Make a Joint Stool at Roy Underhill’s July 15-19

Well, now it’s April, which means it’s practically May. Might as well be June, which makes me wonder what you’re doing this summer.

What you could do is come to Pittsboro, North Carolina to make a joint stool at Roy Underhill’s Woodwright’s School. http://www.woodwrightschool.com/elizabethian-joint-stool-w-pet/

Out at the mill, we’ll split out an oak, and get to use a lot of wedges, hatchets and other big tools.

splitting oak w wedges

hewing at the mill

Maybe the owls will come out to watch.

Roy’s barred owl

Next, we’ll take the pieces into the school’s bench-room in town and get to planing.

If we make enough shavings, the Bag Man appears.

lots of planing to do

the Bag Man

Mortise & tenon joinery, drawboring, chamfering (turning for those full-tilt crazies) – it’ll be like the book come to life. I don’t remember what’s in the book, so I’ll be making it up as I go along.

chamfered frame

pole lathe practice

There’ll be tools galore, I’ll bring mine, Roy’s school has tons, then there’s Ed’s store upstairs!

If you wanted to know about green woodworking, then a week with me & Roy ought to do it. It reminds me of Twain’s quote about Kipling: “Between us, we cover all knowledge; he knows all that can be known, and I know the rest.”

 

Seriously, it’s a great week there. if you are interested in learning the craft of oak joinery with old-style tools, here’s your chance. My box-carving class at Drew Langsner’s is full, with a waiting list – so this is the only other week-long class I have this summer. Unless you’re in Germany in June! http://www.mehr-als-werkzeug.de/course/KU1631301/Carved-Box.htm

So get going. Get over to Roy’s website: http://www.woodwrightschool.com/elizabethian-joint-stool-w-pet/

get goin’

 

some boxes finished

I know it’s hotter elsewhere, but for southeastern New England, it’s been pretty hot & humid. That’s what has slowed down my blog. But I have done some woodworking now & then. After returning from the class at CFC, I finished a couple of carved boxes.

carved box, July 2012

This one I had in the class with me, although that pattern is a bit ambitious for students at first. One student tacked it this spring at Roy Underhill’s class, but he just carved, didn’t make a box….

Here’s the side view, showing the carving, wooden hinge, and pine lid:

wooden hinge

I was moving stuff around in my shop the other day & found parts for two small boxes. So I finished them up last week. Here’s one:

 

It’s small, about 9 1/2″ x 15 1/2″ x 5″ high. A handy size around the house.

 

open

There was a larger one that I just finished, this time with an oak lid. Two boards, edge-jointed & glued.  Iron hinges.

carved box, oak lid. Aug 2012

 

There’s more. These will all appear on the static pages of the blog here when I get around to them.

Meanwhile, my friends at Lie-Nielsen need to tighten up security, it seems.

the thief

 

 

 

 

the Woodwright Experience

the Woodwright's Shop

look where I was last week.

I have had very good fortune in my woodworking career – great teachers, friends, projects. All I could ask for…

One of the top highlights has been the chance for the past 10+ years to work on occasion with Roy Underhill. Roy saw my shop at Plimoth one day on a scouting trip he made through New England, looking for ideas for his show. I remember getting a phone message at work – “Roy Underhill called you” …”yea, sure” says me.

It’s hard to express the impact Roy’s books and shows have had on my work. I remember being in my early 20s, having just met Alexander & Langsner – and the green woodworking world was pretty small. Having found a television show about it was astounding…I remember watching the first couple of seasons on my lunch breaks at my part-time picture-framing job. I used to go to the local pizza joint & change the channel to see the show.

Years later, I ended up working in the living history museum field – and lo & behold, one of the books that addresses some of the challenges in that work is also by Roy – Krushchev’s Shoe: and Other Ways to Captivate an Audience of 1 to 1,000  (http://www.amazon.com/Khrushchevs-Shoe-Other-Captivate-Audience/dp/0738206725/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1335301008&sr=8-3)

So whenever I’m at a symposium, lecture, woodworking shows, etc where Roy is also on the bill, I try to make sure I get to see what he’s up to. It’s always worth seeing. Great teacher, presenter, lecturer, also can do woodwork – except he hasn’t finished a project in 32 years! Still worth it.

Last week, we had great students from many parts of the country, they had come a long ways, set aside time from their busy lives, all to let folks like Roy & I get to do what we love to do – share our ideas about furniture & woodworking.

students carving

another

learning to hew

more

many shavings

Ed Lebetkin’s store upstairs continues to swell w tools… if he doesn’t have what you’re looking for, he’ll probably end up with it soon.

tip of the iceberg

 

partial view of the whole iceberg up there. If you’re looking for something in particular, write to Ed  at edlebetkin@gmail.com

 

partial view of the whole iceberg

 Here’s a drawing my son Daniel did after watching an episode where Roy & I made spoons. To the right behind me are the finished spoons that were propped up for viewing in that episode. As well as a bunch of blocks that Roy brought in to make spoons from, behind him:

The episode is here, # 3108  http://www.pbs.org/woodwrightsshop/video/3100/index.html 

So if you have not yet made it to Pittsboro, NC for a class at the Woodwright’s School, put it on your list. It’s getting better all the time. http://www.woodwrightschool.com/

I feel that being a part of his Woodwright’s School is truly an honor, a real highlight in my career. Thanks for having me Roy, it means a lot to me.

BUT – here is the real kicker from the week down south: 

barred owl

 

Urban Woodwright

One thing I have learned over the past ten years or so is if you see this fellow around, don’t go away. something interesting might happen.

it’s tricky riving in a place like this; you have to keep your eyes open…

then, it’s right back where you started from…

Hickory is a great wood for riving; and now there’s more space & light up here

and just to show that we weren’t just going willy-nilly, we had checked that the sign said nothing about hickory, riving tools. etc.  We are, after all, professionals.

Next year, it’s pitsawing.

 

PF on Roy Underhill’s “The Woodwright’s Shop “

In the winter of 2007, I travled to North Carolina to shoot another episode of Roy Underhill’s PBS program on woodworking, “The Woodwright’s Shop.” I brought along some carved boxes, and we ran down the process as quickly as we could.

I don’t have television here at home, and even if I did, the local PBS does not carry Roy’s program. Some places do, some don’t. But you can view non-current episodes on the web. The link is:

http://www.pbs.org/wws/schedule/video.html