The Acanthus Workshop

• Chuck Norris doesn’t do push ups. He pushes down, and the world moves away from him.
• There is no theory of evolution – only a list of species Chuck Norris allows to live.
• Chuck Norris can cut through a hot knife with butter.

And, you’ll never guess who taught Chuck Norris how to cut dovetails.  Why, it was Chuck Bender of the Acanthus Workshop.  All kidding aside (and who the heck am I kidding?), Chuck (Bender) is a magician when it comes to hand cut joinery. From the very simple to the mind-bendingly ornate (Bermuda Dovetails, anyone?), Chuck can do it , and – even better – teach you how to do the very same techniques online or at his school.

But, be careful. Chuck Bender cuts both is pins and tails at the same time…

Gunpowder Woodworks

Following a lifelong passion for building things, Mark Hochstein’s interests went from building model airplanes, leatherwork and eventually his first woodworking project – a skateboard – when he was the ripe old age of 12. And, when he joined the military, he rediscovered the passion for building.

Today, he runs Gunpowder Woodworks, his haven where he builds furniture in his blended tool workshop. The design of his work is classic and refined, with bold lines and skilled joinery. Take a look at his site and you will come to appreciate his skilled design eye and craftsmanship.

Gibson Woodworking and Design

In Wednesday’s post, I mentioned that I was working with fellow St. Petersburg Woodcrafters Guild member Andy Gibson to get my old saw sharpened.  I thought it was only fitting to feature his website this week.

Andy is a talented young woodworker, skilled in the use of hand tools. But, he’s also more than that.  You should see the ukeleles he builds And, he’s also building his first guitar out of locally-harvested camphor wood. He had to name his instruments as Sideways Eight instruments, because Gibson Guitars was already taken.

Check out his work. I think you are going to be pleased with seeing his skills.

The Cutting Tools Blog

It’s always great to see a brand new blog being born into the Internet. And, when it’s the blog for one of my supporters, I have to let y’all know that it’s here!

David Venditto has launched the Infinity Cutting Tools blog, and the timing on this is pretty interesting. He is fitting out the woodworking shop in his warehouse, and the first few blog posts are going to be about how the shop is getting set up.   Follow along and see how the shop – and the classes that are taught there – progress.

(Sorry this is a day late … When I woke up yesterday, I was sick enough to have to go to the doctor. Bronchitis… again… the second time this year. Total bummer…)

The PlyPi

Remember my friend Paul – the guy we built a home office for? He recently told my son Dominic – a computer wiz – about the Raspberry Pi. It’s a chip-based computer from Great Britain that costs all of $25, yet can do some tremendously cool things.

The problem with these computers?  They come just as a chipset with some connections. Kind of vulnerable. Kind of clunky.  So, one of the things that proud Pi owners do is build their own cases.  Some tuck these babies into the chassis of old Commodore 64s. Others in Lego cases. And, some build them out of wood.

This post from the blog Single Lens Reflections shows how the site’s administrator build a Pi case from some plywood. It’s elegant. It’s protective. And, it’s made out of wood. What’s there not to like?

Just do a quick Internet search to see some wild Raspberry Pi cases built by others.

The Workbench Diary

To get to the blog of Joshua Klein, you have to head to Brooklyn.

The Brooklyn Bridge

No, not THAT Brooklyn. More like this one:

There. That’s more like it. Up in the quaint coastal city of Brooklyn, Maine, you will find Joshua Klein and his blog The Workbench Diary. Joshua takes the time to pour the love into antique furniture looking to be restored, and makes replacement pieces for furniture – and new pieces – using  traditional techniques.

Besides learning a lot about furniture restoration and building, a visit to his site is just so soothing, and it will do your heart good to watch beautifully hand-crafted furniture built by craftsmen in days of yore get a second chance at life … a better fate than being thrown into a dumpster somewhere.

Dan Alleger Woodworking

For those of you who may be wondering where my post was on Wednesday, it didn’t happen.  Instead, I was at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside at the National Hurricane Conference teaching – and learning – about hurricanes. With hurricanes Isaac and Sandy fresh in everyone’s mind, well, it was a great conference where we learned lots.

No, I didn’t get to do any woodworking, but I did get to see some tremendous, historic woodwork. Since I was in the Big Easy, I decided that perhaps today would be a great time to highlight a New Orleans woodworker. Dan Alleger has been doing woodworking in New Orleans since 1997, and his work is really spot on. Not only is he building new things, he also does restoring – a skill that came in very handy after 2005′s Hurricane Katrina.

Check out his work.  I think you will like woodworking with a N’Awlins feel.