sturdy little bench

This little bench is very close to my heart.  It's made from old douglas fir (a board I picked up somewhere) as well as two cross pieces of new pine.

You can see the holes from the board's previous life as a shelf, and who knows what before that.  The wood is scratched and worn, which is part of its charm for me.

There is a photo of me that I don't have right now, on my first birthday, sitting on a little stool not too different from this one.  That little stool was part of my childhood.  I can picture it vividly still, although it was left behind in Bolivia when we moved over twenty years ago.

Two of my coworkers are originally from Africa.  When I showed them this picture, they said:  we sit on benches like that all the time back home.  And perhaps that is the appeal for me--simple benches like these are what Bolivian market vendors sit on while they spread their produce on blankets on the ground.

I want my furniture to be primitive, made from solid wood only.  It should be sturdy, an heirloom piece that stays in the family for a lifetime or longer, so that it holds an emotional weight.  It's a repository of memories.

The furniture should be unfinished, or at most rubbed with oil or beeswax.  It should not be stained or varnished or painted.  The edges should be rounded, sanded soft, so that your hand feels the wood's smooth texture.  Then as spills, scratches, or stains accumulate, you embrace the history that will be recorded on the surface.

This little bench will be part of my life for years to come.   I would like to make many more benches like it for people like you.

adobe hut

This picture was taken...a while ago.  We were hiking down from the top of the mountain above our house in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and came across this hut at the side of the road.

I don't remember the dog that got himself into this photograph, but I do remember being enchanted by this little house, built from whatever was at hand, including what are probably eucalyptus poles, as they grow a little further down the mountain.

At the top of the mountain, the grass is bristly yellow against a deep blue sky.  To me, these are the colors of the Andes.

december actions

So I'm applying for apprenticeships for next summer at Heartwood, EcoNest, and through the Timber Framer's Guild.  I'm very excited some days and scared other days but I am not letting myself give up, or change course.  Just keep moving ahead.

I ordered some good boots.

Miwa, a former apprentice from Heartwood, was very helpful in giving me advice about applying for apprenticeships.  She's building a tiny home!  Miwa works with Maria of Hammerstone School, near Ithaca.  Maria teaches Carpentry for Women, and I plan to go up to take a course.

I spent time with some timber framers at the New Jersey Barn Company, and asked them a ton of questions, and they showed me their tools and gave me tool shopping advice.

I signed up for a tool sharpening class in Philadelphia.

I'll be back in Virginia in April for the next Timber Framer's Guild workshop there.

And I'm doing exercises to strengthen my core.

I'm excited!

Now I have to go grade quizzes and tests and try to focus on that for a bit.  When I finish maybe I'll go down to the basement to keep working on my table again.

Thanks for reading!  I'll keep you updated on my progress.

progress report: in motion!

i'm glancing around my living room at furniture i made before I knew much of anything about woodworking.  it's all beautiful and functional!  it's all made from scraps of wood i found here & there.

the table i'm making now has joinery inspired by timber framing.  just very simple mortises and tenons, plus maybe a couple of dovetails to support cross pieces that support the table top.

i've been paralyzed for months on this table because i spent about $100 on the wood and another $160 on a vise.  so this table has to be perfect!  or awesome, or a showcase of my skill, or something.  which doesn't help one to actually get moving on a project.

but anyway my new system is just to put in hours and see what happens.  by just putting myself in my space (in the basement), things are happening.  this afternoon, i plan to clock in and do at least 2 more hours.  i don't have the ideal tools, but i can make do with the ones i have.  so far:  2 tenons, 1 mortise complete.

i've started.  i'm not scared of making a mistake on my beautiful 4x4 cedar leg posts.  I just went for it.  and the joinery works.  i did a test fit and it works.  the pieces even meet at almost a 90 degree angle!

creating

My goal is to consume less and create more.  Specifically, less "research" and "inspiration" time spent on tumblr, blogs, and pinterest.  More time working on actual projects I already have in the works.  Here is a drawing of a table/work bench I'm making right now.

(The quality of my photographs is a subject for another post.  As you may guess it hasn't been a priority, but I'd like to return to posting with really beautiful photographs.)

Creating Beauty

"Whenever you are creating beauty around you, you are restoring your own soul."
--Alice Walker

That sentence captures what drives me when I make things.  Whether sewing clothes or building furniture, I am creating in a way that heals me.

One challenge that I face is that beauty is so easy to find online.  There are so many pictures.  I get a big hit of euphoria when I overload myself with beauty, as is easy to do.  You can see one of my picture collections here.

Beauty is also easy to find if you want to just shop for it.

But if you want to be a maker of beautiful things, you will have to adjust to a slower pace.   Rather than scrolling or clicking, you must go slowly and patiently, and wait days or weeks for your creation, which will not be perfect, to be completed.  It's a real thing though.  And it's all yours.

So I'm wondering if I should take a break from all the pretty pictures I love to look at online.  It's too much!  And it satisfies me before I even lift a finger to make the things i want to make.

timber framing

Last weekend I did three days of timber framing at a workshop in Virginia.  I took the workshop at Heartwood Building School in Massachusetts last summer.  This workshop helped to refresh my memory of all the terms (arris, slick) and techniques I learned there, plus more.  

I like the purity of timber framing.  Using only a chisel, mallet, and pegs, you can turn timbers into the framework of a home.  Of course, you can incorporate lots of power tools too, such as a chain mortiser, which cuts down on time a lot.  Or planers to smooth the timbers so they look less rough than the one in the picture above.

There were maybe 20 or 30 others working on the frame, a mix of experienced and recreational timber framers, and a few people who were completely new to it, but had carpentry experience.  There was plenty of guidance, and a laid back, friendly atmosphere.

This is what we built:

It's called a woodshed, but it could serve other purposes too.  It will be auctioned off to benefit a program that prevents violence in families.

On a project like this, you work on pieces, and at the end, we put all the pieces together.  My own contribution felt small but it's there.

comfortable clothing and related thoughts

As summer was winding down, I finally got to make some tank tops I've been wanting to make for a while.  I used this pattern and made six.  It was such a great experience!  

I have a hard time finding clothes because when I go to the mall I tend to settle.  Things that are on sale aren't necessarily what I like best.  At thrift stores selection is unreliable at best.  However older things are often made better than what's available now.  Compare vintage L. L. Bean to the stuff made in China they currently sell.  You know, sweatshops are bad vibes as well as low quality.

So I struggle to put together a wardrobe that feels right for me, that looks like me.

Making these tanks feels like a breakthrough.  I have a pattern I've customized slightly, that I could repeat.  I can get one done in a day.  I have fabric for 2 more in the pipeline.

Having clothing that fits right and is of high quality makes you feel different.  Growing up I didn't often have those types of clothes.  I often felt uncomfortable in my clothes, and now, looking at people who appear to feel comfortable in their clothes, I wonder if that affected me.  

Those clothes made me feel that life was inherently uncomfortable.  

That's something I would like to change.  Starting with these 6 tanks.  And hopefully expanding to other items, whether purchased or made, new or used. 

I want to feel comfortable and well-equipped for my life.  

what i've learned--kitchens

Not my kitchen; from here

I've moved a lot.  I can look back and remember a lot of places, and what they felt like.  In my search for home, I'm looking for a place that reminds me of the best aspects of each place I've lived.

My tumblr page has a lot of images tagged kitchen.

We like to cook as a team so it's important to me that a kitchen functions smoothly with 2 or more people helping.  This is what I've learned so far about kitchens:

1.  Our current kitchen and the past 6 kitchens were laid out with the sink, stove, and refrigerator in a line.  In my opinion the best layout is a u shape that isn'
t too big or too small.

2.  There should be ample space between each work station:  washing dishes, prepping/chopping, and standing at the stove.  Our current kitchen has about 12 inches between the stove and the sink, so it's hard to wash dishes if someone is at the counter chopping vegetables.  I've read that 24 inches is ideal.

3.  There should be a suitable place to set things that you take out of the fridge.  The best arrangement we've had for this was a tiny kitchen with an extra small fridge.  It worked because you could sit at a chair (at the table) 2 feet from the fridge, and unload what you wanted onto the table, and then start chopping/prepping on the table.  The other person still had easy access to the stove and sink.  It's amazing that that tiny kitchen functioned so much better than the larger kitchens we've had since.

(That kitchen was also laid out in a line, but because the tiny table & 2 chairs were on the opposite wall, it formed something of a triangle.)

4.  Natural light is best.  Our current kitchen is quite fancy, with granite countertops and classy dark wood cabinets, but it has only 2 windows, one to the outdoors and the other facing a carport with limited light.  The dark cabinets seem to block a lot of light, particularly when cabinet doors are open.  I'd far rather sacrifice some storage and have more natural light, which is so much brighter than the overhead lighting.  It's really hard to see what I'm cooking, even with the over the range light on.

5.  Open shelves.  This works best if you regularly use everything that is displayed on the open shelves.  Otherwise, they do get dusty.  In our last place, we removed the cabinet doors from the upper cabinets and left the lower ones on.  (I'd love to do this here, but the cabinets are fancier and from my 1 day experience as a cabinet installer, I know this type would be very tedious to re-install.)

Open shelves means you can skip the step of opening a cabinet and directly reach for the bowl or mug you need.  Your plates, mugs, and collection of mason jars and spice bottles is rather appealing to look at.  You can keep the less beautiful things in the closed cabinets.

If you've ever bumped yourself in the face opening a cabinet too swiftly, you'd probably appreciate open shelves.

6.  Regarding counter height, I would like to copy the following snippet I found in a book recently:  "In rethinking the philosophy of the kitchen, I realized the need for a new approach to counterspaces in terms of height and materials.  First, there should be a stainless steel or granite cooktop that is impervious to food acids and can handle very hot pans;  then, two different heights for food preparation and chopping, made both of hard end or flat grain wood such as maple, cherry, or oak.  A water repellent teak or stainless steel surface that slopes surrounds the sink.  The sink itself should be at the highest level to make working in the basin (generally 8 - 10 inches deeper) comfortable.  The chopping block is then about two inches lower.  Finally, think about installing another counter six inches below that--or slightly higher than a table for such appliances as a Cuisinart, juicer, or coffee maker, that can double as a food prep area for children."  --Johnny Grey, custom kitchen designer

I'm already of the mind of having eclectic furnishings in the kitchen rather than a matching set of cabinets, and this suggestion works well with that.

7.  Eat in kitchen is desirable!  Even in my tiniest kitchens I've managed to squeeze in a small table which I've always used rather than a larger table in the living area (it ends up being the work/project table.).  In my dream kitchen I'd build in a booth next to a window.

8.  Access to the outdoors, preferably via a patio or deck.  I like to step outside and pick some herbs.  If the outdoors is visible and directly accesible, you're more likely to take breakfast or a cup of coffee outside.  If you have to step through 3 doors and a gate, it's easier to stay in.  The outdoor eating area would ideally be shady in summer and sunny in fall and spring.  You can get this with a removable canvas awning or a pergola with a vine (grapes, wisteria) that loses it's leaves in the winter.

9.  I like to hang pots & lids on the wall.  I also hung the biggest bowl and a colander over the sink where they can drip dry.  These items are harder to store in cabinets and they're easily accessible this way.

10.  Pantries and cabinets should have shallow shelves so items are not stacked in front of other items.  This way you won't lose track of what you have, and you don't have to move something to get something.  Also, if you're not using something, you can think about getting rid of it since you'll see it all the time.

11.  You can place a viney plant in the corner of the kitchen farthest from a window, and it will grow toward the light.  Place a few hooks in the wall to support it.

12.  I wash plastic bags and then hang them to dry using clips that stick to the fridge.  Then I have a storage system for the bags (a smaller card board box for regular bags and a clothespin for ziplocs) so that I can reuse.

13.  Compost.  If you compost, you can keep quart sized yogurt containers with lids on a counter.  Once they're full, place them in the fridge or empty them into the compost.  When we lived in an apartment and didn't have our own compost, we'd wait until we had 6 or more yogurt containers and then made a trip to the compost pile.

14.  Keep a stack of dishtowels (ones you like) for using as a napkin, drying rack, or to pile washed greens and veggies on.

15.  I have a cabinet dedicated to coffee and another for baking.

16.  Make a little cubby for a kitty to keep you company while you cook.

17.  Have a place for recycling.

This is my very personalized summary of kitchen design notes.  I may come back and add more if I think of it.  Otherwise I'll move on with my weird and wacky ideas about bedrooms and bathrooms.

making

we live in a house.  there are trees in the back yard.  the trees drop twigs, which we collect.  a flame catches on the wood.  this is fire.

flour, water, salt, and oil makes a dough.  the dough is cooked over the embers of a fire, and turned.  we add tomato sauce, pesto, cheese, and wait.  this is pizza.

i print a pattern and cut and glue the paper into shapes.  i pin the pattern to cloth.  scissors cut the cloth.  i will press it and sew it with a needle and thread.  this is a shirt.

life offers us objects.  certain tools cut materials.  other materials join them together.  being humans, we like to make things, so we learn the skills, and make things for ourselves.  this is my life.

thoughts on virtue

Photo taken at Botanical Gardens in Asheville, NC

When facing life's pain, I feel a need to commit to a belief system that grounds me.  I guess this is what religions provide many people.  I've found that my beliefs have come to me as I reflected on my experiences and sought goodness and clarity through much of the chaotic struggle of life.

There definitely were times that my personal philosophies were wayyy off.  But forming them and expressing them to myself and then realizing how flawed they were helped me to eventually discard them with conviction, and then replace them with more appropriate beliefs.  Here's an example.  It felt like I was called to be a strong, self-sacrificing woman.  I could tell (I thought) that I was stronger than those around me, so I decided I'd follow Christ's example in taking in all the evils and darkness in the world and giving forth love.  In my friendships I focused on being there for others, but felt uncomfortable leaning on them.  After spending time with others, I could only relax and care for myself when alone.  I kept my deepest joys private.

Then came marriage.  Living with someone meant that my fundamentally unsustainable approach to relationships (giving too much, not really knowing how to take care of myself when others were around) eventually had to fall apart.  This wasn't a pretty process, but I am grateful for it.  I'm glad that I have had to struggle through the discomfort of asking for things I needed.  Instead of keeping my interests and desires secret, I've brought them into the open and gained freedom and joy.

Because I can recall forming the idea of being a self-sacrificing Christ-like hero, I was able to see and reject that behavior.  I identified it as self-neglect, which fostered resentment and frustration about the fact that my life wasn't going the way I wanted it to.

...

Here's another belief I've held for some time.  We could call it "Virtue is its own reward."  Not in the smug, self-congratulatory sense.  To me this means that there is no external reward for 'good' actions.  Good actions benefit you and are good because they are beneficial.  Bad actions are those which do harm to ourselves or others (usually ourselves and others).  Calling things "good" and "bad" isn't really necessary but it is a common shorthand.  Is it morally wrong to leave garbage on the beach?  Is it wrong to constantly think self-critical thoughts?  Why worry about whether it's wrong?  These are not healthy choices.  

Believing this helps me because it's not fear of punishment that directs me to make 'good' choices.  It's knowing that good/healthy choices are better for me and for other people in my life.

This also helps me to deal with encounters with people who are unkind or insensitive.  Rather than seething over their inconsideration, and becoming cynical that there is no justice, I believe that justice is always at hand, and the person who acts unkindly is hurting themself as well as me.  Of course it may be their own pain that causes them to lash out as well.  But to respond with nastiness towards others only deepens the pain and the separation from fellow-humans.

On a good day, I can hold on to this and remain grounded even when bad things happen, when people are selfish, or refuse to respond reasonably to polite requests.

On a bad day, I feel separate from others, lonely in my misery, and am probably just as 'bad' as anyone else, kicking a flower out of unhappiness and the need to spread my pain.  Not a good approach, and it feels bad, too.

A married man who has a habit of flirting with other women is hurting his wife's feelings.  She has a right to be angry.  At the same time, this man is hurting himself.  He is weakening his relationship with the person who could be his strongest ally.  Why would he do this do himself?  There is probably a reason why.  Dig a little deeper and understand that these behaviors have roots and histories.  It doesn't excuse the behavior, but it helps to have a different perspective.  Otherwise it just looks like there is a jerk who hurts his wife and gets away with it, and she just has to put up with it.

...

I travelled to Asheville, North Carolina for five days last week.  Mountains, music, and art, with a lot of creative and spiritually minded people.

Hiking off the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville

values and other thoughts

It looks like I blog about once a month.  Let me write something here before May ends.  Below you see my little friend Wendell who is taking a look at some tests I graded as the semester wound to an end.

Wendell loves to climb into the middle of whatever I'm doing.  I'm sure your cats like to do the same thing.  

One of my themes this month has been searching for what my values are.

Maya Angelou said courage was the most important virtue, because without it you couldn't practice any of the other virtues.  I saw a quote recently attributed to Martin Luther King Jr. that said something like "Without justice there can be no peace."  I wonder as I work my way through this year what my values are, what my religion is.  A bumper sticker I spotted once said "My religion is kindness" which resonates also.  I've always felt truth to be one I placed a high value on.

Simplicity and plain living continues to resonate as one of my values.  I feel happiest when my day consists of simple chores such as washing dishes, making bread, doing laundry, sweeping the floor.  When my life is orderly, most tasks feel simple.  I can be focused and do one thing at a time.  

I just finished reading "Daybook" by Anne Truitt.  It inspired me to write more thoughtful journal entries of honest reflection.  Her journal entries are so enriching.  It is truly amazing what you can discover by simply writing down your thoughts.  In my head, I go in circles, but on paper, I can end up making a few steps forward.

I continue to do research about home design principles.  My most valued text is "A Pattern Language" by Christopher Alexander.  I began a project where I sketch out floor plans of all the homes I've lived in, and recall what was effective, what was awkward, what was cozy and immediately drew you in.  While buying a home and fixing it up is appealing, there is something about designing a home that I desire intensely.  It is one of my life's goals.  

Researching how homes work, finding out how furniture can or should be put together, how materials work, how humans feel when they interact with spaces and objects...all this fascinates me.  

Oh and I want to design my own clothing as well.  Perhaps I am a maker and designer first of all.

And I struggle with the fact that I am good at teaching math, but it seems to matter very little.  I try to have some fun with it, as much as I can.  But now that the semester is over, I am taking a hiatus from human interaction and trying to spend as much quiet time in nature as possible.

what is wrong with this picture?

I have this rant I've been holding in.  About stuff that seems to be considered normal, but doesn't make any sense.  I saw this cartoon in the New Yorker that shows I'm not the only one thinking about it, which is a relief.

Corporations are certainly willing to bulldoze any pristine wilderness in order to create profits.  Environmentalists protest and are told that stopping the project will make a lot of workers unhappy--they need the jobs!

But all these companies are outsourcing jobs overseas, and lobbying lawmakers to pass more free trade agreements, so that fewer and fewer satisfying jobs remain.  The reason they do it is profitability, and an obligation to shareholders.  And who are the shareholders?  Well, anyone with a regular retirement fund, right?  So basically some wholesome middle aged person approaching retirement has a stock portfolio.  So the person's retirement fund needs to grow, but meanwhile, that person’s kids probably won’t be able to find meaningful work.

Am I missing something? 

I do not want any part in wall street and its sins towards the people and the earth.  so how can I prepare for retirement?  I’d like to own a home mortgage free—so I don’t make banks rich while paying off the house.  not sure if either one of these are possible, but maybe owning a home debt free is a way to care for myself in my old age.  or part of it. 

Modern life is such a trap and I’m trying to escape all the things that people take for granted as inevitable parts of the American dream:

1) college debt/loans

2) expensive wedding

3) mortgage

4) corporate job

5) retirement portfolio

I keep feeling pressured to capitulate, to join everyone, to not be such a weirdo and just be happier.  Of course I want to own a home, and to have a secure old age, not to mention to be able to buy clothes without agonizing over lives ruined in a factory in China to make my cheap t-shirts.

I read a profile of a Quaker, John Woolman, who seemed to agonize with many of the same dilemmas back in the 1700's.  In addition to being an early abolitionist, he was thoughtful how he ate, dressed, and worked, and how this impacted others.

The little I've read about him inspires me to stay weird and true to my vision of simple living in a way that is worthwhile.  

walking invisibly

"I now feel under-equipped if I walk out of my apartment without my mobile phone, but I used to travel across the world with almost no contact with the people who loved me, and there was a dizzying freedom, a cool draught of solitude, in that. We were not so monitored, because no one read our letters the way they read our emails to sell us stuff, as Gmail does, or track our communications as the NSA does. We are moving into a world of unaccountable and secretive corporations that manage all our communications and work hand in hand with governments to make us visible to them. Our privacy is being strip-mined and hoarded."


-Rebecca Solnit
From this article.

I like the feeling of walking, paying cash, and reading a book or having a conversation.  All of these are activities that aren't monitored by corporations. 

The feeling of doing something real is different than the feeling of doing something online that others will be able to monitor.  You feel real to yourself, absent any witnesses. At times it seems important to blog about or post the important events of our life.  That posting makes them more real.  But there is a realness that the internet can't bestow on our life.

This past weekend our internet was out for 2 days.  Weirdly and inexplicably, we had access to youtube, and nothing else.  No one was able to explain this.  Now it is fixed.  It helps to be able to look things up.  But not having internet is a wake up call:  my life can be real without the internet connection.

why does furniture matter?

At first glance, my obsession with interior design photos seems superficial.  I have a degree in mathematics--supposedly pure truth distilled down to its essentials.  Why is a math major scrolling through photos of people's living spaces and saving them to a blog?

Beautiful objects make me happy.  And I've learned to pay attention to the joy that springs up in the center of my chest.  

I took this photo while driving home in the snow yesterday.  This is the most lovely part of my drive.

But do things matter?  And why?

A handmade object made from wood tells a story of a craftsperson working with earth's materials and creating an object that has a place in a life of a human.

"The solace of physical objects"--this phrase jumped into my head one day.  When you have a real thing in front of you, it is evidence of the history of the object.  The object is made of materials, and it has a history.

What is it made of?  Who made it?  How was it made?  Even if specific facts are not remembered, the physical object tells the story somehow.  That's comforting to me.

When an object is made of a simple natural material such as wood, it tells of a connection to nature.

When an object is made by human hands, it speaks of time and attention, of skill and care, which is basically--love.

When you live every day interacting with something made of nature, and of love, your life is enriched.  It seeps into you without you even realizing it.

p.s. these wool socks that I bought for Adam are exactly what I'm talking about too.  100% organic wool, from Austria.  The only socks I could find that were all wool.  I live for finding these high quality objects.  oh yeah, handmade shoes too, and mine were made with undyed leather.

bench part II

My little bench is finished.  It is now functioning sweetly as a nightstand.

While this project was rather tiny and extremely simple, it was rich with learning experiences.

1.  I designed this bench by starting with a single board I must have picked up some time ago.  The board has functioned as a shelf for us (with the help of a couple of brackets).  After considering a 1:2 ratio (favored by some designers) and the golden ratio (closer to a 1:1.6 ratio), I made this bench with width:height and height:length ratios closer to 1.4.  I'm pleased with how it looks.

2.  Some Japanese woodworkers chose to leave their wood unfinished.  I have found that some pieces I've made have begun to age nicely with no finish at all.  This approach is better for pieces that won't come in contact with food or water.  Over many years, as a piece is handled and used, it develops a unique patina.  Only a long-term commitment to a piece of furniture will yield this look--unless you buy a pre-aged piece at an antique shop.  I have grown fond of the idea of keeping a piece for life, and then passing it along.  The rich patina would be accompanied by many memories associated with that piece of furniture.

(Perhaps a future post would describe some pieces of furniture from our home in Bolivia that live on in my mind and perhaps still influence me to this day.)

3.  Angling the legs outward (forming a 95 rather than 90 degree angle with the top) proved to make this project much trickier.  I had cut the pieces before I had finalized the design, and my cuts were made at 90 degrees.  I used a block plane and chisel to angle the top and bottom of the legs so the bench would rest correctly on the floor and meet the top snugly also.

With a power circular saw, it would be simple to set the angle precise and re-make the cut.  Having handicapped myself by getting rid of my power saws, I learned how best to correct my error with hand tools.

4.  I cut the pieces in order to be able to play with the design by physically positioning the pieces and seeing how I felt about different arrangements.  Having the design finalized before making the first cut seems very challenging to me.  However, in time, I hope to come up with a standard design that can be repeated.



5.  Cutting the notches first with the saw and then chiseling them out worked very well.  I have now prioritized having a sharpening system for my chisels.

6.  I don't know how I would feel if I made many multiples of the same piece.  Part of me thinks I would find the repetitiveness relaxing.

7.  It is important to me to make sure the piece feels good to the touch as well as looking nice.  I sanded every piece so there are no rough edges.

8. The joint above is imperfect!  Ah, imperfection.

9.  I chose to use glue and nails rather than screws.  I wanted this piece to be solid and I don't see a need to take it apart.  I have used screws with larger pieces and it's been convenient to dis-assemble a large table for moving.  However, the stability suffers.

two woodworking videos

I finished my bench today!  I'll post with pictures later.  Today I have a beautiful video to share.  As you watch it, image you are smelling the wood shavings.



The Wood Turner from Elliott Forge on Vimeo.

 I also really relate to this guy: