"Always wondered what the secret to a good chair was.  Now I know. Its one that catches you when you pass out (after reading a good novel - of course!). As an "avid reader" I definitely need one. Thank you for another terrific article, and for sharing this important secret. I think I have just added 'chair making' to my bucket list. Its a hopelessly very big bucket."

"Really useful article. As a novice woodworker with a strong desire to make beautiful long-lasting furniture and objects, i'm increasingly finding lots of inspiration from both the past and present but little satisfaction from available plans. This is frustrating on one level because for an amateur like me there is a lot of security in 'following the plan', which I've become relatively good at over time. Although scary, it is also a positive because it probably means its time for me to trust myself more and start my own creative journey. Getting an insight into your creative process helps because for someone with my learning style, it becomes the new template or 'plan' to follow for how to do it- at least until I build-up my confidence. The obvious difference being this new plan is more about how to tackle the unknown and unleash your own creativity rather than slavishly reproducing someone else's vision. Thanks! I have the Anarchist's Design Book sitting on my bookshelf and am looking forward to getting stuck into it now having finished the ATC. Who know's, maybe I'll start with designing a variation on the classic tool chest, built entirely with traditional hand tools and techniques ofcourse, to house my collection of routers and Festool Domino machines (just kidding!!)."

"Great article and provocative title. Arguably, you could replace "exploitation" with "optimisation" as this is what I think you mean.That is, the skill of working intelligently with wood to maximise value from the material given its inherent properties. Understanding those properties is obviously key. In this context, is it waste to discard the weakest and least useful part of the wood? The highlighted design tips will come in handy when I eventually build my own Roubo bench (hopefully soon)."