I had seen a couple of videos from
Logan Cabinet Shoppe on making
try squares and
marking gauges. Having more time than money, the idea of making some of the tools I would need really appealed to me. In my dive down this rabbit hole, I stumbled across a mention of Jim Tolpin on a forum discussion about making certain tools from scratch. He had recently written a book called
The New Traditional Woodworker: From Tool Set to Skill Set to Mind Set. The poster in the forum mentioned that, with Jim's book, the reader could make several useful shop tools from scratch. That really lit my fire and I immediately set about finding the book. With book in hand, one of the first things I noticed was a quote on the back that read: "Working wood. Not machining it. If you're more interested in working with wood rather than machining it, you will be relieved to learn that expensive powered machinery isn't required to build furniture. You can also forget the dust masks, face shields, and hearing protection since many of the safety concerns related to woodworking--the use of power tools--are eliminated." I was pretty sure this was my guy. As the title suggests, the opening portion of the book is an introduction to woodworking hand tools with suggestions about which ones you might need as well as a discussion about shop set up. The second portion is a series of exercises. As the student completes each exercise, they are left with an additional shop tool. The third part of the author's stated goal is accomplished so slyly that one might not even notice it. Jim's instructions for each exercise introduce the student to habits such as "tool slaving" and the use of tick sticks. Without even realizing, the student begins to adopt a set of habits that radically reduce errors and reliance on abstract numerical measurement. I can honestly say that this book is one of the only books that I have read cover to cover in many years. More on the book in a bit.
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The Port Townsend School of Woodworking in sunny
Port Townsend, WA.
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So, who is Jim Tolpin? I was tempted to write a full bio of Mr. Tolpin but I decided not to re-invent the wheel. I will say that he is one of the founders of the Port Townsend School of Woodworking in Washington. He is the author of
many books and a lifetime woodworker. Jim Tolpin grew up in Massachusetts with every expectation of going to college and working a white collar job. He studied Geo-Physics at University of Massachusetts but, the Fates had other plans. During his college days, Jim found himself spending a lot of extracurricular time working wood. He made hay forks from green wood. He built boats. He installed cabinets. It is my understanding that in the beginning he viewed these as odd jobs that he enjoyed but not really a career path. Before long, however, their Siren song wooed him from his intended path and he committed to life as a wood worker. Eventually, this path led him to Port Townsend, WA at the mouth of the Southern Puget Sound where he and some like minded colleagues founded the
Port Townsend School of woodworking.
For the bulk of his career, Jim embraced
power tools and the target demographic for many of his books are people
setting up a professional cabinet shop. At some point his orientation shifted and in 2011, he published The New Traditional Woodworker.
To be continued...
