folks doing the same work to support their families. 

There's a long history of such characterizations in American politics, in denial of the basic Jeffersonian precept that all men are created equal. The false premise is that some jobs are intellectual, and some are not. And in that is a huge failing among "intellectuals" to acknowledge the amount of intellect invested in jobs and activities that have a physical component. For instance, making a box.

Trump bragged about his proficiency in golf... one of the most cheated at physical pursuits and one allowing your "handicap" to be used in measuring your performance in comparison with others... thus allowing you to claim a win without actually winning... a game perfectly suited to Trump.

Would you rather have a president with compassion or one who can lie with vigor? I would rather have one who shows respect for all persons and all labor.

Make, fix and create. 

great show and reception for residents

We had a great reception and show of work by participants in our two week woodworking residency at ESSA. I had the honor of observing growth.

Guests had the honor of meeting these fine artists, seeing their work, and buying some to keep. A portion from work sold will support future residencies.

The two week mentored woodworking residency was considered a great success.

There’s a theory in physics called quantum entanglement… that if two particles are introduced to each other, they can be thrust to the furthest corners of the universe and what’s happened with one is known to the other. I believe the same thing happens with people when our creative lives merge. Surely we will have occasions to remember our time together at ESSA and the things we’ve learned in each other’s company.

Make, fix, create and assist others in learning likewise.