One of the cool things about the Wortheffort school of woodworking is the workbenches. Shawn Graham, the brains and back behind the school, built enough for 13 students and the instructor. Almost all of the benches are very basic Roubo designs made from construction timber.
No tail vises.
Workholding is all done with leg vises (no garters!), small Moxon-style vises for the benchtops and holdfasts.
All the vises, including the leg vises, use wooden-thread screws, which I think Shawn made himself.
I feel right at home in this shop environment, and it’s fun to show students how versatile these simple benches are.
The only downside is the leg vises are all so new that they screech when you use them. When all the students started to clamp their work up simultaneously, it sounded like someone was clubbing the Vienna Baby Seal Choir.
— Christopher Schwarz
Today we will work like heck to get these chests done. This is a three-day class crammed into two days.
This weekend I’m in San Marcos, Texas, at the Wortheffort school of woodworking. Haven’t heard of the school? It’s new. But I hope you will hear more soon.
The school is the brainchild of Shawn Graham, who wanted to create a hand-tool school with a community focus. The storefront school is located in the small college town of San Marcos – halfway between Austin and San Antonio. It’s on the same strip with lots of tattoo parlors, locavore restaurants, boxing clubs and college bars.
Today I arrived at the school as Shawn was finishing one of the French workbenches for the school in order to accommodate 13 students in the classroom. It’s a big, open and airy room, with a digital projector, whiteboards and lots of benches.
And it’s all sourced from Craigslist.com, Shawn says.
After dumping my tools off, I headed over to the Root Cellar Cafe, an incredible little subterranean restaurant, for a late lunch. Then it was back to the school to help prep the stock for my class tomorrow while Shawn held a free open house for members of the community.
During the 2-1/2 hours, Shawn showed the residents (of all ages and genders) how to build a small Roubo bookstand suitable for a cellphone. He cajoled them with humor and geometry to understand the important lessons.
And I sweat like a pig in the corner while sawing up (by hand) the poplar and pine planks for the class on Saturday.
One of the locals looked over and asked Shawn what I was doing.
“He’s the teacher for the weekend class; he’s just sawing up sticks,” he said.
“A teacher? I thought he was just the hired help,” she said.
Well, I really am the hired help. This school is clearly Shawn’s baby. It has the feel of Roy Underhill’s The Woodwright’s School, but done in a Texas style. As I grew up just one state north (but a world away) we’ll see how I do when I start teaching in the morning.
Perhaps Shawn will see fit to send me back to the corner to saw wood. And I’m OK with that.
This weekend I’ll be in San Marcos, Texas, at the new Wortheffort school of woodworking to teach a class on building the Dutch tool chest and give a free talk at 7 p.m. Nov. 2 that is open to the public.
If you have ever wanted to harass me, heckle me or autograph you baby’s head, this is your chance.
I am not sure what my presentation will be about. Perhaps on Campaign Furniture; perhaps on the weird history of workbenches. Or maybe something else. I’ll make that decision on the airplane. Some details about the free event are here. A map and phone number to the school can be found here.
This is my last class or public appearance for 2013. Whew.
If you are in the class, this is going to be a doozy. We have to build the chest in only two days. So practice your dovetails if you can.
If you have ever wondered what a woodworking class looks like from start to finish, here’s your chance. During the six-board chest class at The Woodwright’s Shop, student Mattias Jonsson documented a lot of the “action” and created a slideshow of his images.
I hate to be photographed. And I think this slideshow will explain why.
Because I travel a lot with my tools, every ounce and inch (centimeter and kilogram) is critical.
I usually push the weight limit for luggage, so compact tools can mean the difference between bringing my own underwear and having to purchase some foreign undies that might just lift and separate things that should be neither lifted nor separated on a man (see also: my trip to Italy this June).
So I’ve always wanted a take-down framing square – it’s a standard carpentry tool that separates into two pieces for travel. It’s brilliant for travel. But I’d never buy one online – they have a reputation for being abused and out of square.
While I was teaching this weekend at Roy Underhill’s The Woodwright’s School, I sneaked up to Ed Lebetkin’s tool-porn-a-go-go store and examined three of the take-down squares he had for sale. All three were out of whack. But Roy thought he could fix one of them with a little metalwork.
It took a couple hours of filing, cleaning and peening, but he transformed this Pexto SR-100 into a factory-perfect jewel. The parts click when they slide together. And the cam lock snugs up everything tight.
I can now get rid of the old framing square I’ve had since college. Anyone want it? Come and get it. The only catch is you also have to take two pairs of pink and gray Italian undies.
