Category Archives: skills

The Hardest Part of Learning to Sharpen

Posted on December 20, 2018 by

The other day, I was teaching a friend to sharpen his plane iron, and it got me thinking about sharpening.  Of all the skills I have learned while working wood, sharpening has been the most life-changing. It started with chisels … Continue reading →

Posted in sharpening, skills, teaching, Wood and Woodwork | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Crafting (in) the Home: Passing on Your Skills to your Children

Posted on October 27, 2018 by

I just returned from a conference on community building called The Urban Village: From Cloud-Castles to Blueprints, sponsored by The Servi Institute in Oklahoma City, OK, where I gave a presentation on passing on manual skills to children by letting … Continue reading →

Posted in Kids, Musings, skills, teaching, Tutorials | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Carving Spoons, Building Community

Posted on June 4, 2015 by

A week ago my wife and I got in a car and drove to Austin, Texas, to teach two days of classes on making wooden spoons.  We weren’t sure what to expect–what the facilities would be like, what wood or … Continue reading →

Posted in handicraft, skills, teaching | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment