I got a bit more done on the Craftsman Style Coffee Table that I have been puttering with on and off for the past few months.

I was able to get the mortise and tenon completed for the bottom shelf. As well, I got the ‘buttons’ made and skirt mortised which will be used to secure the table top to the base.

I first made a full width tenon on the shelf and then divided it into three. The plan is to only glue the center tenon thereby allowing the others to ‘float’. This, I hope, will compensate for wood movement.

This is also the general premise for the buttons that I created. The buttons will be inserted into the skirt mortises and then secured to the table top. Since the mortises are a larger width than the buttons they will be able to move as the wood expands and contracts.

Here are some more photos:

Continue reading 'Craftsman Style Coffee Table - Part 5'

Well, although I had a few great trips recently it was nice to finally get back into the shop.

Once back I was quickly drawn to the lathe and threw a piece of Walnut on and turned this small bowl with a flanged style rim.

It’s approximately 6″ in diameter and 2″ tall and finished with the EEE Cream and Shellawax combo.

As always, Walnut is a real treat to work with. I was pleased how the wide rim turned out. However, next time I will try to get a much thinner wall around the sides of the bowl.

Here’s a couple of more photos:

Continue reading 'Walnut Bowl With A Flanged Rim'

My final stop on this trip to Maine was to Captain Tinkham’s Emporium in Searsport. Located in a circa 1840 brick storefront, formerly the Captain Parker residence, it is designated as a National Register of Historical Buildings. Although the main component of the store is devoted to books, antiques and collectibles the tool annex has a great selection of old tools and hardware.

Captain Tinkham’s is operated by The Jonesport Wood Company which also has stores in Liberty and Hulls Cove, Maine. Combined they have thousands of old tools including hand planes, precision machinist tools and usable artifacts. For almost 35 years, they have purchased tool collections and estate lots and cleaned out cellars and attics in the New England area. They then ship these items to their stores. Owner H. G. Skip Brack is also the founder and curator of the Davistown Museum, a tool museum with a primary mission of recovery, display, and interpretation of hand tools used in Maine and New England’s maritime culture. (A visit here is in the plans for my next trip to the area!)

I have such fun turning tool handles that I picked up 16 files that are in need of some good wooden grips. I also picked up an awl. They are all in great condition and only cost around 12 bucks. A deal that is hard to beat.

Here are the photos of my visit:

Continue reading 'Toolfest At Captain Tinkham’s Emporium'

A couple of miles north of Camden in Lincolnville, Maine is Windsor Chairmakers, where owners Jim and Nance Brown invite you into their showroom, to watch chairs being made and talk Windsors. I had a chance to drop by while in the area and I saw some great examples of their fine workmanship.

For over 20 years Windsor Chairmakers has been handcrafting Windsor chairs, a style that dates back to the 1700’s. They also make tables, benches, stools, desks, beds, buffets and chests. In 2002, they added a line of custom-designed Shaker furniture.

All pieces are custom-made using traditional methods. For example, the chairs are made of ash with a deep scooped, one-piece seat and the tables are hand-planed.

The showroom is extensive! There dozens (100’s?) of examples of different styles of chairs including sackbacks, continuous arm and some with built in writing tables. They stand behind their workmanship so much that there is even a display of their competitors chairs where you can compare the difference in quality.

Continue reading 'A Visit To Windsor Chairmakers'

Continuing down the road a few miles from Rockport, Maine and my stop at The Center For Furniture Craftsmanship I drove to the seaside town of Camden and stopped in at The Ducktrap Bay Trading Company.

The Ducktrap Bay Trading Company is a gallery that has been in Camden for over 25 years that features carved wildlife and marine art. There are almost 200 artists represented here and most of them have some relationship to Maine.

I spoke at length with Joyce Lawrence, who, with her husband Tim, owns and operates the gallery. She was happy to share her vast knowledge about the individual artists and their work. She was also very friendly, so much so that the only thing missing was a cup of tea, and I’m sure that if I stayed long enough I would have had that too!

The quality of work and the variety of different styles is outstanding. You’ll find small carvings, large carvings, carvings in the round, relief carvings, wall carvings, scrimshaw and more! Here’s a couple of photos:

Continue reading 'The Ducktrap Bay Trading Company'

After leaving Lie-Nielsen Toolworks I continued my trip over to Rockport, Maine and dropped by The Center For Furniture Craftsmanship for a short visit. Earlier, knowing that I was going to be in the area the following week, I sent an email to them inquiring that if I dropped by would I be allowed to tour their facility. I received a quick reply back saying that yes, I was welcomed to come by anytime, and welcomed I was! From the moment that I opened the door of the main building until the moment I left I was made to feel at home - a woodworker’s dream home!

The Center For Furniture Craftsmanship offers courses in furniture making, woodcarving, woodturning, marquetry and finishing. It was founded in 1993 with a mission “to provide the best possible education for people who want to design and build functional, beautiful, and expressive work out of wood to the highest standard of craftsmanship”. It quickly attracted a distinguished visiting faculty, including internationally respected furniture makers such as Alan Peters, Michael Fortune and James Krenov. In 1996 the school moved to its present location and in 1999 it became a non-profit educational organization. The Center is widely recognized as one of the top furniture making schools in the world.

Once inside the main door I was greeted by a staff member who explained to me the layout of the school grounds and what the purpose of and what classes were going on in each of the buildings. I was then told to feel free and wander the grounds, drop in on the classes and to ask questions of the students and faculty. From there I roamed the school grounds feeling like a kid on Christmas morning with every door opening like unwrapping a present.

Continue reading 'The Center For Furniture Craftsmanship'

On a recent trip to Maine I was able to drop by the Lie-Nielsen Toolworks showroom in the small town of Warren on Route 1. Lie-Nielsen Toolworks is a is a family-owned business which produces some of the finest woodworking hand tools available, most notably, their planes.

Lie-Nielsen Toolworks began in 1981 when founder Thomas Lie-Nielsen acquired the tooling, plans and components necessary for producing an adapted Stanley #95 edge trimming block plane from Ken Wisner who was ready to leave the business. Since then the company went on to improve and refine designs, use better materials like manganese bronze, ductile iron castings and cryogenically treated A-2 steel and introduce new tools. Today they make over 50 types of planes, saws, and spokeshaves, as well as socket chisels, screwdrivers, marking and measuring devices and workbench hardware.

You are welcomed to try out any of their full line of tools on one of the workbenches available in the showroom. You’ll also find a selection of other tools, books and DVD’s.

Here are a couple of photos of my visit:

Continue reading 'A Visit To Lie-Nielsen Toolworks'

Well, I finally got back out to the shop after being “on tour” recently and I got a chance to do a bit of woodturning. I chose a piece of Lacewood that I had sitting here on the bench for the past little while. Perhaps you remember back about a mouth ago when I had a small piece of Lacewood and turned a candle holder as a ‘practice’ piece before turning a bowl out of this wood.

The bowl is 5.5″ in diameter and 2″ tall. It is finished with the EEE Ultrashine and ShellaWax combo.

Even though I’m quite happy with the final result I doubt if I will rush out to purchase any more Lacewood bowl blanks any time soon. Unlike the candle holder I found turning this bowl a real challenge since the wood seemed very brittle which caused finishing issues with the end grain. I can assure you that it was much larger in diameter when I started!

Here are some more photos:

Continue reading 'A Lovely Little Lacewood Bowl'