The aumbry from the upcoming “Furniture of Necessity” book is featured on the cover of the February 2015 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine, which will mail to subscribers later this month.
My article discusses the history of the aumbry and how to build it. The book version will be much expanded and more detailed, as I’ll have about 10 times the space. Still – I think it’s a good magazine article; even beginners will be able to tackle the project with the magazine article.
I have to thank Editor Megan Fitzpatrick personally for taking a gamble on this project. Few people have ever heard of an aumbry, and fewer people would tell you they love Gothic furniture. I think the stuff is the cat’s meow. It’s fun to build and uses simple geometry and basic tools to design and construct.
I was allowed to read over the entire February issue before it went to press and was quite impressed (perhaps a bit professionally jealous). There’s a fantastic myth-busting article on teak oil, an excellent piece on making your own copper hardware with simple tools and Peter Follansbee shows you how to build his cool Chinese firewood carrier.
If you don’t subscribe, or if you have let your subscription lapse, this is the time to rectify that. Megan is steering the magazine to explore areas outside the traditional Shaker, Arts & Crafts and Period styles (though those will always be part of the magazine’s fabric). Look for some Japanese, Mid-century Modern and Ruhlmann stuff in forthcoming issues.
OK, back to the shop. I’ve got another project to build for Popular Woodworking.
Peter Galbert’s upcoming book on chairmaking began more than two years ago with a short afternoon chat in Berea, Ky. It started as a DVD project with some plans. Then it was a booklet. Next, a book with photos and drawings. And finally, a massive opus on green-wood chairmaking with more than 450 hand-drawn illustrations by Peter himself.
Peter, who studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, has drawn out the process of chairmaking in such incredible detail that I think you could build a chair even if you never read a word of the book.
And while I say there are 450 drawings, that is a gross underestimation. There are 450 sheet of drawings (plus a couple dozen on the way). Many of these sheets contain as many as six individual illustrations.
Many of these illustrations were drawn four or five times over as Peter refined the look of the illustrations. As I scanned every one of these illustrations during the last five days, I was in awe of the scope of his work.
It is the Roubo of green chairmaking, and I do not say that lightly.
I’ve been making chairs for more than 10 years, and I am blown away by the clarity of Peter’s methods, his metaphors and his ability to explain complex problems with only a few sentences and a perfect drawing.
I hope to rise to the challenge of presenting this material. We are now on our second full round of scanning the drawings. All 450 illustrations have been processed and cleaned up in Photoshop individually.
As I type this, Linda Watts, the designer, is laying out the book in an 8-1/2” x 11” format so it has an open feel with plenty of white space to frame Peter’s illustrations.
We’ve decided to call this book “Chairmaker’s Notebook” because it has the look and feel of a technical sketchbook. It appears casual and airy, but is filled with big ideas.
When will it be ready? We hope to send it to the printer in January with a release in late February or early March. We have no information on pricing. But I do have one tantalizing detail to share. One of Peter’s friends is a bookbinder and plans to offer a hand-bound version of “Chairmaker’s Notebook.”
I know that many of you have been waiting a long time for this book. We are close, and it will be worth the wait.
The first project in my next book, “The Furniture of Necessity,” is a Windsor-style sawbench. While some might think it’s a complex exercise in geometry and joinery, it’s ridiculously easy once you understand a few principles that have nothing to do with trigonometry.
In my mind, this project is fundamental to understanding chairmaking and building early Western tables and other pieces of “staked” furniture, such as backstools and formes.
To explore this form a bit more, John and I threw a sawbench-making party in Indianapolis this weekend where eight of us built sawbenches using a variety of hand- and power-tool methods. We also consumed a ridiculous amount of food and alcohol.
(If you are interested in this form – not to mention food and booze – I am teaching a weekend class in building these sawbenches at Highland Woodworking next month. Details here.)
Some of the highlights of the weekend (for me):
Raney Nelson of Daed Toolworks demonstrated a technique for adding a gorgeous charred finish to wood that will be the subject of an upcoming article in Popular Woodworking Magazine by blacksmith Seth Gould.
John, my partner at Lost Art Press, built a sawbench using four different and messed-up legs that had been sent to the burn pile by the rest of us. John assembled that sawbench, and then almost made me pee my pants by polishing the legs of the thing like it was on the cover of a woodworking magazine.
Narayan Nayar, the photographer for many Lost Art Press projects, demonstrated an offset turning technique that resulted in some beautiful elliptical legs.
Dr. Tim Henrickson made his first leg on a lathe that looked like it should be in an alien porn movie.
Megan Fitzpatrick, the editor of Popular Woodworking Magazine, had a video chat this weekend with her 4-year-old niece. So we all took off our shirts and walked around in the background during the chat.
Dr. Koa, aka Sean Thomas, brought along some cask-strength bourbon and rye that triggered all of the above events.
This is the third party we’ve thrown to explore early techniques, and it was a bunch of fun. Not to mention useful. If you ever feel uninspired or stuck with your woodworking, consider throwing a quick build-fest to tackle a fun project like this.
But don’t be like us and go shirtless in December. Engorged man nipples are not pretty.
