Blog Posts by Jim Tolpin
Height by Hand and Eye
An astute follower on Instagram mentioned that an old-school forester could easily get the height of a tree using only a stick the length of his arm.…
If a Tree Falls in the Woods…
...does it make a difference? Where it lands that is. If it does, you likely want to know how far it will fall in order to move…
Biblical Furniture Plan
“They shall construct an ark of acacia wood two and a half cubits long, and one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits…
Table Height Revelation!
I've found that a lot of furniture proportions can be derived directly off the body, and most often can have a handspan as the common factor/module. For example,…
More Thales
Say you have a bunch of logs that you want to turn into beams...big beams...beams so big that you basically want to turn the round log into the…
Thales Theorem Proof
Thales of Miletus In one of the recent posts we showed you how to get a right angle out of a circle, thanks to this guy. A…
Be There AND Be Square!
The following sequence of steps show how to use simple geometry to create a right angle along the edge of a board--demonstrating that you don't need a square…
Let’s Get This Straight
Here’s how I go about selecting and conditioning wood for a wooden straight edge that will best maintain its accuracy over a period of time: To begin with…
A Hatchet Job
Straight edge hatchet job from Jim Tolpin on Vimeo. Working without a bandsaw (or any other power tool) I've been forced to get up to speed with my…
That Snappy Sector Redux
A while back I noticed that a number of architect/builder’s sectors shown in manuscripts from the Renaissance era had the segmentation laid out along a diagonal line rather…
