Welcome to Resaw

  I have just began a new project. Sawed some mahogany this weekend. This post will be short but I will have much more coming soon.

Just wanted to show the start of the project and how I resawed a plank of wood.

And a little surface planing.

I also got to teach the next generation of woodworker a thing or two.

Craftmanship

"Of course, one of the great troubles has been that people have not always understood that this kind of craftsman usually does fine, honest work-work that will last a long time and be fine to experience. And the craftsman-a vicious circle- the craftsman gradually becomes alarmed and saddened, and even humiliated by his inability to make ends meet. At that point something happens to all but a very few. Things change somehow. A small compromise leads to another small compromise, and finally we wind up doing something that we do not really love. It's a sneaky thing."

James Krenov
A Cabinetmaker's Notebook

The Impractical Storm

I've got a few projects in the works. Sometimes in my work I tend to jump around. Whether or not that is a good or bad thing I'm not sure.

 
 One of the projects I've started on is a small cabinet. It has marquetry on the doors which I have begun drawing out as well as doing some initial cutting.

   I tend to cut my marquetry while I'm still drawing it out. It breaks things up. Did I mention I like to jump around?
   I've got a few other small projects going on that I'll try to do some posts on over the next couple days.
 
And the shop is looking like it was hit buy a small storm.

 

Setting Up Shop

  Trying to get things set up so I can start my first project. I realized I haven't posted a picture of the bench in its space since I glued it up and flattened the tops.

Lonesome Dovetail Part Deux

   I haven't tried to cut a dovetail in the better part of a decade. Sad but true. My first efforts are leaving a little to be desired but  tapping a joint together is always satisfying.

Cherry, by the way, is not a good practice wood.

Like Father, Like Son

  When people learn that I do woodworking for a living I'm usually asked how I got started. There are many reasons I continue to do this craft that I love. There is however only one reason I got started in this craft.
   My Father.
   My small woodworking shop is in many ways inspired by his home shop. A small red bricked one car garage. Hardy enough room to do anything really. Yet he turned out furniture for our house and others with what seemed like ease. I took it for granted that the work he did was just what a man does in his spare time.
   It was not.
   Looking back my dad's passion for woodworking was apart of who he was. Who he is. He was never far from it. I remember evenings watching television and he would have his carving tray in his lap. Long days at work yet still finding time for his own work.
For people like my dad, like me, woodworking isn't a hobby or a job. It is a lifestyle. Its part of are identity.  It shapes us as men.
  Thank you dad.

 

Lonesome Dovetail

     I made my first dovetail joint nearly fifteen years ago.  It was not cut with a hand saw or even a router.
My first dovetail joint was cut with a CNC machine.
  I was twenty and working at my first professional woodworking job.  At the time I was amazed that a machine could do this with such ease. All I had to do was punch in some numbers and push the wood in place.
   I quickly got excited about the new technology that computer operated woodworking machines could offer. A shop full of them I imagined. They could do everything with ease. Why, I would hardly need to be there at all!
  My excitement was quickly replaced with boredom after I had mastered the tasks of number punching and wood pushing. As a young woodworker my attention quickly went elsewhere.  I began to question whether I wanted to do this craft at all.  If you call what I was doing craft. I suppose if  I had to answer I would not.
   So, I struggled with the dreaded noose of blue collar work for years. I looked to the technology fields. After all that was the future. At least that is what I kept hearing.
  I quickly learned that that was not much different than number punching or wood pushing.
   Eventually I found a more balanced approach.
   I can certainly appreciate technological advances, I have just chosen to not  push the button just because there is one to be pushed.