This weekend I built three coffins with the help of some friends and wrote a blog post about the experience over at my blog at Popular Woodworking Magazine. Check it out here.
Special thanks to John Hoffman, the other half of Lost Art Press, Dr. Tim Henrickson, Raney Nelson of Daed Toolworks, Megan Fitzpatrick of Popular Woodworking, Sean Thomas and Andrew Lunn.
These coffins and the details of their construction will be featured in the forthcoming “Furniture of Necessity” book.
Veteran woodworker Jeff Branch has reviewed our new DVD, “The Naked Woodworker” with Mike Siemsen. Jeff has 30 years of woodworking experience but is just entering the world of handwork – so he’s not a babe in the woods.
Be sure to check out the review so you know what to do when your spouse walks in on you watching “The Naked Woodworker.” All I can say is that it’s a good thing we used an Americana soundtrack for the DVD and not smooth wife-swapping jazz.
If you don’t have time to read the review, here’s the conclusion in a nutshell: “A friend once asked me about woodworking: ‘How do I get started; what do I do first?’ I am going to tell him to buy this video.”
“The Naked Woodworker” is available in a two-DVD set or for immediate download in our store.
Jennie Alexander requested that I show a photo of her bench hook (aka planing stop) that is made with a bit of saw steel. If you look close you can see the mortise she cut in front of the wooden pillar to prevent someone getting bit by the “toothy critter.”
Earlier this year I visited Jennie in Baltimore to interview her for an upcoming feature article I am writing about her life’s work – green woodworking and chairmaking. We also discussed some upcoming projects between her and Lost Art Press. More on that as it develops.
It is difficult to overstate Jennie’s influence on the craft. “Make a Chair from a Tree” – the first woodworking book published by The Taunton Press – changed the trajectory of many people’s lives, leading them into a lifetime of building things with their hands.
The chair that is the subject of that book is something both ancient and thoroughly modern. It is mixed with equal parts traditional joinery and Jennie’s personal approach to the craft and design. And while I have built many chairs during the last 20 years and sat in hundreds more made by fellow woodworkers, Jennie’s chair is the most perfect and delightful one I have ever encountered.
It is lightweight, strong, incredible comfortable and beautiful to behold.
When you sit in her chair, only one thing flashes in your mind: I must make one of these.
One of the things I enjoy about this chair form is that it never gets boring for me (but I don’t think I’ve been bored since age 11). Though this is the 24th Roorkee I’ve built during the last three years, it was still just as fun, thanks to the details I get to experiment with.
I’m on a never-ending quest to improve the hardware kit for this chair, which is featured in “Campaign Furniture,” and this Roorkee shows some of those new bits. I started using knurled brass thumbscrews to hold the arms straps to the back legs (the thumbscrews thread into brass threaded inserts). This allows you to easily take up any slack in the leather arms should you get bovine stretch marks.
I also found a good source for bronze bolts for the chair’s back, plus brass washers and brass nuts with a locking nylon insert. This makes the back bits less likely to loosen up.
Elsewhere, I’ve switched to using antiqued brass roller buckles, which recede into the leather instead of jumping out at you like the bright brass ones I used before.
All the other changes are things that are difficult to notice if you aren’t me. The foot shape is just a little different. And the ends of the tenons are flush with the legs instead of protruding a tad.
But just like the first Roorkee chairs I made, this one sits really well. So it might be time for a beer.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. The complete hardware list for this chair is here.
The most infectious hand tool I own is a 3/16” beading plane that has a permanent space in my traveling tool chest. Nearly every woodworker who uses it becomes possessed by the entirely sane desire to own one (or three) for their work.
However, finding a functional antique beading plane in the wild is difficult. While they are common planes, they commonly have a lot of problems. The body (also called the stock) is warped. The iron is a mess. The mouth has been opened too far. The wedge doesn’t fit.
And those are for starters.
When I was at Hulls Cove Tool Barn this summer I inspected at least 20 beading planes. None was worth buying.
If you are interested in getting a new beading plane, I’d talk to planemaker Caleb James right quick. He has been working on batches of beading planes in 1/8”, 3/16” and 1/4” sizes – the most useful sizes for furniture-making. I have two planes on order from him myself.
I got to use his planes while at a Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event and am totally sold. Caleb is a very talented planemaker (and furniture maker). So place your order now before he gets swamped. His e-mail is calebjames@me.com.
