Berkshire adventure: Day Three.

Day three of my Berkshire mountain adventure consisted mostly of hanging around with my son, my wife and her family.
I'm fortunate to be able to visit such a beautiful place and to have the chance to walk through their woods with my son.
My wife's Grandmother was on a roll when we were there, entertaining us with her 100 years worth of stories'
It was awesome.

The house is full of antiques. In the formal living room is a fireplace/hearth with beautiful woodwork. The dining table is a gate leg table. The construction of the mechanism is fantastic in it's complexity, yet the idea is simple. I attached some images of it but they aren't the greatest. Essentially there are two boards attached to the underside of the table. They are attached to a wooden hinge, or knuckle. The two boards are attached to a leg that is notched out so that when the table leaf is folded away, they fit into the main table legs, hidden out of the way.
When you need a little extra dining room you simply lift up the table leaf and swing the gate legs out as far as they will go. The gate legs will only swing until they hit a stop block.
I think in the future I'll make a table like this as a project for the show.

As always - Thanks for following
Be safe and be creative
Best
Steve

Day two continued

As promised.

More images of my adventures at Berkshire Products.

I love this place. Wait a minute- I'm getting weepy.

Excuse me. I have to go....

Enjoy

As always - Thanks for following

Be safe and be creative

Best

Steve

Berkshire adventure; Day two.

If you have a sweet tooth then you love candy. If you're a woodworker then you love - Well - Let me show you'
Welcome to my candy store.

Day two of our Berkshire mountain area adventure involved a trip to my favorite lumber yard.

Berkshire Products Inc. is a specialty lumber company located in the Berkshire mountains, in the Southwest corner of Massachusetts. It is a few miles down the road from my wife's Grandmas place.
They carry both native hardwoods and exotics. They specialize in extra wide and figured slabs.
Berkshire products has quartersawn lumber, book matched sets, matched flitches, natural edge slabs, burls and instrument woods
Their lumber inventory ranges from 4" to 90" wide and from 1" to 6" thick. All lumber is kiln-dried.

For over 25 years they've have been selling fine woods to woodworkers, cabinetmakers and craftsmen from all over the country. They travel all over the country locating hard to find logs and burls that can saw into unique and beautiful pieces of wood.

This place is incredible. I took so many photos. I'll spread them out over a few posts. My son Quinn came with me. He seemed minuscule against some of the boards, but seeing the look on his face as he walked among these awesome boards was fantastic'. Some boards are so beautiful that you just want to leave them as they are. They are fantastic pieces of art, produced by nature. There is a main building where they store normal size lumber. There are four out buildings that are climatically controlled and store large slabs of wood. Most of these boards end up as large board room and conference type tables. One giant slab as a table top.

It's a little sad seeing a spectacular piece of wood in a building when it should be left on a tree, but it is also comforting to know that these species still exist. I equate a beautiful table made with a large beautiful slab to animals in a zoo. For generations people will be able to admire and see such pieces of long after the species is gone.

Anyways-enough politics. Berkshire products has an incredible inventory of spectacular lumber. Enjoy the images. I will post more images tomorrow.
Please check them out at http://www.berkshireproducts.com/index.php

As always - Thanks for following.
Be safe and be creative
Best
Steve

Furniture bank

Last evening I watched a woodworking show out of Ohio.
During the show the host featured an organization called the Furniture Bank. The furniture bank is a non profit nationwide organization that helps underprivileged individuals and others who are transitioning from a shelter to their own home furnish their home. Providing qualified individuals and families with new and gently use furnishings.

The show I watched featured a local Ohio woodworkers guild who volunteer their time once a month and build new chests of drawers for the furniture bank. There was about 30 members of the guild who gathered together too build the pieces.

There is a furniture bank in every state. The images and linked address I included are from the Rhode Island furniture bank but if you google the name you'll see there is an organization in every state.

Before last evening I never had heard of the furniture bank. I think this is fabulous.' Folks in need are so concerned about putting food on the table and heating their homes that sometimes they lack common furnishings. Furnishing a home is the last thing they're worried about. If you or someone you know is in need, or you have some new or gently used furniture you'd like to donate please give your local furniture bank a call.
They will even come and pick it up

As always - Thanks for following
Be safe and be creative
Best
Steve

https://furniturebankri.wordpress.com/donate/

State of the Craft

I'm not one for making resolutions, but with the end of one year and the beginning of another it's only natural however to be reflective. To look back and review the past, the pros and cons, the highs and lows.  And to look forward. To think about the new challenges and adventures.  I'm proud of the strides the show made in the past year.  I'm excited to face new challenges and to create new projects for new episodes.

In 2008 I attended the Furniture Society's annual conference.  The title of the conference that year was ' State of the Craft'.  The conference was held at the School of the arts, Purchase College, SUNY in Purchase, NY.   I was one of many people, who on the last day of the conference  sat in the theater and listened to a wonderful conversation  between Bebe Pritman Johnson, Pritman and Eames gallery and Artist/Furniture maker Wendell Castle.  The conversation lasted over an hour.

 It's at this time of year, between the old and the new that I reflect, and try to keep moving forward.  I have a  quote on my office wall from that conference I attended eight years ago.  I guess in a sense it's my resolution.  It's by Wendell Castle, something he said during that conversation I listened to.  It still resonates with me today:

" There are three kinds of people:

People who make things happen,

People who watch things happen,

and people who wonder what happened.

Let's be the first kind"

Happy New Year

As always - Thanks for watching and following

Be safe and be creative

Best

Steve

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  Written by

  Steve Butler

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Berkshire Adventure

We just came back from the Berkshire mountain area of Massachusetts. We were visiting my wife's grandmother, who happens to be 100 years old, full of stories and mischief and going strong. She lives in a beautiful old farm house. I love going there. The area is rich in history, full of culture and old farms. There are all kinds of flea-markets and antique stores to rummage through. The area is also rich in arts and crafts and music. There are many woodworkers in the area as well as glass artist and ceramist. Arlo Guthrie and James Taylor call this area home. For four days we left technology at home and enjoyed walks through their woods and land.

During our visit I was given a beautiful old hand saw. The saw is 26 inches long and was made by Henry Disston and sons out of Philadelphia, PA. The saw is in great shape. There's lots of steel left on the blade and the teeth are in good shape and sharp. Henry Disston has been producing saws since the early 1800's. My saw is called a no# 12 panel saw.

Old panel saws are a common find in flea markets and tool auctions. They fit easily into toolboxes, so would have been the choice for workers who had to carry their tools to the job site

The Disston No. 12 handsaw can be considered their top of the line saw. The saw is a work of art on a mass-produced scale. It has London Spring steel. It also has an ornate chip-carved apple wood handle with the old-style mounting. The saw feels big in the hand.
The stamped number 8 is the number of tooth points per inch. The most popular crosscut handsaw was 8 ppi.

The medallions on Disston handsaws changed more over time
than any other feature on the saw. By using the medallion,
you can estimate the age of your saw. The handles also give a rough idea of the age of a particular saw, along with the medallion, which in most cases will tie down the age of a saw with reasonable accuracy. the medallion on my saw is exactly like the one in the image, therefore by using it as a guide my saw was produced some time between 1896-1917.

If you like to learn more about Henry Disston, Keystone saw works, the factory and it's history visit
http://www.disstonianinstitute.com/100anniversary.html

I can't wait to get to work with this saw.

As always- Thanks for following
Be safe and be creative
Best
Steve

Community

Community

I live in a community where it doesn't take long for folks to know what you do. This can be good or bad depending on what you like. My local library has been very supportive of what I do. Local libraries are still a wealth of community information. They know what's going on and they get to know the people and their families.
Yesterday my son and I went to our local library. The lady behind the counter told me that they just received a donation of magazines and wondered if I would like them. They couldn't use them and thought of me.
The magazines are mostly fine home building with some fine woodworking magazines mixed in.

Fantastic' I collect fine woodworking magazines. There's a few I need. I'll pay it forward and donate the others that I don't need or collect. In the past my local library has given me lumber from bookshelves they no longer needed, material from a table. All solid oak that I've re purposed and used in projects.
The internet can't do that'
Community'

As always - Thanks for  following
Be safe and be creative
Best
Steve

Vintage Stanley: The Sequel

Vintage Stanley. The sequel

I hope everyone had a great Christmas.
I picked up a vintage Stanley # 700 corner clamp yesterday for just a few dollars. I don't need another clamp in the shop but this one was hard to resist. It's a perfect clamp to take to a job site.

Stanley began selling vises in 1911 after it purchased the Philip J. Leavens "Jersey" vise business in Vineland, New Jersey1 The Leavens vises were small, bench vises with jaw widths of 1½ inches to 3 inches. Jersey vises were more of a mechanics-style vise than a woodworker's vise.

In the late 1920s, Stanley saw a need for a small woodworker's vise that was light and portable, allowing a carpenter to carry it from job to job. The Stanley Model Shop was charged with the mission to create such a vise. Christian Bodmer, one of Stanley's mechanical engineers with many tool patents, filed a patent with the United States Patent Office on December 17, 1927, for the woodworker's vise that would become known as the no# 700 series.

My particular vise was made between 1950 - 1967. It has 4 - 5/8" jaws that open and clamp on both sides. The 'L' shape. This vise is made out of cast iron. Later vises were made out of aluminum. The vise works great. There's a little rust but the parts move and function well. I'll clean it up with some rust remover and lubricant. The jaws have hardboard or leather pads on them, it's hard to tell right now.

As always - Thanks for following
Be safe and be creative
Best
Steve

Merry Christmas

I would like to take a moment and wish all of you a very merry Christmas.

I'd like to thank everyone involved in creating the show for their part in making it grow and become more successful.  To the good folks at Rhode Island PBS.  To UCTV for jumping in and producing the show.  To the great musicians who's tracks you hear throughout each episdoe.  To the other makers and artist who inspire my work.  To the people and corporations who have sponsored and generously donated product to the show,  and especially to the folks who watch and follow.
Thank you, and merry Christmas'

Be safe'
Peace
Steve

Vintage Stanley

Yesterday I visited a local antique store where I purchased this beautiful vintage Stanley #81 scraper.  This is a nickel plated and fancier version of the #80.  It has a captive pivoting lever cap that is activated by a thumb screw to secure the blade in place.  The scraper has a rosewood sole screwed to the bottom.  This scraper was produced in the early 1900's and continued through to the 1940's.  The wood bottom was offered for the finest scraping, where wood on wood is thought to be preferable by some.  The tool also has holes in the handle to conveniently hang it out of the way when not in use.  I can't wait to use this on the next project.  For now it has a home in my cabinet next to my #80.

As always - Thanks for following

Be safe and be creative

Steve

That's a wrap

That's a wrap'

Before I build a project I like to draw out the project, as best as I can, full scale. The drawings don't have to be artist quality renderings, just legible enough that they make sense and help me construct the project. When you do a drawing you are mentally building the project in your mind. By doing so you can foresee any problems you might encounter along the way, saving you valuable material costs.

Your drawings don't have to be on architect blueprint paper. I use Kraft paper which is pretty reasonably priced at most stores.
If you happen to live near an IKEA you can get it for free at the checkout'

Another reason I love Christmas is because of the wrapping paper. Well - actually I love the day after Christmas, known as boxing day in my old neck of the woods. It's the day when everything Christmas goes on sale. Especially the wrapping paper. See - on the back of most wrapping paper is a scale grid comprised of inches. This stuff is perfect for drawing full scale projects on. If you do scaled drawings for your projects then buy up the wrapping paper when it's on sale.

Happy wrapping and happy drawing
As always - Thanks for following
Be safe and be creative
Best
Steve

Finish

I put a coat of oil on the table top today. I couldn't bring myself to sanding and removing the chatter marks on the table top left by the scraper. My son did the hard work of scraping the top level.

The marks are now part of the history of the table.

I love how the old finish and the oil blended together to create a fantastic color/patina. The boards are poplar. I think I'll eventually paint the base white, which will be a nice contrast to the caramel colored top. I'll give the top a day to dry completely from the oil and then buff in a thin coat of wax.

I'll be making a e top chest for the next episode.

As always - Thanks for following
Be safe and be creative
Best
Steve

Round and around

Round and around'

My young apprentice never knows when to call it quits.
Here he is in his pajamas working late on the table.
My son Quinn was using an old Stanley #80 scraper to take the finish off of the top.
I think I might have to increase his allowance if he keeps up with this work ethic.

We are removing the top coat on the table top and then adding a coat of oil and wax on it.

I'm making a coopered top small chest for the next project of the show.

As always - thanks for following
Be safe and be creative.
Best
Steve

Get real'

Hey check this out'

The Real Gone, a surf rock band based out of Chicago has a new album out. Check out the first song on it. ' The Garage '
The band wrote the song for the show and we should have it edited into a new episode soon. The guys have been great to work with, and I really appreciate their efforts. Give a listen to the song and the others on their new album. I'm proud to include them in the show. So far they are in good company with the Psycho Devilles and The Ventures. My heart felt thanks goes out to the band.

As always - Thanks for watching and following - And Listening''
Be safe and be creative
Best
Steve

http://therealgone.bandcamp.com/

The Real Gone, by

In the can'

Well - We finished shooting another episode today.
We wrapped up the cafe table so, as they say - another one in the can. This was a fun project too make. I made a simple circle cutting jig for the router and cut the table top out of the glued up poplar shelves. I think I'll paint the base white and scuff sand the top and then give it a coat of oil.

As always - Thanks for
Be safe and be creative
Best
Steve

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