Build a wooden hand plane

Saturday February 5th 10-4
Tuition $115 + $60 Material Fee

This is a great class for any one who wants to learn the basics of woodworking and who has a love of hand tools. There is nothing more gratifying than making your own tools. Of all the tools used to shaped wood, the hand plane is the one that has come to symbolize craftsmanship. It's no surprise. Here's a cutting tool that is designed to create truth: dead straight and flat surfaces ready for finishing and precise joinery. Tuning up one and mastering its use are two of the greatest thrills of woodworking. There is a genuine pleasure in using a finely tuned hand plane. Making your own out of wood is truly rewarding because you can create something that that fits your hands and suits your needs. In this workshop we will learn how to make, tune up and use a Krenov style wooden hand plane.

Skill Level: Beginner-Advanced

For more information email: blackstonevalleyschoolofcraft@gmail.com
or call 413-717-5062

Jeff Hollis, Eagle Eye and Analine Dyes

Here is my friend Jeff Hollis, owner of Eagle Eye Antiques in Uxbridge, MA.  Jeff is a great furniture finisher/re finisher.  This birds eye maple box is part of a custom piece I'm working on.  I took it to Jeff to get some advice on using analine dyes.  Jeff was a great help, we mixed up a few colors until we got the look we were after and finished the box with a few coats of shellac, rubbing out teach coat with 0000 steel wool and then putting on a final coat of wax.  The end result looks great.  These two pictures are of Jeff's store.

The Toy Box

I finished Quinn's toy box.  The box will get a durable polyurethane overcoat.  This was a fun project to

 build.

 

Slowly but surely

Last week I picked up the seat cushion for the diner settee.  It's a wonderful teal blue vinyl. I have to install

 the trim and make the drawer

Keeping Watch

Last week Liesl and I drove up to the studio to be greeted by these beautiful hawks sitting in the tree by the

 side of the studio.  A nice way to start the day.



Uxbridge, MA

I haven't posted anything in a while. We've been busy packing and moving. This past week Liesl, Quinn and I moved into our new place in Uxbridge, Mass. The house is from the 1800's. It use to be a boarding house. I took these pictures too show some of the woodwork. Two of the three fire places have this beautiful ornate carvings and mouldings. The doors are beautiful. Graining use to be part of a finishers trade. The wood has been painted and grained to look like

rosewood. There awesome.



What is old is new again

Ten years ago I built these Adirondack chairs. The chairs are made out of old pine floor boards that came out of a house in Cape Cod. The house and boards are from the early 1800's. They are varnished on one side. The varnish is peeling off and the chairs are quite weathered. I love Adirondack chairs. There is a book by author Akiko Bush titled " The Uncommon Life of Common Objects" On the cover is a picture of an Adirondack chair. These chairs are taken for granted. They are so common place they have become ubiquitous. We don't even think about them when we see them, we just sit in them and relax. That's why they are my favorite piece of furniture. No other piece of furniture ( maybe a bed ) says "relax". They are deep with large arm rest to place a drink or a book on. Most chairs look stiff and rigid but not these. These chairs also get a bad rap by some craftsman who don't see them as high end furniture. They don't have the complex joinery as most chairs and you can buy them most anywhere but I can't think of a single object that when you have finished building it you can sit in it, admire your hand work and just relax. Perfect in my opinion. Liesl's dad just completed these two and a small table to go with them. What a great commission in

the cold weather.

Toy Box Inlay

I have a few projects on the go but the best one to work on is Quinn's Toy Box.  It's a lot of fun.  I bought some old fashioned wooden blocks, glued them together, cut them to size and inlayed them into the front of

the box.

 



More Toy Box

Yesterday was a busy day doing other work, not building.  I did get a chance to put the bottom in Quinns' toy box.  It looks great.  The contrast of the knotty pine and the painted panels works well.



Toy Box Continued

All of this box is made from recycled lumber or pieces out of the scrap box.  The joinery is all tongue and groove joinery. The frame of the box is made out of pine bead board.  The panels are off cuts from a bead board panel.  I cut them to fit and then painted them.  The center panels are painted in primary colors.  The two end panels are painted in chalk board paint so Quinn can draw on them.  This is a fun project to build. When building a toy box make sure you use proper hinges and lid supports that won't close on fingers.



The Garage: Project Four

This is Jeff Ellis.  He is the camera man, the editor and the producer of the TV show " The Garage"  Yesterday we started shooting our fourth project, a rustic chair with a fabric seat.  We cut the mortises and the tenons on the red maple sticks.  We'll continue shooting next week.  Today I continued working on

  Quinn's toy box.

The Toy Box

Yesterday I started building a toy box for my son Quinn.  I initially went in to work on a project I've been working on for a while but when I've been away from the studio for a while I like to work on something that is less difficult and more fun too make.  It's like a stretch before the run, you get the kinks out'

I like to use leftover material or pieces in the scrap bin.  For this project I used Tongue and groove pine bead board.  I like to use materials that were intended for a different use.  On some of the boards I cut off the tongues and on other I cut off the grooves.  I had to cut tenons on the boards and grooves to match the existing grooves on the pine The panels are from cut offs of bead board sheets that were around the studio. The top and bottom will be of plywood that will have a solid wood edge around it. The bottom feet will have a slight curve cut out of them. I might paint the box.
 .

The Island

Here are the components that the class made.  The cabinets are made from 1/2 inch plywood wrapped with a 1/4 inch bead board.  The poplar face frame was joined to the cabinets by a rabbet joint.  The face frame construction was done with lap joints.  The bead board was turned on the horizontal to give a barn look.  The doors and drawers are added later and the base has a decorative moulding around its perimeter.

Building at Yestermorrow

Here is the class, who had no prior experience, building the components for the kitchen island.

The Class of Cabinets and Built-Ins

Here's the gang' The class I taught was called Cabinets and Built-Ins.  Here are Lisa, Joe, Dave, Ron and Karen .  Missing is Rons' wife Cassandra, she didn't make it until Wednesday. Here are some images of the wood shop.  The shop had a lot of natural light.

The Cabins

Here are some of the cabins that are at Yestermorrow.  Students can stay in these cabins.  There is a solar powered shower and they have started construction on a fiber based dwelling.