One of the dimensions on page 161 of “Campaign Furniture” is incorrect. The height of the front stretcher of the Roorkee chair should be 12-1/2” from the floor, not 13-1/2”.
You can download a high-resolution pdf of the corrected page via this link. If you own the pdf of the book, you can make the correction in the text yourself (one of the beauties of having a file that is free of DRM).
Apologies for the error.
— Christopher Schwarz
This January I’m teaching a new two-day class at Highland Woodworking in Atlanta on building sawbenches using Windsor-chair techniques. The class will run Jan. 17-18, 2015; registration is open and through the Highland Woodworking site here.
I’m excited to teach this class because it will be the first time I’ve ventured into teaching Windsor techniques. I’ve built Windsor- and Welsh-style chairs for more than 10 years (not to mention Roorkee chairs), but this is my first toe into the water on teaching Windsor technology.
These sawbenches are excellent workhorses. John Hoffman, my partner at Lost Art Press, built the pair shown above about four years ago. They can take a heap of abuse and occupy little space in the shop. Plus, they look awesome.
During the class, we’ll learn about prepping stock by hand, making octagonal legs, creating tapered tenons and mortises, and lots about wood technology. And you’ll walk away with two (yes, two) great sawbenches.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. If you haven’t been to Highland Woodworking, you are missing out. If every city had a Highland Woodworking, the world would be a better place. Check out the blog entry from my last visit here.
I get asked regularly for permission to use my plans and writings for the following things:
My answer to these questions is always: absolutely. Everything I publish is free for you to use for classes, in your club or even to make a commercial piece of woodworking to sell.
In fact, the only thing I object to is when someone violates my copyright by reproducing an entire book or DVD then reselling it as their own work or giving it away on a torrent site. That’s just theft. (It’s uncommon in the woodworking business, but it happens.)
To be honest, little that I do (or any other woodworking author, for that matter) is original. My work is inspired by old books, new books, old work and new. If my work inspires you to teach others about it, I’m happy. If it makes you want to share it with your club, ditto. And if it helps you make something you can sell, that’s great, too.
So please, take these ideas. Use them to inspire others to pick up the tools and build.
— Christopher Schwarz
One of the nice things about teaching different places is you get to see how each school has its own personality or vibe, if you will.
I can say this: If you like taking classes at Kelly Mehler’s School of Woodworking, you’ll feel right at home at William Ng’s school in Anaheim, Calif. Like Kelly, William has a laid-back, almost soothing personality. And (also like Kelly), William takes his equipment very seriously.
(Teaching here made me realize how much I’ll miss teaching at Kelly’s this year – he’s taking a sabbatical for a year to travel and do other stuff.)
On Monday we began turning legs for Roorkee chairs on sweet Oneway lathes and began boring the leg mortises on a monstrous General drill press. We also started all the leatherwork for the chairs by making what seemed like a mile of belting material from vegetable-tanned leather.
Teaching the class made me realize I have a slight dimensional error in “Campaign Furniture.” I’ll publish an errata tonight after class.
Today we crack into the chromium-tanned hides that will make the seats and start the tricky process of making the socketed mortises and tenons that create the chair’s frame.
So next time your family wants to go to Disneyland, simply agree. Send them there and book a class down the street with William Ng. Win-win.
— Christopher Schwarz
I have concluded that the surface-mounted tee-nuts (item 94122A200 from McMaster-Carr) are difficult to break, but they do break at the collar if you tighten their mating bolts too much.
So I removed these 14 tee-nuts from my knockdown Nicholson bench. When it comes to a workbench, nothing should be light- or medium-duty. I replaced them with an old standby for me: the six-prong steel tee-nut for wood, also from McMaster-Carr (90975A163).
These are less expensive – $13.72 for a pack of 50 – and can be tightened with prejudice. You’ll crush the wood before you strip or break these tee-nuts. The downside? They will sometimes fall out when your parts are disassembled.
And here ends the great surface-mounted tee-nut experiment of 2014.
Tomorrow I’ll finish up this workbench – flatten the benchtop and install the crochet. I’ll also shoot a video of how the bench knocks down for travel. I am pleased with the way it goes together.
Then I’ll get back on a pair of Roorkee chair commissions.
— Christopher Schwarz
