When I culled my tool set down to the bare essentials three years ago, I sold some of them here on the blog. I abandoned that approach for two reasons: the trolls, and it was much easier and satisfying to give the tools to someone who needs them.
If you have a few extra user tools, you might consider donating them to a project being put together by fellow woodworker and blogger Sam Cappo, who runs PlaneDetails.com. He is putting together a user set of tools, building a tool chest for them and then giving the whole kit away to a deserving woodworker.
I’m donating a portable “Milkman’s Workbench” to the project.
If you have extras, look over the list that Sam has posted on his site here. Sam is totally legit, this project is a great small-scale idea, and I know he will see it through to the end.
I hate the vinyl banner that we hang up at woodworking shows.
While we had the vinyl sign made locally, I’ve never liked having a plastic sign for a company that is all about wooden objects.
So when we decided to exhibit at Handworks in Amana, Iowa, one of my first tasks was to commission a proper corporate sign for Lost Art Press. So we hired David Bignell, a talented Dayton, Ohio, woodworker to carve us a low-relief sign in the spirit of British pub signs.
He’s started work on the sign and you can check out his progress on his Facebook page.
We’ll have the sign at Handworks, along with H.O. Studley calipers and (if our luck holds) a special T-shirt that we’ll sell at Handworks and to customers who cannot make it to the event.
There are still some spots open in my class on building a campaign chest that I’m teaching May 6-10, 2013, at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking in Franklin, Ind.
For me, this class is the most important one I’m teaching in 2013 (yes, even more important than the workbench class with ancient oak). It’s important because it will tie together all the hand skills needed to build high-end casework. It will be a stepping stone for my forthcoming book on campaign furniture. And we, as a class, will be exploring a beautiful furniture form that has been neglected for almost 100 years.
On the casework side, this class is about hard-core hand joinery. Yes, we’ll be using machines dimensioning our stock, but most of the joinery will be handled with hand tools. Why? It’s efficient and fun.
Here are a few of the joints and processes we’ll be exploring.
• Full-blind dovetails to attach the top to the case sides.
• Half-blind dovetails to assemble the cases and drawers.
• Through-dovetails at the back of the drawers.
• Hand-cut dados for the drawer blades.
• Grooves for the back? You can cut them by hand or power.
• Web frames for the drawers? We’ll explore hand-cut mortise-and-tenon, machine-made mortise-and-tenon and the Domino.
• Turned feet (if you build a naval chest).
• Installing inset hardware with power tools or hand tools.
• Dealing with figured exotic woods with hand tools only.
In other words, this class will explore the full range of casework joinery options out there. This class is great for beginners who want to jump into classic joinery or woodworkers who have always wanted to learn to do things “the right way” with a historical approach and a handsaw.
Oh, and this class will also be about scoring some incredible wood. On the Friday before the class (May 3), we are visiting my favorite lumber paradise: Midwest Woodworking. There we’ll be picking out some world-class wide mahogany (or other species) for the chest of drawers.
So if you’ve ever wanted to step up your joinery skills to the top shelf, I think you’ll find this class is an excellent trial by fire. It’s not about one skill or one tool or one sample project. It’s about mastering the suite of skills to make a world-class piece of furniture.
I haven’t been this excited about a class since Dictum gave me the green light to teach a class based on “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.”
For more information on the class, visit the marcadams.com web site here. If you have questions about the class, drop me a line at chris@lostartpress.com.
And for those of you who have already signed up, I hope you are looking forward to this class as much as I am.
One of the most essential pieces of woodwork provided by joiners was the coffin – it’s a topic I’ve been doing research on for the “Furniture of Necessity” book. Coffin-making is a fascinating trade with special jigs and construction techniques that have to match the local mores.
As part of the research into coffins, I’m planning on having a coffin party with a bunch of woodworkers where we will all make our own personal vessel – and each will have bookshelves in them until we buy the farm.
It’s interesting to me how even children’s books on woodworking from the 19th century made note of the sometimes-morbid part of the job.
Below is the text from “Was soll ich werden? : ein lehrreiches Bilderbuch von Lothar Meggendorfer.” Text by von Franz Bonn München : Braun & Schneider, 1888. Translation by the ever-sturdy Jeff Burks.
All ‘s let our furniture, table and bench,
the chair, the box and the cabinet,
We thank the cabinetmaker’s diligence,
He knows how to make everything well.
He built us the cradle,
In which we beheld the light of the world –
He once carpentered us the chest,
That we will wear for eternal rest!
Matt asked if I would post the following question here on our blog so he could get some other opinions. Here’s Matt’s question:
What is the single defining quality that separates each title: “artist,” “artisan” and “craftsperson,” from the other two? Are the terms mutually exclusive or can more than one apply at the same time? And what are the implications of these titles; i.e. does your title affect how you work or the quality of the work?
Also, Matt welcomes any feedback on his essay. You can send your comments to Matt here or post them in a comment below.
