Simple shelf from one hardwood plank

By Nicholas Sarwark | November 18, 2013 |

When you do “knowledge work” for a living, there’s an inherent frustration in not creating something concrete from your efforts.  Negotiating a case, reading cases to prepare a brief or a motion, appearing in court, all of these things have value to a client, but the value does not manifest itself as a thing you…

Read More

Organize your shirts with the Army roll

By Nicholas Sarwark | November 3, 2013 |

I have a lot of t-shirts.  They’re kind of like a scrapbook of places I’ve been and things I did over the last 20 years.  The problem with a lot of t-shirts is that they get crumpled and jammed in to make them fit, making it hard to find the right one, popping the hardboard…

Read More

Build a $50 workbench and start woodworking

By Nicholas Sarwark | October 15, 2013 |

A few weeks ago, I picked up a book at the library with some furniture projects I wanted to build around the house, “Ridiculously Simple Furniture Projects: Great Looking Furniture Anyone Can Build.”  Author Spike Carlsen breaks projects down into just one or two pages of instructions with beautiful pictures and minimal material and tool…

Read More