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'Power to the planes!'
We are a hand-woodworking family (my dad taught woodshop and partner's dad made wood forms for GM in the 1950s). We support all forms of woodful anarchy! Power to the planes!
– Julia D.
'Insightful'
Your writing is funny and insightful and critical and subversive, but in a good-natured way.
– Ben H.
'Useful'
As a professional furniture maker and
sometimes-teacher, I'm enjoying what I've read so far. We mostly do very different work, but your insights are useful to me ... and I'm keen to try that milk paint!
– Christopher S.
Big Woodworking Fun with ‘Smalls’
Our new pocketbook, “Smalls: 18 Well-designed, Easy Projects for an Afternoon in the Workshop,” is in the hands of Kara Gebhart Uhl for a copy edit. I’ll get it back from her next week, make the final changes, then upload it to the printer. After that, it’s usually ...
Mind Upon Mind: Stick Stop
I call this my “stick stop.” The spacing dimensions can be arbitrarily set for sticks of different diameters. The slots hold one end of the stick. On short sticks, the other end is usually held in your off hand. Long sticks work best pressed against your abdomen. As I am 79, I like to sit on a tall ...
Mind Upon Mind: An Upgraded Doe’s Foot
A mistake led to a usability upgrade on my doe’s foot. The angle between the “toes” is still a perfect 90°, but they’re rotated with respect to the long edges of the board. One is 40°ish, so the other is (math!) 50°ish. This allows one to set up with the ...
LAP Open Wire, April 18, 2026
Comments are now closed – thanks to everyone who joined us today, and those reading later. Join us again on June 20! Got a woodworking question, a query about dog holes (which Kale is drilling above, for their new tail vise) or are curious ...
Slow Cooker
I’ve been at home this week (and possibly will be next) staring on and off at my not-yet-finished kitchen – on which I cannot currently work – every time I go to refresh my ice pack and drink more fluids. (I’m recovering from minor but uncomfortable surgery, and am under doctor’s ...
Chairpanzee Analog Computer
Chairmaking is complex enough without having to worry about the trigonometry used to calculate the drilling and sighting angles for a chair’s legs and spindles.
The Chairpanzee does all the math for you with its simple, no-math-needed interface. Simply slide the tool’s interior card so the splay you desire appears in its top window. Choose the rake you wish in the window below. The Chairpanzee calculates the sighting angle. Flip the Chairpanzee over, and you’ll see the drilling angle (called the “resultant”) displayed.
The Chairpanzee is ideal for anyone who works with compound angles for chairs, stools and tables. With the Chairpanzee, you can:
- Use photos of antique pieces to calculate the sightline and resultant angles so you can copy a classic piece, or merely swipe the angles for your own interpretation.
- Use construction drawings or models (we make models with wire clothes hangers for the legs) to design entirely new pieces of furniture and easily figure out how to drill the compound mortises.
- Learn the relationship between rake and splay at a deeper level than plugging numbers into an equation. The Chairpanzee shows you how small changes in rake and splay cascade through a design. Sometimes small changes make little difference. Sometimes they make huge differences.
The Chairpanzee was developed by Ed Sutton at FirstLightWorks in the U.K. and is printed and assembled in the U.S. The Chairpanzee is compact (4” x 9-1/4”) and durable – it’s printed on .024” board stock with a tough gloss coating. The exterior is glued and secured with metal eyelets.
Instructions for using the Chairpanzee are printed on both faces of the tool, so you’ll never lose the instruction manual. The following video shows the tool in use.