Arched Aurora End Table finished!

Over the past week I put the finishing touches on my Aurora End Table from Darrell Peart's class. I used the finish recipe that Darrell recommended in his blog, that is General Finishes Water based Dye, 7 parts orange, 4 parts medium brown, followed by many coats of General Finishes Arm-r-Seal all hand rubbed. I used one coat of the dye followed by a light hand sanding to get rid of any raised grain. I also did a very light sanding between every few coats of Arm-r-seal. When I was happy with the build up on the finish I completed the project with a coat of Watco light liquid wax. I was torn on wether to use the light wax or the dark wax, but I wanted to keep the look as light as possible so I went with the light wax. The table was originally going to be a bedside table for my guest room but it was so beautiful I wanted it somewhere where it would be seen often and appreciated. Thanks again to Darrell for all his teaching on this project and to Marc for some great company and finishing advice. This was my first true Greene and Greene style project, I don't think that it will be the last.

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." - Thomas A. Edison

Aurora Arched End Table Class

This week I'm attending a class at William Ng's School of Fine Woodworking in Anaheim, California, taught by noted woodworker, author, and Greene & Greene style furniture expert Darrell Peart. I'm here with my friend Marc Spagnuolo and I was thinking of blogging on my experience but Marc is doing such a great job posting that I think that I'll just direct you over to his posts at http://thewoodwhisperer.com/.

The picture at the left is some exquisite Ribbon African Mahogany that the school had in supply in there huge wood storage room. Not only was the figure amazing, the board wide and long enough that Marc and I used it for both of our tops. The facility here is excellent, a large machine room filled with finely tuned, high quality woodworking machines arranged in a logical, efficient way, and an equally large bench/teaching room with the biggest solid maple benches that you've ever seen. The staff is very friendly, helpful and attentive to your requests. William shows up every morning with a smile and a box of the best donuts in the world. William is in the process of creating an online store for the nice selection of woodworking tools and supplies that he stocks at the school. He also has some very nice t-shirts that both Marc and I are getting our hands on before we are done here, look for them on Marc's shop cam, I'm sure that he'll be sporting one soon.

"Sleep is the best meditation." ~His Holiness, the Dalai Lama

Greene & Greene Details II class

This weekend I had to privilege of attending a class on some of the details associated with the Greene & Greene style of furniture given by Darrell Peart at the William Ng School of Fine Woodworking in lovely Anaheim, California. Those of you that know something about me know that I live in Charleston, SC, about as far as you can get from Anaheim in this country, so why did I travel this far for a class? Well, first I've been a fan of the Greene & Greene Style for many years, second, I bought Darrell's book, Greene & Greene : Design Elements for the Woodshop as soon as it came out, in fact, I had pre-ordered it from Barnes and Noble prior to the publication date. I've drooled over his creations and re-creations of the style and read many of his posts in the Yahoo Greene & Greene group that he founded.

Darrell demonstrated techniques to use in creating many of the details of the style to the class, he then guided us through the process and circled the room giving hints and suggestions and just being a great guy to talk to. We learned how to create the signature base fingers seen in many Greene & Greene designs as well as square and rectangular pillowed ebony plugs, the drawer finger joint that is a hallmark of the style and two different types of drawer pulls.

Of course I wouldn't have travelled across the country for just a weekend class, I'm continuing on with Darrell this week building the Arched Aurora End Table along with my friend Marc Spagnuolo of The WoodWhisperer.com, it should be a fun week of woodworking and merriment.

It was a wonderful class that I would highly recommend to anyone with an interest in the Greene & Greene style, Asian influenced furniture, of just a woodworker that is looking to learn some new and interesting techniques from a master of the craft.

"If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change." ~Buddha

500 Chairs

I picked up this book today for inspiration and eye candy. The book, 500 Chairs, Celebrating Traditional &innovative Designs is a collection of chairs, some functional, some merely "art" pieces collected by the editors at Lark Books. This volume is a part of a series of "500" books it is basically a picture book with one or two views of each chair and a listing of the artists.

While this book only contains contemporary makers there are three entries done by Sam Maloof. You will recognize some or the names from the Woodworking magazines and gallery pages. There are finely executed Philadelphia chairs and classic Windsor chairs along with "chairs" that look like they would be more at home in a collection of "500 Torture devices of the Spanish Inquisition". There are beautiful, highly figured wooden chairs and ones made out of the strangest materials imaginable, think latex gloves and industrial foam.

I've found this book to be very inspirational and gotten quite a few interesting ideas from it. Bendable plywood and marine grade plywood seem to be used by many of the artists, I think that I would like to try some forming with bendable plywood for a chair back and seat for a recliner. I also picked up a few ideas for a really nice shop stool that will be made from solid wood, perhaps in a free form design.

Next time you are in your local Barnes and Noble walk over to the Art section and look for an 8 inch square book that is 1 1/2 inches thick and browse through it, you might just want to take it home, I did.

What's another word for Thesaurus? Steven Wright

Mistakes made

When I first embarked on this wonderful hobby I was so very excited to start making pieces of furniture for my home. I checked out every book on furniture plans I could find at our library, I obsessively poured over all the magazines for articles on projects that I liked. I started to buy books of plans as I purchased tools. I immediately began building furniture, I couldn't wait to finish projects and have them to use.

That was the big problem and it took me a few years to realize it. I was rushing through the process. I was making things, but something was lacking in my understanding of what it meant to be a woodworker. I had some decent power tools, I had alot of books and magazines. I had a nice selection of wood to use, and plans to use it on. I didn't have alot of hand tools, and now that I look back, I didn't have alot of skills.

In the picture above you can see scratches in the door panel left from the planer that I failed to remove. And in the picture to the left you can see where I relied too much on my power planer and since I didn't know how, and didn't have a scraper or a low angle plane I ended up with tearout on the curly maple that I wouldn't tolerate today.

If you look closely in this picture you'll notice saw marks from trimming the door down with my tablesaw, now, I'd take a sharp, well tuned plane and with a few nice swipes I would have had the door with an exact fit and no ugly saw marks. You will also notice that the bridle joint is offset to the front instead of being centered even though the rails were inset by 1/8th of an inch, what I had done was cut the joint before I planed down the stiles to 5/8ths and the rails to 1/2, I don't even know why I did this.

This picture makes me cringe, yes, this cabinet is dovetailed, and pretty well too, but it is done wrong. The pins should be on the vertical surfaces and the tails should be on the horizontal surfaces.
Lack of understanding, but a really nice Leigh D1600 dovetail jig, gave me nice tight dovetails that were completely wrong. All in all its a nice little cabinet that lives by my back door and holds keys, a coupe of flashlights and bug spray, people see it and love it, but I see it and hang my head in shame. Granted, now I do have a shop, and I have alot of really nice tools, heck, I have handplanes that cost more than the tablesaw I had when I made this cabinet. I also have the knowledge and skills to use those handtools and to not only make a piece, but to make it right. I've learned a great deal from my online friends, I've taken a few courses and I've focused on technique, not just the final object. I've watched others and I've learned a great deal, but the most important thing I've learned is that it is the process that makes the final product something of value.

"The quieter you become, the more you can hear." ~Baba Ram Dass

Carter Magnetic Bandsaw Fence

I saw this product online the other day and I wanted to see if it was the answer to one of my problems. When I installed a 3/4 inch woodslicer blade on my Rikon 14 inch bandsaw I had quite a bit more drift than I have been used to. I talked to a few of the guys on The Woodwhisperer chat room and Marc AKA The Woodwhisperer and found that I had probably overtensioned the blade so I started over and tensioned it by "feel" instead of using the gauge. This helped quite abit but there was still more drift in the blade than my fence could compensate for, I was in the process of planning a shop made fence when I came across this one and ordered it right away.

The fence is made by Carter, the same people that make bearing guides and aftermarket tension springs for most bandsaws. I ordered mine from Woodcraft who seemed to be the only company carrying it at the time I ordered. It's made from extruded aluminum with a cam lever on either side to remove the fence once its locked to the table. Even using the levers its not easy to move this fence, there are 7, 1 inch rare earth magnets that hold the fence to any ferrous surface, do NOT get your finger between this fence and the table.

Once the fence is in place it will not move, its a very stable, completely square fence. It is simple to use but maybe not the easiest to adjust. I would suggest that you determine your drift angle, and using bevel gauge transfer a pencil line and the correct angle and correct distance from the blade, align and set the fence on this line, you can make fine adjustments by using one of the cam levers to raise one side and pushing that side into place.

The instruction sheet says that you can also use the fence as a small extension table, I don't know if I'll ever use it like this but I wanted to show you that it was possible. One thing for sure is that you will never lack for a good place to store this fence, just stick it to the bottom of the table or to the frame of your bandsaw.

Now drift angle compensation is not a problem and I'll be able to cut fine slices for inlays or veneer with no more issues.

"There is no need for temples...My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness." ~Dalai Lama

Shop made Bowsaw

What do you do on a rainy Saturday when you don't want to start a project that is going to take weeks? Why make a shop tool of course. I've made a couple of wooden planes and upgraded some saw handles but I thought it was time to attempt a Bowsaw. I found a great article on the Fine Woodworking website listed under specialty skills, making shop tools. I'm sure that you've all seen Frank Klausz cut dovetails with a bow or frame saw, of course I don't think that having a bowsaw will make me cut as well or as fast as Mr. Klausz.

My inspiration for this was a broken 1/4 inch bandsaw blade, here's something that you can do that costs you nothing and lets you recycle that broken blade. All you need is a 14x5 inch piece of 4/4 hardwood, I had some beautiful curly maple boards that I thought would be prefect. You'll notice two boards and two sets of arms, I decided that it was just as easy to make two as to make one and maybe I'll have a nice gift for someone when I'm finished.

Using the template that is in the article I made a template out of 1/2 MDF to make it easier to transfer the marks. I ripped two 1 3/4 inch pieces out of each board and one 1 inch piece out of each.

I transferred the shape onto each 1 3/4 inch piece and then layed out the holes that need to be drilled. One 1/2 inch hole for the handle and knob on the bottom and the start of the mortises that will receive the stretcher.

Once the holes are drilled I cleaned out the waste from the mortises with a chisel. I then could take the arms to the bandsaw and cut out the shape. After cleaning the saw marks off on the oscillating spindle sander I used a 1/4 inch 1/4 round router bit in the router table to ease the edges, leaving the area in front of the mortise and the bottom where the handle and knob will go square. I then used a combination of block plane, spokeshave, and sandpaper to taper the "horns" of the arms. I then formed the tenons on the ends of the stretch to fit loosely so that the arms could move freely. I also rounded over the edges of the stretcher on the router table.

Using a left over piece of curly maple I resawed it to 1/4 inch and cut a little flapper that is used to tension the saw.

I went over to my friend's shop down the street and used his lathe to turn a handle and knob. I don't use lathe's and this was the very first thing that I've ever turned. I had planned on turning two handles and two knobs, but really close to finishing the first handle the tenon from and the handle went flying. Oh well, the next handle came out great and I learned to go very easily with the scraper when forming the tenon. When I went to setting the second knob into the center it split, so I had one handle and one knob.
Taking those pieces back to my shop I cut a slot down the center of each tenon on the handle and knob to receive the blade and drilled a hole at 90 degrees to the cut through the tenon. I cut the blade to length and drilled hole at each end. I slipped the blade into the slot and pushed a 4d finish nail through the hole. Then I tied a leather boot lace around the horns of the arms and used the little flapper to wind the lace and tension the blade.

Once I was sure that the saw was working properly and cutting nicely I took it apart and applied a few coats of Watco natural Danish oil, after letting it sit for an hour I wiped everything dry and trimmed off the excess leather laces.

There you are, one afternoon and I have a new tool that costs me nothing and will let me use that broken blade. Hope you make your own, there is nothing better than tools you make yourself.


"Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions." ~Dalai Lama

My Newest Toy

Well friends, I did it. After taking the doublebevel inlay class with David Marks I had to get a decent scrollsaw so I could add inlays to some of my upcoming projects. I got the DeWalt variable speed scrollsaw with stand and light. Yesterday the saw and light showed up and this morning the stand came, so like a five year old on Christmas morning I couldn't wait to unwrap it and put it together. Assembling the stand was just a matter of bolting the legs to the stretchers. The saw only required attaching the table to the saw, while two screws on the side of the saw came off to hold the light in place.

After all was said and done I had one last thing to add, that's right, I had to put a WoodWhisperer sticker on the leg just for kicks.

Enjoy the pictures, I'm sure that very soon I'll have some doublebevel inlays to show you.

“Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.” - Buddha

David Marks Class at Woodzone

Today I had to good fortune to attend a workshop day with David J. Marks , craftsman, artist, teacher and former host of DIY networks Woodworks. Today's class focused on router template inlay and double bevel marquetry. We also learned about sharpening card scrapers using water stones.

The class was held at Columbia South Carolina's Woodzone. David had taught 4 classes over the weekend and Monday was listed as an all day workshop. This is the second year that the nice folks at Woodzone have brought David to Columbia to teach and give workshops.

David is in the process of building a school of woodworking in Northern California and spends the winter months travelling the country teaching classes at events like this one. From here he was on his way back to California for one day then off again to Houston for more classes.

Many of you know that our friend Marc Spagnuolo spent time with David when he was planning to leave the world of lab science and move into full time woodworking. I had on my The WoodWhisperer T-shirt , David recognized it right away and asked about Marc and The Woodwhisperer website. While setting up the router inlay bushing on the router provided by the store David noticed that there was a screw missing on the base, I was standing there talking with him at the time so he used my Dewalt plunge router instead, (I may never wash it).
After the template routing David showed us his double bevel marquetry technique that gives you a perfect fit inlay every time. Instead of my trying to describe it here click on the link above for a video David has placed on Youtube of the technique. I have to say, that I've never done any inlay other than a few dovetail butterfly's but using David's method I was able to create my own design and put it in wood in just a few minutes as was most of the class.
I haven't taken many woodworking classes but I have to say that this type class with this class of instructor is something I plan to repeat. I feel that I've reached a plateau in my skill level and classes like this are pushing the bar higher.

Thank you David for your time and talent today and for opening up new avenues for my woodworking, I plan on incorporating some Harvey Ellis designed inlays into a piece in the near future.

Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time.

Steven Wright

Plane Hunting

Finding myself in Upstate NY over the Holiday week I did a little hunting, plane hunting. I knew from my previous visits up here that there was a great antique mall that had a hug hand tool section. Leaving Pam to look through the rest of the antiques I headed straight for my prey. This booth has a bunch of old Stanley, Bailey, and Sargent Plane's all in very good shape. He also had many wooden molding planes and a few wooden rabetting planes that were tempting, but that wasn't what I was gunning for. I was looking for a large style router plane to go with my small Lee Valley router plane. Something like a Stanley 71.

There was a nice wooden coffin smoother in this bunch much like one that I plan to make, I looked it over but the throat was pretty wide so I decided to go with one I make and keep looking for the router plane.

More eye candy for you old plane nuts.













Some very nice old heavy metal for your viewing pleasure, a couple of those No.# 7's were tempting.

Finally I spotted my goal, a whole herd of router planes, some old, some lame, but I singled out this prime buck and he was mine. As you can see, bright metal, never been rusted, good looking handles, all parts there. This plane has been well kept and used, you can see lap marks on the bottom, which is gleaming silver, and the blade was sharp even with a micro bevel. Someone loved this plane and now it's going to live in my tool chest and get used alot.

Kaytrim in The Woodwhisperer chat room helped me date this as between 1910-1924, perfect timing for the Arts and Crafts Period. I particularly like the Script "Stanley 71 1/2" and the patent date of 10-29-01, that's 1901.

As a bonus I also found a very nice spoke shave, Stanley No.# 51, the blade is stamped, Stanley Rule and Level Co. This tool has been used well, but not abused, again, no rust, no missing parts. A little sharpening and wax and its ready for work.

Happy Holiday's to you all, and good hunting.
Brad