October 20, 2011

Since my last entry our Craftsman Program students have completed their sawhorse exercise and have begun the Wabi Sabi cabinet exercise. We began with the coopered door; each student beveled and edge jointed the staves for their door, using planes made in the second week of the program. We then selected the material for their top, bottom and sides and edge jointed material as required. Joining material with an imperceptible joint is very gratifying, especially using a tool that you made and tuned yourself. We have doweled our carcasses, flushed the back and ran a rebate to accept the back panel we will be making in the coming weeks. We fit the door to the sides of the cabinet, an exercise in flexible accuracy. We ran the slots for partitions and milled and drilled for the fittings. We have shaped the sides, a subtle curve with a little pinch toward the edges of the concave door. This week we will be making and installing knife hinges, and complete the surface preparation and edge treatment.

We will then apply finish, in this case, polish (shellac) and assemble. Next week, once the partition is installed, we will be moving onto dovetail joinery and drawer making and fitting.

Resident Craftsman Program students and I have continued on with the joinery for our chairs. We will be moving onto shaping this week and move onto assemblies next week. Our second year students are happy in their work, and it shows in their work. Yvonne and I are so very greatful to have such a fine group of second year students.

The last Elephant was held at the beach, a five minute stroll from the school. A nice fire, incredible sunset and beautiful people. We celebrated Scott and Marijolein’s birthdays and Melissa’s first commission, a chair for a client who operates a gallery in New York.

On Sunday morning, I arrived at the school a few minutes before six. I cut and fit the compound angled joinery for the lower side rails of my chair. At nine thirty Yvonne came by and we walked to the beach and sat in the sun and felt very fortunate to live where we do.

The weekend before last, we joined alumni Dan McCallum for chainsaw milling of Port Orford cedar, catalpa, elm and cherry on Spanish Banks. We were joined by allumni Bill Chow and Sue Nagy. We were invited back to Dan and Stephanie’s where we were treated to a wonderful lunch, followed by shop and wood shed tours where the students and I were sent away with truck loads of wood.

“Relax, just remember the wood, the tools and the details, and you’ll be fine.” -JK

It was down at the beach, that I was reminded of the conversation I had with JK on a sunny fall afternoon in the fall of 2005. I was feeling a bit anxious, the day before our first Craftsman Program. Jim said “ Relax, just remember the wood, the tools and the details, and you’ll be fine.” After a busy week with fine work in the shop, we were outside in the fresh air where it all begins, with the wood.

Be well and enjoy your work,

Robert

October 5, 2011

We are entering the fourth week of our Craftsman and Resident Craftsman programs at Inside Passage School of Fine Cabinetmaking.

Last week our Craftsman program students began the sawhorse exercise. The exercise begins with the selection of the material. For each element of the sawhorse, we are looking for straight, rift-sawn grain. Each student is provided with a piece of flat sawn 16/4 eastern hard maple approximately 150mm wide and 300mm long. The end of the billet is layed out and the initial cut is made on the bandsaw with the table tilted and again later as the grain rotates on the curve. Each piece is sawn oversize and allowed to settle. Because we are taking many little pieces out of one large piece it is perhaps even more important, to allow the material to settle at the bench.

We use this time to become familiar with process of mortising, a machine process which I, and many of our students very much enjoy. Once the material has relaxed it is milled to final dimension using story sticks derived from the original sawhorse.

The mortises are layed out also using a story stick and each mortise is cut-free hand. We do have a slot mortiser with a xy table at the school however; it is not used during the first year of the program. We then used the stock and the milled mortises to determine the size of the tenons. The tenon shoulders are cut on the table saw, the cheeks on the bandsaw. The entire process is done without the need of a measuring device. The tenons are shaped and fitted by hand using files, knives and chisels.

Once all joinery including a doweled half lap joint at the top rail all surfaces and edges were prepared using our fine planes that were made in the second week of the program. This week the students have moved onto assemblies and will begin the casework exercise. We will select the material for a coopered door. Resaw and allow to rest, while we complete our sawhorses. The door will be edge jointed and shaped using our fine planes.

The Resident Craftsman students were introduced to the xy table during their chair making exercise, where each student is encouraged to use it for a couple of the mortises they need to mill. If chair work is to become a large portion of their work in the future it is worth knowing the process of setting up such a machine. I was very pleased to see each of them return to the free hand method for the remainder of their mortises. The free-hand method was used by Jim, and is taught here at the school.  It is fast to set up and very efficient when making one piece at a time. It requires sensitivity and a bit of finesse. Both of which is in abundance with our second year students.

The images above are of the simple fixture we used to ensure mortises in each back leg were precisely at the same angle along the curve.  The fixture consists of a block approximately 370mm x 60mm x 60mm, mine was carefully squared for me by Raul. Two strips of wood are laid perpendicular to the length of the block. The rear legs are layed inside facing out and are shifted so the mortise running parallel to the jointer table. The legs are aligned using a square and then clamped to the block, and the mortises are cut in the first side. The clamps are revised, one at a time with an additional clamp ensuring there is no shift in alignment, shown. A lofting duck placed on top of the block supplies a bit of mass when cutting freehand mortises.

“Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit and resign yourself to the influences of each.” -Thoreau

On Sunday I came in to cut the mortises in the sample chair I am making along side of the Resident Craftsman. I so enjoy the simplicity of this process. In a few hours I had cut the mortises for the front and back legs of my chair and hand planed in a few of the tapers. Melissa was so kind to plane a few more of the tapers for me this week. On Sunday I was reminded of the importance in remembering to breathe, in our life, and our work.

Be well and enjoy your work,

Robert

September 27, 2011

We are beginning the third week of the Craftsman and Resident Craftsman Programs at Inside Passage School of Fine Cabinetmaking. We had a week of making planes, and shavings. We also began preparing our chisels for the fine work we will do with them in the coming weeks. We discussed and observed the setting hoops and tapping out Japanese chisels and the Krenovian chisel modification.

On Friday after class, Gary Kent hosted an Elephant at the Co Housing. A beautiful evening with a beautiful people.

Craftsman Program students have completed their smoothers and are all making lovely shavings and leaving behind beautiful surfaces. They are in the process of completing their jointer and coopering planes, which we will be using next week when we begin the coopered door for our Wabi Sabi exercise.

This week we have begun the sawhorse exercise, which will be done in eastern hard maple. We will continue on the upward spiral as we revisit facets of our work and learn new ones. We will look again at the use of negative templates used in the selection of material and the straightening of the grain to achieve pleasing grain graphics. We will begin to enjoy the simple and effective use of story sticks. We will practice a sensitive approach to mortise and tenon joinery and introduce yet another wood with different working properties.

The Resident Craftsman program students have completed the selection of material and millwork for their chairs. The curves in the back legs were cut close to the line on the bandsaw and fared square using spokeshaves and planes.

This week they have moved onto the joinery. Vidar’s exercise is done concurrent with the graphics, shaping and joinery exercises in the Craftsman Program. This gives Craftsman program students a preview of just some of the possibilities, which exist in our craft. We are very fortunate to have a fine group of second year student this year. Watching them to continue to develop as craftsmen fills me with a deep sense of gratitude.

“There never seems to be enough time to do the things you want to do, once you find them…” – Jim Croce

Last week I learned that a friend, alumni of the school, is unable to continue with the craft for due to health issues. I was reminded of the of the following passage importance in my own life, taken from the forward in a recent edition of A Cabinetmakers Notebook he Forward is written by Craig McArt, he writes:

“I remember back in his tidy little home workshop in Sweden, Jim would worry about how he would manage lifting the heavy planks when he got older, how he could still be useful and respected when he no longer commanded the sharp eye and steady hand he needed for the craft. “Perhaps I could teach.” He would say. “Maybe I could offer some modest advice or encouragement to others who might value this way of working.”

Each of us will at one time face challenges and obstacles in the pursuit of our dreams. Every day I am reminded of how grateful I am to do what I do; and while it may be different path, it is simply an adaptation of an earlier dream.

Be well and enjoy your work,
Robert

September 17, 2011

We have just completed the first week of the Craftsman and Resident Craftsman programs at Inside Passage School of Fine Cabinetmaking. This year’s class consists of students from Japan, Belgium, Israel, Mexico, United States and Canada, including five second-year students, three Artisan program alumni including one Resident Artisan program alumni.

The Craftsman program students began with the graphics and shaping exercise. Students are guided through the sharpening, tuning and use of spokeshaves and block planes, tools essential to fine cabinetmaking. Students then complete a millwork and grain straightening exercise, which includes the use and safe operation of the bandsaw, jointer, planer and dimension saw. Students are then introduced to grain graphics, templates, shaping, surface preparation and edge treatment.

Each of these skills is primary to our work. This coming week the Craftsman program students we will be moving onto plane making, tuning and use during which time they will be introduced to the boring machines and drill press. Each student will make a smoothing, jointer and coopering planes required for the remainder of the exercises and throughout their lives as craftsman.

The Resident Craftsman program students have begun their chair making exercise. Each student has made a complete set of templates and working drawings of Vidar’s chair and have moved onto the selection and breakout of material for their chair. They began looking for the material for the crest rail, a double curve requiring very straight 75mm by 75mm rift sawn stock. This can be an arduous task, even if 12/4 stock is available. My solution is documented in a previous edition of the journal during which time I was making the chair and has become the basis for an advanced graphics exercise which each of our second year students have begun. This coming week the Resident Craftsman program students will be moving onto final stock preparation and joinery for their chairs.

Our Programs have been aligned in such a way that from the beginning our second-year students, while continuing on that upward spiral are undertaking work, which provides first year students the opportunity to see further possibilities, which exist in our craft. All of our programs at Inside Passage School of Fine Cabinetmaking are founded on the teachings of my James Krenov and will continue to explore the wood, the tools and the details of fine cabinetmaking is he suggested.

First Elephants was held at our home on Friday evening following class. This year’s class was joined by several of our Artisan, Craftsman and Resident Craftsman alumni. Artisan Alumni John Leinemann made the trip all the way from Kelowna to join us and brought along a couple of billets of apple wood he harvested himself. The evening began with a tour of Robert’s new benchroom, and an opportunity to see some of the work of our students and faculty including our recently acquired cabinet on a stand made by Jim, the year I was in school. Wonderful food and conversation, the evening concluded with a bonfire.

Yvonne and I would like to thank all our alumni for their letters, packages, phone calls and e-mails, in the past few weeks wishing us well with our new group. One of these little packages included a lovely vintage pencil sharpener. It has been installed in your old corner Steve, and will remind us of the pleasure one feels when doing things by hand. I am reminded that this school not only exists for you but because of you, and Yvonne and I are very grateful for all your support and for making the creative and supportive environment, which exists at the school.

I did not get much work done in my own shop this week, however after much reflection, I have decided not to proceed with the integrated pulls that I had previously mocked up. At the school, students are encouraged to commit to any decision only when it becomes necessary. While this has served me well in my own work, and in the work of our students; I think perhaps we spend too much time thinking and not enough time doing. This craft in its purest form requires flow or rhythm in ones work. A connection to the material, a respect for the process and the enjoyment that comes as a result. I am beginning to regain that connection, respect and enjoyment which brought me here.

Be well and enjoy your work,
Robert