Finishing up, and starting anew....

Autumn is definitely around the corner, and classes start back up this week. For me, that means prepping a ton of material for everyone - and if you'd visited my shop last week, you would have seen stacks of wood everywhere. 

Cue up the "short people" jokes - but here I am, buried in stacks of wood. 

Seriously, there was a butt-load of wood that had to be processed, and in that process, someone pointed out to me that there is an actual measurement referred to as a butt-load.  

Wut?!

Yes, in cask units, the largest barrel measurement is a butt-load. I learn something new every day! 

Judging by the phone calls I've been receiving, I'm also sensing that people are gearing up for the holidays. There have been quite a few calls from people who have started their home improvement projects, only to find out that building (or assembling) furniture is harder than they anticipated. 

In some cases - it's easier to simply use the box as a side table, rather than assemble the table. 

Let's hope this isn't an ongoing trend! 

And even though the prices for some woods have come down a bit, it continues to surprise me how expensive raw materials have become. If you add in the cost of hardware, wood finish, and labor - well... plan B becomes a more affordable option. 

Here's someone's "Plan C" - not too glamorous, but effective. 

I'll be buried in the shop for the next six weeks, welcoming around 40 new students, and building some kick ass pieces. 

What's your Fall project?

 

Some people are SO creative!

Now that cooler temps are on the way, I've been looking forward to getting back into my studio at home for a little clay work. It's been ages since I threw a pot on the wheel, or rolled out some slabs for tile. 

It's still a little too hot to fire one of the kilns - but I've had visions of tile making in my dreams lately. Until I can post anything new, check out this hilarious ceramist, and his interesting wall piece.

@kevinchampeny

Thoughts?

♬ original sound - Liz

Some people are SO creative! 

 

Can I brag a little?

 The bookcase class is winding down at the shop, and I have to say - these students really rose to the occasion. It's so much easier to teach a class where everyone is on the same page, building the same design. But - my old woodworking teacher never stopped anyone from building what they wanted to build. I mean - isn't that the point? You want what you want!

So when some of these students came to me with their designs, I had some apprehensions about their projects. Especially since some of them had only completed the Basic Woodworking class, and didn't have much experience under their belts. But I'll tell you - they really surprised me with their pieces. And believe - some of them really struggled! 

This bookcase is constructed from 1" red oak, designed to hold a large collection of record albums. Those are pretty heavy, and although she had a few technical problems,  this bookcase is going to work perfectly for K's collection.

 JR's walnut bookcase was compact and solid; a sweet little design. when this gets a finish on it, the colors are going to pop and this will be amazing!

 Freya's cherry bookcase has a lot of detail and elements that really stretched her skills. This piece will (gorgeously) darken with age, and I suspect it's going to be a great addition to her home. 

Again - she had one or two technical issues that she solved, and well... isn't that what taking a class is all about? Learning to put out little fires while we build?

 One of the huge surprises in the class was Jen's corner cabinet - this was a pretty complex piece for someone right out of a Basic WW class. 

She had to learn a lot of new techniques, with tools she'd never touched before this class. She nailed every aspect of it! I can't wait to see how it looks with finish on it. 

Ama's energy and vision for her pieces are a constant source of pride for me - she is one of those rare students who works like the energizer bunny. She never gives up, has energy and technical skills for every piece she builds, and when she sets her mind to it - there's nothing she can't accomplish in the shop. 

I've lost count of how many huge pieces she's built - from this massive built-in desk, with upper cabinets,

to the cantilevered TV unit, to the Murphy bed. 

These two twin tower bookcases will be mounted next to the Murphy bed - all told, this piece is about ten-feet wide, and seven feet tall. She's only been building with me for a few years, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next. 

And finally -  Luis designed this piece for his office -  six-foot wide bookcase with beefy shelves, and (eventually) doors on the front. He completed this piece in only four sessions, so about 12 hours in the shop. It still needs some work, but he's one of the most efficient woodworkers I've ever met. 

Proud? 

Me? 

You bet!

In and Out

If you live near the west coast, you know all about In-N-Out. 

It's a wildly successful burger joint, one that shouldn't be missed. So if you're on a quest for the perfect burger, you may want to visit California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona or Texas.

If you don't live near one - sorry. You're missing out on a pretty damn good burger. Their menu is limited - burgers, fries and drinks. Not much else. But seriously - they narrow their concentration and make perfect grub.

Here's a great blogpost about the history of the company, in you're interested in reading more. 

So the phrase - in and out - was rolling around my brain today, when a fellow walked into my shop with this perfectly charming sculpture from Africa. Doesn't everyone need a wooden hippo? During a move, the sculpture was damaged - he's not waving in this picture. 

During better times, he was holding a hat, tipping it, as if to greet someone. Poor thing!  

The break was pretty clean, and actually revealed a dowel that had attached the hat to his hand. I re-drilled it in a different area, 

and sanded the two surfaces flat. It took a time or two to get the angle correct. And although I couldn't identify the wood (possibly Mahogany?) it felt slightly oily. 

A trick for gluing oily woods is to wipe the two surfaces with acetone, to clean off the oil. 

Once they were cleaned, I used a bit of Titebond II glue, and clamped the two pieces together. 

I'll have to do a bit of Dremel work once the joint has dried, to blend the two mated surfaces. 

But this was one repair that was In-N-Out of my shop in one day.  I love repairs like these! 

But here's the truth about me and burgers - I've tried them.  Many of them here in town! 

And if I had to rate them...   here are the best burgers in town, in my opinion:

#1 - Five Guys

#2 - Sonic

#3 - In and Out

 

Get back to work!...

Someone said to me the other day - "jeez, you're only teaching two nights a week.... add some classes!"

Obviously, he didn't realize that I'm building quite a bit of furniture these days, and that's almost a full time job in itself!  The truth is - I'm really enjoying getting back to basics - cool joinery, working with beautiful woods, and experimenting with different finishes.

I just finished this Cherry desk, and it's one of my favorites. 

I've built variations of this design a few times, but this one is a special one. You don't find grain like this all the time, and I'm not sure if it really shows in these photos, but the drawer fronts are simply gorgeous. 

I have a few more pieces in the pipeline, and one of them will be a real challenge, employing a wood that I don't normally use, along with a finish that I've never tried.  

What could go wrong? LOL

Stay tuned!

 

Horse Crip Walking

 

The Olympics haven't been on the top of my summer viewing list, but I'll tell you this - Snoop Dogg doing commentary has given me more than a few laughs! 

NBC might want to consider adding Snoop to their Olympic coverage!

Magic is in the air

July was a ridiculously busy month, with the big woodworking convention in town, and lots of customers calling for work. No complaints here, other than the brutally hot weather. 

Even my phone was complaining!

A few weeks ago, I taped a podcast with friend - well, he started as a student, and since we have a ton of similar interests, we've connected on everything from working, to music, to gardening. So he went from student to friend in no time! These days, it's wonderful to make connections like this!

If you'd like to listen to that podcast and get a glimmer of what it's like to run a shop and school, here's a link: Cultural Q. 

 Meanwhile, I have a few things lined up on the bench, including restoring this 70 year old rocking chair, 

designing and building a cool foyer table, 

and working with a local magician, making a prototype for an illusion that he's developing. I won't be able to say much about the trick, because...well, you know - a magician never gives away their secrets!

One thing is for sure - it's never boring in my shop!

My 2021 AWFS wrap up

 Another AWFS convention is in the books, and this one was... well... different. 

Thanks, COVID, but as they say - the show must go on. 

The new West Hall Convention Center venue was SO impressive, I had to look up some information on it. The hall itself is 600,000 square feet, no wonder my feet hurt at the end of the day! If I read the statistics correctly, the new addition added 1.4 million square feet to the convention, and it is simply amazing. Much easier parking, visually gorgeous, and well... the Tesla underground loop to the other buildings across the street. What's not to love?

This massive screen changed every few seconds, and was huge! 

It's billed as the largest digital experience in the U.S. If someone knows the square footage of this screen, I'd love to hear from you. 

As much as it felt like life was back to normal, there were still reminders that we're still in the midst of a pandemic. Like - all of the water fountains were locked. 

One of the areas that I bee-line to is the Fresh Wood competition - the woodworking competition for students at high school and college levels. 

I couldn't find a list of the winners, but this Zig Zag Stardust coffee table was my favorite entry. 

The snowflake inlays were lovely. 

There were a lot of nice entries, like this modern Adirondack chair 

and this cherry sideboard.

This guitar had some amazing inlays, 

and I was partial to the scaled models of outdoor furniture. 

This Jukebox was really sweet, 

and I loved the details of guitar picks for the drawer pulls.

After the Fresh Wood show, I made my way over to the tool area. This chainsaw attachment for a circular saw caught my eye. 

The demo showed that you can cut through five 2x8s at once. Pretty impressive.

I've always been SO impressed with these machines - punch in the dimensions and the lid orientation of the box you want, and this machine will make a custom shipping box.

 Huge sheets of cardboard load into one side, and your box pops out of the other side. These machines should be in every single Kinko's across the country. 

Speaking of popping out the other side...  this machine will take your sawdust waste and turn it into compressed fire-starter bricks.

 If I remember correctly, it can make one every 8 seconds, 

and you can even have your logo or company name pressed into the brick. 

It was very impressive, and at the low, low price of roughly $90,000... well, you have to generate a butt-load of sawdust to get this to pay off. 

Of course, the Sawstop booth is always one of my first stops. I've been chatting with these folks for about 14 years now, and I actually bought this saw at the show. It's a beast! I've been having an issue with one of my saws, and the fellows at the booth were helpful in solving it. 

The Festool booth had a nice array of their tools, but it seemed scaled down from the last show, two years ago. 

And the Laguna booth was impressive. Their giant 16" jointer, right in the front of their booth,  had everyone drooling, 

as did this bandsaw with its mated doors. I swear, Laguna has some of the sweetest tools, but I wish their customer service was better. 

Finally - I totally missed the Rip It booth, which featured an automated fence. I couldn't figure out a way to add a video, but you can check out the fence here. You won't want to miss this. 

My overall thoughts? 

The show venue was impressive, but many of the major players were missing. Just off the top of my head, I missed seeing Bessey, Jet, Powermatic, Grizzley, Pony/Jorgensen, Lee Valley and more. So this show felt quite a bit smaller than shows of the past. 

I would estimate that 95% of the people in the show weren't wearing masks, and that's concerning. Crowds were much smaller this year, and there just seemed to be a lack of enthusiasm in the air. I get it. We're all worn out. 

Let's hope the 2023 show comes back bigger and better than ever.