Friday, February 28, 2014

more box making

Fine woodworking calls it "The beauty of boxes from the hands of experts." The new book-a-zine, Wooden Boxes by Doug Stowe and Strother Purdy is now available from the Fine Woodworking website. We are arranging an autographed box book-a-zine giveaway on the Fine Woodworking website and I'll alert my readers when it is time to participate.
Whether you’re a first time woodworker or an experienced hand wanting to learn more, Wooden Boxes – a special collection from the editors of Fine Woodworking magazine – is perfect for you. Here you’ll find step-by-step instructions for completing nine favorite box projects. These projects – perfect ways to learn a new skill or refine an old one – are gathered from the collections of master craftsmen Doug Stowe and Strother Purdy. Their expert advice allows you to learn new techniques to make your box-building safer, easier, and more efficient.
In my own shop, I'm working on an article for American Woodworker Magazine, and about 50 or 60 other small boxes for gallery sales.

I am continuing to find value in my reading of David Whittaker's book on the Impact and Legacy of Educational Sloyd. It offers insight into the Uno Cygnaeus' development of the Finnish Folk School, and at a depth of detail that I'd not read before. It also touches upon the correspondence between Otto Salomon and Cygnaeus, and the points at which their theories differed and converged. While Salomon was developing his teacher training school at Nääs, Cygnaeus had founded the teacher training university at Jyväskylä, in 1863, ultimately shaping the teaching of the entire nation to the greatest degree possible. Many beleive that the success of the Finnish School system is still due to the foundation laid by Cygnaeus and the continuing use of a compulsory crafts curriculum. David Whittaker makes that precise point.

Reading about these old days is valuable. It gives me a sense of what we who would seek hands-on educational renewal in the US are up against. It will be far from easy even thought it makes sense.

Make, fix, create, and help others to do so.

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