Table for Two (or Four)

Well, here's my table. Thanks to David Welter for the beautiful photos. 

As I worked to complete this project, I reflected on my time at CR. Mostly I think I learned just enough to know how much I don't know. But as I was chopping the bracket mortises to attach the tabletop to the base, I had a moment where I moved seamlessly through the motions without too much contemplation. In that moment I realized that I have learned a lot. 

I've learned lots individually and the class has learned even more collectively. This point was driven home to me when I drilled through my tabletop (argh!). My first thought was, well at least Molly's here, she's done a louse. Dechen was in the finishing room with me when it happened, and he helped me to stay calm and come up with a good solution to the problem. One of the best parts of the program has been sharing the learning experience with my classmates. I look forward to seeing where we go with our new and improved skills and knowledge. I certainly expect great things.

  

Life Flies By

I've been slow to post lately, but that doesn't mean that life has been slow. Quite the opposite. Lots has happened in the past few weeks.

Michael Burns, director of the program, turned 70, and we celebrated with a big party. Woodworkers from years past, as far back as 30 years ago, showed up to join the festivities. It was great to share our projects with alumni as they reminisced about their time at CR.

Michael is also retiring this year. He helped to create the fine woodworking program and has had a steady hand in it ever since. On Saturday he announced that the new director is Laura Mays (a woman!). She seems incredibly accomplished, professional, astute, and competent. Krenov's philosophy is evident in her work, but she isn't afraid to take a risk and push outside the box. I encourage you to check out her website. 

Only five weeks are left in the program, and as time draws to a close, reality is starting to creep back into my life. I've spent a lot of time contemplating where I want to be and what I want to be doing. I plan to continue woodworking in some capacity, but I have to get a job to pay off my mounds of student debt. I have two soft job offers in Los Angeles, but I'm not sure I want to go back to LA. That being said, that's where my friends are and I miss them dearly. I suppose at this point, I'm open to just about anything.

Finally, my table is starting to come together. I have the base roughed out, and the table top is assembled. Now I need to fit the joinery, do the final shaping, attach the base to the top, and do the finishing work. Lots to be done!

The Bondo Curve Saves the Day

My last post made mention of the problems I had getting a curve that I like for the ends of my table. Well, in the end I recut my bent lamination frame pieces to get a farer curve. To do so I rough cut matching male and female templates of the curve I wanted, and then squished bondo between the two to get a perfect match between the curves. I then routed the frame members and the table top, splined the two pieces, and glued them up. What you see below is the bondo template and the resulting table top.

I'm glad that I decided to fix what I had rather than start over. Sometimes there's value to a fresh start, especially when you feel completely bogged down (as I did), but sometimes using the material you started with and fixing the problem you got yourself into is more rewarding.

Now on to the base! You can see the legs and stretchers resting on my bench in the background as well as the beginnings of my finish samples.

"The Workmanship of Risk"

My current project is a table for two made out of jatoba and kwila. It's designed with urban spaces in mind, and is meant to seat two comfortably or four intimately. I chose this project to be able to practice new skills I've learned in the second semester: veneering, bent lamination and shaping legs. Below is a picture of the table top I'm working on. You can see the veneered jatoba top and the beginning of the kwila frame that will capture the jatoba. Two sides are already attached. The ends of the table will be curved.

The table was coming along splendidly, that is until the bent lamination. Bent lamination allows the woodworker to create a curve that follows the grain direction of the wood by sawing a board into thin strips and then gluing them together around a curved form. Here's a picture of my bent lamination during the glue-up.

Today begins the third time I'll attempt the curve. I don't want to get into all the details of why it hasn't come out right, but I do want to share this excerpt from David Pye's book The Nature and Art of Workmanship. I think it sums up my thoughts on the matter precisely. 

"If I must ascribe a meaning to the word craftsmanship, I shall say as a first approximation that it means simply workmanship using any kind of technique or apparatus, in which the quality of the result is not predetermined, but depends on the judgement, dexterity and care which the maker exercises as he works. The essential idea is that the quality of the result is continually at risk during the process of making; and so I shall call this kind of workmanship 'The workmanship of risk': an uncouth phrase, but at least descriptive.

It may be mentioned in passing that in workmanship the care counts for more than the judgment and dexterity; though care may well become habitual and unconscious."

So, more care in the future...