Discover the art of traditional plane making with the new Hollows & Rounds Maker Course from WoodSkills. Taught by furniture maker Norman Pirollo, this comprehensive online course guides you step-by-step through building a precision matched pair of hollow and round molding planes. Through over 10 hours of detailed video instruction, printable CAD diagrams, and guided demonstrations, you’ll learn wood selection, body shaping, escapement layout, wedge fitting, iron tuning, and final plane setup using both hand tools and machinery. More than simply building planes, the course teaches the underlying system behind hollows and rounds so you can create molding planes that work accurately, consistently, and produce clean traditional profiles with confidence.

After several years of offering woodworking instruction, publishing woodworking books, teaching and furniture making, I feel it is time to share my knowledge to recruit new woodworkers and reduce the barrier to entry of this rewarding craft. I am offering all 12 of my online courses at a discounted price of $79. This is a heavily discounted $500 value. The 12 online courses provide an exceptional education in woodworking. From Basic to Advanced Woodworking, the student will receive a well-rounded woodworking education.

I recently received a commission for a Hall Table. The dimensions were specific for a location the client had in mind. The top had to be below 41 in. long. I factored stability into the design and made the top 12 3/4 in. wide. This to avoid any tipping over situations. The other design criteria was the type of wood (Maple throughout). I had carte blanche to come up with a design. After some sketching, I decided on two design variations, each with a different aesthetic. One design was conservative, the other bolder. One Hall Table design had straight vertical legs, the other had splayed or angled legs, a more contemporary, unique design.

These are two simple to make crosscut guides. The guides work with a backsaw or Japanese saws. They are oriented towards Japanese pull-type saws with thin saw plates and fine teeth. I was striving for precise + smooth 90d and 45d crosscuts without the need for shooting afterwards. The crosscut guides can be either held against or clamped to a board and essentially function similar to a bench hook but for longer boards.

Tea Cabinet plans now available. With some workshop time available, I decided on a smaller project. My cabinets on stand (1st image) typically have a few drawers in the interior. I configure the drawers asymmetrically, usually two lower drawers and one drawer above (1st image). If you view my cabinet portfolio, this is a style and aesthetic I have developed over the years. The single drawer above allows for greater clearance on one side, this is space available for decorative objects, etc. So I decided to create a smaller scale project, one I could finish in a much shorter time with this style and configuration in mind.

The portable hand tool cabinet plans now available. Discover how I design and make a portable tool cabinet for storing woodworking hand tools. The clever design for hand tool storage is based on a Yeung Chan hand tool case. I had seen Yeung Chan's version of this hand tool case at a class I attended in 2004 at a furniture making school. Yeung Chan was the instructor and he brought his tool case with him from San Francisco when he travelled to teach. I was in awe of its beauty, functionality and detail. Let's say I had never seen anything like it before. I made sure to take a few measurements and a couple of photos before the week-long class ended. So 20 yrs. later I have created my version of the portable hand tool case! 

As a former jewelry box maker, I yearned for the opportunity to create a newer design of jewelry box. Over the years, after switching to furniture design and making, I would ideate some new jewelry box designs that were very different from my previous box designs. Of course, you can only change so much, as it is a box after all. So I changed the dimensions for a sleeker, lower profile design with a very contemporary aesthetic. I also wanted to introduce new elements into the design. Why not incorporate Kumiko into a jewelry box design?

I created an urn for a client. I never made one and thought it was essentially a box, so not too difficult. Of course, there is more to the design. After research, I found the design I had in mind was different from how a standard urn is constructed. There are criteria involved in the design of a rectangular box type of urn. The top is fixed to the wood case and the contents of the urn are instead inserted through a removable bottom. The interior of the urn needs to be clear of any obstructions. The bottom has to be removable and easily re-installed. Finally, the size of the urn is related to the volume of ashes, this in turn corresponds to the gender and weight of the individual cremated.

I am presenting a virtual furniture design workshop over two consecutive weekends, Sunday Sept. 22 & Sept. 29, 2024. Each session is 2 hours long. In the first session I delve into the history of furniture design and describe the process of designing furniture from concept or idea to drawings and finally a scale representation of the furniture. The Furniture Design Workshop is provided through Pocosin School of Fine Craft. Learn furniture design with a professional furniture designer and maker. This workshop will make furniture design less intimidating.

In my last blog post, I referred to creating precision tenons using the Miter Jack Vise. I will explain further. This magic is performed in conjunction with a Miter Jack Saw. The Miter Jack Saw creates uniform shoulders around the joint, either 2 or 4 shoulders. The Miter Jack Vise jaws create a precision reference surface where the Miter Jack Saw rides along at a predetermined height. The tenon cheeks are first accurately sawn. Then, with the tenon stock securely clamped in the vise, the Miter Jack Saw is rotated along the joint, creating a uniform shoulder all around.

At a recent woodworking event, I perused the vintage tool dealers and came across a couple of antique Miter Jack Vises. This was a French development of the 19th century and the purpose was to clamp ends of boards to create consistent joinery. The Miter Jacks incorporated versatility to create either 45d joints or 90d joints. This was accomplished by flipping the Miter Jack over and using the other surfaces of the jaws in the clamp. The Miter Jack also excels at creating 45d case miters along the end of a board.

Do you sometimes start a woodworking project and become anxious of how long it will take to complete? Do you feel the project needs to be completed in minimal time? Do you already envision the completed furniture piece and embrace any means to complete it? Instead, emphasize process over product when working on a woodworking project. In other words, enjoy the process of designing and making a unique furniture piece or limited-series furniture design.