Two Weeks of Woodworking Bliss

David J Hickson

David has taken a few classes and wants to share some information and experiences.  This is how he spends his vacation money.

Classes:  Answer some of the following: What is your interest?  What is your skill level?  What style of teaching do you seek?  Individual or group?  Tools?  Cost $700-$1200 per week for class doesn’t include room and board.  Do NOT expect to come home with a finished project.

And is it a week end, week long etc…  Do you want a certification/degree program or hobbyist program?  And is it a skill focused or project focused program.

2 weeks two classes dramatically different

WEEK ONE

Hertford, NC with Ben Hobbs professional Furniture Maker

Learned 19^th century furniture forms, raised panel door construction, fitting doors, drawer-making and fitting, half-mortise locks, dovetails

Cabins for rent on property.  Pictures of property.  Small restaurant on premise leased out.  Inside cabin is all Ben Hobs and wife Jackie work.

Spice cabinet was goal for this class.

Demonstrate next steps and would turn everyone loose to manage it on your own.  Pace of class smoothed out over a few days.  Made sure to discuss do’s & don’t’s of the technique.  Great teacher and hard worker and no sense of burden but a passion for his work.

Shaped feet: splined, glued, then shaped on bandsaw using pattern and jug, final shaping with plane, rasp, file, sandpaper.  All final surface is mostly hand type tools.

Ben’s sister property Yeopim River.  All woodwork at this property is also Ben Hobb’s work.  Every joint, seam is perfect.

Combination of modern tools and hand tools for final detail.

Intuitive style-teaches from his memory and his end project example

WEEK TWO

Chair making techniques, chair design based on trapezoids, jigs for repeat/productions work, micrometer precision, steam-bending, drawknife and spokeshave work

Strasburg, Virginia

Brian Boggs well known chairmaker & designer inflen John Alexander, James Krenov, Sam Malouf

New design and latest is guitar/music chair

Class taken with Jeff Leftowitz who started out as a graphic designer, leather worker and got into woodworking

Taken some of Brian Boggs ideas and refined them to teach this introductory class.

Pictures of shop, property and equipment.

Only 1 or 2 people at a time taking a class at a time.  Intensive week but very easy to be around.

Steambox set up where he is bending wood (various like cherry and walnut) +2”, gets air dry wood from a local mill who looks out for the kinds of wood that a woodworker would want.

Bending jig for the legs on display.

Steam-bending slats and then essentially a drying rack for consistency.  Production minded approach to reproduce

Re-squared after bending.  Next jig is designed with perfect slots for the curve.  All finishes and final shaving by hand.

Rungs done by Jeff on the lathe-turned spindles.  Each jig is specific to chair design.  Each spindle from top to bottom is different.  Jigs are combination of Brian and Jeff’s work.

Book on display from Jeff who has documented all the designs.

Kiln-dried spindles, warm hide glue, precision alignment makes assembly go well.  Hide glue is easy clean up, doesn’t stain and supposedly reversible.

Chair-Assembly Jig

Red oak chair with detail, weaving hickory bark, soak bark, wider on front than back.  Ok once you get the hang of it.  Really likes the effect. Warp then weft, tool modified spoon.  Some leather detail.

Hobbs

Traditional 18^th century designs

Intuitive construction

Modern methods, traditional look, fit as you go, high quality social

Leftowitz

Modern interpretation of traditional ladderback chairs

Precision methods, formulaic approach

Semi-production style work

Individual experience

Probably 4 or 5 chair designs to choose from but no rocker.

 

Minutes

County Executive Ken Ulman email and phone no contact, chief of staff has heard story and returned called.  Supposedly there is an agreement in place that this meeting should free.  As of Dec. apparently this agreement is no longer in place.

Need to out by 12PM.  This meeting will cost $120.

Hopefully more info by Monday.

 

Announcements

10 New member/guests

Website:  Gene will present for a few months to track progress, creating accounts will create the barrier between public and private info, hcwg.org-no need for www, new member request will prompt Gene to verify membership and he will approve and send password, Who’s Who directory, system should work on any screen-smartphone, all size monitors, some content is the same, eventually all the content will be back on, Gene rec’d a classified 10 minutes after putting up the form, in a week site will be transferred over to a secure protocol.  March-April will be set aside for blogging, photo gallery, shop hours, marketplace, additional resources,  May-June will be to add paypal, notifications, newsletters.  There are as much as 200 hits/day at times.

Manny $6,539.16, selling some extra stuff from the shop if anyone is interested.

Bandsaw:  Brian Gram describes the detention lever-do not use, tension in place and blade in place, use quality blade, use radial cut, class set up for the future.

President and vice president positions will be up for election in September.

DC motors-anyone with experience.  Veneers are available next month for viewing-various.  Largest is rosewood 30”x1’-10 sheets.

Reclaimed wood-submerged log, 6-8’ long

Show and Tell

Manny Flecker:  scrap wood platter turned thin, finished with boiled linseed oil & wax finish; 6″ segmented container, mahogany, poplar & plywood base, same finish above.

Ron Clements:  golf cart, monster pickup truck, skid loader (logging machines)

Tim Jackson:  maple bowl in progress

Dr. Dick Currie:  maple and cherry shaker boxes

Fred Steffins:  frame and sand from wood in 1917 house for a 50th wedding anniversary

Hersheld Doss:  bowl

Rick Munzer:  walnut, cherry, maple tray

Tom Opitz:  cheese board with chevrolet inlay

Dan Messina:  tray

Jordon Kitr:  spalted oak first hollow, turning 4″ tall x 5-1/2, only straight tools used

David Zeitzer:  zig zag tray

Fred Schock:  backgammon table with maloof style pedestal base, child’s chair, full size rocking chair

Richard Winchester:  bridge table in progress

50/50

Door Prizes