Blog

Board Foot “Calculator”

Old-school method for calculating linear ratios such as board footage. This particular example is from "Deane's Doctrine of Naval Architecture" published in 1670. See the store page to…

Numbers Versus True

Geometry is a mysterious bird. The ancient geometers thought it mysterious because its secrets were like jewels that fell from the heavens. Though it’s the earliest form of…

UFO’s and Duct Tape

My Mother-in-law loved to watch TV shows about aliens and UFOs. She also thought you could fix anything with duct tape, even a leaky water line. It always…

Crooked Lines and Complex Curves

Would it surprise you to learn that an ordinary try square can take you to places far beyond simple rectangular boxes? In fact, learning how to unlock the…

Mystery uncovered

This is a bit more detail from an Instagram post I published about dividers. In some trades, especially carpentry work, dividers were sized to provide a quick job…

A look through Euclid’s Door

Our book Euclid's Door went off to the printer this week. It's a step by step guide to building a set of layout and design tools that were…

A silk purse from a Sow’s ear

Over at the Lost Art Press Blog, Chris Schwarz made a series of short videos about the pros and cons of the workbenches in his shop. It's a…

Building a Gypsy Wagon

What follows is Jim Tolpin's introduction from the PDF on building Gypsy wagons or Caravans. You can purchase the entire document from our shop page. Why I Create…

East Meets West (Or Vice Versa)

We are often asked if the traditional western practice of designing objects (such as furniture) to whole number harmonic ratios could have also been the case in the…

Wonder

  It’s natural to gaze with wonder at a blazing sunset or a beautiful painting. A brilliant idea on the other hand is altogether different. It can slap…