Lit Only By Fire
 Working with wood was the only option before the invention of steel frame structures in the mid 1800's and mass fabrication of engineered structural supports. It served as the basis for everything from building a large cathedral to a simple chair. Before the mass production of nails and later, screws, which were prohibitively expensive as they had to be made one at a time at the blacksmith's forge, wood was joined using only itself. Wooden mortise and tenon, shiplap, half-laps and dovetails were the bread and butter of the carpenter. None of these required more than a hammer, a sharp chisel, a simple saw and maybe a hand plane if you needed a fine finish on it. Common woodworking was not a fine art, as some would portray it today, but a way of life and a necessary skill to have. ﷯ Lit Only By Fire offers courses, and over 150 years of combined expertise in woodworking. Everything from Timberframing, carpentry, woodturning and more are here. There will be no courses in bird house building or whittling. The courses are designed to cram as much information and skill retainment into a course. Everything you need can be found in our store, or online. Lit Only By Fire only teaches the use of hand methods, as anyone with minimal training can produce relatively tight tolerances using heavy, expensive and dangerous machinery, but they will never have the character or the attention to detail that a hand tool crafted piece will have. Check out our workshops here! Woodworking

Home

About Us

Ancient Skills

Workshops

Store

Contact Us

Website distributed and mainted by:

Guenther Designs, LLC.

For any problems or comments

Contact the WebMaster