My Substack is now live and the first post is up. https://chrisstorb.substack.com/p/abraham-whiteall-now-of-the-city My goal with the new blog/website is to continue to present information about historic furniture and woodwork that is difficult to find elsewhere. I think of the expansive shelves of books we have/had to educate ourselves about historic furniture, from Wallace Nutting’s “Furniture … Continue reading My Substack Blog
Tools
Whittling Down
The carving tools I've chosen to keep for future projects. This past week I laid out all my carving tools and did a first round of choosing a set of tools to keep for future carving projects. I suspect there may a be a smaller weeding out in a year or so. There are 73 … Continue reading Whittling Down
Carving Tool Resolutions
I've been busy through the spring and summer but I'm looking forward to getting back to more regular posting on the blog and have several topics ready to go. But first this post will both serve as a record of my carving tool collection as it is at this point in time and let you … Continue reading Carving Tool Resolutions
Fore-Plane Marks
Unlike painting, furniture making is a reductive practice. The marks on every surface are only those of the last tool used. On show surfaces of pre-industrial furniture, you are typically looking at marks left by a try plane, smoothing plane, or scraper. There is no way we can peer into the past and know what … Continue reading Fore-Plane Marks
What’s In A Name?
I’m sure there must be some confusion among those who don’t study the history of woodworking tools, as to what, if any, is the difference between a fore-plane and a jack-plane. I remember being confused about it when I started in woodworking. The metal bench planes of Leonard Bailey’s design still that were still being … Continue reading What’s In A Name?
In Proportion to the Trouble 