Blog Posts by Jim Tolpin
Board Foot “Calculator”
Old-school method for calculating linear ratios such as board footage. This particular example is from "Deane's Doctrine of Naval Architecture" published in 1670. See the store page to…
East Meets West (Or Vice Versa)
We are often asked if the traditional western practice of designing objects (such as furniture) to whole number harmonic ratios could have also been the case in the…
Cracking the Coffer Code
English oak chest; 16th century. Image from Wiki Commons, public domain. For George Walker and me what is truly fascinating about these early chests is that they…
The Graphic Rule
This excerpt from our latest book, “From Truths to Tools” speaks to a rather esoteric, but highly useful, rule for use with scaled drawings: …
The Hidden Hexagon
You can download a PDF of this blog post here: Hidden Hexagon
Solving Spans with Sticks, Strings, Sightlines and Stones
In this excerpt from our latest book, “From Truths to Tools”, we show how the carpenter’s of antiquity used the simplest of tools--those mentioned with…
The Hand, the Hound, or the Truth?
George and I often get asked which book should be read first and we don't have a quick answer. Since our research has been a long-time quest, we…
Our New Book is (almost) Here!
You can now order a pre-publication copy of “From Truths to Tools” in the Lost Art Press store. The book will ship in early or mid-November 2017. The…
From Truths to Tools
Here we are outside the local print/scan shop where our illustrator, Andrea Love, poses with her art work for the cover of our new book. According to the…
Sector Madness!
From top to bottom: The first sector I made to demonstrate whole-number divisions; my three-scale paper version; a solid wood and brass sector by burn-Heart I first…
