Tag: hand tools

The Dignity of Craft: In Praise of Mortise & Tenon

Beyond writing about craftmanship and antique furniture, M&T explores ideas about human work in a technological age, work in the context of community, and the relationship between craft and tradition. Regardless of your interest in the nuances of woodworking, many Porchers would find reading M&T to be worthwhile.

Your Brains are in Your Hands: Doug Stowe on Forming Mind,...

Stowe’s book is both timeless and timely. Our physical embodiment as human creatures is always essential, but it is especially so amid increasing digitality. The last two years of pandemic-related economic fluctuations and supply-chain instabilities have further driven home the importance of developing manual competence on a local and familial level, which adds to the book’s importance.

The Allure of Old Tools and Vintage Machinery: Memory, Meaning, and...

Building or re-building things taps into deep and elemental desires embedded in the human experience that in some shadowed sense mimic the Creator.

A Young Girl’s Guide to Power Tools

At age 12, our daughter discovered that our front yard could be more than a place to turn cartwheels. It was also an evergreen...

Two Last Suppers and Ordinary Greatness: A Double Eulogy

What are the compensations on the downhill side of life?