And you thought I disappeared….  Nope just redoing the site and since I am a techno peasant it is taking a bit longer than I expected.  I have most of the text back on the pages but I still have to load the photo’s and there are hundreds of them….

If you need a question answered or want a copy of the book don’t hesitate to email me at

tonykonovaloff@Hotmail.com

Thanks for your patience

Tony

First and foremost, I am a cabinetmaker.  But a cabinetmaker in the old definition of the word, I make furniture. And you will find I do this a bit differently than most.  From start to finish, every cabinet or piece of furniture that leaves my shop has been built entirely by hand.  I use only hand tools and traditional joinery to make some of the finest solid wood furniture you will ever find.

I work by myself in a small shop making furniture and cabinets, one at a time.  I have set very high standards for myself and you would be hard pressed to find better made furniture anywhere.  Every piece is made to last, and they will outlast you and me both.

I do have to admit that I fell into the proverbial woodwork for the last few years with raising my boys and working to pay the mortgage on the house.  But quite a few things have changed in the last decade, most notably the Internet.  For the longest time I shied away from it, but it has now matured to the point that virtually everyone uses it.  I figured it was about time that I set up a site to promote my work and ideas.

This site is about much more than just the furniture and cabinets I build. Its also about my thoughts and philosophy when it comes to craftsmanship.  It will show you my work as well as what it takes to make it.

Just what is handmade?  For me there is a simple answer, all of my tools are driven by my hands, arms, legs and back.  All of my tools require my hands and my heart to set up, but more importantly, to use.  There are no batteries, cords or air lines involved.  There is power in my shop but it only runs the lights, the radio and on occasion the vacuum for a long overdue clean up.

And by no means does handmade equate with rough or crude, at least when it comes to my work.  The pictures here on the site are proof of that.  And in the details that don’t show up in pictures, even more so.

Design work pretty much comes straight out of my head.  While I do make sketches on occasion, most of the time I don’t work with drawings of any kind.  I guess you could call this hand work of the brain…

The unmistakable mark of the human hand is not something you only apply to the surface of a finished piece.  It happens naturally whenever I make something.  It takes patience, dedication and commitment to make things by hand.  And you have to love doing this, for sometimes there is no other reason to do it.  Besides, there is no tired like a tired you have earned…

Some of My Work

Let’s be honest, talk is cheap.  It’s all well and good to talk about hand tools and philosophy but in reality it comes down to what you can do with them.  I don’t know how many times I have read about someone working with hand tools and for some reason or other you only get to see the technique described, never any of the finished work done by the author.  This section of the site is about changing that.  These are all pieces that have been made with my handtools during the last 25 years.  And there are many more pieces I still want to make…

About Chisel, Mallet, Plane and Saw

This part of the site could best be described as my book.  Even though the book was virtually complete in 1997, I didn’t get it printed until 2012.    But even if you don’t want to make things yourself this section will educate you as to what is involved when I make a piece of furniture or a cabinet.

What I have tried to do with this is tell you how I do things without leading you by the handtool.  It is not about every way possible to do things rather it is just my way of working.  My way of making carcase furniture, dressers, hutches, break fronts, blanket chests and the like.  Sorry, I haven’t made a chair as of yet so I would not presume to tell you how to make one.

If you are going to work with hand tools you will find something of worth in this section of the site.  It is in your face and opinionated and I accept sole responsibility for that.

Tony Konovaloff