Sunday, October 4, 2026

'Common Tools Defined'

 below, a blog post originally from 2009

 This just in from my friend, fine furniture builder and local wit Steve Holman of Holman Studios ... It came to his inbox and he forwarded it to me and I forward it here to you ... enjoy ...

Begin forwarded message:
COMMON TOOLS DEFINED
DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, denting the freshly- painted vertical stabilizer which you had carefully set in the corner where nothing could get to it.

WIRE WHEEL: Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, "Oh sh!#..."

SKILL SAW: A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short.
PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters.
BELT SANDER: An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.

HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle. It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.
VISE-GRIPS: Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.
WELDING GLOVES: Heavy duty leather gloves used to prolong the conduction of intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.
OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects in your shop on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub out of which you want to remove a bearing race.
TABLE SAW: A large stationary power tool commonly used to launch wood projectiles for testing wall integrity.
E-Z OUT BOLT AND STUD EXTRACTOR: A tool ten times harder than any known drill bit that snaps neatly off in bolt holes thereby ending any possible future use.
BAND SAW: A large stationary power saw primarily used by most shops to cut good aluminum sheet into smaller pieces that more easily fit into the trash can after you cut on the inside of the line instead of the
outside edge.
TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST: A tool for testing the maximum tensile strength of everything you forgot to disconnect.
CRAFTSMAN * x 24-INCH SCREWDRIVER: A very large pry bar that inexplicably has an accurately machined screwdriver tip on the end opposite the handle.

PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids or for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip outPhillips screw heads.
STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER: A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws.
PRY BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.
HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to make hoses too short.
HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the object we are trying to hit.
DAMMIT TOOL: Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage while yelling 'DAMMIT!' at the top of your lungs. It is also, most often, the next tool that you will need.

Monday, September 7, 2026

portfolio pictures

 
Labor Day!  a day off 
the blog post below was originally published in 2016.
 i stumbled across it yesterday in one of my 'blog to print' books
and thought it would be interesting to new readers.
the 2016 blog post starts below ...
and in the 'slide show' section on my blog there are even more
early portfolio images. 
 
2016 ... well, ok ... i stumbled across a folder full of pictures this morning and 
i thought they would make a good blog post.  as an example, on the 'page' above, there is a 
10' cherry table, 8 windsors, 4 stools and a nine foot wide by 8 foot high sideboard.  couple of months right there.  also, a pair of maple cabinets with c.r. ashbee inspired  inlays and a 60" round table ...
another couple of months there.
until 2007, when i first started my blog and more or less moved my 'portfolio' online,
i kept photos of my work in these three 20 page, 14" x 17"  binders.  in august of 2014, i intended to migrate these portfolios into my slide show area by taking careful photos of each page but never finished the job or ever finished taking the photos .. looking through them this morning made
me realize i maybe ought to get on it and finish that project ... maybe next week ...
anyway, here they are .. click the photos to enlarge them ... 
honestly, i forgot i made a lot of these pieces ...
 
a desk, a credenza and a coffee table, and the inspiration for the 
c.r. ashbee arts and crafts style pieces pieces
a couple desks, a small dining table, a really funky windsor and some stools ..
a nice game table .. another desk some side tables and a japanese rice paper screen ..
the famous 'snook table' .. 46 x 68 and 
at the beach' a small half round with similar inlays .. i still have that one ..
a coffee table, a cabinet with a curved front, a 54" round cherry table with a lacewood inlay, 
a cherry and lacewood coffee table, a reclaimed chestnut table and a funky sideboard piece.
lots more stuff here
and here .. the bubinga sideboard goes with the 
one board bubinga table on the 'page' below ..
a nice 'studio style' sideboard and an 8' knife display case
some nice doors; an interesting masonic table restoration and a classy 
cherry and figured ash desk with some rosewood inlays
a cherry corner cupboard with curly maple panels and drawer fronts ..
 
skippy, our dog, who left us in 2006 .. a nice cherry and maple dresser ..
another big sideboard, one of a pair, and a nice curly maple dining table

my favorite curly maple sideboard 
and a cool bench and mirror with carvings and appliques ..
a few more 'studio style' pieces

  just found some more ...
my, my, my ... lots of pictures ... the tapered cabinet made the back cover of one of 
the fine woodworking design books ... must have been around 1990
 game tables ..
 wildlife carving on the table legs ...
 early headboard inlays
 ditto ...
 metal chairs .. a black console ...
more game tables
 first cabinet with abalone center right .. 1985??
 'shaker' hutch

 early 80s brochure cover ..
 2nd commisssion .. 1979 .. the yellow shaker desk ..
'japanese style' coffee table .. studio style table and sideboard
glass topped coffee table ...
 'greene and greene' style chairs with handpainted silk seats
the original tansu stairs photos .. before and after .. 1989
a crotch mahogany veneered sideboard .. 
notice the difference a professional photographer can make ..
"it's where we keep the tv to keep it out of sight"
some detail shots ...  the studios .. central park west .. 
the pieces barely fit in the elevator ..


 i used to make a lot of ornamental sash
 the original mother myricks .. 1983, manchester center ... 

Thursday, August 20, 2026

Green Mountain Bluegrass Festival

                                  It’s that time again!  Another year, another amazing lineup!

that takes place in Manchester Vermont has completed it's
 8th year and i am surprised i haven't written 
about it before.  it is unfailingly a great event!
i can't say anything more eloquently then Will has 
said it below ...
   John and Jill Turpin who organize the show refer to Will
as 'the mayor' of the festival, i was amused that my 
back stage pass did not have my name attached to it ..
it was another great year!  i wanted to leave you with 
a few videos  but my i phone videos are 
apparentlytoo large for me to post here ...
anyway, if you are in the new england area
try to make it next year ...
Great Music there! 

Friday, July 31, 2026

53 Years Later ... OOPS!

                                 so, it was 1973 ... i was spending my time working for
                                 John Wall who did 'anything for a buck'. Build a house,
build some clay tennis courts, buy and sell railroad ties.
etc., etc., etc., without actually knowing how to do
any of those things partiicularly well.  it was my first carpentry
type job after (almost) giving up my previous gig as a bartender 
at the Roundhouse,and the Sirloin Saloon in Manchester .... 
Kit and I still dabbled in the world of bar tending from time to time then.
            
                                     
John and I were working for the owners of the house across the
 street from this sort of, at the time, sagging building.
the owner said, 'that left corner is sagging, please put a
cable in it to keep it from getting worse. so,
my contractor friend said 'go figure it out'. 
(click this picture to enlarge it)
so i thought i did by running a cable around a rock behind it
to the sagging corner 
with a turnbuckle that i would tighten pretty much religiously 
every month or three for a couple of years.
i eventually lost interest in that project as i moved on to
real carpentry with a real builder, Mark Breen, who was creating 
very nice new houses in the Stratton area,
about 30 of them between 1974 and 1979, 
when time ran out ... 
so a couple of months ago the building collapsed 
but the corner i cabled is still standing ... 
it looks like i should have added a few more cables
to the rest of the place. 
 
hindsight is often 20/20 ... 
  

Tuesday, July 7, 2026

The Big Move

.

    here we have our long time friend Noel Dydo, in 2005, with  
  our brand new mullticam CNC and another friend's Lull. 
 at the time, Noel was quick to describe that Lull as a 'piece of sh**'.
not comforting at the moment, as the cnc had to go up a couple 
of floors and fit through a hole in the wall 
between two windows ...
click the pictures to enlarge them ... 
   back in the day, that's 'Mr. Lucky' there with the sawzall.
when we put the wall back together after getting the cnc in, 
we realized that someday it would have to come back out so 
we put everything back together with stainless steel screws.
a lucky good decision!
since things don't last forever, we decided that since Kristian 
had a rented 'Skyjack' lift at his house site a mile up the road, now
would be a very good time to make the move to the empty shop and
give will some more room in the upstairs of the main shop.
out it comes!
 after a short trip across the driveway, Kristian maneuvered
it through the doors, onto machine skates and to it's new home ...

all set now ... we are going to hook up the dust collection
today, pipe that up, and we'll be good to go ...
 
the next day, the pieces went back and you'd
 never know anything had happened ...