Tuesday evening. It's rainy and about 59 degrees.
I'm well into the first project. Yesterday I milled the piece of Cherry I'd picked out last Friday afternoon to rough size, including hand planing one side of one of the pieces as flat and as smooth as I could make it by hand. Unfortunately, while I was hand planing, I rocked the workbench significantly, and my little pocket Nikon flipped off the bench onto the floor. Now it won't focus. Something has been knocked out of alignment, and I am waiting for Nikon to reply to my email. Until it gets repaired, any photos I post will have been taken on my cellphone, (just like everybody else does anymore).
Anyway, I ran the wood through jointer and planer, and almost immediately saw it cup. There was cupping in the piece I smoothed by hand, and removing the cupping was the majority of my work. Evidently when I sent the boards through the surface planer, I released some inner stress, and the boards cupped again. So, I finished up for the evening and let the boards sit overnight to get acclimated (acclimatized?).
Yesterday evening after dinner I returned to the school for the weekly Faculty slide shows. The first was from another wood turner who has a very unique style. The second slide show was by Yuri, our current assistant instructor. She has done some really fantastic work making, as she puts it, "totally impractical stuff." One sculpture comprises about 4000 mortise and tenon joints! So, I shouldn't complain about the four such joints that will be incorporated into my project.
This morning I finished up cutting my boards to approximate size, and began laying out the two side pieces. These are the pieces that incorporate all of the 1:7 cuts which are not part of the dovetails. I won't actually make those cuts until I have the dovetail tails completed, and perhaps not even then. We'll see how it progresses.
Because of the cupping, I'm having to take some unusual measures. I am attempting to cut the tails of the dovetails in both side pieces simultaneously. This means trying to keep my cuts straight across 1-1/4 inches. It's pretty frustrating. Sometime after 5 pm, I was working away, and the school's Director, Peter Korn, came into our workshop. He stopped at my bench and asked how I was doing, and I told him I was frustrated. So he spent about 10 minutes or so showing me a technique that I might consider using to fix up the problems I've been having. After he left, I worked for another 40 minutes or so, getting my work set up for tomorrow. Then I cleaned off my bench and came home and ate dinner.
I continue to learn new stuff every day. Some of the things I'm learning are really "ah ha" moments where I discover how to do things I've wondered about, or why we do things a certain way. Other things are just training new muscles memories or learning new ways of seeing things I have overlooked in the past. And, one other very useful thing that I am learning, is how to better use my tools, and which tools are more important to me or better suited to what I need to do. When you work in a shop briefly, every now and again, you don't learn those kinds of things. After he showed me some of his dovetailing tricks, I told Peter that this is not the first time I have hand cut dovetails, but the previous times have been so separated in time that I've never completely learned the techniques. Like anything else, it takes regular practice.
Non-woodworkers might want to skip the next two paragraphs. Maybe not.
I find myself in the middle of a debate (with myself) about which chisels are better I'm using a set Narex chisels which are made in the Czech Republic. They are pretty good, and relatively cheaper than some of the others in use by other students. Their handles are large and they are a bit "klunky", but they get the job done, and hold an edge reasonably well. I've had them for a few years, and I'd say they are adequate. But, I'd really like to own as set of the Veritas or Lie Nielsen chisels. One of the fortunate things about the school is that with 12 students, you get an opportunity to see the tools that everybody else has, and also those available at the school. There's been a lot of sharing going on, and and everyone has their opinions about which is the best. At least two have the Veritas chisels, and one has the Lie Nielsen, and almost everybody else bought a set of the Two Cherries brand that the school sells. Christophe brought some Austrian chisels with him from France, and the instructor uses a set of the blue handled Marples (pre-Irwin) chisels. He makes his living woodworking.
Another good thing about the school I think I mentioned before: both Lie Nielsen and Lee Valley offer discounts to us as students of the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship. So, you might see why learning which chisels I would prefer is of concern to me at this time.
As I was re-reading what I'd written, I also realized that there's one more thing about the school and my fellow students I should mention. I think they are a great bunch of people. I am thoroughly enjoying myself. I guess having a mutual interest brings like-minded people together.
I just looked across the room and realized that this is the first day since arriving that I haven't made my bed. Shame on me. Oh well, in a short while I'll be in it.
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Sunday, June 14, 2015
A relaxing weekend
It's Sunday evening. Week Two of the school begins tomorrow. This has been a a fairly quiet weekend, but fun, nonetheless.
I woke up without the alarm Saturday morning, showered and ate breakfast. Then, I went downstairs and out to the driveway where my landlady was conducting a garage sale. Wouldn't you know that amongst her stuff was a small camera case, just right for my small camera. Only a buck.
We did some car shuffling to get me out of the driveway around the shoppers. Because I had some time to kill before going to the school to meet my friends, I drove to Rockport. In all the times that I've been through this area, I've been to Rockland and Camden, but never took the side trip to see the beautiful little port of Rockport. So, I drove around it, took a few photos and then off to the school. I'll go back again when I have more time.
I arrived at the school, and unlocked our building. I dug out a few tools I thought we might need to check the "goodness" of tools, and then waited for Christophe and Tim to arrive. They both came in right on time, and we loaded up Christophe's rental car for the trip to Liberty, ME, and the Liberty Tool Company.
The drive to Liberty took about 3/4 hour. It was a beautiful day, and we had a good time talking on the way.
The Liberty Tool Company is evidently a landmark. Last summer's visit to Captain Tinkum's Emporium with Steve didn't prepare me for Liberty. On entry, one can't help but being immediately overwhelmed by the shear volume of stuff. I took a photo with my phone just before we left, but it doesn't do the place justice.
It's primarily tools, tool-related things, and hardware, but it's also a lot of stuff that I suppose could be called antiques, if being old was the criteria for being an antique. It's at least three floors. I only saw the first and second floors, and really spent most of my time on the first floor.
I went hoping to find a Record #43 or #44 Plough Plane, but I never found one. Yes, I bought some stuff - what I think is a Stanley #4 bench plane in fairly decent shape (my most expensive purchase at $24), a Stanley #95 marking gauge ($5), similar to one I inherited from my Dad, an expansion bit ($2.50), a knife sharpening stone and a hacksaw frame. I also found three old framed photos, two of pre-WWII Navy ships and one of the keel for a large wooden ship on the ways in a shipyard. Old pictures like that fascinate me.
If you were looking for an old pickup truck, they had one of them, too.
Tim and Christophe also found some things they were looking for - planes, and other items.
Christophe needed gas, and we got some directions to a BBQ place down the road. We shared a couple of excellent racks of ribs, corn on the cob, and beer and then just relaxed taking in the view and enjoying the beautiful day.
Then we found a gas station, and Christophe filled up for the trip back to the school.
Ariving at the school, we went in to our building and showed off our purchases to the other students who were working on their projects. I left soon after and drove to downtown Rockland, and then out Route 1 toward Camden. I stopped at Maine Sports, and bought a shirt that was on sale. Then back to my apartment. I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening reading a doing other stuff.
This morning I went to church, came back to the apartment, and ate lunch, Then, I went for a walk. My sister tells me that I should walk to work, since it is less than 2 miles. To date, I've had stuff to carry to and from the school, so haven't even considered it. Today was another beautiful day. The temperature was in the mid-70's and there was a nice breeze blowing. So, I filled a bottle of with water, set up my GPS to track my progress, and took off.
At home I walk Sammy up and down the hill I live on twice a day. But over the past year, I've cut back on my walking, primarily because of arthritis and swelling in my feet. I've had shots in my big toes, and have arch supports in my shoes. They've helped a lot, but walking remains painful for me. But, I set out, regardless.
My first challenge was walking up the hill on the road I live on. I was pretty winded after that, but kept on. For the most part, the next mile or so was mostly downhill. I walked as far as Route 90, but didn't continue to the school, which is perhaps half to three-quarters of a mile down 90. I was a little afraid of the walk back, because of the long uphill stretch, but it turned out to be easier that I thought. In fact, walking downhill on the last stretch to my apartment seemed harder than walking uphill. I have a similar problem at home walking Sammy, because he always pulls me downhill on the way home. Anyway, the round trip was about 2 and a quarter miles, and took about 50 minutes. I don't think I'm ready to start walking to school every day, but we'll see. There's probably no reason I shouldn't do it, other than the need to carry stuff. That was one of the reasons that I went to Maine Sports yesterday - to take a look at backpacks. I didn't get one, but now I may.
I woke up without the alarm Saturday morning, showered and ate breakfast. Then, I went downstairs and out to the driveway where my landlady was conducting a garage sale. Wouldn't you know that amongst her stuff was a small camera case, just right for my small camera. Only a buck.
We did some car shuffling to get me out of the driveway around the shoppers. Because I had some time to kill before going to the school to meet my friends, I drove to Rockport. In all the times that I've been through this area, I've been to Rockland and Camden, but never took the side trip to see the beautiful little port of Rockport. So, I drove around it, took a few photos and then off to the school. I'll go back again when I have more time.
I arrived at the school, and unlocked our building. I dug out a few tools I thought we might need to check the "goodness" of tools, and then waited for Christophe and Tim to arrive. They both came in right on time, and we loaded up Christophe's rental car for the trip to Liberty, ME, and the Liberty Tool Company.
The drive to Liberty took about 3/4 hour. It was a beautiful day, and we had a good time talking on the way.
The Liberty Tool Company is evidently a landmark. Last summer's visit to Captain Tinkum's Emporium with Steve didn't prepare me for Liberty. On entry, one can't help but being immediately overwhelmed by the shear volume of stuff. I took a photo with my phone just before we left, but it doesn't do the place justice.
I went hoping to find a Record #43 or #44 Plough Plane, but I never found one. Yes, I bought some stuff - what I think is a Stanley #4 bench plane in fairly decent shape (my most expensive purchase at $24), a Stanley #95 marking gauge ($5), similar to one I inherited from my Dad, an expansion bit ($2.50), a knife sharpening stone and a hacksaw frame. I also found three old framed photos, two of pre-WWII Navy ships and one of the keel for a large wooden ship on the ways in a shipyard. Old pictures like that fascinate me.
Tim and Christophe also found some things they were looking for - planes, and other items.
Christophe needed gas, and we got some directions to a BBQ place down the road. We shared a couple of excellent racks of ribs, corn on the cob, and beer and then just relaxed taking in the view and enjoying the beautiful day.
Ariving at the school, we went in to our building and showed off our purchases to the other students who were working on their projects. I left soon after and drove to downtown Rockland, and then out Route 1 toward Camden. I stopped at Maine Sports, and bought a shirt that was on sale. Then back to my apartment. I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening reading a doing other stuff.
This morning I went to church, came back to the apartment, and ate lunch, Then, I went for a walk. My sister tells me that I should walk to work, since it is less than 2 miles. To date, I've had stuff to carry to and from the school, so haven't even considered it. Today was another beautiful day. The temperature was in the mid-70's and there was a nice breeze blowing. So, I filled a bottle of with water, set up my GPS to track my progress, and took off.
At home I walk Sammy up and down the hill I live on twice a day. But over the past year, I've cut back on my walking, primarily because of arthritis and swelling in my feet. I've had shots in my big toes, and have arch supports in my shoes. They've helped a lot, but walking remains painful for me. But, I set out, regardless.
My first challenge was walking up the hill on the road I live on. I was pretty winded after that, but kept on. For the most part, the next mile or so was mostly downhill. I walked as far as Route 90, but didn't continue to the school, which is perhaps half to three-quarters of a mile down 90. I was a little afraid of the walk back, because of the long uphill stretch, but it turned out to be easier that I thought. In fact, walking downhill on the last stretch to my apartment seemed harder than walking uphill. I have a similar problem at home walking Sammy, because he always pulls me downhill on the way home. Anyway, the round trip was about 2 and a quarter miles, and took about 50 minutes. I don't think I'm ready to start walking to school every day, but we'll see. There's probably no reason I shouldn't do it, other than the need to carry stuff. That was one of the reasons that I went to Maine Sports yesterday - to take a look at backpacks. I didn't get one, but now I may.
Friday, June 12, 2015
Week One: The end of the week.
Through dovetails completed, we started on the first project. We were introduced to drawing plans. I'd done "mechanical drawing" as far back as High School, and during my first year at USNA, so this was not new for me. In fact, I remembered a technique the instructor didn't show us, and that saved me a considerable amount of time and effort.
I had spent a lot of time thinking about what to build. In addition to the criteria required, and recognizing that time was a critical aspect (the project has to be completed next Friday), I had to consider a blend of what I wanted to do, what I knew how to do, and what we would be permitted to do. My first couple of ideas were rejected, either by me or by the instructor, as requiring more work than could reasonable be completed in a week, given not only the degree of difficulty of the project, but also factoring in the scheduled lectures and other work interrupting things (eating, sleeping, etc.) that would cut into the available work time. Other reasons for rejection included aesthetics - it just didn't look right; didn't show off an intended decorative feature (the dovetails) or was just plain wrong.
I finally settled on a relatively simple book rack. It could be thought of as the bench I showed in yesterday's posting turned on its side and then tilted it back about 8 degrees. The actual amount of tilt is derived from the 1:7 ratio (see below for an explanation of sorts) we're using for the angles in our dovetails, so I call it my 1:7 Book rack.
Once I had a design, I commenced drawing. Again, having prior drawing experience helped a lot. Because of the screwy angles I've included, it took a lot of head-scratching to figure out how to put the idea on paper. I did it in about two hours. Then the instructor checked it; he pointed out some things I hadn't thought of. The way I had the wood grain going, it was going to be hard to cut out the two side pieces. Also, he pointed out that I had made the stretcher piece, which was intended for the mortise and tenon piece, so wide that I would have difficulty cutting the mortise by hand, and that it probably wasn't supported well enough. He suggested two smaller stretchers, with a different shoulder arrangement. The total mortise length would be the same, but taken in two smaller chunks rather than one long one.
As they say, "back to the drawing board." I tried modifying the drawing I'd already made, but soon discovered that with just a slight change in the concept, almost all of the dimension and the layout had changed. Rather than erasing a bunch of lines, I decided to abandon the original drawing and start over.
The revision took another hour. I grabbed Aaron (instructor) just as he was about the leave for the day and asked him to check it again. Yet again, he laid a whole new idea of how to construct the drawing on me. Fortunately, I had saved the old drawing, which was done in the manner he was describing, and I convinced him that further drawings would not add any new information. Finally, he agreed. He checked my "cut list" which is really the goal of this part of the exercise and pronounced me ready to move on.
Then I went out to the lumber racks and picked out what I think is a very nice piece of cherry. It doesn't have too much cup or twist or sapwood, and it should be more than wide enough to leave me plenty of wood to build the rack, with a good piece left over for some other project.
Now I'm back at my apartment. I've met my landlady's parents. Today is her father's birthday, and they were going out to dinner. So, I'm here using her washing machine to do a week of accumulated laundry.
Tomorrow I and two of my fellow students are going to Liberty, ME, to the Liberty Tool Company. Liberty Tool Company sells used tools, and is the parent of the Captain Tinkum's Emporia that Steve and I visited in Searsport, ME last summer. I'm looking for a Record #43 or #44 plough plane or whatever else strikes me.
I had spent a lot of time thinking about what to build. In addition to the criteria required, and recognizing that time was a critical aspect (the project has to be completed next Friday), I had to consider a blend of what I wanted to do, what I knew how to do, and what we would be permitted to do. My first couple of ideas were rejected, either by me or by the instructor, as requiring more work than could reasonable be completed in a week, given not only the degree of difficulty of the project, but also factoring in the scheduled lectures and other work interrupting things (eating, sleeping, etc.) that would cut into the available work time. Other reasons for rejection included aesthetics - it just didn't look right; didn't show off an intended decorative feature (the dovetails) or was just plain wrong.
I finally settled on a relatively simple book rack. It could be thought of as the bench I showed in yesterday's posting turned on its side and then tilted it back about 8 degrees. The actual amount of tilt is derived from the 1:7 ratio (see below for an explanation of sorts) we're using for the angles in our dovetails, so I call it my 1:7 Book rack.
Once I had a design, I commenced drawing. Again, having prior drawing experience helped a lot. Because of the screwy angles I've included, it took a lot of head-scratching to figure out how to put the idea on paper. I did it in about two hours. Then the instructor checked it; he pointed out some things I hadn't thought of. The way I had the wood grain going, it was going to be hard to cut out the two side pieces. Also, he pointed out that I had made the stretcher piece, which was intended for the mortise and tenon piece, so wide that I would have difficulty cutting the mortise by hand, and that it probably wasn't supported well enough. He suggested two smaller stretchers, with a different shoulder arrangement. The total mortise length would be the same, but taken in two smaller chunks rather than one long one.
As they say, "back to the drawing board." I tried modifying the drawing I'd already made, but soon discovered that with just a slight change in the concept, almost all of the dimension and the layout had changed. Rather than erasing a bunch of lines, I decided to abandon the original drawing and start over.
The revision took another hour. I grabbed Aaron (instructor) just as he was about the leave for the day and asked him to check it again. Yet again, he laid a whole new idea of how to construct the drawing on me. Fortunately, I had saved the old drawing, which was done in the manner he was describing, and I convinced him that further drawings would not add any new information. Finally, he agreed. He checked my "cut list" which is really the goal of this part of the exercise and pronounced me ready to move on.
Then I went out to the lumber racks and picked out what I think is a very nice piece of cherry. It doesn't have too much cup or twist or sapwood, and it should be more than wide enough to leave me plenty of wood to build the rack, with a good piece left over for some other project.
Now I'm back at my apartment. I've met my landlady's parents. Today is her father's birthday, and they were going out to dinner. So, I'm here using her washing machine to do a week of accumulated laundry.
Tomorrow I and two of my fellow students are going to Liberty, ME, to the Liberty Tool Company. Liberty Tool Company sells used tools, and is the parent of the Captain Tinkum's Emporia that Steve and I visited in Searsport, ME last summer. I'm looking for a Record #43 or #44 plough plane or whatever else strikes me.
The 1: 7 ratio refers to the angle produced by one inch horizontal in seven inches vertical or the acute angle produced by right triangle with a 7 inch near side and a one inch side opposite the acute angle. The beauty of this method is that you don't have to find a protractor or a special dovetail marking gauge to determine the angle. You can draw the triangle on a handy piece of paper or your workbench, and then set a bevel gauge to the angle.
Enough? For more information, see the article at Popular Woodworking Magazine |
| 1:6 and 1:8 ratios. 1:7 is about 8 degrees. |
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Week One, Thursday: In which I do multiple things
This was another really intense day. I'm not sure I even remember everything we did.
First we had a demonstration of cutting dovetail joints - the tails in one side, the pins in the other. Then we prepared two pieces of wood (poplar) to use to practice our own dovetails.
A dovetail is a very traditional joint. In fact, the instructor mentioned that, although techniques have changed, the joints we use today are, for the most part, no different than they were 300 years ago. We just have better tools and other materials now.
Other than aesthetics, why would we want to use a dovetail joint? Consider the construction of a drawer. The basic drawer comprises two sides, a front, a back, and a bottom. Forget about the bottom, and think about the stresses put on the sides and front of a drawer as it is pulled out of the encompassing framework. If you built it just of glued up pieces of wood, it probably wouldn't last very long. No matter how you put it together, the joint between the front and each of the sides is put together with the long grain of the wood in the side pieces being attached to the end grain of the front (or the reverse). Any gluing to end grain is bound to fail if it relies just on glue, even with modern adhesives. The joint was created when animal protean glues (such as hide glue) were all that was available. Because of the way that the dovetail is made, there are built-in long grain to long grain connections which are much stronger than long grain to end grain. In addition, once properly assembled, the pins on the front of the drawer are captured by the tails on the sides, and this provides the additional benefit of mechanical strength.
OK, more than you wanted to know. But I'm showing off the kind of things I am learning here. Until this week, I never considered why you would want dovetails. I just knew that a dovetailed drawer was a sign of better craftsmanship when I went furniture shopping.
We had a demonstration/lecture on planes: types, history, disassembly, sharpening, reassembling, using, where you would use what type of plane. None of this was new, but it's the first time it's all been put together for me.
I have a brand new plane of a particular type. (For you woodworkers, it's a Lie Nielsen Low Angle Jack Plane.) I am glad to have it, but was almost afraid to use it. It was still in its shipping box with the paper padding, The plane blades were still wrapped in protective paper. It's an expensive device that I purchased just for this class, and I didn't want to do anything to misuse it. So today was its unwrapping.
In the afternoon we saw a demo of flattening and smoothing one side of a rough-cut board, and were then given our own board to flatten. I'm happy to tell you that the plane performed wonderfully. I am very pleased with it. And, the board I prepared passed all the checks and measurements I could perform, and appeared to me to be flat, twist free, and smooth.
In the meantime, I worked in a practice dovetail joint. This is not the first time I have done dovetails, but I still need a lot of practice.
We knocked off a little early this afternoon - 6 PM - in order to participate in the weekly pot-luck dinner. My contribution was a watermelon I bought last night. It had been in the refrigerator all day and was quite good, although not as popular as the various decadent chocolate concoctions others had contributed.
But the main(e) attraction was Lobster and corn-on-the-cob.
After dinner, the school director organized a game of cutthroat croquet.
The lobster and the croquet are evidently weekly traditions. One of my classmates, who is camping on the school grounds (he's an ex-Marine, so we'll forgive him) said this was the first real meal he'd had since Sunday. I didn't admit that I could probably say the same thing except for the sandwiches I've been buying at the local market.
Anyway, it was a good time and a lot of fun, and something to look forward to in coming weeks.
First we had a demonstration of cutting dovetail joints - the tails in one side, the pins in the other. Then we prepared two pieces of wood (poplar) to use to practice our own dovetails.
 |
| Open dovetail joint |
A dovetail is a very traditional joint. In fact, the instructor mentioned that, although techniques have changed, the joints we use today are, for the most part, no different than they were 300 years ago. We just have better tools and other materials now.
Other than aesthetics, why would we want to use a dovetail joint? Consider the construction of a drawer. The basic drawer comprises two sides, a front, a back, and a bottom. Forget about the bottom, and think about the stresses put on the sides and front of a drawer as it is pulled out of the encompassing framework. If you built it just of glued up pieces of wood, it probably wouldn't last very long. No matter how you put it together, the joint between the front and each of the sides is put together with the long grain of the wood in the side pieces being attached to the end grain of the front (or the reverse). Any gluing to end grain is bound to fail if it relies just on glue, even with modern adhesives. The joint was created when animal protean glues (such as hide glue) were all that was available. Because of the way that the dovetail is made, there are built-in long grain to long grain connections which are much stronger than long grain to end grain. In addition, once properly assembled, the pins on the front of the drawer are captured by the tails on the sides, and this provides the additional benefit of mechanical strength.
OK, more than you wanted to know. But I'm showing off the kind of things I am learning here. Until this week, I never considered why you would want dovetails. I just knew that a dovetailed drawer was a sign of better craftsmanship when I went furniture shopping.
We had a demonstration/lecture on planes: types, history, disassembly, sharpening, reassembling, using, where you would use what type of plane. None of this was new, but it's the first time it's all been put together for me.
I have a brand new plane of a particular type. (For you woodworkers, it's a Lie Nielsen Low Angle Jack Plane.) I am glad to have it, but was almost afraid to use it. It was still in its shipping box with the paper padding, The plane blades were still wrapped in protective paper. It's an expensive device that I purchased just for this class, and I didn't want to do anything to misuse it. So today was its unwrapping.
In the afternoon we saw a demo of flattening and smoothing one side of a rough-cut board, and were then given our own board to flatten. I'm happy to tell you that the plane performed wonderfully. I am very pleased with it. And, the board I prepared passed all the checks and measurements I could perform, and appeared to me to be flat, twist free, and smooth.
In the meantime, I worked in a practice dovetail joint. This is not the first time I have done dovetails, but I still need a lot of practice.
We also discussed our first project. Next week will be spent designing and building whatever it is that we decide to make, given the criteria that it must have dovetails and mortise and tenon joints, and at least one of the boards in the project must have been flattened by hand. The example project is a small bench, but we are not constrained to building that. The real constraint is time.
 |
| The example project - a small bench |
We knocked off a little early this afternoon - 6 PM - in order to participate in the weekly pot-luck dinner. My contribution was a watermelon I bought last night. It had been in the refrigerator all day and was quite good, although not as popular as the various decadent chocolate concoctions others had contributed.
But the main(e) attraction was Lobster and corn-on-the-cob.
After dinner, the school director organized a game of cutthroat croquet.
The lobster and the croquet are evidently weekly traditions. One of my classmates, who is camping on the school grounds (he's an ex-Marine, so we'll forgive him) said this was the first real meal he'd had since Sunday. I didn't admit that I could probably say the same thing except for the sandwiches I've been buying at the local market.
Anyway, it was a good time and a lot of fun, and something to look forward to in coming weeks.
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Sawing, sawing, sawing
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| Aaron, our instructor, demonstrating a quality of wood while the assistant instructor, Yuri, looks on |
It might seem boring to saw a 3/4" cut into a piece of wood, over and over and over again, but the result was that I learned a lot about my biases. When I'm sawing to the left of a line, I tend to lean toward the right. When I am sawing the the right of the line, my sawing tends to be straighter. Don't read any deep political or other meaning into this. It's just the way I saw. I suspect that it is because I can see the line more easily when I saw to the right of the line.
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| Aaron demonstrates cutting a mortise |
Periodically, the instructor interrupts us for a demonstration or lecture on some aspect of the work we are doing. Yesterday we discussed "tune-up" of a mortise gauge.
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| Typical Mortise gauge with two adjustable marking points |
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| My mortise gauge, which uses cutting wheels. See the bottom of this posting for another look at it |
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| Yuri demonstrates using a Japanese saw to make the same cuts we were doing with western saws |
One of the concurrent things that is happening is that we are exhibiting our proficiency in using the various power tools in the machine room. Each time we do some activity on a tool, an instructor observes us and gives his/her signature on our checklist. The activities include such thing as running a rough board through a jointer to plane one face flat, This is followed by correctly running the board through the thickness planer to make the two face surfaces smooth and parallel. Anyone who does woodworking will recognize these as two steps in making a board "4-square." The goal is to get initialed off three times on each activity. Once we've achieved that, we won't need an instructor to observe everything we do. Even though I've done all these things before, I appreciate the attention and thorough instruction that we are receiving.
For anyone reading this who wonders why I am going into all this detail, please understand that I'm summarizing for my own review as much as to satisfy anybody else's curiosity about what I am doing in Maine for the summer. I know I have a few lurking followers who are woodworkers and are curious about what the school is all about, so they'll benefit from these descriptions. This is also for my family members who are curious about what their brother/cousin is doing. And for everybody else, I hope you enjoy my writing.
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| A more detailed view of the marking gauge typical of the type most students have |
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| Notes on usage of my mortise gauge from the Lee Valley tool catalog |
Monday, June 8, 2015
The School: Day One
The 12 week Intensive Furniture course began this morning.
I got out of bed way before I had to, discovered I didn't know how to use the microwave, left early, got to the school before 8 am. But, even though the class wasn't scheduled to start until 9, I wasn't the first there. Christoph, an engineer from France arrived at about the same time I did, and Devon was already there.
Christoph and I chose our workbenches, and I hauled in my over-large collection of tools. Other students started to arrive, and as each arrived and chose a bench, we exchanged introductions.
Demographics: We have 12 students, a large range of experience, and two of the students are women. I appear to be the oldest student, and the majority, I would guess are half my age, or less. Many are hoping for a change of career. A couple, like me, are hoping to improve their skills and therefore their pleasure in woodworking.
The morning was spent as you would expect in any course - administrivia, followed by safety rules, and other stuff of that sort.
Then we launched in to the course. First was a discussion of wood - how trees grow, how they are cut up to make boards, the big part moisture plays in movement, warping, cupping, etc.
The big question everyone at home asked me: what are you going to make? Well, now I know. In the first two weeks we will be making a small bench of our own design which must incorporate dovetails and mortise/tenon joints. In the next six weeks we'll be making a casework project, again of our own design, which must incorporate at least one door and at least one drawer. At this point, I plan on making a tool cabinet or something similar.
The final segment we will be making something incorporating bent wood.
A significant part of the afternoon was spent in sharpening 3 chisels. I'm still not finished. Then we got partway through a demonstration of making a properly squared up piece of wood from a rough cut board. More of that and the chisel sharpening tomorrow.
The facilities are excellent. The photo below is of the bench room. The next room to the right is the machine tool room. Large and well equipped, but not the huge industrial sized tools I used at AB Tech.
Through the door you can see in the right of the photo is what I would call the "coffee mess" or kitchen area, and the drafting room.
That's my bench with the yellow topped box next to it. My "home" for the next 12 weeks.
I got out of bed way before I had to, discovered I didn't know how to use the microwave, left early, got to the school before 8 am. But, even though the class wasn't scheduled to start until 9, I wasn't the first there. Christoph, an engineer from France arrived at about the same time I did, and Devon was already there.
Christoph and I chose our workbenches, and I hauled in my over-large collection of tools. Other students started to arrive, and as each arrived and chose a bench, we exchanged introductions.
Demographics: We have 12 students, a large range of experience, and two of the students are women. I appear to be the oldest student, and the majority, I would guess are half my age, or less. Many are hoping for a change of career. A couple, like me, are hoping to improve their skills and therefore their pleasure in woodworking.
The morning was spent as you would expect in any course - administrivia, followed by safety rules, and other stuff of that sort.
Then we launched in to the course. First was a discussion of wood - how trees grow, how they are cut up to make boards, the big part moisture plays in movement, warping, cupping, etc.
The big question everyone at home asked me: what are you going to make? Well, now I know. In the first two weeks we will be making a small bench of our own design which must incorporate dovetails and mortise/tenon joints. In the next six weeks we'll be making a casework project, again of our own design, which must incorporate at least one door and at least one drawer. At this point, I plan on making a tool cabinet or something similar.
The final segment we will be making something incorporating bent wood.
A significant part of the afternoon was spent in sharpening 3 chisels. I'm still not finished. Then we got partway through a demonstration of making a properly squared up piece of wood from a rough cut board. More of that and the chisel sharpening tomorrow.
The facilities are excellent. The photo below is of the bench room. The next room to the right is the machine tool room. Large and well equipped, but not the huge industrial sized tools I used at AB Tech.
Through the door you can see in the right of the photo is what I would call the "coffee mess" or kitchen area, and the drafting room.
That's my bench with the yellow topped box next to it. My "home" for the next 12 weeks.
In the evening I attended the weekly Faculty Slide Show. First up was the fellow teaching a one week woodturning class. He's from Seneca, SC, and I'm sure I've seen him at the JC Campbell Folk School. His presentation was about his beautiful natural edge turned wooden bowls.
He was followed by Peter Korn, the school's Director. He gave us several intertwined histories - his own, the school's, and the modern furniture making movement. All very interesting. Well worth coming back to the school this evening.
And so, good night for the first day of school.
By the way, I said I wan't going to show any more APRS plots, but I have two different routes I can take to get to the school from my apartment. One takes 4 minutes, and the other about 6. Here's all the plots for me today. I think you can understand why this is the last one I'm going to post. The distance from Kathy's Lane, Scott Rd, Chris Rd, West Street Ext, and West St to the school is less than two miles. The Tolman Pond Market is where I bought a sandwich for lunch.
Saturday, June 6, 2015
Lee's Big Adventure: Day Three, In which I arrive in Rockport
Today, was the final leg of the journey - Connecticut to Maine, via Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Lots of tolls.
Just before reaching Portland on I-495 I realized that the low fuel light had come on. I still had at least 5 miles to go before I could exit. I began to sweat it. I queried my GPS to see where the nearest gas stations were, and found that the nearest one was only about a mile from my exit, at a Sam's Club in South Portland. So I set that as my destination.
Getting more and more apprehensive as the gauge needle crept down toward empty, I found what I thought was the Sam's Club. Wait for light to change. Turn left in to parking lot. Nope, one light too soon. A trip around a parking lot. Back to the stop light. Wait. Turn Left. Wait at the next light (about 75 feet further on.) Turn left. Where's the Sam's? Rechecked the GPS display. Next turn 90 miles. Huh??? Re-searched for the Sam's. Ok, it's ahead on the right. Turn into the parking lot. Drive all the way around the building, stopping to let shoppers and other cars move. No gas station. Back to the GPS for another station. It lists a Citgo 0.1 miles away. I drive to the intersection. I can't see a gas station of any description as I wait for the light. Then I see it diagonally across the intersection as the light turns green. Unfortunately, I'm in the wrong lane and have to turn right. I drive 300 yards down the road and make an illegal "U-ie" to get back to the intersection. I wait again for the light. Pull across the intersection into the lot and drive to the first pump that has an opening on my side. Made it! Oh, No. The pump handle is covered: Out of Service. I pull out and around all the pumps. Only one other one is open. I pull in to it. Out of Service. I pull out and make another trip around the pumps. Finally, somebody else pulls out, and I wheeze into the spot on fumes. My debit card is refused. Why? I dunno, don't care. My stress level is already way high. I whip out another card; the pump accepts it and I start pumping. 18 and a half gallons later I'm topped off ( I thought the tank only held 18!).
I pull out of the station with the GPS set for the address in Rockport for the school. I'm still a good distance away. On the way I pass by all the exits for Freeport. No need to go to L.L.Bean yet, I continue on.
By now, it's almost 2 pm and I am getting hungry. I queried the GPS for a restaurant. All the ones that were not McDonalds, Wendys, Burger Kings, etc., are behind me, but finally, I found one called "Bullwinkles". It was about 10 miles ahead so I chose it.
I stopped at Bullwinkles for lunch and had an excellent Haddock BLT sandwich. The fish was wonderful. I must be in Maine.
Back on the road again after lunch, I see that the turn for the school is less than 10 miles away. As I tore down the road, I passed the Lie Nielsen company on the right. A woodworker can't pass Lie Nielsen without stopping in, so I turned around and did just that. I discovered that, as a student at the Center For Furniture Craftsmanship, I'm entitled to a 10% discount on all of their branded tools. Too bad I didn't know that sooner. I have might waited to buy that Low Angle Jack Plane I dropped a bundle on a couple of weeks ago. Oh well. Hindsight is wonderful, isn't it? Besides, the sales tax would have eaten up the discount, and they gave me free shipping, didn't they? Anyway, I bought a ticket to their open house on 10/11 July. That gets me a seat at the Lobster Bake, and a chance to shake hands with Roy Underhill. Of course, I've already done that a couple of years ago. But, us North Carolina guys need to say hello.
While I was in the store, I talked to three guys who are students at the school. We compared notes on how the dovetails on a box on display could have been constructed. I am really getting excited.
Back on the road again, I went right past the entrance to the school. It was not where the GPS thought it should be. So, I backtracked and drove in to the school. Amazingly, it looks exactly as it does in the photo on their website: a group of red buildings. I drive around and found a building with a door open to a power tool workshop. I parked and went in to the workshop and wandered around until I found some people. One introduced himself as Peter Korn, the school director, and the others were the same guys I met at Lie Nielsen. I'm not sure how they got back to the school before I did since we all left the store at about the same time. Anyway, two of them were sharpening chisels. They told me they are taking the 2-week basic course and that sharpening is a central part of that course. It turns out that the first two weeks of the course I'll be taking are essentially the same thing, so we know what I'll be doing for the next couple of weeks.
One of the students, Mack, who is here from the West Coast, and will be taking the 9 month course beginning in the Fall, took me on a very quick but thorough tour of the building, telling me that the building I'll be in is laid out essentially the same. My excitement rises.
Then I set out to find the place where I'll be staying. I found it pretty quickly. It's no more than a couple of miles away from the school, but I'm glad I didn't stick with my plan to bring my bicycle so I could ride to school every day. Large hills, a busy highway, and narrow lanes would have made it more difficult than I could manage.
Because it was only about 3 pm at that time, I decided to drive around a bit and see what I could see. I picked up Route 1 again and went into Camden. I had forgotten that Camden is very much a tourist town, and the traffic and congestion was terrific. I found a back way out of town and back to Rockport as quickly as I could.
I finally checked in at the apartment. It is in a heavily wooded area, and the apartment itself is a good-sized efficiency over a two-car garage. I wouldn't want to live here forever, but it will be comfortable enough for the summer. The owner's teenage son helped me move all my stuff in. I'm glad he did, because it's quite a walk up stairs. (What, no elevator?)
After moving in, unpacking and putting stuff away, and a nice chat with the owner, I drove to a restaurant several miles away, then to the local supermarket for some breakfast makings. Then back here for the evening.
It's almost 10 pm. Outside it is pitch black and silent. It's even quieter than at home. No distant highway noise at all. I think I will enjoy myself here this summer.
In keeping with the previous two entries in this blog, here's the entire track for today, starting in Connecticut, then through Mass, skirting around Boston, and then more or less up the coast to the Rockport area.
The second plot is the part around the area here. The school is at the two dots next to the lake in the lower left corner, and where I am staying is where it shows my truck and my callsign. You can see the one trip I made all the way up to Camden, and then back on back roads.
Unless I do something different, I won't bother to put any more plots in my blog entries. On a day-to-day basis, they won't even be as much as this one. So, if you really want to see my movements, you will need to figure out how to find me at http://aprs.fi Here's the link for the one below: http://aprs.fi/#!mt=roadmap&z=11&call=a%2FN0SYS-9&timerange=86400&tail=43200
Lots of tolls.
Just before reaching Portland on I-495 I realized that the low fuel light had come on. I still had at least 5 miles to go before I could exit. I began to sweat it. I queried my GPS to see where the nearest gas stations were, and found that the nearest one was only about a mile from my exit, at a Sam's Club in South Portland. So I set that as my destination.
Getting more and more apprehensive as the gauge needle crept down toward empty, I found what I thought was the Sam's Club. Wait for light to change. Turn left in to parking lot. Nope, one light too soon. A trip around a parking lot. Back to the stop light. Wait. Turn Left. Wait at the next light (about 75 feet further on.) Turn left. Where's the Sam's? Rechecked the GPS display. Next turn 90 miles. Huh??? Re-searched for the Sam's. Ok, it's ahead on the right. Turn into the parking lot. Drive all the way around the building, stopping to let shoppers and other cars move. No gas station. Back to the GPS for another station. It lists a Citgo 0.1 miles away. I drive to the intersection. I can't see a gas station of any description as I wait for the light. Then I see it diagonally across the intersection as the light turns green. Unfortunately, I'm in the wrong lane and have to turn right. I drive 300 yards down the road and make an illegal "U-ie" to get back to the intersection. I wait again for the light. Pull across the intersection into the lot and drive to the first pump that has an opening on my side. Made it! Oh, No. The pump handle is covered: Out of Service. I pull out and around all the pumps. Only one other one is open. I pull in to it. Out of Service. I pull out and make another trip around the pumps. Finally, somebody else pulls out, and I wheeze into the spot on fumes. My debit card is refused. Why? I dunno, don't care. My stress level is already way high. I whip out another card; the pump accepts it and I start pumping. 18 and a half gallons later I'm topped off ( I thought the tank only held 18!).
I pull out of the station with the GPS set for the address in Rockport for the school. I'm still a good distance away. On the way I pass by all the exits for Freeport. No need to go to L.L.Bean yet, I continue on.
By now, it's almost 2 pm and I am getting hungry. I queried the GPS for a restaurant. All the ones that were not McDonalds, Wendys, Burger Kings, etc., are behind me, but finally, I found one called "Bullwinkles". It was about 10 miles ahead so I chose it.
I stopped at Bullwinkles for lunch and had an excellent Haddock BLT sandwich. The fish was wonderful. I must be in Maine.
Back on the road again after lunch, I see that the turn for the school is less than 10 miles away. As I tore down the road, I passed the Lie Nielsen company on the right. A woodworker can't pass Lie Nielsen without stopping in, so I turned around and did just that. I discovered that, as a student at the Center For Furniture Craftsmanship, I'm entitled to a 10% discount on all of their branded tools. Too bad I didn't know that sooner. I have might waited to buy that Low Angle Jack Plane I dropped a bundle on a couple of weeks ago. Oh well. Hindsight is wonderful, isn't it? Besides, the sales tax would have eaten up the discount, and they gave me free shipping, didn't they? Anyway, I bought a ticket to their open house on 10/11 July. That gets me a seat at the Lobster Bake, and a chance to shake hands with Roy Underhill. Of course, I've already done that a couple of years ago. But, us North Carolina guys need to say hello.
While I was in the store, I talked to three guys who are students at the school. We compared notes on how the dovetails on a box on display could have been constructed. I am really getting excited.
Back on the road again, I went right past the entrance to the school. It was not where the GPS thought it should be. So, I backtracked and drove in to the school. Amazingly, it looks exactly as it does in the photo on their website: a group of red buildings. I drive around and found a building with a door open to a power tool workshop. I parked and went in to the workshop and wandered around until I found some people. One introduced himself as Peter Korn, the school director, and the others were the same guys I met at Lie Nielsen. I'm not sure how they got back to the school before I did since we all left the store at about the same time. Anyway, two of them were sharpening chisels. They told me they are taking the 2-week basic course and that sharpening is a central part of that course. It turns out that the first two weeks of the course I'll be taking are essentially the same thing, so we know what I'll be doing for the next couple of weeks.
One of the students, Mack, who is here from the West Coast, and will be taking the 9 month course beginning in the Fall, took me on a very quick but thorough tour of the building, telling me that the building I'll be in is laid out essentially the same. My excitement rises.
Then I set out to find the place where I'll be staying. I found it pretty quickly. It's no more than a couple of miles away from the school, but I'm glad I didn't stick with my plan to bring my bicycle so I could ride to school every day. Large hills, a busy highway, and narrow lanes would have made it more difficult than I could manage.
Because it was only about 3 pm at that time, I decided to drive around a bit and see what I could see. I picked up Route 1 again and went into Camden. I had forgotten that Camden is very much a tourist town, and the traffic and congestion was terrific. I found a back way out of town and back to Rockport as quickly as I could.
I finally checked in at the apartment. It is in a heavily wooded area, and the apartment itself is a good-sized efficiency over a two-car garage. I wouldn't want to live here forever, but it will be comfortable enough for the summer. The owner's teenage son helped me move all my stuff in. I'm glad he did, because it's quite a walk up stairs. (What, no elevator?)
After moving in, unpacking and putting stuff away, and a nice chat with the owner, I drove to a restaurant several miles away, then to the local supermarket for some breakfast makings. Then back here for the evening.
It's almost 10 pm. Outside it is pitch black and silent. It's even quieter than at home. No distant highway noise at all. I think I will enjoy myself here this summer.
In keeping with the previous two entries in this blog, here's the entire track for today, starting in Connecticut, then through Mass, skirting around Boston, and then more or less up the coast to the Rockport area.
The second plot is the part around the area here. The school is at the two dots next to the lake in the lower left corner, and where I am staying is where it shows my truck and my callsign. You can see the one trip I made all the way up to Camden, and then back on back roads.
Unless I do something different, I won't bother to put any more plots in my blog entries. On a day-to-day basis, they won't even be as much as this one. So, if you really want to see my movements, you will need to figure out how to find me at http://aprs.fi Here's the link for the one below: http://aprs.fi/#!mt=roadmap&z=11&call=a%2FN0SYS-9&timerange=86400&tail=43200
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