A bow saw is a handy tool to have around. There are so many operations they can perform that it makes them an almost indispensable tool.
Bill Anderson has been teaching a class at the Woodwright’s School for several years on making an elegant little bow saw he calls the Howarth bow saw. It is patterned off an original saw Bill found at a tool sale.
If you have ever taken a class from Bill you know he is a guy who likes details. He even took some of the parts of the original saw to his local veterinarian’s office and had X-rays taken to see how they were made. If I walked into my vet’s office with saw parts wanting X-rays taken it would be me they want to do the X-rays on. Bill though, he makes it happen.
Bill, in conjunction with Josh Farnsworth at Wood and Shop, have released a new DVD called “Building the Historic Howarth Bow Saw”. It is an excellent, very detailed video on how to reproduce this very shapely saw.
This chest is a close reproduction of a traditional joiner’s tool chest. Chris designed the chest and constructed the box portion during a course he taught with us several years ago. I (Jim Tolpin) finished it by building the lid and sliding till and applying the traditional milk paint. The hand grips (traditional sailor’s beckets of rope and leather) were made and donated by Keith Mitchell – a boatbuilder currently in Vermont. (You can follow Keith on his instagram feed @shipwrightskills). The chest is signed by Chris and me on the underside of the lid.
The box and lid are made from clear poplar boards. The box, the wrap-around skirt boards and the till’s corner joints are dovetailed and glued with hide glue. The bottom boards are set into rabbets and nailed in place with traditional cut nails. The lid’s frame is mortise and tenon, drawbore pinned with hewn, air-dried white oak. Chris and I did the work with hand tools beyond the initial surfacing of the stock to dimension. Dimensions are 20″ wide by 16″ high by 40″ long.
About the finish: Traditionally, these tool chests were always painted to protect the wood from moisture because they might occasionally be exposed to outside conditions. I went with three coats of black followed by two coats of red to create an “oxblood” hue. As you probably know, milk paint is one of the most durable paints available. I applied several coats of linseed/tung oil to build a sheen and to provide additional protection.
All the proceeds of this sale will go to the Port Townsend School of Woodworking youth-in-woodworking scholarship fund. A portion of the cost of this chest is tax deductible as the school is a 501 (C) (3) non-profit educational institution. To purchase, go to the auction site here on ebay.
We (and our kids) were all inoculated with enough Geometry during middle school to “know” the Pythagorean theorem. You know, the one that enables us to rattle off: “A squared plus B squared equals C squared.” But that particular manifestation of the underlying geometric truth of our particular universe isn’t limited to squares. In the above drawing, we have three hexagons built upon the three legs (labeled A, B and C) of a right triangle. Just like squares, if you add the area of the two little shapes they will equal the area of the biggest one. In other words: A hexagoned plus B hexagoned equals C hexagoned. This works for all similarly shaped polygons by the way.
Want the “proof?” All you need is a couple sticks and a bit of string as in the photo below. Have your 4-year-old lend you a hand…she’ll immediately intuit what an equation is really all about! (No, this is not your rigorous algebraic proof, or even a Euclidean logic proof…Instead it’s what me bandmates used to call: “Good enough for rock and roll.”)
Editor’s note: One of the other books we have in the works is tentatively titled: “Go, Go, Go: The Life, Influence and Woodworking of Tage Frid” by Bill Rainford. In this post, Bill introduces himself and explains a little bit about the book. Were thrilled to work with Bill on this book about Frid (1915-2004), one of the most influential woodworkers of the 20th century.
— Christopher Schwarz
I’m driven by a lifelong desire to learn, build, experiment and share. I love examining furniture to see how it was made and read the tool marks. I enjoy digging through period sources to learn a new technique or build something that has not been seen for generations. I also search out designs that take form and function into account. These inclinations can often take me down some deep rabbit holes or on crazy adventures. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
As I progressed in my woodworking I got tired of building predominantly power tool projects from magazines. I wanted to design my own pieces and get into more traditional tools and techniques. Around that time I was referred to the three-volume set of books “Tage Frid Teaches Woodworking” by the Taunton Press. This iconic set of books was eye opening. Tage’s no-nonsense approach, acerbic humor and amusing anecdotes made for a memorable read.
Many of the tenets of Frid’s teaching resonated with me and still guide my work. A core principle of Frid’s mentoring was to teach several different techniques to accomplish a given task so a student had a deeper well of technical knowledge to draw upon when the time came to use it. Long before “hybrid woodworking” was a coined phrase, Frid espoused the use of power and hand tools to help a craftsmen compete and make a living. In addition to a respect for traditional techniques and wood itself, I also appreciated his efforts to show how a craftsman should strive to make something that is functional, comfortable, tailored to the room or audience and also affordable.
The Rainford Family (From left to right): Alyssa, Bradley, Bill and Henry Rainford
My Background
I grew up on Long Island, N.Y. I’ve been a lifelong woodworker and maker. I’m at my happiest when I am out in my workshop. I started out helping my father and grandfather around the house as a child – finishing the basement, building a deck etc. I grew up watching “This Old House” and “New Yankee Workshop” and building power tool oriented projects. Once I got a place of my own I got into building things such as a custom mantel, a loft, staircase, bookcases etc. but I didn’t feel fulfilled. I wanted to get into more intricate hand work. That’s when I learned about the North Bennet Street School (NBSS), which is the oldest trade school in the United States. After taking some hand tool fundamentals and carving workshops at the school I went on to become a graduate of the two-year Preservation Carpentry program. I now develop and teach traditional woodworking workshops at NBSS, the Boston Architectural College, Historic Eastfield Village and other regional schools, conferences and events.
I consider myself to primarily be a traditional joiner, building and restoring traditional windows, doors, trim and casework though though I’ve also built a fair amount of furniture, restored timber frames and worked on historic buildings such as the Old State House in Boston, the Harvard Shaker Meeting House in Harvard, Mass., and similar properties.
I’ve written for Fine Homebuilding, Popular Woodworking, Early American Industries Association, Fix.com and my blog RainfordRestorations.com
I live in southern New Hampshire with my a wife, Alyssa, and two sons, Bradley and Henry. I’m thankful to my wife for being supportive of all my woodworking activities and for my two sons who love watching me work around the house.
Genesis for the Book
A couple of years ago I wrote up a blog post which shared my thoughts about Tage Frid and his work and wondered what ever happened to his tools and furniture. You can read that post here. In response to that post I received a comment from Tage’s grandson Oliver Frid and had the opportunity to visit Tage’s son Peter’s home.
Oliver and Peter Frid (right) with one of Tage Frid’s iconic 3 legged stools
It was an inspirational visit and they were gracious hosts to put up with me being excited to see many of Tage’s tools and furniture pieces in person. You can read more about that visit in this post. As I learned more about Tage’s life and work I realized there were a lot of interesting stories to be shared with a wider audience.
What will the Book be About?
The book will be a mixture of biography, woodworking projects with plans, interviews and an exploration of the impact of Frid’s work. From Frid’s time working for the Royal Danish Cabinetmakers (at the time Kaare Klint was running the department), to his time at the School for American Craftsmen and the studio art movement through his time at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and Penland, the goal is to share projects based on Frid’s work in those periods and some by those whom he taught and inspired. It will be an eclectic mix of chairs, tables, casework, built-ins and workshop projects that explore the various forms Danish modern designs can take on in a flavor reminiscent of Frid’s aesthetic.
After working on colonial and Shaker styles of furniture and buildings for such a long time, I’ve found that Danish modern designs really appealing. I’ve been intrigued by how well Danish modern pieces can fit into a traditional home in large part due to their expressed construction, use of traditional joinery and respect for and re-interpretation of traditional forms.
Bill standing at his new workbench. (Photo by Doug Levy for the related Popular Woodworking Magazine article)
Upcoming Article
One of Frid’s most-remembered projects is his traditional Scandinavian workbench with a shoulder vise, square dogs and a tail vise. It was similar to the bench I was trained on. Inspired by Frid’s design and my own preferences I built my own interpretation of this bench and made a series of modifications to address many of the criticisms folks have had with Frid’s earlier workbench. The bench I built was about 2′ longer, a few inches deeper, built up in some areas to add weight and makes use of some newer construction techniques and new easier-to-install hardware that was not available to Frid in the 1980s. If you’d like to learn more about this workbench and whet your appetite for the forthcoming book, I encourage you to check out my article in the February 2017 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine, which is due out next month.
If you’d like to learn more about me and my explorations in woodworking, please check out my blog or follow me via my other social media accounts below.
In this sketch I did of a Masonic “Past-Master’s Jewels” medal, notice the representation of the pythagorean theorem. It is reported that its presence on the owner’s medal indicates that person was what we would likely now call a crew foreman. One of his many responsibilities was to ensure that all the layout tools were true – a clue as to why there’s the homage to Pythagoras. This theorem, codified later by Euclid into his “Proposition 47,” offers a logic proof that the area of the squares erected on the legs of a right triangle would equal the area of the square erected on its hypotenuse. That’s all well and good, but why would that particular equation be of vital interest to the foreman of a joiner’s or mason’s crew? To try to find out, I decided to construct an exact-as-possible, large-scale drawing of the graphic upon which I could explore with a pair of dividers.
The first thing I discovered was that the vertical line CL, which is fixed by the inherent baseline’s intersection points C and D, forms a right angle with the hypotenuse. Even though this result is likely nothing more than symbolic (there are a lot easier ways to generate a right angle with a compass and a straightedge), I believe this right angle – hidden in plain sight – is probably as important to the medal (and its wearer) as the theorem itself. The right angle (“recto” in Greek) is simply the right way to set a vertical post. (Wood’s superb resistance to compression happens when, and only when, the post is set at a right angle to level – an orientation that aligns the grain parallel to the force of gravity). It’s also the right angle to create symmetry to a baseline in common rectilinear structures (think cathedrals).
No reason to stop there, though. Exploring further revealed other attributes of this graphic that offer additional symbolic (and real) representations of the truths inherent in Geometry (note the traditional capital G). Print out the template (you’ll find it offered for free on the shopping page of www.byhandandeye.com) and take a look around on it for yourself. You’ll discover triangles with perfect 2:3 base-to-height proportions (one of the fundamental harmonics in music and architecture of the Medieval era); you’ll find sequences of the infamous triplet (the 3-4-5 triangle) revealed in the hypotenuse and even in the circumference of the circle that started it all; and you may find the module upon which the entire construction revolves. Have fun with this – I sure did!
In this sketch I did of a Masonic “