Eastern Massachusetts Guild of Woodworkers The Woodworker's Bookshelf

Review of Ingrained: The Making of a Craftsman by Callum Robinson

Dan Sichel — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 14:16:14 GMT

This book is a lot of different things all in one. It is a story about top-flight design and craftsmanship in furniture and what it takes to achieve that. It is a story about the beauty and allure of wood. It is a coming-of-age story, including a difficult dad relationship and later reconciliation. It is a story about life in rural Scotland. And, it is a love story.

I read this book a couple of years ago and really liked it, but I wasn’t sure that it had enough woodworking content for our newsletter. But, two different members mentioned the book to me. I read it again and changed my mind. So, here’s a bit about it to entice anyone who might be interested.

The book is a memoir, with Callum Robinson telling his story. He grew up in rural Scotland, with a father who was a cabinetmaker and carver. Based on his own description, Callum was an awkward kid and had his share of struggles growing up. He worked through all of that and became one of the UK’s top furniture designers and makers. His studio has done work for some very high-end brands and places, including Burberry, Bentley Motors, Johnnie Walker, The Glasgow School or Art, and Edinburgh Castle. It wasn’t an easy journey to the top, with many setbacks and many high-stress, near catastrophic moments along the way. The story about developing as a furniture designer is woven together with rich descriptions of rural Scotland and a beautiful tale about his family, especially his wife and collaborator in design. Near the end of the book, he also offers advice on how to get started and make it professionally in the furniture world for anyone thinking about that.

Turns out that in addition to his furniture work, Robinson is a very good writer, and his memoir has received wide-ranging plaudits. The book is beautifully written and an easy and fast read.

You can see some of their furniture work at Method Studio at this link.

Ingrained is widely available and at Amazon in many formats.

Review of Tools for Engagement: Reclaiming Craft in an Age of Technology by Joshua Klein and Michael Updegraff

Dan Sichel — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 13:48:18 GMT

This book—the latest from Mortise and Tenon—is a blend of two distinct strands. The first makes the well-known argument expressing regret that industrialization displaced skilled handcraft. The second is an appeal to individuals to incorporate craft into their daily lives along with five projects that can be entry points into a daily practice of handcraft as well as a discussion of essential tools. Warning: This book prompted a strong reaction on my part so this review includes more personal opinion than have recent entries for Woodworkers’ Bookshelf.

I liked the book and found it an engaging read (though be prepared for some philosophy of craft and technology). At the same time, I had two more negative reactions to the book. First, I found that the two strands—regret about industrialization and the appeal to incorporate craft into one’s daily life—not that well connected. Both work well on their own merits, though I didn’t find the philosophical discussion to be a compelling setup for the argument for handcraft in daily life (said by a hybrid woodworker who enjoys using both hand and power tools). Put another way, the combination of the two strands felt forced.

My other big concern is with the argument about industrialization regret (veering a bit away from woodworking here). In particular, I found the discussion an unbalanced view of economic history. Without a doubt, the industrial revolution led to huge changes in daily living and the loss of much that was valuable, including pride in work and skill as tasks previously done by skilled artisans could now be done by less skilled workers operating a machine. The book provides many powerful and poignant examples of that and highlights the industrial drudgery and exploitation that ensued. However, the book completely neglects what was gained by industrialization. In the early 1800s—arguably the peak of British and American furniture craft—only the very wealthy could afford the type of handcrafted furniture we now see in museums (and that EMGW members make). Most people in that period had little furniture in their homes and what they had often was crudely made.

More generally, typical incomes and living standards were much lower in that earlier period. For example, in 1811 a fancy card table retailed for about $24.50. With average weekly compensation of a production worker of about $3.00 (assuming a 60-hour workweek), it would take that average worker more than eight weeks of work to afford the table. Not a purchase most such workers would make. Translating the cost of that 1811 table to 2025 dollars yields about $620. At today’s average weekly compensation (assuming just a 40-hour workweek), a typical worker could make that outlay with about two days of work. So, while it’s true that industrialization changed the world and important things were lost, there also were tremendous benefits. I, for one, would not choose to go back to the world of 1800.

All that said, the book’s highlighting of the benefits of incorporating more craft into their lives absolutely rings true to me and, I suspect, to most EMGW members. That’s why we do what we do. Perhaps we can agree that that makes sense on an individual level but not so much as a vision for organizing a national economy.

PS – happy to provide cites for calculations to anyone interested.

Can These Be Part of the Same Story? What's Wrong with Mahogany and Router Climb Cuts?

Dan Sichel — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 15:49:19 GMT

Two disparate items to highlight this month.

First, I saw a notice in SAPFM's Pins and Tales that the John Brown House Museum in Providence opened an exhibition based on the book Mahogany: The Cost of Luxury in Early America by Jennifer Anderson, a history prof at SUNY Stony Brook. (The Brown of the house is the Brown of Brown University.) I haven't visited the house yet but it sounds great if you like house museums with period furniture and the associated history. I have read the book, which describes the historical and cultural context around the explosion in the use of mahogany in the 18th century as wealthy American colonists became enamored with the beauty of the wood and woodworkers with its workability. It is quite a sobering read, especially for a woodworker who has used mahogany in a number of builds. The 18th century surge in demand for mahogany led to extensive logging in the Caribbean, with slave labor in doing much of the work in brutal conditions. Moreover, because the trees were difficult to cultivate on a plantation and were scattered throughout tropical forests, the trees were "hunted," felled, dragged out, and shipped to high-end markets. That process devastated forest environments and painfully disrupted the lives of the indigenous people who were there before. The damage persists to this day, with new world mahoganies threatened with extinction, with logging regulations and bans on mahoganies, and, accordingly, with ongoing concerns about the provenance of any board and what damage was done to obtain it. The book talks about all of that, weaving together social and political history, trading logistics, economics, and more. It's a good read. At the same time, the story is disturbing enough that this furniture maker plans to stay away from mahogany and stick to other hardwoods (though, admittedly, after finishing a current period piece of furniture -- bought the wood before reading the book).

Second, and something completely different, I came across a Ben Strano Fine Woodworking video on climb cutting with a router (routing in the direction in which the spinning bit would pull the router often thought of as very dangerous). It's one of the best descriptions of how to use a handheld router that I've seen -- although I've done plenty of work with a router, still learned a new trick from the video. Despite the title, the video doesn't say a lot about how to climb cut safely, but it does link to a very good Fine Woodworking article from July/August 2011 by Chris Gochnour that describes how/when that can be done safely.