Down there, I create Windsor furniture, by hand, in precisely the same manner that New England chairmakers did around the time of the American Revolution. While we tend to congratulate ourselves on the march of progress being led by technology, I d like to suggest that change isn t always improvement. In my hands, thanks to a heap of training from a master chairmaker in New Hampshire, antique tools release wondrous features. Seats have deep, comfortable saddles.
Spindles grow sinuous bulbs in the middle.
By contrast, modern tools are overpowering. They are like using a sledgehammer to drive a wood screw. That s true even of modern reproductions of the tools I use. For instance, an old-fashioned drawknife is a large blade with two wooden handles that is pulled toward the user to rough out spindles or round seat edges. In skilled hands, it can quickly shape wood in small increments.