In search of the mythical Western Red Pine continued yesterday with an excursion down south to the Manti La Sal National Forest to find the tree that everyone but me today seems to think is a myth. Well that is not quite true all of the authorities that I have talked to as well as [...]
In my book, I’m just a simple collector; my wife says that I’m a pack rat. I think her words are really unkind. A pack rat keeps everything that comes his or her way, no matter the condition of the item, or if he or she could ever even begin to find a use for [...]
After much prayer, planning, and hard work, the van Vegten Family and the woodworking shop of Gathering Wood have moved from Southern California to the lovely Bluegrass region of Central Kentucky.
Well situated in Scott County, between Louisville, Lexington, Frankfort, Georgetown, and Cincinnati, Gathering Wood makes its home at 701 NE County Line Road in Sadieville, [...]
Solid wood furniture, guest blogger Erik Braunitzer of Harden Furniture writes, “we have made it through some of the worst of the current economic decline and downtime, and he would like to take a moment to discuss with the readers of the CustomMade blog why the industry continues to thrive.”
A house isn’t [...]
CustomMade’s galleries are full of photographs and detailed descriptions of beautiful works by our artisans. Every item comes with “the story behind the piece,” a brief discussion by the artisan of the inspiration, materials, and methods involved in the work. Recently, this Hand-Carved Rosewood Inlaid Chair by Mark Gallivan of Gallivan’s Art Furniture caught our [...]
Or pine sap or tree squeezings, it is the sticky stuff that exudes from the conifers Pinus spp. I have a quantity of pine pitch so I am doing some experiments.
First of all, it is soluble in alcohol, almost completely, so it can be made into a spirit varnish. It is also soluble in spirits [...]
Reader Bill Roberts sent in this workbench and storage cabinet for working with stained glass.
As guitar music styles evolve, so do guitar-making methods. Player preferences become more specific as time goes by and therefore continue to span a much wider range. Whether you prefer the wide neck, nylon strings, and warm finish of an acoustic classical guitar, or the solid body, powerful sound, and sleek contours of an electric [...]
Well, I do. Just bought a pound of steel hobnails about 220 count per pound, 3/8” square and 5/8” long. I had some of these years ago, but my source dried up until today. I have two pair of Jefferson Booties and a pair of boots that need heel protection. My other shoes and boots [...]