blue burl pens with chrome twist mechanism

More high quality hand made pens these are made with an exotic burl with blue highlights and chrome accents. A replaceable Parker style refill gives a smooth and distinct writing experience.

A new line of pens I call the "Panda" pen.

These pens are my own unique creation and are made from solid ebony and holly and finely polished with a very durable finish.

Comes in click and twist styles that use a Cross style of refill and meant to give many years of quality use.

Little known plane makes all the difference.

What is this little tool that makes the life of the woodworker a little happier? First of all what's the problem you have to solve. Tough, narley (sorry but that's the only word for)wood that refuses to be planed. Included in woods that are hard to deal with I have to included other materials like plywood, hardboard and even plastics. Yes, in my work life of over 50 years, I've made and installed and repaired lots of cabinets , furniture and worked on houses to the point that when it comes to getting the job done and you only have hand tools to do it with you will do anything to get it done. I must admit that at one time I might have hauled out the belt sander or power plane for the tough jobs but I learned over the years that for speed and control a hand plane works best for me.(Quieter too).

Ok end of mystery it's a little maple shop made toothing plane that I made in a 70 degree angle to the work and like a miracle of woodworking this plane slices thru the toughest of wood or whatever and leaves a slightly grooved surface that  is easily  scraped, planed or sanded smooth. I originally made this plane for veneer work where you surface the substrate with low , small grooves to give "tooth" to your glue surface.

If you want to expand your hand tool experience there is two little known planes that make all the difference, the fore plane is one and the toothing plane is the other. You can buy one from Lie Nielsen for a couple hundred or like me you can just make one. Until I had a plane I always used a scraper for toothing and this is a good option. Just take a plane iron and groove the back for whatever pattern suits you. Scrapers aren't thick enough to use for this purpose. I sometimes use the scraper but I like the accuracy of the plane for things like edges.

Maple toothing plane

I used a spare block plane iron and grooved with my Foredom carver and a metal cutting disk.

Mirror in mahogany with carved pediment

Here is a project to make a mirror with carved details to be hung over a fireplace. I designed this one adapting a victorian look to an arched pediment with carved swansneck and a hibiscus center detail.
I start with full size templates and make the 5/4 bottom part of the frame out of 5 pieces and try to keep the grain running generally with the outsides.
The top of the frame is made from 12/4 mahogany but could be layered and glued up out of 5/4 lumber

Shaping the pediment and frame is where templates can come in handy because I can route each layer to the template.
After completing the frame that is adjacent to the mirror I begin carving the swansnecks.

This is the really fun part.
Closeup of top detail
Finish is french polish
I had a beveled mirror made for the frame
.Sadly this poor quality photo in the shop is the only final photo I have.


Let me know if you're interested in patterns and of course I am always ready to take on unique designs

A day in the life of a woodworker

This is one of the Freeman Woodworking projects and is a good example of the hand tools in use. The bowsaw shown here was made in my studio and was the copy of an antique.
I made two of these tables from 16/4 bird'seye maple.
These tables are very simple in design using only
three pieces of rock maple 2 1/2 inches thick.
Although simple in design they were anything but
easy to execute because you only get one chance to fit dovetails and of course a filler was unacceptable in the craftsman's eye.