The first project that young Thomas builds in “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker,” is a packing box, which was meant for a customer who was taking some books to the countryside.
Most modern-day readers skip building the packing box and move right on to the second project in the book, the schoolbox. And that’s too bad, because the packing box is great fun and has some good lessons in working entirely by hand.
One reader came up with a great use for a packing box. I love it. The box mimics the box on the cover and in the book. Great idea.
The reason I’m not answering your e-mails or phone messages this week is that I’m teaching the “Hammer in Hand” class at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking.
We’re building three projects this week – a shooting board/bench hook, a Moxon dovetailing vise and the Schoolbox from “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker” book. And with the pace that this class is on, we might have to add a fourth project.
With more than a day and a half left, most of the students are working on the moulding for the piece.
That’s not supposed to happen until tomorrow.
So I think we’ll carve some garden gnomes tomorrow. Can’t have too many garden gnomes.
After building a half-dozen versions of The Schoolbox from “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker,” I’m beginning to dial in the design of the small chest to suit my taste.
I am still enamored with the overall proportions and scale of the chest, but I’ve tweaked the decorative details. Here’s a summary of my alterations.
1. Instead of a flat chamfer on the mitered base moulding, I switched to a 3/8” square ovolo. Also instead of mitering the corners, I dovetail them and carve the corners with a chisel.
2. On the lid, I use a cove (made with a No. 6 round) instead of a chamfer. These two changes to the mouldings make the chest look more like a nice piece of furniture than a traveling chest for a kid heading off to boarding school.
3. I’ve not yet found strap hinges that I like that are the right size – the ones I used on the first version are too big. Until I get a blacksmith to make me some, I’ve switched to these gorgeous iron butt hinges from Whitechapel Ltd. They come with great old-school screws.
4. I added two small iron chest lifts. They look nice and make the chest easier to pick up and move. The ones shown on the chest are vintage, but Horton Brasses make lifts that look exactly the same and are the same small size. Click here.
I’ll be building another one of these Schoolboxes at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking Sept. 4-8, so I’ll have another opportunity to try some other changes, perhaps to the dovetail spacing. There are still a couple spots open in the class. More details are here.
There are several spots open in the “Hammer in Hand” class that runs Sept. 4-8 at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking in Franklin, Ind.
The class is perhaps poorly named – it’s not just about nails. Instead, the course is as much instruction on building traditional casework by hand that I can cram into five days. During the class we build three projects: A Moxon dovetailing vise, a shooting board/bench hook and the dovetailed Schoolbox from “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker.”
The class is open to all skill levels of woodworkers. I’ve had students who have never picked up a tool before, and I’ve had professional woodworkers who want to learn hand techniques.
The class is structured to challenge your ideas about handwork. Most people get the impression that it is slow, perhaps a little crude or that you need years of training to do basic things. Not so. Here’s some of stuff we learn in the class.
1. Sharpening. Get it done in three minutes and get back to work. It’s more fun to make tools dull than it is to make them sharp.
2. Flattening by hand. How to quickly flatten boards with planes by paying attention to only a couple key surfaces and ignoring the rest.
3. Shooting. How to shoot boards for accurate joinery with a simple appliance.
4. Dovetailing. Learn what’s important and what’s not so you focus your energy and attention in the right place. Find out where people make their biggest mistake (it’s not sawing or chiseling).
5. Traditional glues. Why hide glue is the woodworker’s friend.
6. Truing up an glued carcase without spleching the corners.
7. Nails. Why you should love cut nails. They are an important part of the hardware, like a lock or pulls.
8. Cut dados by hand. It’s a snap. No dado plane needed.
9. Make basic mouldings by hand – both with complex moulders and hollows and rounds.
10. Mitering by hand. You don’t need a chop saw.
So if you have a free week, we’d love to have you join the class. It’s the only class I’m teaching in 2012 that has any open spots. To register or get more information on the class, click here.
Because of a cancellation, there are two spots open in my “Hammer in Hand” class at The Center for Furniture Craftsmanship on July 16-20 in Rockport, Maine.
The class is $695 and we will build three (yes, three) projects: A Moxon double-screw vise in maple, a very useful shooting board and the dovetailed Schoolbox in Eastern white pine, my favorite project from “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker.”
For more details on the class, or to sign up, click here.
The class is during a particularly fun time to visit Maine because the awesome Lie-Nielsen Open House occurs during the Friday and Saturday before the class. The factory is a short drive from the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship. I’ll be at the open house, as will people far more talented, including Chuck Bender, Christian Becksvoort, Tico Vogt and Matt Bickford. (Speaking of Mr. Bickford, we will be showing off the galley proofs of his upcoming book “Mouldings in Practice.” Yes, it’s done.) Get all the details on the open house event here.
So do what I did: Blow off your job and come to Maine next month. Or as Evelle Stokes says in “Raising Arizona”: “H.I., you’re young and you got your health, what you want with a job?”
