Fine Woodworking Magazine

Fine Woodworking Magazine —– the very mention of it among woodworkers brings recognition and I think, a certain amount of respect.  Since it’s first issue in 1975, it has been the bench mark of fine woodworking and a cut above the other publications that have come and gone since then.  I remember seeing my first issue while I was going to San Francisco State University pursuing my industrial arts teaching credential.  Those early issues were black and white only!  I graduated from SFSU in 1977 and began my teaching career in Las Vegas that year as well.  Like so many others at that time, subscribing to and keeping all of the issues of Fine Woodworking magazine was high on our lists.  Expensive as it was, it was a permanent item on my Christmas and birthday wish lists.  I did sell my collection for close to $400.00 about a dozen years ago after packing them from one house to another and deciding that I no longer needed to do that.  All that being said, getting a piece of work I made into that magazine seemed to be a crazy idea to say the least!  Imagine my feelings when they accepted the pictures of the armoire that Diane took — I was blown away.

John’s Armoire; Door Open

Here’s a photo showing the door open rather than being closed as it is in the magazine.  Diane took the pictures in our garage.  She sewed some drop cloths from Harbor Freight together that were previously used to cover our tables during art fairs.  Then those were hung from the ceiling and allowed to curve gently onto the floor.  This creates a floating background and eliminates that hard line where the back meets the floor.  She took some amazing shots if you ask me!  Here is a link to the Gallery Section of the magazine.  The issue is their number 254 and it’s dated June 2016.  If you’ve been following my blog for a while you’ve probably been bored to tears as I went through the process of building this — my dream armoire.  But, if you would like to know more about this piece you can get a listing of each blog post about it by clicking on  Johns Armoire from the categories list on the right side of this page.

This project is one I’ve had in my mind for many years and am really humbled that the editors of Fine Woodworking selected it for publication from the hundreds of pictures they receive monthly.  Inspired by Thos Moser’s armoire titled Dr. Whites Chest I found myself sketching different ways to break up the monolithic appearance of his Shaker inspired chest.  Constructing the three different levels was a huge challenge.   All of the drawers feature hand cut dovetails, there are several large carcass dovetails, and the rest of the frame is draw bored, mortise and tenon joinery.  Being accepted into the magazine is a definite highlight in my woodworking career and I am humbled by this honor.