Tools & Techniques

It’s All Problems

- Nancy R. Hiller

Nancy R. Hiller, who passed away in August, was a professional woodworker for over 40 years. She garnered a wider following through her witty articles on woodworking in Fine Woodworking and Popular Woodworking, as well as teaching at the Kelly Mehler School of Woodworking in Berea, KY and the Marc Adams School of Woodworking in Franklin, IN. Her background is further related in Woodworking Observations on page 6.

Her books included The Hoosier Cabinet in Kitchen History 2009), A Home of Her Own 2011), Historic Preservation in Indiana: Essays from the Field 2013), Making Things Work: Tales from a Cabinetmaker’s Life 2017), English Arts and Crafts Furniture 2018), Kitchen Think 2020), and Shop Tales: The Animals Who Help Us Make Things Work 2021).

To provide a sense of her writing style, we have edited an excerpt from the concluding chapter of Making Things Work: Tales from a Cabinetmaker’s Life Lost Art Press, 2017). Using a jobsite cabinet installation as an example, it demonstrates the very premise that woodworking is all about solving problems and making things work is the real payoff.

Nancy’s books—Making Things Work: Tales from a Cabinetmaker’s Life 2017), Kitchen Think 2020), and Shop Tales: The Animals Who Help Us Make Things Work 2021)—are available from Lost Art Press: lostartpress.com/.

Learn more about Nancy at: nrhillerdesign.com/.

What's the best piece of advice you ever got from a fellow woodworker?

A: It’s all problems,” as my first British woodworking employer would say whenever things went wrong. There’s something you've got to understand if you’re going to get anywhere: It’s all problems. That’s what we do: solve problems.” Over the years, I’ve found perverse comfort in Raymond’s dictum.

There was a job for an interior designer. I'll call him Bennet.