I'm still here

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I am always aware when too much time has passed between posts  because of the emails inquiring about my health, whereabouts and possible witness protection status. So I figured that an update was in order.

It has been an exceedingly busy year. As you may know, my book is in the final stages. I only have a couple of hundred more drawings to complete! I hope to see it in print this fall. Thanks for your interest and patience.

Around the shop we have lots going on. Besides Claire making travishers, I’ve brought another North Bennet Street grad into the fold. His name is Charlie Ryland and he has been helping me for the last few months keep up with my crazy work schedule. In the future, I hope to see him grinding drill bits for sale through the website. He’s a great addition to the team and you can meet him when we go to the Lie Nielsen open house next week or at WIA this fall in North Carolina.

I’ve had such a great experience  posting on the blog over the last 7 years and my goal is to expand this once I finish with the book and some other coming events.

One of the difficult parts of sharing my experiences online is moderating how much exposure of my private world is appropriate.  In continuing to share upcoming events, there are some changes coming that are sure to come with some questions, so I thought it best to come right out and share that Sue and I have decided to split up.

While it is clearly a sad thing to see a good thing come to an end, I am happy to say that we separated amicably and we remain good friends. I appreciate all the folks who have reached out to care for both of us through this last year. We are both doing well thanks to you all.

The completion of the book will hopefully go smoothly and leave me in a much more settled place where I can get back to what is most natural for me, namely horsing around making chairs and posting on the blog about my findings and fun.

Thanks for your continued visits to Chairnotes and please stay tuned for the changes as they come.

Coincidence?

Those of you who have followed the blog for a while know how much work Sue and I put into our old house and workshop. I'm sure it came as a surprise that we left it, and yes, it was in many ways difficult. So I'm very happy to report that we've bought a house and if ever there was a nod towards destiny, here it is.



The house caught my eye because the photos of the interior were so reminiscent of our old place, and sure enough, it is exactly the same layout, only the new house was built in 1800. Basically, it was the house I was trying to build. Plus, it has an attached carriage house and garage that will finally give me that separate space for my dusty tools that I've always wanted.

But here is where it gets weird. This house was part of a chair making operation in the 19th century. There was a mill in the nearby pond and a chair shop across the street. The chair maker lived in the house and to commemorate this, the carriage house walls are lined with the boards from the old chair shop.

Here is the carriage house, as I'm putting down a new floor. The timberframing is done with hand hewn chestnut beams.

And who better to help me finish the floor than Chairnotes pal Seth Weizenecker! Seth came for a visit just in time to help me with the floor and move my shop over. Thanks and sorry Seth!

And yes, this is the last time this floor will look so clean.

Here is the Chairnotes covergirl with the maple in the front yard.

Besides being surrounded by conservation land on all sides, the property has maple for sugaring and of course, room for the goats and chickens.

Here is the new portable goat shed.

While we don't have a pond here, there is a brook that runs across the street where the chair shop was.

We set up the shop and I'll be posting shots soon. Ok, perhaps it's not fate, but it sure feels like home.

Smart Moves

Here is Dan Monsees a couple of weeks ago splitting out some stock. This is Dan's third go round with me and I was impressed by his choice to make a simpler, rather than more complex piece. Perhaps you remember his triple back sack back from last fall. His choice really opened up our time together to cover some of the finer points as well as some extra topics. I really enjoyed it, it was a smart move on Dan's part, his other smart move being to use the snow to hold his split stock!

Sorry for the delay in announcing the winner of the last spoon drawing. It was John McAlevey. In a moment you'll understand the delay better.

Anyone who has read the blog for a while, knows that Sue and I have hewn a little paradise out of the wilderness here, so it might be a surprise to hear that we are moving. Sue got a new job at a fantastic library in central Massachusetts and we will be living there as of next week. We've rented an 1832 farmhouse with a barn for my shop and yes, room for our goats, dogs and chickens. Finding the right rental house for our strange needs seemed like it would be impossible, but we did it in a morning! Plus it's right down the road from Sue's new library. I like to think that it's a good omen.

Here are some photos of the new Library. It's the Gale Free Library in Holden MA.

It's a beautiful historic building and she will be it's new director. She deserves this.
Check out the front doors!

Besides being the Chair notes covergirl, Sue is exemplary at her job. She interviewed at a number of libraries in many states and was offered every job. We felt that this one was the right job in the right area.

I'll post more about the new digs soon.

Here are some photos of the finished rocker in Walnut. One day I hope to own one myself.

So, life moves on. It's been an interesting and emotional ride uprooting from our home in New York. But it's brought back into focus for Sue and I that embracing change can be invigorating, as well as daunting. We are sad to leave our good friends here, but past moves have taught us that good friendships travel well.

Thanks to all of my students who have been so understanding and changed their travel destinations, the new shop is actually larger, plus it has a goat room in it, and what could be better than that!

New Year, New Projects

I've got lots of exciting new endeavors happening this year, beginning with the publications of a two part article in Fine Woodworking. The articles detail building my Crested Rocker in fumed oak. There is loads of information and photos. Like so many woodworkers, Fine Woodworking has informed a great deal of my woodworking education and I'm proud to be a part of it. Look for the part one of the article in the February issue.

There will also be some videos to go along with the article to help clarify some of the techniques.




This morning, the Chair Notes covergirl picked the winner of the Spoons for Hunger project out of a hat (that she knit). Thanks to all those who offered to purchase the spoon. As I posted before, I'll be donating all of the proceeds to charities that work to alleviate hunger. The proceeds from this sale will go to Heifer International where they will purchase chickens for families. I know first hand how productive these animals can be and I think that their level of self sufficiency is a great attribute. I am still interested in learning about other organizations with similar goals.

This year I'll be hosting 4 person classes at my workshop here in New York. The first one in June is all ready filled and I'm considering scheduling another for this August. Kelly Mehler had so many folks sign up for the wait list of my fan back class that we added a second week. I'm also returning to the North Bennet Street School in July to teach a 7 day armchair class. I'm already looking forward to the North End pastries!

Below is the Covergirl with her pal Joey on her birthday!

 

Have a happy and healthy New Year!

Dings and Things

Last week, Frank Sharpe was in the shop with me making a continuous arm. Here he is cutting v notches with the skew. I'll be covering more in the skew video series soon. Below is the spindle deck of Franks chair. The soft white pine dings and dents very easily and often despite all best attempts to protect it. It would seem that planing to the bottom of the dings or "sanding them out" would be the solution. But it's just the beginning of the problem!



Here is a short photo series showing the issue. Especially when using water based milk paint, the dings can come back to haunt you when you think you've planed them out. What happens is that the fibers compress and later pop back out when the water soaks in.

Here, I've made an intentional ding in some pine.


Then, I planed to the lowest level of the indentation (or close to it, for visual sake)

Next, I steamed the ding out with a wet paper towel and an iron.

And here is the ding now sitting proud of the surface. To avoid this little surprise after painting, the steps shown must be switched around a bit. Steam the surface first to raise the dings back to the level of the surrounding areas and then plane them out. This way they won't find their second life after the painting is done!


Here is Frank with his finished chair, obviously happy to have those dings out!


And what would a posting be without a shot of the Chair Notes Covergirl with Mikey the goat. They love their afternoon hikes (they start wailing and screaming around 3 o'clock) and they love to eat pine needles.

My Hero

Here is a very victorious Chairnotes covergirl after saving the lives of our chickens from a marauding hawk.

I was in the shop and Sue stopped in for her normal "I'm home, give me the dogs". As she was walking back to the house, I heard a crazy ruckus and the "drop everything" tone in her voice. I ran outside to see Sue, the dogs, a chicken and a massive hawk in a scene of total chaos. Sue charging the hawk, feathers flying, dogs going berserk, chickens running.

When the feathers settled, we counted one chicken hiding in the woodshed and three under the porch, but we have 5 chickens. Now, every story that I've ever heard the starts with "we had chickens" ends with a gruesome tale of blood and feathers, so I was prepared for the fact that we lost one. But then Sue remembered seeing one run past the door of the shop while we chatted, and sure enough, tucked under the far end of the workshop was number 5. So our gals hid the rest of the day, and perhaps we won't get our 3 eggs tomorrow (hey, it was traumatic for all of us), but for now, we are all safe in our houses.

I am working on a video to demonstrate the drilling technique that I use for the perch, after all, xmas is coming and we have a deadline!