Description
This biannual publication celebrates the preservation, research and restoration of historic furniture. Its multi-disciplinary approach brings together the perspectives of furniture makers, conservators and scholars to span woodworking past and present, with focus on pre-industrial tools and methods.
This issue features articles profiling two talented artisans in 18th-century America. Author Steve Voight looks at the contribution of Cesar Chelor, initially an enslaved apprentice to a New England planemaker, and later, a prolific toolmaker in his own right. Furniture maker Canlin Frost delves into the life and work of John Hemmings, born into slavery in Virginia, who became a skilled wheelwright, carpenter and joiner on Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello estate.
Symeon van Donkelaar combines traditional craftsmanship and religious symbolism to create an icon panel. Following the folk tradition, Joshua Klein builds a unique shaving horse using materials at hand, and Zachary Dillinger models his shop-made clamps on workholding devices used by ancient Norse Vikings.
Other content includes an examination of a 19th-century Salem-type rocking chair, a recreation of a Sussex chair from green wood using only hand tools, a reproduction of a traditional Korean wedding chest, and a look at the trove of information stored in tree growth rings and wooden artifacts. Nancy Hiller reviews Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work by Matthew Crawford.
More like a book than a typical magazine, it is printed on heavy stock paper and richly illustrated with color photos. Sold as a single issue, not a subscription. Softcover, 144 pages, 2020.
