The Editor's Mailbox

Dovetails on the Delaware

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 19:13:11 GMT

Posted by: Michael Pekovich

A small woodworking school in Philadelphia recently became a Mecca for hand tool junkies when Lie-Nielsen Toolworks hosted a two-day weekend woodworking show at the Philadelphia Furniture Workshop.

Back to school. Some of the people attending the Lie-Nielsen event at the Philadelphia Furniture Workshop.

I was there as a demonstrator. It was my first opportunity to teach woodworking techniques in a public setting. Up to this point, my teaching has always been on a one-to-one basis. I wrote an article a while back on basic hand tool skills and figured it might be a good foundation for my demonstrations.

Talking dovetails. A quiet moment in the demonstrations on Oct. 12 and 13.

Displays of Lie-Nielsen tools filled the school’s large bench room. There was plenty of space available to take the tools for a test drive. There were even some tools, such as a match plane and chamfering plane, that aren’t yet available to the public. It was a great way to see the tools up close after drooling over them in catalogs for years.

Demonstrations were happening in every corner.

Deneb Puchalski from Lie-Nielsen offered expert tutorials on sharpening and using hand planes. When I wasn’t busy offering tips on backsaw and chisel basics, I was watching Deneb and picking up more than a few pointers.

Keen. Deneb Puchalski of Lie-Nielsen, sharpening a chisel.

John Economaki from Bridge City Tools was also at the show demonstrating his latest offering, a small molding plane with interchangeable soles and blades capable of cutting coves, roundovers, rabbets, and dadoes. An engineering marvel and a thing of beauty, the plane can be purchased with a sole and blade configuration of your choice. Other soles can be purchased separately.

Multiplane. Interchangeable soles let you cut several profiles with the Bridge City Toolworks multiplane.

Smoothing plane. This typifies the high-quality machining and finishing on Bridge City tools.

Mario Rodriguez, a former FWW contributing editor who teaches at the school, showed folks how to re-handle chisels. Chris Schwarz, the editor of Popular Woodworking magazine, covered scraper sharpening and use.

Demo. Chris Schwarz, with a benchful of props and tools for his demonstration.

I planned on presenting tips for using the backsaw, chisels, block plane and hand plane. But because Deneb was doing such a great job, I quickly limited my topics to backsaws and chisels. That melded into a demonstration on cutting dovetails. It seems that no matter how many dovetails we’ve cut or demonstrations we’ve watched, it’s still fun to watch someone else struggle through the process.

I cut quite a few over the weekend, with only a couple of band-aids to show for it. Talking while woodworking can be hazardous. The attendees were polite and patient, and they and asked a ton of great questions. Some even offered some good pointers of their own. By far the greatest part of attending the show was the opportunity to talk shop with so many passionate woodworkers and share our joys and frustrations of the craft.

The next Lie-Nielsen event is scheduled to take place on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, at the North Bennet Street School, in Boston. Garrett Hack and Steve Latta, FWW contributing editors, will be among the demonstrators. Brian Boggs, a frequent contributor to FWW, will demonstrate his signature chair-making techniques.

Michael Pekovich is FWW’s Art Director.

Photos by Mario Rodriguez.

The Wood Whisperer Visits FWW

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:11:51 GMT

The Wood Whisperer--also known as FineWoodworking.com contributing editor and online sawdust celebrity Marc Spagnuolo--flew up from his home in Phoenix to spend two days in our Connecticut offices this week. His wife Nicole, who handles video, marketing, and many other Whisperer chores, accompanied him. Marc and Nicole are busy compiling "a behind-the-scenes video" of Fine Woodworking magazine to learn more about how we find and prepare articles for the magazine. They talked to the editors and designers, scoped out the FWW shop, and peeked in on a photo shoot. They also spent time with publisher Anatole Burkin in his home shop.

Tiny dovetails. David Heim, FWW.com managing editor, (center) shows off finely detailed drawer joinery in a reproduction of Thomas Jefferson's writing desk built by Lon Schleining as Nicole zooms to capture it on video.

The pair brought along an HD camcorder, microphones, a digital SLR still camera, and his-and-hers iPhones. Not only did they shoot more than five hours of video with the editors in our offices and shop, they also kept in touch with their audience via the iPhone's web browser and regularly uploaded cell-phone snapshots. Marc and Nicole began updating their audience about the trip last week, when they asked readers if they had any special questions for the FWW staff.

Yesterday morning, they observed and videotaped one of our regular editorial meetings, where the entire staff discusses article ideas. Regular contributors get the same treatment as newcomers, as everyone has an opportunity to weigh in with criticism, refinements, and suggestions for how to make the article fit into FWW. The hourlong meeting ended just before lunchtime. Marc and Nicole had photos of it online within minutes.

Marc's usually the talent in front of the camera, but here he's prepping his tiny high definition camcorder for a shoot. Nicole and David look on.

Marc checks out the dust collection in the FWW shops.

Marc and Nicole are heading home, but if you have any burning questions for the Wood Whisperer, post 'em here and we'll try to get an answer.

A Gary Garrett Meld

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 17:54:47 GMT

Posted by: Gina Eide

It’s hard to imagine the work of Garrett Hack and Gary Rogowski fused. They build furniture on opposite sides of the country and design in completely different styles. Hack lives on a one-horse farm in Vermont and gives his pieces a contemporary, Federal-inspired style. Rogowski runs a school in Portland, Ore. and works in Arts and Crafts and Asian-inspired idioms. So I was surprised to walk into the Fine Furnishings and Fine Craft Show in Milwaukee (it ran September 29 and 30) and see concepts from the two craftsmen blended by an Iowa furniture maker.

Asian Huntboard, the “offspring” of Garret Hack and Gary Rogowski designs, according to the maker, David Young.

David Young was giving me a tour of his booth at the show. He’d studied with Gary Rogowski so I wasn’t surprised to see an Asian flair in the sideboard at the end of his booth. But I was surprised to learn that Garrett Hack’s huntboard article from FWW #193 was the actual inspiration for the piece.

Hack’s versatile huntboard

The proportions for Young’s piece are very similar to Hack’s huntboard, he said. But Young put his own stamp on it using design ideas he picked up while studying with Rogowski. “It’s like the offspring of Garrett and Gary’s designs,” said Young with a laugh.

I’d never met Young before, but it was fun to make a connection over an article and the work of our authors. The connection was reinforced when Young pointed out the “sushi box” in his booth holding business cards.

Rogowski’s sushi box from FWW #139

Young completed the project early on while studying with Rogowski, the box was also featured in FWW #139. A half-assembled version of the same sushi box design is also sitting on my desk waiting for completion.

Photos: Gina Eide, Bill Truslow, and Matthew Teague

Furniture news from the front

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 13:39:37 GMT

(Editor's Note: The following dispatch arrived in our e-mail inbox earlier this week. It's a testament to military resourcefulness, among many other things.)

Hello!

I am a UH-1N helicopter pilot, currently deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom at Al Taqaddum Air Base, Iraq. One of my most favorite things in my care packages from home is the latest issue of Fine Woodworking.

Being my Squadron's resident woodworker, I was asked to improve things around our spaces. Your latest issue (#192) included plans to make an Adirondack chair, so I decided to make one with the limited resources I had out here. Specifically, I used wooden shipping crates and 2x4s for materials. The tools I had were a jigsaw, circular saw, screw gun, router and bits, and a miter saw I was able to borrow from another resident unit. I found a chisel that was in poor shape but managed to get it tuned fairly well using the scary sharp method.

In a few days of free time I was done, and the chair has seen non-stop action since.

Attached is a picture of the chair I made, just so you can see how it turned out. I had to modify some things based on what I had to work with but I think it turned out well and will provide a comfortable chair for a good while. It's nothing close to the level of work in the magazine, but for me, it is "Iraq good."

Thanks for making such a great magazine.

All the best,

Ryan "Heywood" Fair, Captain
United States Marine Corps
Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 369

Design in Every Corner

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 18:24:04 GMT

Posted by: Gina Eide

I traveled to the Boston area last week for a video shoot with Paul Ruhlmann, a woodworking teacher, rustic-furniture maker, and inventor of the Veritas tenon cutter. Since I was visiting an innovator, I expected to be blown away by his shop creations.

I wasn’t disappointed. He demonstrated a new jig he made and I saw other homemade shop gear including convenient clamp racks, creative lighting solutions, and an outfeed table on wheels.

But I was more impressed by the elements of artistry sprinkled throughout his school woodshop and home in Concord, Mass. Only a truly creative spirit would bring artistic flair to objects as mundane as a push stick or a toilet-paper holder.

An array of push sticks designed by Ruhlmann and his woodworking students. A sacrificial sole protects the sculptured handles.

Ruhlmann teaches woodworking at a private day school, Buckingham Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge, Mass., which has roots stretching back to the late 1800s.

On a high-tech campus replete with modern buildings, Ruhlmann’s woodshop stands out. It was built in 1932 and originally called the Sloyd Building after an old Swedish technique for teaching manual arts with hand tools, said Ruhlmann.

Ruhlmann’s sawdust oasis

From the very beginning of his classes, Ruhlmann encourages his students to focus on design and creativity. They don’t get detailed plans or cut lists, but style their own projects. Many learn inlay and marquetry techniques early on to embellish their pieces.

The creativity that Ruhlmann inspires in his students is also evident in dabs of artistry that fill his house. It's not surprising that Ruhlmann’s house is a small gallery for some of his fine furniture and turnings.

Ruhlmann’s take on the slab table. He made it in the late 1970s while apprenticing with New Hampshire wood sculptor and furniture maker Jon Brooks.

But design and creativity slip into some of the most ordinary elements of his house as well. Simple pine moldings line the floors, windows, and doorways, but Ruhlmann jazzes them up with inlay and Greene and Greene inspired details.

When Ruhlman’s wife, Terry, commissioned a quick coat rack from two by fours, he still wove in decorative pegs, natural sticks, and Arts and Crafts elements.

The threaded tenons make this coat rack easy to disassemble.

On the same lines of his coat rack, Ruhlmann squeezed cloud-lifts into the treehouse he built for his kids.

Backyard treehouse

Even the toilet-paper holder gets high-class treatment…

A decorative toilet paper holder uses inlay, a threaded rod, and turned stoppers.

As I sat in Boston traffic on my way home from the video shoot with Ruhlmann, these were the little details that percolated through my mind. A week later they still stand out from the visit... after all, how many people get creative with toilet-paper holders and treehouse supports? Whether he banged together something simple using 2x4s or was making a basic push stick, Ruhlmann infused each object with a personal touch.