Made room in the shop for turning

Since I moved into my new shop a year & a half ago, I have shuffled semi-finished projects in & out of the way as I worked. I have a chest that has no customer; I made it for photos I needed for my book. I kept thinking I’d find a spot for it in the house. Seemed unlikely, meanwhile it fit nicely under the lathe. So, out of sight, out of mind. Until I needed to turn something. In fact, fitting under there it collected lots of stuff inside it, then I even put boards across the top for more storage. Terrible idea. 

With a lot of turned components coming up in my work, I had to finally deal with it. Spent several hours shuffling stuff around here & there – fitted the chest (still lid-less, still unsold) into the basement and cleaned up the shop. Now, all I need to do is re-learn turning.

Here’s a view from outside, through the open door. All that open space means I can get at the lathe when I need to. I have plans to make a shorter bed for it, so it takes up less floor space. But for now, I need the full-length for some long turning projects in the near future.

 

Prior to turning, I chop all the mortises.

Even bore the pin holes.

Mark the centers.

Turn ’em.

on a good day, I can make them look like this:

Here’s the square table frame, test fitted. Like an over-sized joined stool.

After this one, there’s a large turned chair coming up. That calls for ash. This is a five-footer, splits like it’s perforated. The rear posts will be 4′ long, 2 1/4″ in diameter. Whew.

Shaved octagonal with a drawknife, then mark the center and turn it.

The straight clear ash works like a dream. what a wood…

Wellfleet Wildlife

The 2nd in an on-going series from my son Daniel. Enjoy:

Last Monday our family went to Cape Cod and one of our stops was Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. There is lots to do and see there; exhibits and aquariums and walking trails.

https://www.massaudubon.org/get-outdoors/wildlife-sanctuaries/wellfleet-bay

As we drove in we saw a Great crested flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus).

He was right out in the open and was easy to get a picture of. After looking at the aquariums and exhibits we headed out to the trail and there was a Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula) on a feeder eating jelly.

 

The trails went into the woods and came out at a saltwater marsh and there we saw willets and fiddler crabs. On the trail, I took a picture of my father. Because he usually takes the pictures, we don’t have pictures if him in the woods…but this time I had the camera.

We could hear the willets (Tringa semipalmata) before we saw them. They were very noisy establishing nesting territory out in the marsh.

Peterson’s Field Guide shows the black and white wing pattern distinctive to the willet.

Then we got to the boardwalk and we saw fiddler crabs (Uca pugnax) by the thousands.

 

They really were everywhere.

 

Back here at home we are still seeing the fox though not as frequently as in May.

 

more Greenwood Fest photos

UPDATE – I completely forgot to point out, these photos are from Marie Pelletier, Plymouth CRAFT’s intrepid photographer. Thanks, Marie.

Some might be repeats – I can’t keep track.

home of Swedish cowboy coffee

Tobias Eklund and Pär Brask  from Morakniv were there all weekend, offering Swedish cowboy coffee and talking knives…it was great having them with us.

Tobias Ecklund of Morakniv

 

Pär Brask and Ian discussing knives over coffee

Darrick Sanderson (ol’ #16) brought his own lathe, set up outside the pavillion drawing in the crowds to see what all the commotion was about.

Darrick Sanderson

The lathe pavillion was always jumping. Not sure if this shot is during Robin Wood’s class, or during Darrick’s in the Fest. Rare shot of the floor being cleaned of shavings.

turners trompin’

Tim Manney, helping people get sharp and stay sharp.

Tim Manney sharpening

They were never not carving.

around the woodpile

Spoons!

spoons

There was much fan-bird mania.

fan bird feathers being spread

 

fan bird

Pete Galbert kindly supplemented our shaving horse throng. These got used in many groups; drawknife work, fan birds, and more.

horses all lined up

Pete Galbert demo’d drawknife stuff for his class.

push & pull

Dave Fisher’s students concentrating hard on letter-carving in basswood.

 

letter carving

For a minute, I though Joel was being serious here, as he tries the spoon mule. But no, still grinning ear-to-ear.

spoon mule

The tip of the iceberg.

a fraction of the full week’s output

 

Wille Sundqvist and Bill Coperthwaite Slöjd Fellowship

At Greenwood Fest, our friend Peter Lamb https://www.instagram.com/gerrishisland/ came in on Saturday night to make a presentation of the Wille Sundqvist and Bill Coperthwaite Slöjd Fellowship award. The Fellowship aims to honor Wille and Bill and continue their legacy.

Wille Sundqvist

 

Bill Coperthwaite

Here’s a blurb about the Fellowship –

“The Wille Sundqvist and Bill Coperthwaite Slöjd  Fellowship is awarded to craftspeople to further deepen the meaning, skills, and connections among those passionate about simple living and handmade objects. The Fellowship provides financial support to green woodworkers and other craftspeople to travel from their home country and share their thinking about handcraft, showcase their skills and design work, further their own research, and extend the international community of interest.”

This year’s recipients were Dave Fisher and Robin Wood, both well-deserving. Dave dressed down for the occasion, not wanting to show Robin up…

Robin Wood and Dave Fisher

Today Jögge Sundqvist wrote on Facebook about contributions being made in Wille’s memory to the fund for this Fellowship –  spurred me on to spread the word. You can also make a spoon to contribute to an auction in September.

Another blurb:

“Memorial contributions in honor of Wille Sundqvist may be made to the Wille Sundqvist and Bill Coperthwaite Slöjd Fellowship Fund at the North House Folk School, via check (noting “Slöjd Fellowship Fund”) and sent to North House Folk School, P.O. Box 759, 500 W. Highway 61, Grand Marias, MN 55604, USA …….or via paypal.me/Slojdfellowship

Also, craftspeople and other Slöjders from around the world are invited to make a spoon in honor of Wille and contribute it to North House (same address as above) in time for their on-line auction to be held in early September. All proceeds from the sale of spoons will be added to Slöjd Fellowship Fund.

Questions can be directed to Peter Lamb at PeterLamb@kneetoknee.com or to Jögge Sundqvist at jogge@surolle.se or to Tom Morse at North House Folk School at tmorse@northhouse.org ”

At our Fest, we had most of the previous Fellowship recipients – just missing Beth Moen

Wille Sundqvist and Bill Coperthwaite Slöjd Fellowship group photo

back, left to right: JoJo Wood, Jane Mickelborough, Dave Fisher, Peter Follansbee

front, left to right: Jarrod Dahl, Robin Wood

some Greenwood Fest pictures

I’m getting nowhere sorting Greenwood Fest pictures, so will just post a few here & there rather than trying to write a comprehensive blog post about the event. The wood gets delivered in a dump truck. Easy to unload, but last year we just left a large jumbled heap for people to sift through. This time I asked for (& got) volunteers to sort and lay out the wood so it was less hazardous. Then – I kept worrying we’d run out. Doesn’t look like enough, but it was…

Here’s Curtis Buchanan on his way to work, no doubt some hijinks between him & Darrick Sanderson on the pole lathe there. It was a great pleasure to have Curtis join us this time…

Way back in my woodworking DNA I’m a chairmaker – and I kept going back to Curtis’ sessions to see what he was up to, and to admire his chairs. So much so that I bought this one – I never bought another chairmaker’s chair before.

Barn the Spoon. BOOM.

So much hands-on component, so much real-world connection.

This place was always busy.

The ladyslippers were in full bloom.

 

Robin Wood came over from England. He ran several sessions, this one, with JoJo (seated on the right), about their tool-making operation Wood Tools.

Our old friend Joel Pontz brought his tent, his borrowed dump truck and his eager help. Then he took Jane Mickelborough’s folding spoon class. Here he’s cutting the bridle joint that forms the hinge.

Stopped by Dave Fisher’s pre-fest course on carving bowls, to see just who the quickest ones were who got to sign up for that class. Under 10 minutes I think it took to sell out…

And Dave in a later session demonstrating how he does the finish work on one of his bowls.

thank you for Greenwood Fest 2018

I am just about done sorting and sifting through my workshop, putting it back together after Greenwood Fest 2018. I’ll post photos from the Fest in the next couple of days, but first I want to offer great thanks to the Plymouth CRAFT board and volunteers for helping Pret, Paula & I to run this event. I don’t have pictures of them all, but there’s a large group of people working very hard to make things run. They all did multi-purpose duties, and we appreciate their support. There’s always the risk of missing someone in a venture like this, and if I do, I’ll sort it out. Here goes: Ben Brewster with his AV help; David Berman, design work (& bed-making); Mary Salcedo & Jake Peters for all their hustle; Rick McKee for help setting up & breaking down; Joel Pontz – the tent and the dump truck, Chris Devine – the WOOD! The staff working in the Greenwood Shop deserve special mention – Elizabeth Creedon, Pat Baker, Charlotte Russell, Caroline Chapin, Janice Card, Kirsten Atchison, and Dorothy Price. Then Marie Pelletier, who shot the photos (& bed-making); Tobias Ecklund and Pär Brask from Morakniv; and Ben Strano and Barry Dima from Fine Woodworking. Pete Mickelborough, Zak Wolstenholme and Sean Vivide for all their pitching in to help. And Bryan MacIntyre, guarding the life.

UPDATE = knew I’d forget some. Mike & Tammy Race, for ferrying people from the bus, hosting in elegance our wayward travelers and their unflagging support of all Plymouth CRAFT endeavors. And Josh Hockenberry for the airport run when we were too swamped.  Pat Kirby for his constant help and smile. I’m sure I’ll add some…

A very special thanks to the hard-working kitchen staff at Pinewoods who kept us all well-fed.

The next big thank-you goes to the incredible instructors who set aside time to travel to us – we’re very lucky to have such great friends.

front row, l-r: Dave Fisher, Darrick Sanderson, Curtis Buchanan, Tim Manney, back row, l-r: JoJo Wood, Robin Wood, Barn the Spoon, Jane Mickelborough, Pete Galbert, Peter Follansbee, Paula Marcoux

Greenwood Fest 2018 instructors

And all you folks who came from far and wide – if you didn’t buy tickets, we couldn’t do it. Here’s the group photos – some got away just before it, but that’s most of you. Thanks.

Greenwood Fest 2018 group

“Spoon-wood” for Jögge Sundqvist

I’ve often wondered when the hell someone would re-write the great Willie Dixon song “Spoonful” for all the spoon-carving crowd. Then I tried for years & couldn’t get it. Once I stopped trying, it came to me. So – sung to the tune of “Spoonful” here are the lyrics I came up with for Greenwood Fest 2018

 

It Could be a spoon made of cherry

It Could be a spoon made of bee-eeech

But one little spoon of Jögge’s precious birch

Is good enough for me-eeee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m just wild about that spoon wood

Just wild about that spoon wood.

That spoon, that spoon, that spoon wood.

That spoon, that spoon, that spoon wood.

 

It could be a spoon made with JoJo

It could be a spoon made with me-eeee

Or just a little spoon that Jane brought from home

a folding spoon from Britt-a-kneeeee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m just wild about that spoon wood

Just wild about that spoon wood.

That spoon, that spoon, that spoon wood.

That spoon, that spoon, that spoon wood.

 

It could be a spoon made from straight wood

Or a crook from your favorite tree-eeee

Barn just made a spoon with his twca cam

That’s good enough for mee-eee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m just wild about that spoon wood

Just wild about that spoon wood.

That spoon, that spoon, that spoon wood.

That spoon, that spoon, that spoon wood.

 

Paula did all of this planning

so we could carve spoons all week

Chris cut the wood from his bucket truck

they both get big thanks from me-eeee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m just wild about that spoon wood

Just wild about that spoon wood.

That spoon, that spoon, that spoon wood.

That spoon, that spoon, that spoon wood.

 

To decorate his spoons with a jackknife

Dave uses sorcery

There’s no way his is an Earthly skill

It’s Way Beyond the likes of me-eeeee

I’m just wild about that spoon wood

Just wild about that spoon wood.

That spoon, that spoon, that spoon wood.

That spoon, that spoon, that spoon wood.

 

Curtis and Tim have a different way

They bend their Crooks with steam

What’d you expect from chair makers

It’s good enough for me-eeeee

I’m just wild about that spoon wood

Just wild about that spoon wood.

That spoon, that spoon, that spoon wood.

That spoon, that spoon, that spoon wood.

 

Some learned spoons from the internet

Some learned spoons from Tee-Veeeee

If you use an axe and a couple of knives

You can trace it back to ol’ Vill-eeeee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m just wild about that spoon wood

Just wild about that spoon wood.

That spoon, that spoon, that spoon wood.

That spoon, that spoon, that spoon wood.

Wille Sundqvist

As we’re preparing to start setting up Greenwood Fest tomorrow, news came today that Wille Sundqvist passed away, aged 92 years old. We heard from Jögge earlier this week that the end was near, thus he stayed home in Sweden to be with his father.

We’ll all miss having Jögge with us at the Fest, and our thoughts are with him and his family. I’m so glad it worked out the way it did, he could have easily been on a plane headed our way when Wille’s time came.

There’s no exaggeration about Wille’s impact on so many of our woodworking trajectories…I’ve written and talked at length about what I often call “craft genealogy” and I trace mine back to a very simple event – Bill Coperthwaite bringing Wille Sundqvist down to meet Drew and Louise Langsner, c. 1976. That visit led to the creation of  Country Workshops, where I often traveled to learn from Drew, Louise, Jennie Alexander, Jögge, Curtis Buchanan and Wille Sundqvist – and on & on.

Plymouth CRAFT has dedicated this year’s Greenwood Fest to Wille Sundqvist and his life’s work.

Fare you well, Wille Sundqvist, rest in peace.

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