Is Stickley is the New Ikea?

...nk of the lifestyle adjustments that would justify a weekend in the garage making a copy of the L. & J.G. Stickley dinner gong. How exactly would a dinner gong work out in our 1,000 square foot house occupied by just two people? Would its existence prompt more inspired daily meal prep? Would reheating a frozen Trader Joe’s meal (what a friend calls the Ikea of food) in the microwave justify a bang on the gong? Would it cause the cats and dog to sc...

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Fun With Mortises and Tenons

...els of craftsmanship, I haphazardly fixed the table with screws and nails. Making the mortises and tenons took forever even though I was working with power tools–a plunge router to make the mortises and a table saw to cut the tenons. Of course, a great deal of the time in the workshop was spent in idle chatter. My workshop is right on the public sidewalk and serves as a kind of conversational trap for every passing neighbor and dog walker. Kelly s...

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Saturday Tweets: Watermelons, Drill Bit Storage and Unicorns

...ticating #watermelon from feral bitter wild cousins; Greeks & Italians for making sweet! https://t.co/VUIDJWRMQx pic.twitter.com/uxGB57Z9P5 — C. S. Prakash (@AgBioWorld) July 7, 2017 So you have a construction or repair job coming up. Which should you use, screws or nails? The short answer is… https://t.co/VyOFohr5CS — Hobby Farms (@hobbyfarms) July 7, 2017 How tech giants like Elon Musk can actually fix LA’s transportation problems https://t.co/W...

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Epic Rants and Raves

...early 20th century literature. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been slowly making my way through all of Gustav Stickley’s Craftsman Magazine (I’m reading the 1905 issues this week) as well as Moby Dick (never read it in school), May Morris’ Decorative Needlework and the writings of John Ruskin and William Morris. From these tomes I’ve bookmarked a few epic rants that I suspect Root Simple readers will appreciate. First, as quoted in The Craftsman,...

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108 Artist/Maker Federico Tobon

...and chisel. Scary kickback video. Budget bandsaw repair. DIY belt sander. Making your own bandsaw. Sewing a big bag for bees. Cool Tools knot tying card. Clicker Training for Cats by Karen Pryer. You can follow Federico’s work at WolfcatWorkshop and he’s @wolfcatworkshop on Instagram. Make sure to sign up for his newsletter. If you want to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to rootsimple@gmail...

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