The Journeyman's Journal - FineWoodworking

7 Things to Know about Hand-Cut Mortise-and-Tenon Joints

March 10, 2021

Bill Pavlak offers some less well-known tips for mortise and tenoning.

Curved molding by hand

February 1, 2021

There's a whole world of carving that fits within the skills of a cabinetmaker.

Back to work

December 7, 2020

Colonial Williamsburg's 2021 conference aims to look at period furniture making from a new perspective.

Trust your eye

September 18, 2020

Bill Pavlak shows you a few simple ways you can train your eye to gauge small distances and simple spatial relationships.

A very good cabinetmaker

March 30, 2020

Wiltshire worked in the cabinet shop owned by Anthony Hay, and like the building he worked in, the “very good cabinetmaker” was Hay's property.

Bill Pavlak’s Oddly Essential Tools

August 20, 2019

A journeyman cabinetmaker shares his thoughts on two of his favorite tools: a narrow scraper and...corset boning.

The Bad and the Beautiful of Period Apprenticeships

April 24, 2019

It is easy for us to conjure up visions of period apprenticeship that are heavily romanticized, but in reality, each shop was a working business where making the next shilling superseded the need for the apprentice’s next lesson

Full Circle–Dishing out a tea table top

March 5, 2019

Bill Pavlak relished the opportunity to revisit the process of dishing out a large surface by hand. Not only was this a special project in and of itself, it was also a chance to prove to himself that he had in fact learned a few things over the years.