The picture to the left is of one of the first woodworking projects I ever did (a little over 10 years ago). I made the table for some friends when they moved into their new house. I was really excited about the table, and I was happy that they liked it. Over the years, the joinery has failed and the "beauty" of the plywood top has faded. But the table still has sentimental value to me given that it was one of my first "real" projects. I'm getting the table back this week. I'll recycle what I can of it and will be trading it out for a new one. The experience has given me the opportunity to reflect on the past decade of  woodworking, and I am excited (again) that my friends will have a new table. Pictures are below.

I am making good progress on an Arts and Crafts style desk for a client. See the photos below. I still have some details to add to the bases...curves in the bottom rails and tapers on the legs will lighten the desk up a bit. And of course I need to build some drawers.

On a long project like this, it's always nice when a source of inspiration appears. 

The quote below (from the early 1900's book Education Through Recreation by Lawrence Pearsall Jacks) was posted today on Canadian woodworker Tom Fidgen's website The Unplugged Woodshop. I don't know Tom personally, but his work (built with hand tools only) often provides inspiration itself .  I thought the quote was worth re-posting here.

“A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both.”
- L.P Jacks

Exciting stuff..I moved into a new shop about a week ago. It's in an old building that used to be a general store in the small town of Goldston, NC. I have about twice as much space, a wooden floor (instead of  concrete), and most importantly...air conditioning. It's going to be 103-105 degrees here this weekend so I'll really be putting it to the test. Pictures of the new (and still not fully organized) space are below.

Lately I have been working on a prototype for part of a large desk I'm building. The past couple of projects have involved prototyping to some extent, and I'm really starting to realize the benefits. 

The only downsides to prototyping are that the process adds a little time to the overall build and there is a little cost in materials for the mock-up. But the benefits far outweigh all of that. I have been able to play around with design elements and solidify structural details...things  that would have been pretty stressful if I had been using nicer wood. It frees me up to try new techniques and polish up on old ones. And it let's me make mistakes. I'll make mistakes on the "real thing" for sure. It's inevitable. But the prototyping process at least shows me when and where I need to be extra careful.

The picture to the left shows a view of the current prototype. It is a stack of two file cabinet drawers that will be integrated into the desk base. Getting the drawers sized correctly and running smoothly (for what will be a heavy drawer in day-to-day use) is critical to the overall quality of this desk. I think I've got it and I'm ready to move on to the real thing.