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Kris uses the John Brown/Chris Williams method for shaving a round tenon. Today’s class: Staked High Stool.Sharp fixes everything. Even the saddle of a curly oak seat. Still thankful to the guy who showed me how to sharpen card scrapers 23 years ago.December of 1802 was Fisher’s first foray into chairmaking. After making a “rack for chair backs,” he constructed a “shaving jack” on which he “shaved chair backs.” The term “shaving jack” appears to be unique to Fisher but the immediate context of beginning to shave chair parts after its completion suggests the tool is what is today commonly known as a “shaving horse.” The use of the word “jack” to describe a workshop appliance has its etymological roots in the fact that “Jack” was a name for “‘any common fellow,’ and [was] thereafter extended to various appliances which do the work of common servants” such as holding things for the master craftsman. Readers may be familiar this kind of usage in the term “board jack” – a tool used to hold up the end of a large board for edge planing. Because Fisher does not record making any other shaving horse, it is assumed this is the one he refers to. The design is suited to chairmaking because of its dumbhead design – large enough for that kind of work but not much more. The head is mortised off-center to maximize the clamping area on the proper left side. The head’s grip on the stock was enhanced by the addition of leather strips nailed on only that side. It is obvious that the far end of the horse was used as a chopping block for quite some time because of a dished area almost a foot wide and several inches deep made by an axe. Evidently, Fisher was not precious about his tools. This pre-industrial irreverence toward workbenches was rooted in the craftsman’s pragmatism. — from “Hands Employed Aright: The Furniture Making of Jonathan Fisher (1768-1847)” by Joshua A. Klein #Hands_Employed_Aright@RudeMechanic on Twitter
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Category Archives: Grandpa’s Workshop
The Artistry of Tools
The trades of the carpenter, joiner, cabinetmaker and turner, and their tools, have long been an inspiration for artists. Woodworkers and tool historians have, in turn, studied artwork to learn how tools were used in the past and how they … Continue reading
Books in the French Tradition
You know that this post is going to be about André-Jacob Roubo. But not entirely. For me, woodworking books in the French tradition begin with a title we haven’t been able to publish from the “other André” – André Félibien’s … Continue reading
In the meantime, tomorrow, there is school.
This is an excerpt from “Grandpa’s Workshop” by Maurice Pommier. Pépère watched me with a strange expression. He ran his fingers through my hair, and he said, in the softest voice : — That’s the story… — But I woke up just afterward! Tell … Continue reading
Posted in Grandpa's Workshop
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Pépé Clothaire’s Tool Chest
This is an excerpt from “Grandpa’s Workshop” by Maurice Pommier. The darkest corner of Pépère’s shop both fascinates and frightens me. It is full of spiderwebs and dust. It is there that Pépère keeps the tools he doesn’t use anymore. … Continue reading
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‘Grandpa’s Workshop’ in Chalk and Asphalt
Graphic designer and woodworker Tom Buhl reproduced an illustration of “Grandpa’s Workshop” for the Santa Barbara I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival, and it is quite cool. You can see more photos of the painting being made here. See more … Continue reading
Posted in Grandpa's Workshop, Personal Favorites
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The Mad Chef Abuses Fine Belgian Beer
Editor’s note: Normally, we would not post a blog entry such as this, where a writer abuses a fine Belgian ale. But because this is Brian Anderson, who happily translated “Grandpa’s Workshop” for all of us, I am willing to … Continue reading
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The Mad Chef’s Milk Paint gets a Shellacking
Despite word from Tibet from my milk paint supplier that Agnes the yak was busy assembling her hope chest and flirting shamelessly with a certain strapping young specimen of yakhood, I decided that I needed to take the bull by … Continue reading
Posted in Grandpa's Workshop, Mouldings in Practice
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