Saturday, July 31, 2010

A day at the shop...


Every Saturday, the school is open for past and present students to come in and work on their various projects. I thought it might be interesting to share a day in the shop, so I tried to keep my camera around and capture some of it.

Here's the first thing you'll see when you pull up and park.

When you come in the front door, you'll walk through the small gallery, where a few pieces are on display.

The dust is always out of control, but who the hell drew on my tiled table? (Note to self: vacuum before everyone starts arriving.)

The shop isn't much better - I was working on Friday and left everything out on the workbenches. Yes, that's a chromed machine gun barrel on the table, pointing right at the camera. More about that project in an upcoming post.

At least there is some color and a good vibe in the shop, despite the mess!

Luckily, the bench room was a little better, even if it doesn't look like it in this picture.


I made a small picture frame yesterday, and of course, all the tools I were still sitting right where I left them. It was getting close to the time when everyone was going to start showing up to work, so I tried to get put everything away. Never got around to the vacuuming, through.


But - one thing I always try to do is keep my desk fairly organized. I really need to build a chair to match the desk, but that's on my to-do list for 2013.


First thing - I threw on another coat of oil on the frame I built yesterday.


My friend Adrienne dropped off this piece of plywood and asked if I would cut it into a circle.


And even though I pretty much had everything set up to cut it, everyone started arriving, so I didn't get the chance to do it. Of course, when she came to pick it up, it was still sitting on the bench. I grabbed my router with it's compass attachment and cut it while she sat there waiting.



Coach Jerry is making a set of Mission nightstands; here he is, using my Domino, mortising all of the slats.



He brings the biggest water bottle that I've ever seen to the shop. When it's full, I can barely pick it up with one hand.

Steve, who I've mentioned here before as being one of the two smartest people I know in the world, comes in nearly every Saturday to work. He's a joy to have around - mellow and always up for an interesting conversation. Here he's building a planter out of some rough sawn cedar.


Dereck was having such a rough day in the shop, I never ended up taking a picture of him. So this picture was taken a while ago. He is building two of these bookcase units, and he was having some difficulties with the second one. That's sort of an understatement. I kept reminding him that shit happens in the shop. I wish I had a buck for every time I've had days like that.

Here he is on a more productive day.


But one of the coolest things about the day was a visit from Julie, from Follow Your Heart Woodworking in Canada.

She and her husband Eric came to town to celebrate her 50th birthday. We've been online buddies for the last year, but never met. So it was very cool of her to stop by and hang out at the shop. Here is a link to her website.

Of course, we exchanged some of our woodworking - she gave me this handpainted schnauzer,


knowing that I have two at home.


And I gave her one of my inlaid clipboards, here she is holding it. She and Eric look pretty happy, despite the fact that they were melting in the woodshop. It was a warm day, and the swamp coolers just couldn't keep up.


In between all of this, I had a few people wandered in to talk about woodworking projects, my friend Kristi dropped by to return my golf clubs that she borrowed last weekend, and my buddy Vince stopped by the BS for a bit.

Just another Saturday at the shop. If you're ever in town on a Saturday, you're more than welcome to stop in and hang out!

I'm starting a huge project tomorrow for a VIP, and of course, they wanted it built yesterday. (Remember that machine gun barrel at the beginning of this post?) So for the next two weeks, I might be a little too busy to blog very much. But I'll be taking some photos of the piece as I build it, so stay tuned. It's a pretty special project, and one I'm thrilled to be building.

1 comment:

Julie Rose said...

Now that is just so great to be shown in your blog! I had a great day in the shop and encourage anyone passing through to go and visit Jamie. If you live in the area, go and take a class from Jamie. Fabulous place and a wonderful woodworker!