Chris Schwarz's Pop Wood Blog

This week I’m in Bavaria to teach two woodworking classes at the workshops of Dictum GmbH. (And to visit my favorite coffee machine in the entire world.) However, instead of pushing the machine’s buttons over and over, I’m teaching in a different workshop and making friends with a different coffee machine. Because of heavy rains … Read more »

The post A Slight Change in the Teaching Plan appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

While I have used a lot of bowsaws in the last two decades, I’ve never made one. But during the last few weeks, I’ve made five. The reason is that I fly to Germany on Friday to teach a couple woodworking classes. One class on building Roorkhee chairs, plus a one-day class on building a … Read more »

The post Plans: A Simple Bowsaw appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Here is one of my favorite finishes for any wood that is ring-porous or diffuse-porous. I call it “dirty mahogany” or “creepy janitor.” First a warning: I think this finish looks like crap on woods that have a closed pore structure, such as maple or cherry, and on softwoods. It looks great on anything with … Read more »

The post The Simple ‘Dirty Mahogany’ Finish appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Whether you know it or not, you’ve probably seen a Roorkhee chair (or its children) at some point in your life. The chair was supposedly invented at the end of the 19th century for the British military. But it had a long life that extended into the 20th century and influenced many modern designers: Marcel … Read more »

The post Roorkhee Chair Design Document appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

With this class in building Roorkhee chairs, I bit off way less than I could chew. After the second day, we just have to finish up a couple details on the leather and metal work before we start finishing the mahogany. Tomorrow, I hope we will finish all the chairs with shellac and black wax … Read more »

The post Wait, Leather Already? appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Most classes I teach end up being a “dovetail death march” (in a good way). There is a lot of traditional joinery, late nights, sore feet and little hope of finishing the project in five days. But this class on Roorkhee chairs at Kelly Mehler’s School of Woodworking promises to be different. If we don’t … Read more »

The post Roorkhee Chairs, Day 1 (Then What?) appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I leave for Germany in a couple weeks to teach classes on making Roorkhee chairs (piece of pie!) and bowsaws. Yup. Making bowsaws. You’ve probably seen my international treatise on bowsaws: “Bowsaws: An Anthropological View of Three Sticks and Some Cat Innards.” No? Well that’s because I haven’t written it. I’ve used and owned many … Read more »

The post 5 Bowsaws Later appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

At one of the woodworking schools where I teach there is a quote hanging on the wall that has always bugged me a bit. I’ll paraphrase it: In 100 years, people will only care WHAT you did, not HOW you did it. Whenever I read that quote, all I can think about what the first … Read more »

The post Do You Need More Roughage? appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

When I teach a woodworking class, I give my students free reign with my tools. It’s a great way for them to get a feel for tools that are sharp and in order. It’s also a great way to get a broken turning saw. During the last few years, students have destroyed my turning saws … Read more »

The post Look it Up or Suffer Under it: Resistentialism appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I make it a point to avoid blogging about sharpening. It is the simplest thing to do that is made confusing by too much talk and too many commercial products. I honestly do not care how you sharpen your tools. If you can get a zero-radius intersection and then polish the two surfaces, then you … Read more »

The post Shut up and Sharpen appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

When I first mentioned the topic of my latest DVD, my e-mail inbox filled up with messages such as: “This project is beneath you. Beneath all of us. You traitor.” And that’s the G-rated version. The DVD, “A Traditional Tool Chest in Two Days,” takes a home-center approach to building an 18th-century-style tool chest with … Read more »

The post ‘The Traitor’s Tool Chest’ Now Available on DVD appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Woodworkers are shy people – especially at the beginning of their journey. They make parts or assemblies oversized and then plane, sand or rasp them to fit. On one hand, this makes sense. It’s easier to take wood off than to put it back on. However, the other hand is already done with the job … Read more »

The post Drawer Construction Details Make Life Easier appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

In some high technology circles there is an expression they use when engineers move too quickly to launch a project. They have “go fever” and are willing to overlook horrible mistakes in order to launch a product. When teaching woodworking – especially casework – I find that most students need to take down their protective netting, … Read more »

The post I Want to Give You ‘Go Fever’ appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

While I like and appreciate strict reproductions, I’ve always preferred to design my own stuff. How do I design a piece? In the only way I know how. It’s not easy. There are no formulas or rules or ratios. It is by a process I call “saturation and feedback.” Step 1: Absorb everything you can … Read more »

The post The Dumb Way to Teach Design appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

All woodworking stories are – by definition – somewhat sappy. This one is even more so. The day I met Steve Shanesy I was a burned-out writer, designer and editor. I was managing a newspaper that swirling around the rim of the toilet bowl. I was writing about politics – something I didn’t care about. … Read more »

The post On Steve Shanesy’s Last Day appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

The Milkman’s Workbench – a portable bench I built for the June 2013 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine – is about 653 percent better than my first workbench. Thanks to the clever engineering in the portable bench, it can handle most handwork tasks when clamped to a dining room table or kitchen countertop. My first … Read more »

The post The Milkman’s Workbench in Use appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.