Blog Posts by George Walker
The Seven Secrets of Cottage
A book only needs two things to get written. It begins with questions. Maybe it’s just one big question like “How did our ancestors solve all those design…
Step away from the tape measure
Proportions do all the real work, numbers on a tape measure are secondary. Inches or centimeters tell us nothing about why a design works. No more than if…
New Design Video Available
We’re pleased to announce the release of a new design video, “By Hand and Eye by Design - Designing a Worktable”. This video is a walk through of…
New design video coming soon!
Jim and I are putting the final touches on a design video titled " By Hand and Eye by Design. It's an over the shoulder look at the…
Pinch Sticks Plus
We nearly always use pinch sticks to record and transfer the distance between two points--in this case the span between the jambs of a door frame. It occurred…
By Hand and Eye Workshop
Every woodworker I know wants to get better at design. Yet it’s hard to carve out time to devote to it. Perhaps it’s because most of us…
Good Bones
Scratch beneath the surface of any great design and there’s always something simple and profound. This fact is not lost on ages past. Even when fashions called for…
Gateway to the Gateway
Design is a step into the unknown. It’s much different (and safer) to stick with things like learning to cut precise dovetails or learning to sharpen a blade.…
Abracadabra – make your own water
It's not quite as magical as making your own water but it's pretty close. Our latest book "From Truth to Tools" explores how artisan geometry was the flame that…
Working to Plans… or not.
A wise woman once said, "Plans take all the fun out and make it seem like work". Eight years ago I stopped using plans. My idea was to…
