The Broken Tradition

Welcome to my shop and blog

Handcrafted Furniture and various wooden wares made in the Appalachian tradition

tools of the trade 09 Workbench

Working on the ground or floor is not comfortable for most of us, if you wish to work that way, find and follow someone who works in the Japanese tradition. (don’t leave me! but follow them also 😉 ) So the workbench was invented! A workbench is a sophisticated work holding device designed to hold…
Read more →
tools of the trade 08 knives

Sloyd knife, curved knife, mill knife, North American crooked knife, Twca Cam, marking knife, carving knife, all sorts of knives are available. We all need a knife at some point in our work. the main thing about knives is keeping them SHARP!! my favorite for carving and having “at hand” to use is currently the mill…
Read more →
SCA, pennsic class handout

Karl F Newman Master Cabinetmaker 7/26/2026 A very coarse set of course outlines for medieval-like hand tool woodworking: Some sections are more detailed than others depending upon how much time I took to write them and on how much demonstration is needed to understand them. I hope we all have fun. Karl F. Newman Aka…
Read more →