Carving it up with Dennis Patchett

Since I was on a carving roll last post, I thought I'd add a little more to the mix. There's a carving class coming up with Dennis Patchett, and if you've never heard of him, or taken a class with him, then you're missing out.

Dennis has taught quite a few classes at the woodworking school here in town, including Router Techniques, Advanced Router Techniques, Building a Mini Workbench, and one of my favorites – CARVING!

In his beginning carving class, he starts everyone off with one of the coolest projects - a wooden apple with a bite taken out of it. Students actually inlay the area of the bite with a different color of wood. 

It's amazingly cool. 

The great thing about Dennis is that he is so talented, and humble.

 His approach to carving is completely special, sometimes using a mix of power and hand tools. He specializes in reproductions of period furniture,  

and his work could be displayed in museums around the world.  His linen fold panels are out of this world!

In the carving class, Dennis will start everyone with a simple apple carving, perfect for bribing your favorite teacher. (Or your child's teacher!)

And then he'll move on to spoon carving, which is pretty much the rage right now. Here are some spoons that we carved in a past class.

But - leave it up to Dennis, who is going to up his game, and talk about carving "love spoons." They're pretty fascinating - you can read about them here. 

Finally, Dennis will finish the class letting students carve something of their own design. Need a sign for your cabin? A trophy plaque for commemorating a special date? It's up to you!

We've had some very cool designs in the past, and I can't wait to see what everybody comes up with this time. Here's a link to read more, or to enroll. There's no prerequisite for this course, and if you're into "slow" woodworking with few tools, this is the class for you!

Happy carving!

 

Visiting a local carver's shop - what a treat!

Since I haven't been completely cleared to start working again, I've been catching up on some older projects that I have in my shop. Every woodworker I know has a few of these sitting on a shelf, awaiting completion. There are a few pieces that have been piling up around my shop for a while, and it's time to finish them. First stop - my guitar cabinet. (More about that in a future blog post.)

I spent a little time this week with Rip, a local woodcarver. He's about as pleasant a fellow as you'll ever meet - a retired teacher, and a hell of a carver. 

You might remember that I made a base for one of his sculptures a while ago. 

These two sumo wrestlers were a little tricky to mount, and when we finally got it right, a high-five was warranted. 

I love visiting other woodworker's woodshops - fascinated by their layouts, their choices for tools, and the ingenuity of their work. I always thought it would be great to travel the country and assemble an amazing coffee-table book featuring different workspaces.

Although a lot of people look down on it, pegboard is a great solution when you need visual access to your tools. I'm a huge fan of pegboard! 

Rip began the visit by showing me his current project - this gorilla, which he first sculpted in clay. 

When asked why he sculpts in clay first, he explained that it helps him get the correct proportions for the wooden pieces he carves. So this is where it starts. 

Once he's satisfied with it, he dives into wood. 

 His method for holding the wood is slick - this carving stand mounts on the bottom of his wood blank, and rotates and pivots to any angle. 

Speaking of great systems, here's a little-known method for sharpening - a cardboard wheel for your grinder. Add a little polishing compound to the wheel and your chisels will be razor sharp in no time. Notice the wheel on the right? You can apply a little compound on the side of the wheel, and use that area for honing, too. This is such a smart way to sharpen odd shapes. 

Here's a link to read more about cardboard wheels.

Here's another base I made for one of his pieces. 

And here's the piece in his home. 

Sports are a theme for much of his work, 

and he's even dabbled in bronze casting. I'm in awe of Rip's work, and just spending an hour with him made me antsy to get back in the shop again! 

So here's how my Wednesday morning is going...

How is yours going?

What's your most critical shop tool?

 Starting over is a mixed blessing...  It's not often that someone sells their entire woodshop. What's that line - lock, stock and barrel? 

Well, I pretty much did that, selling the woodworking school with its entire contents intact - all of the Festool gear (including both Dominos and the track saw), three Sawstops, a kick-ass 12" jointer and the 24" planer, and more. 

MUCH more!

And setting up a new shop is great... I've had five or six shops in my lifetime, and each one allows me to tweak what doesn't work, and add what new features I need. That's where I'm at right now - and let me say - it's pretty damn exciting!

In addition to the two tools I could never live without (a good tablesaw and a quality planer) - I just ordered a new panel saw. This is a luxury that I've learned I can't live without, and for me - it takes the place of a track saw, a radial arm saw, and even a tablesaw, since it rips wood like a dream. When working alone, I've found this tool to be invaluable.

I have a few commissions in the pipeline, and this beast is going to make cutting large panels of wood by myself a breeze.

But honestly - with the high temperatures that we have here in Vegas, a good shop refrigerator is ALL-IMPORTANT! I have my eye on this one, it's ridiculously cute, and frankly - I only need it to hold beer and water, two shop essentials!

What's your most critical shop tool? 

Back in the saddle....

It's almost time to get.... 

OK, maybe not exactly, but I'm definitely on the mend. 

If you've noticed that I've been a little quiet lately, it's only because things happened over here that were out of my control. And I really didn't have a clean head to blog about anything.... modern pharmaceuticals have a way of blurring my ability to write anything coherent. 

 I had a little health scare recently, that included a nasty little surgery. 

And I'll be honest - I think 40+ years of being in contact with toxic materials like wood finishes, caustic fumes, toxic wood products and all the miscellaneous substances that woodworkers encounter every day made that surgery necessary. Of course, I'm no doctor, but there just wasn't a simple reason why my body took the hit that it did.

Luckily, my results were good, and I'll be back to normal (whatever that is!) soon. Thanks to everyone for their well wishes, and especially to my sister and brother-in-law who helped me recover in record time. I appreciate all of you!

Ch-ch-changes....

There have been some big changes over here, and a few of you have written, asking about them.

 And we all know the old adage - nothing is as constant as change. 

I officially retired from teaching a few weeks ago, and luckily - found the best person to take the reins at the shop. 

Say hello to the new owner of Wood It Is! - Jeff Sher has been working with wood for decades, and has been teaching at the shop for a few years. He's smart, talented, and has the perfect personality for coaxing the best out of people.  

I couldn't be happier that he's going to take the school to the next level. His vision for upcoming classes, combined with an openness to hear everyone's opinions about what they want to learn, puts him at the top of the teaching list, in my book. 

I've thought long and hard about what it takes to be a good instructor.  Yes, skill is right up there; you have to know how to design and build quality pieces in order to help people learn how to do the same. Everyone runs into problems from time to time, but the key is knowing how to solve those issues quickly, and with good results. 

And also - I think this is awfully important in teaching - you never want to make your students feel like they've done something that can't be fixed. Or that they've asked a "dumb" question. There are no dumb questions. 

Encouragement is the greatest motivator.

So I hope you'll welcome Jeff into the mix, and consider taking a class with him someday. (He has a few coming up at the end of this month.)

As for me - I'm going back to being a maker. I've moved some tools into a new shop, and look forward to getting back to building furniture again soon. 

But - I'm REALLY looking forward to work with clay again. It's been ages since I've thrown a pot, or glazed a tile. But this wooden mechanical creation by Oliver Pett got me revved up again. 

So if you don't find me at the shop, you'll probably spy me near the slab roller or the wheel. 

Trust me, there are enough designs in my head to fill up a decade or two! 

Speaking of that, here are a few memorable moments of classes at the shop. 

We've had great artists who share their insane talents. Like Master Carver Dennis, who takes students beyond their wildest woodworking imaginations.

And Len - who was always so well prepared, good natured and genuinely cared about his students and their work. 

The classes out at Nellis were always fun!

You know what we did a lot of?... laughing and making friends, all while building. 

Sometimes it could be intense,

 but in the end, I don't think you'll find a single students who didn't enjoy it... the camaraderie, the cool projects, and the skills. 

It's all about the skills. 

Some people even fall in love!

Anyway, I've loved every minutes of my 28 years of teaching - so thanks for the memories!

By the way - this student's course evaluation is one of my favorites.  

Thanks everyone - don't let your (design) guard down... keep making beautiful work.

Two nightstands, from start to finish...

 Ever wonder how a custom piece gets designed and built? 

It usually starts with a picture from a client. Like this picture that was sent.

But sometimes it's not that formal... I've worked from a simple sketch on a napkin! 

In this case, I had this link that gave me an idea of what they wanted. But the table shown in that link wasn't the right height. Nor the right tabletop size. Nor did it have the right number of drawers. THAT'S why someone contacts me! 

I love building smaller pieces like these - they're manageable and interesting to build. When I'm given some guidelines, I usually come up with a simple sketch, like the one shown below.

 And once we agree on a design (we made a few changes) I run to the lumberyard and choose the material. These carcases usually go together fairly quickly/

It's the detail work that is slower, and demands more time. 

Building drawers and hanging them, not to mention attaching the drawer faces, is a true test of one's skills. 

 Then there's the finishing... in this case, three coats of a hand rubbed oil finish, plus a top coat of paste wax. 

I'll be taking a bit of a break from building in the next few months. I'm having some health issues (problems, dammit!) and until we figure it out, I can't take on any projects. 

Wish me luck, and I'll keep you posted!

BTW - a huge thank you to Brenda and Mike, who have ordered so many cool pieces through the years. They're patient, have wonderful taste in furniture, and are so supportive to artists like me. I love building pieces for them!