When I arrived in Barnesville, Ga., on Sunday afternoon I found that all the preliminary heavy lifting had been done.
Jameel Abraham, Bo Childs, Ron Breese, Jon Fiant, Jeff Miller, Raney Nelson and Don Williams had finished ripping up the tops and legs with a sawmill and had everything stacked. The wood is beautiful. Huge. And wet – in the “high teens.” I’ve made many benches with wood at this stage in drying, and the Roubo design is well-suited for wood that is a little wet.
The leg vise hardware was artfully displayed. And Jameel was tweaking an enormous banner hanging in the middle of the shop that showed A.-J. Roubo’s plate 11 in all its detail.
All I had to do was unpack my tools, buy some fried chicken and set up to give a presentation tonight on the history of woodworking benches from Egypt to the 18th century.
I’m sure I’ll get to do my share of sweating during the next five days. My work station is in the corner with all the flies.
— Christopher Schwarz
mmmm…. fried chicken….
Please tell us you have a video camera, too!!!!
Green with envy. What an awesome, unique opportunity.
Fat Tire is pretty good for a mass-market micro-brew (the oxymoron of micro-brews?) but I bet ya’ll can do better as the week progresses.
Words can not express how much I hate you right now.
And by hate you, I mean envy you.
With every fiber of my being…
What he said!
pete (your Coopers beer connection)
Look at that huge timber. I envy you in the US. Stuff like that is close to unobtainable here in Australia. Even if you were to find it, it would cost your kidneys and soul.
Do they do anything with all that sawdust?
I am so jealous!!!! I hope you make a video from this.I just bought one of your books yesterday. Greetings from New Zealand!!!!
Has Raney been adopted?
It pains me beyond explanation to know that this event is happening less than an hour’s drive from my home. If was to have been occurring a year or two from now, I would have certainly stepped up and taken part. Having said that, I shall be like most and eagerly awaiting the daily updates. This is truly a testament to the craft and the following.