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.
In the woodworking world, you won’t find anyone more practical or resourceful than John Wilson of the Home Shop in Charlotte, Mich.
Virtually everything on his property was made by his own hands. He’s a furniture maker, boat builder, carpenter, toolmaker, sailmaker and machinist.
If you’ve ever built a Shaker oval box, you probably used tacks that Wilson made with ancient machines he restored. You probably used instructions that Wilson wrote and techniques he developed over years of work. You might have even used wood that he cut and took to a veneer mill.
He sells Shaker box supplies to the world through ShakerOvalBox.com and teaches classes at his shop and all over the country on the box-making process.
And somehow through all this, Wilson also manages to write. Last year, he released his book “Making Wood Tools,” which he sell through his web site. It’s a book about making tools that really, really work. They aren’t precious trophy-like totems you’ll put on a shelf. They are designed to be put to work. And they are tools that anyone can build in a typical home shop – even the metal work.
I can speak to Wilson’s skill because I made his router plane (from a chunk of wood and hex key) before I could afford the Stanley 71. It’s a brilliant tool. As his editor at Popular Woodworking, I used his jack plane, block plane and spokeshave. These tools have it where it counts – a sharp blade held fast by a wooden body.
Perhaps the most brilliant part of Wilson’s book is how he introduces basic metalwork to a woodworker. Using hardware-store materials, Wilson makes blades for his tools. He hardens them with a torch and tempers them in the oven in the kitchen. And he makes it so easy you’ll wonder why you never did it before.
The book shows you how to make 12 tools plus a workbench, sawbenches and tool totes. What’s even more remarkable is these plans are “open source,” for lack of a better word. Wilson allows woodworking clubs and other not-for-profit entities to reproduce his plans for free.
Now Wilson has released a supplement to his book with some new tools to build – a large compass plane, a drawknife, shoulder planes and moulding planes. You can download the supplement for free from his web site using this link. You can also download a sample of his hardbound book here.
If you are interested in making your own tools, I think Wilson’s book is an outstanding resource. Highly recommended. The best way to order the book is to give John a call at his shop: 517-543-5325 or 877-612-6435.
— Christopher Schwarz
You can read a feature that Kara Gebhart-Uhl wrote on Wilson here.
