Brass Brackets (Say that Five Times Fast)

The past couple days I've been working on the finish of my table. I also made brackets to attach the table top to the base. I started by taking brass stock and rough-cutting it to the desired size on the bandsaw. I squared the corners using a block placed 90 degrees to the disc-sander. I set-up a jig on the drill press to bore screw holes through both sides of the bracket and counter-sink the holes. Lastly, I filed the brackets for a clean surface. Voila! Brass brackets. Check back soon for pictures of the table.
 

Abalone!

It's abalone season. For those of you who aren't familiar with this delectable treat, it's an edible sea snail. A few of my classmates went out diving for the snails, and they came back with abalone to spare. We fried some up in butter with lemon juice, salt and pepper. The key is to pound the tough meat to tenderize it.

On the Importance of Friends

My good friend Molly visited me last week. She returned recently from New Zealand where she's been adventuring for the past 1/2 year or so, and then drove up the coast from Los Angeles for a visit. We spent the time walking along North Coast beaches, soaking in the pools at Orr Hot Springs, and chatting over meals we cooked. In other words, we didn't do anything special outside of enjoying one another's company. Seeing Molly reminded me how important it is to have close friends around. This is something I've missed over the last nine months.

I feel I've made a number of new friends who are near and dear to me, but it's not the same as having old friends around. Especially because we spend 8-10 hours a day together in the shop, which doesn't leave much energy or time for the purely social. That being said, I already know that I'll miss these new friends immensely once school comes to a close and we all move on to our futures. It's sad that human nature lends itself to missing what we don't have and taking for advantage the things we have while we have them. I'm working to better appreciate the present--what I have when I have it.

Molly brought me this poppy from Sebastopol. Funny enough I have these very poppies growing in my yard. Both are a reminder to truly be in the present. 

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...

Wood from the Hood

My benchmate, Noah, came into some manzanita. He, Lymond and Chris sawed the logs into smaller pieces to begin the drying process. The wood is notoriously difficult to cure because it cracks against the grain. Regardless, it yields a beautiful, dense, red-brown wood, even if only in small chunks. 

The berries of the tree are edible, and the bark can be used to make a tea that alleviates nausea. Hikers also sometimes chew the leaves to reduce thirst. What a useful plant!

Ice Cream and Candied Walnuts

It's been gray and drizzly for the past week or so, but that didn't stop Jonathan and a handful of classmates from hand-churning ice cream. It was delicious served with hand-cracked, home-made candied walnuts. Yum!

Photo by Nina

Wall Cabinet

One of my classmates, Tim, finished his second project--a wall cabinet made out of walnut and bay laurel. He cranked through the project after completing this complicated sideboard. Tim's intention was to work quickly and in solid wood to recuperate from the challenge of his last piece. While he enjoyed the experience and the cabinet looks great, Tim feels that there were a number of small details that got away from him in his hurry. One of the things that I like about making furniture is the intimate relationship you develop with each piece. Most of us will never see the things that Tim sees, but in the end, we can all enjoy the cabinet.

The Walk Around

In the early stages of our projects, the instructors lead a walk around throughout the classroom. Over a few day period, each student is given the opportunity to talk about their project. We learn about one another's inspiration, design, wood choice, design and technical challenges, etc. It's a great way to stay connected to the work of our fellow classmates and to learn through their experiences. 

Tim shows off Jim Budlong's chair, which is the inspiration for the chairs he's building out of cuban mahogany.

Candice shows us the tool she used to cut the circular face for her wall clock.

Brett shows off his maple leaf marquetry for his blanket chest. Well done!

1000 Board Feet of Cuban Mahogany

David Welter just received shipment of 1,000 board feet of cuban mahogany. According to Fine Woodworking, this wood has been commercially extinct for about 100 years, and disappeared from the US market around 1950. It can't be cut down, but trees can be harvested after natural disasters. David came into this lot of cuban mahogany through a friend of a friend that had to liquidate his stockpile of the wood. As you can see in the photo below, the students are very excited about the wood's arrival. 

I had the pleasure of helping David inventory the lot. This saved my back from the physical labor of moving the wood around, and I also got to see each and every board that came into the wood room and ask David tons of questions about what he looks for in a board. I also learned how to properly measure board feet. All in all, it was a good experience. 

Sometimes you Learn the Hard Way

One of my classmates (who shall remain unnamed) returned from the President's Day break to find this prank at his bench. The pranksters also reversed the chipbreakers on his plane irons, covered his girlfriend's face with a cutout of Matthew Mcconaughey's in a photo on his wall, and wrapped his lamp lightbulb in tape. Perhaps he'll think twice the next time he leaves his stuff scattered throughout the shop. 

One of Krenov's Last Cabinets

A few weeks ago David Welter brought to school one of Krenov's cabinets. The atmosphere in the shop immediately turned to one of reverie, and became almost crypt-like. The cabinet on a stand is small, maybe four feet tall, but it invites you to interact with it. It felt almost like it was a sentient being. I'm not sure why Krenov was enamored with making cabinets, but viewing the cabinet that David shared with us brought a few ideas to mind. The first idea is that cabinets are the perfect blank canvass to show off a piece of wood. It isn't so much about the subtle curves of the cabinet as it is about the weight and feel of the wood, the emotion it can convey in grain graphics or a splash of color. The other idea is that Krenov's cabinets are meant to display a few precious items. From what I can gather, Krenov grew up poor, and I can see why the idea of having something important or loved to put into one of his cabinets appealed to him. So there you have it, my personal musings. I hope you enjoy the photos of the cabinet. You can see that the class certainly enjoyed the experience. 

Sundays are for Exploring and Ultimate Frisbee

Sundays are for exploring. A number of Sundays ago a friend took me to a sink hole just past Mendocino. After repelling down a rope and into the gaping hole in the ground, we were rewarded with a sunset through the crashing waves of a sea tunnel that washes into the sink hole. Thanks, Cody, for sharing!

The other fun thing that happens on Sundays is ultimate frisbee on the Mendocino Headlands. What a beautiful, mind-clearing way to spend the weekend!

Finally, I can't resist posting this insanely cute picture of Todd, an instructor at CR, and his baby, Sadie. 

Gallery Tour of the 2011 Mid-Winter Exhibition

Photos from the 2011 Mid-Winter Exhibition are up! I'm also posting some nice photos David Welter, shop keeper and photographer extraordinaire, took of my cabinet. I promise these will be the last cabinet photos I post. Promise.

One Big, Dysfunctional Family

Being at College of the Redwoods for the year is an incredible experience. Not only do I get the opportunity to focus on the thing I love in a beautiful setting, I get to do it with a diverse group of people that share my passion. We work long hours and don't have much time to build lives outside of the classroom, so we've gelled into one big, at times dysfunctional, family. We have our ups and downs, but in the end we're there to support one another and enrich the experience that we're fortunate enough to share. 

"Cupid" left a valentine at each bench

Birthdays are celebrated with hats and cake

The Paparazzi (AKA my parents) Come to Town

My parents visited Fort Bragg over the weekend for the show. Fortunately for us, my normally impatient father had just bought a new camera, which kept him occupied for hours and hours and hundreds upon hundreds of photos. In good dad form, he couldn't stop taking pictures of me, even doing the most mundane things like sweeping the shop, talking to friends or climbing up a sand dune. The upside is the number of nice photos I have to show for it.

The reception had great turn-out, and it was fun to share our work with friends, family and the community. The gallery was so packed that  it was hard to appreciate the pieces, but that wasn't a problem for my parents because we had already visited the show twice. It's nice to have such supportive parents. 

Here are a few highlights from the weekend. 

The Shop

Fort Bragg at Dusk

Glass Beach

Glass Beach

Guest House Museum

The Reception

My Big Backyard

Piece of Wood for a Bowl

Noyo Harbor