If you have ever wanted to build a full-on dovetailed Anarchist’s Tool Chest and want it done quick, here is your chance.
Due to a slight mix-up, we have two openings in my Anarchist’s Tool Chest at The Woodworker’s Club in Rockville, Md. They are prepping the poplar for the build today and tomorrow, so if you sign up now, you can be cutting dovetails on Monday morning and your chest will be done by Friday (except the easy innards. Hmmm “Easy Innards” would be a good band name…).
Peter Hagaman was a large man, fully six feet tall, bony and muscular. He had a rugged face, coarse dark hair and dark eys. He stood erect, had a stalwart appearance, and was very strong…
Notwithstanding his size, he was quick in movement, and deft in every branch of his vocation. His ful eys, set in a ful face, exprest the generous impulses of his nobl character. Benevolence was the leading trait of the moral element of this strong man. To hav plenty, to deal generously with all, to be kind to the poor, to encurage everything that tended to improve the condition of society and make the world better was his aim and effort.
A feature of the man is seen in this litl occurrence: One day Nelson Young Esq., said to him: “Mr. Hagaman! Why do you not sel that piece of timber?—It wil bring you a handsum price; the muney at interest wil be a handsum incum; and you, as long as you may liv, wil never need so much timber!”
Mr. Hagaman replied: “When I came into the world, there was timber here for my use; when I die, I wish to leav what I can for the use of those who liv after me.” Of that element that we call selfish his hart was barren.
If you’d like to claim that space, call Paula at 317-535-4013 or register via the school’s web site: marcadams.com.
This is the only workbench class I’m teaching this year, and I don’t have any more scheduled for 2015 or 2016 as yet. We’ll be building French-style workbenches using some awesome 12/4 ash from Horizon Wood Products.
Your bench can be up to 8’ long and incorporate any vises that you wish to purchase. The bench design will accommodate almost any vise, from the Benchcrafted products to an iron quick-release vise. The French bench is truly “open architecture.”
Warning: These classes are physical. There is heavy lifting involved. Long days. Camaraderie and brown liquor (after class) are the usual by-products of this class. I highly recommend these classes as a way to get your “dream bench” completed. The heavy equipment (a 24”-wide planer!) helps get the job done so you can get on with the task/joy of building furniture.
Hope you can join us. If we don’t have a taker, I’ll build an extra bench and sell it so I can get an extra kidney and liver installed.
When I travel, I almost never add extra time to the trip for sightseeing. I always have work to do at the bench at home, plus a book to edit and family stuff to take care of.
But during this week in Anchorage, Ak., I had almost a whole day free, and several of the members of the Alaska Creative Woodworkers Association took it upon themselves to give me a crash course in life outside Anchorage.
We drove down to Seward with Jonathan Snyder (a biologist and the famous Alaska Woodworker) and Paul Rupple (a FedEx pilot and a member of the board of directors of the Alaska SeaLife Center) serving up a fascinating commentary on the wildlife, geography and history of the scenery unfolding out the windows of our minivan.
In Seward we toured the Alaska SeaLife Center, where I pet a sea anemone, got up close with an amazing array of shore birds and saw marine animals aplenty. Ever wonder what seal tastes like? Jonathan tried to describe it. I think it would be good in nugget format.
Lunch was a landmark for me: My first piece of fresh halibut. In high school I worked for three years in a fish store, band sawing frozen halibut. That is where I developed my love of the band saw and my dislike of cleaning a meat-cutting band saw. (Wood-cutting band saws are much easier to clean.)
Oh, fresh halibut is %$#&* amazing.
On the way back to Anchorage we stopped at the Byron glacier and climbed up to it. We climbed up to a glacier. A glacier. Dang.
Then we headed back to Anchorage so I could speak to the club about workbenches.
Alaska – at least the small part I saw – is intoxicatingly beautiful. I hope I can return before too long.
…We mention these things that parents may not be disappointed, or expect more from the occupation of a garden than it can at a very early age afford. A garden is an excellent resource for children, but they should have a variety of other occupations: rainy days, and frost and snow will come, and then children must be occupied within doors.
We immediately think of a little set of carpenter’s tools, to supply them with active amusement. Boys will probably be more inclined to attempt making models than drawings of the furniture which appears to be the most easy to imitate; they will imagine, that if they had but tools, they could make boxes, and desks, and beds, and chests of drawers, and tables, and chairs innumerable. But, alas! these fond hopes are too soon dissipated.
Suppose a boy of seven years old to be provided with a small set of carpenter’s tools, his father thinks, perhaps, that he has made him completely happy; but a week afterwards the father finds dreadful marks of the file and saw upon his mahogany tables; the use of these tools is immediately interdicted until a bench shall be procured. Week after week passes away, till at length the frequently reiterated speech of, “Papa, you bid me put you in mind about my bench, “Papa” has its effect, and the bench appears. (more…)