DAY 11: Lobsta', Croquet, and 5 Hours Sleep

DAY ELEVEN. The end is getting near, and time for blogging is getting scarce. The lectures we've had over the last week and a half are being put to good use as we all chisel, design, and plane our wood into something that resembles furniture. I've learned to trust my markings when it comes to cutting dovetails. Which greatly increases the speed at which I approach the finish product. It took me an entire day to cut the dovetails of one leg, and now today I've cut the other legs dovetails and one set of pins in less than 7 hours.

Aaron Fadarko consulting with Sybil on getting the perfect fit

Bill B. working, in ash, on his Half-Blind Dovetails

Francis got a leg on

Daniel and Aaron

The day ended and it was time to prepare for the pot luck we'd be having later in the day. Since there wasn't much time to make anything the pot luck was practically catered by The Market Basket, down the road. I wouldn't say that is a bad thing at all, the food at The Market Basket is de-ricious.

After dinner a little game of Croquet. I can't say I feel guilty for neglecting my project and playing croquet because it's so damn fun. I've never played, and I'm not sure I can say now that I've played, only because PK, who was ref, had some interesting rules. What better way to spend a Thursday than with local lobster, a few beers, and croquet with a bunch of virgin woodworkers.

PK trying to hula hoop

DAY 9 & 10: Rubbed The Wrong Way, Reading Guinnee Pigs, and First Cuts

DAY NINE and TEN have been non-stop. We've actually started cutting into our projects which means we are putting in double time so that we can somewhat finish them by Friday. PK is trying to console us by saying that most people are lucky if they glue up by Friday, but I'm hoping that I can get this done and ship it out so I don't have to take it on the plane back to SF with me. I wasn't expecting this class to be stressful, but I keep having these moments of panic where I think I'm cutting the wrong thing, then I realize I'm doing what I should be, just to have that panic grab me again. Needless to say there is a lot riding on finishing this project.

These past few days have started early, 7am or so, and ending late, 10pm-ish. But it's hard to stop when each step of the process is so rewarding. I can't adequately describe the satisfaction of fitting a joint and having all the pins and tails line up, but its a lot like trying on a perfect pair of jeans, or biting into a ripe nectarine, or building a replica of the golden gate bridge out of Lego's.

On top this busy schedule I'm also being a guinea pig of PK's new book. I feel pretty lucky that I'm getting to read the first two chapters and I have to say so far it's really good. Bill B, who's an English teacher, also gets to be a guinea pig. PK's book is half memoir half philosophy of craft, and without giving anything away, the history of craft and the way craft has changed in just the past 130 years is really fascinating, well at least PK's interpretation of it is. If you want to read more on craft I'm pretty sure that for Mondays post I left a little list of good books to read. If you have any suggestions feel free send them to me.

I don't want to get too off topic, so back to class, Tuesday we had a lecture on abrasives. What I learned was, hand plane your wood and you wont have to worry about sanding. Really I learned quite a bit more, but you can probably find out all you want to know yourself on the Internet.

As a group we went to Suzuki's Sushi Bar in Rockland. We start everyday out with restaurant reviews and Suzuki averaged a solid 8. The prices were fair, and the food was good. I would recommend the rolls, the noodle dishes were, meh. They carried some great beers including one of my favorites, Hitachino Nest. Do the Hitachino White.

Suzuki's

I mentioned earlier that we started our projects on Tuesday, by Wednesday they were starting to look like furniture.

Starting our projects (Near to Far: Daniel, Marie, Bill P.)

(Near to Far: Bill B., Francis, Phil)

I love Marie's sweeping dovetail pattern

DAY 8: Sticky Situations, Keep On Truckin'

DAY EIGHT, It's only Monday and I'm already tired.  I spent all weekend catching up and now the craft bus has taken off again.  This is definitely starting to feel like a marathon.  I don't think I've worked 14 hour days 8 day in a row in my life, and now I'm doing it voluntarily, we all are.

Anyway, PK gave us a pretty long lecture on adhesives and what I find amazing is the glue we use is actually stronger than the natural glue that holds wood fibers together.  He also attempted to show us how to joint wood, that means put two pieces of wood together to make a wider piece of wood.  I say attempt because the machinery, PK, didn't get much sleep the night before.  I'm finding out that woodworking is some complicated stuff.  It seems like you have to do 10 things before you can do one.  For example, if you try to edge joint 3 pieces of wood you have to put biscuit joints or dowels or a rabbit and dado joint to keep them straight, and the clamps have to be engineered in just a way that they distribute pressure evenly from front to back or the wood will bow.  Or you have to rig the wood....  You get the point.  There is quite a bit to think about when your just putting two pieces of wood together.

There weren't any great leaps into our projects, but my battle buddy Daniel, the over achiever, has started his.  The rest of us did the usual, practice joints, sharpen chisels and planes, etc. 

It's Monday and that means SLIDE SHOW!!!  On the program tonight was Aaron Fedarko, our TA and a local furniture designer.  About 4 years ago Aaron quite his job traveled to South America.  He was visiting a salt hotel in Sal de Uyuni in Bolivia where the furniture was made out of, you guessed it, salt, when he decided he would pursue a passion of his and make furniture.  When he returned to America he studied under Brian Boggs and then soon after went through the 9 month program here at The Center For Furniture Craftsmanship. 

A bent laminate chair by Aaron

Here is a game table by Aaron.  Just a little something he did in the 9 month program.

Aaron's Bridge table on display at Rayr Wine Shop and Gallery in Camden

Next up was Pete Schlebecker.  Pete is another local, and a very interesting guy.  He has been practicing Nichiren Buddhism for some time and slowly got into woodworking in the 80's after he built himself and a few friends Butsadahns.  Over the years he studied design acquiring an MFA from the Rhode Island School Of Design.  He does a lot of conceptual work and wood art, and is currently teaching the Joinery in class next to ours.  

Some of Pete's work.

Finally it was the school founder PK's turn.  PK was born and raised in Philly in the 50's where he attended a Quaker school and graduated a hippy.  He found woodworking or rawther (PK's way of saying it) woodworking found him while he was working as a carpenter on Nantucket, then a small local community of 3,000 of which only 30-50 were not born there.  Back then there was no Fine Woodworking Magazine, James Krenov hadn't written his ground breaking first book, and woodworking was somewhat of a lost art.  PK, slowly taught himself how to make furniture after he purchased a few books on joinery, and eventually moved to NYC and started a studio business.  I'm going to run through the rest of his story.  He then taught for quite a while at Anderson Ranch in Colorado, while it was in it's infancy and finally headed to the east coast again to start his own school, thus CFC.  PK has a great view of craft and the philosophy behind it as well as it's spirituality and ability to aid in personal fulfillment.  Seeing his slide show was a definite inspiration, and a reminder to make your life the life you want.  Peter's slide show focused more on the revival of modern craft from the 70's until now, sprinkled with a few of his pieces, but it's hard to find images around the Internet.  

If you are interested in some books on Craft Philosophy check any of these out.

Shop Class As Soul Craft by Matthew Crawford

The Craftsman by Richard Sennett

A Cabinetmaker's Notebook by James Krenov

The Unknown Craftsman by Soetsu Yanagi

The Soul of a Tree by George Nakashima

Day 7: Food Focused

DAY SEVEN is going to be hard to write about because it's currently day eleven.  Daniel and I went to Home Kitchen Cafe in Rockport for breakfast.  Daniel's a bit of a health nut, so my Lobster Benedict and Blueberry Pancake contrasted with his Garden omelet  as much as poplar contrasts with white oak.  We stopped by Dunkin' Donuts, my plan to balance the scales a bit, to pick up a snack for the workshop.  

A very Maine breakfast

By the time Daniel and I returned the rest of the gang had arrived.  Sybil had returned from Mount Battie, and we all worked until late in the night practicing our dovetails, fixing errors on our drafts, or hand-planing the stock for our benches.  

Francis and Bill B. working hard on a Sunday morning

Sybil catching up after her weekend hike

A nice surprise came around 6.30 when Marie, who had gone home to take a nap, returned with dinner for all of us.  She made an awesome dish with the veggies and orzo she had planned on cooking for the Thursday night pot luck. Thanks Marie. 

Marie's surprise dinner (L-R: Sybil, Marie, Bill B., Allen, Phil, Bill P., Me, Francis, Daniel)

DAY 6: Look Out Weekend We're Staying In, The Messner Gallery

DAY SIX, unlike god I'm only waiting six days before I rest.   Sort of, I wouldn't expect anything different from this class,  at 8am this morning everyone was in the shop working away.  Well, except for Sybil who was out climbing Mount Battie in Camden State Park, and Phil was in Mass. at a family reunion.  For the most part we didn't work that hard.  

Daniel, Bill. B, and I went to the Lie-Neilsen Showroom in Warren, Maine.  The showroom is a woodworkers wet dream.  Lie-Neilson has been making hand woodworking tools for the past 30 years.  PK, the man who says we don't buy tools we buy took kits, says Lie-Neilsen tools are the closest thing to a tool right out of the box than any other brand.    The Lie-Neilsen philosophy is simple, working with hand tools is satisfying on many levels, especially with the right tool, perfectly prepared to make that precise cut with ease.  Lie-Neilson takes pride in providing that.  LN has a youtube channel with how-to videos and they also have demonstrations and events around the country.

Marie, Francis, and Allen went to Liberty, Maine to check out Liberty Tools, a used tool haven consisting of our floors in a converted house into what Francis called, "a semi organized collection of junk with usable tools interspersed throughout."  Luckily for him he walked in and laid eyes on a darling 1907/09 Stanley Bailey #5 jack plane.  A near holy grail of woodworking tools.  The Stanley Bedrocks are the the real holy grails, but the Baileys are the OG's which allowed the Bedrocks to be.  

I also had a chance to go by the Messler Gallery. On display currently is work by faculty members.  If this gallery was in San Francisco I would definitely stop by.  From what I gather the gallery has 5 exhibitions a year and is home of the weekly slide show.  It is also the only exhibition space in New England dedicated to studio furniture and contemporary wood art.  Here are some pics of the current exhibition running until September 2009.

This is plywood that is carved and stained.

Here's a nice table by Garrett Hack made of Douglas Fir with Rosewood legs, Ebony, White Pine Inlay.  The drawer is great. 

Mixed Media by John Walley called Rotation.  I love it.

California has a little representation.  Jennifer Anderson from San Diego made this table called Pattern Study #1 made of Beech, Milk Paint, and Shellac.

I love looking at this detail.

This technique is called Marquetry/Parquetry.  Marquetry is creating images with veneer, Parquetry is creating geometric and simple shapes and patterns with veneer.  James MacDonald of Maine created this beautiful Madonna  called Blessing

I know, I'm amazed too.

One last piece, here is a graphite on paper drawing titled "The Carpenter" by John Walley of Maine.  

This is only half of the what's in the gallery, if you live in Maine it's definitely worth the stop to see the rest.  All of the art and furniture is for sale, you can contact the school for information about price and purchasing.

DAY 5: Daft Drafts and Blood, Sweat, and Hand Planing

DAY FIVE started perfectly, condensation wasn't dripping down the window in my room, there was a light breeze, birds chirping, and the sun was shining.  Then 2 o'clock came and with it dark clouds and an endless rain, though, when you're woodworking the weather doesn't matter that much.  

We drafted our project design most of the morning.  Our inspiration is a shaker bench with wedged tenons and dovetails and our only instruction is that we have to change one of the dimensions by at least 1/8 of an inch.  That was no problem for most of us.  Francis designed a bench using measurements that were prime numbers between 1 and 23.  Bill is keeping his bench fairly simple but focusing on wood selection and grain pattern.  We all have our own philosophy's and inspirations and the school lets you follow it through. This can definitely be seen when you visit the Fellowship Fellows who are all doing something completely different from the other, but all amazing.   I still haven't had a chance to take pictures and post about the different Fellows, but perhaps I'll find some time on Sunday.  I realized quickly The Center For Furniture Craftsmanship has a lot to offer.  A 10 minute stroll through the campus exposes you to thousands of hours worth of work in such a range that you can't help but be inspired.  

Discussing Design (Allen, Bill P., Aaron, Marie)

Marie, our interior designer

Pen to paper we all hash out our ideas for the bench (L to R: Bill B., Daniel, Marie, Sybil, Bill P., and Francis)

With our benches designed and drafted our after lunch lecture was on wood selection.  How to buy it, how to lay it out, why you should pay attention to grain and layout, yada yada yada.  

PK giving us the ins and outs of wood selection. (I almost got the whole class in this one)

Drafting and wood selection are nice, but nothing compares to HAND PLANING.  Hand planing is the process of shaving away wood using a hand plane to get it flat.  Sounds kind of easy right, well if you've  been reading the blog you'll know there isn't anything easy here.  It took me about 6 hours, 2 liters of water, and a pretty big blister on the palm of my hand before I could say I flattened the first side one board.  Sounds exciting right, well actually it is.  

The process is pretty intensive, 

Step 1:  You have to check to see where the wood is bowing and use a Scrub Plane to make a very slight concavity in the wood being sure to cut across the grain so you don't get tear out. 

The board before

About an hour of scrub planing later.

Step 2:  Use a #5 (or whatever) and plane across the grain until you taken out any twist and get the board flat from side to side.

30 minutes later its coming together.

Step 3:  Once the width of the board is flat, plane the length.

45 minutes later, for a total of 2 hours 15 minutes, a hand planed face and worth every callus. Now it's time for the other side.