MJ's workshop

Michael Fortune working with students on chair design

2010-07-24T14:25:00.001-07:00

Michael fortune working with students on design
Originally uploaded by Mark Juliana.

This past week (and the one coming up), I'm assisting in the 2 week Michael Fortune chair design class here at the CFC. Michael is wonderful teacher who clearly loves sharing with students.

As the class assistant I am absorbing a lot of great stuff watching him work with students on their designs, models and mock-ups.

Workshop Bldg. at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship

2010-06-16T19:14:00.001-07:00

Workshop Bldg. at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship
Originally uploaded by Mark Juliana.

Here I am again at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship--this time not as a student but as an assistant in the summer workshops. I'll be here until mid-June working in the various classes offered during that time.

It's already the middle of the second week and I've been helping Peter Korn and Craig Satterlee with the 2 week Basic Woodworking course. The 12 students in the course are done with practice joints in poplar and have moved on to the final project of their own design (within reason--they only have about a week in which to build them) in the wood of their choice.

Barrie doing a bit of chisel work
Originally uploaded by Mark Juliana.

Right about now (10:20pm on Wednesday) the dedicated (or overly ambitious in project scope) are still in the shop working on dovetails. To the left is Barrie who came all the way from Wales to take the course. He's deviated a bit from the proposed bench project and instead is building a little bookcase with dovetailed corners.

When I left the workshop building around 9pm he was hard at work chopping out the waste of his tail boards. This was shot with a very wide angle lens so that giant chisel in the foreground that looks longer than Barrie's arm is a distortion (it's about the same size as the one he is holding).

David landing a nice little bass
Originally uploaded by Mark Juliana.

This past weekend, David Upfill-Brown and I went fly fishing on the St George river. He has a canoe so we paddled up the river a couple of miles and fished along the way. We caught (and released) a few really nice smallmouth bass and a pickerel. We also saw 5 or 6 beaver (a first for me), bald eagles, blue heron, and too much beauty to recount in text. The day was perfect at about 70 degrees with very little wind and few bugs of the human biting persuasion.

Center for Furniture Craftsmanship summer workshop assistant

2010-03-24T13:14:00.000-07:00

Just heard from Peter Korn! This summer I'll be in Rockport, Maine working as an assistant in the summer workshops at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship! I can't wait to get back to CFC (read about my time in the 9 month course 07/08) and I hope to blog about the experience of being a summer assistant.

Between now and then, I'll continue volunteering at the Ashland High School woodshop 2-3 days a week. There are a number of really talented students producing some great work in the class. One student is making a very nice hand-cut dovetailed box. He's been working on it for a few months now and it's looking great.

I'll get some pictures of it next week and post them here.

Going on in my much reduced shop: Still setting things up post move. The new shop space is a tiny 1 car garage that also contains quite a bit of camping and other gear. I'll post some pictures of it soon (did I mention it's really small?). I've been working primarily with hand tools--including hand ripping with a panel saw. It's been fun, but it definitely slows down the pace of work. Although it has given me quite a bit of time to tryout Lie-Nielsen's new panel saws. Here's a mini-review:

Review of Lie-Nielsen Panel Saws
After using the crosscut (12ppi) and rip version (7ppi) of these new saws from Lie-Nielsen for about 6 months, I feel I have a fair understanding of how well they perform--in a word: They are FANTASTIC. Both saws track well and cut fast. They came from LN ready to work and have held their sharpness well working in domestic hardwoods.

In use, I've ripped several 80 inch long 1/4 inch edge strips for cabinets out of red oak and had just a few minutes of work with a handplane to get the cut line up to finish quality. The tote fits nicely in my hand and the saws are light enough to use for extended periods of time. My only complaint, and it's really more of a product request, is that they would make a full size version of each saw. I've pulled the rip saw out of the kerf several times while I adjusted to its length.

sketches from my nature journal (moleskine)

2009-10-24T14:12:00.000-07:00

A sketch of the IOOF building in Ashland Oregon. From my nature journal.

Helping out tomorrow's woodworkers

2009-04-02T17:49:00.000-07:00

For the last couple of months, I've been volunteering 2-3 half-days a week at the Ashland High School woodshop. I've learned a lot working with the kids and I'm amazed at what they can get done in just 90 minutes 2-3 times a week.

Of course they aren't all superstars churning out amazing work--some of them are just in woodshop because it's a great place to coast and an easy A. Hey, I remembering being that kid--although I coasted in technical theater production, not woodshop.

It's sad to find out that most high schools no longer have a woodshop program and of those that do, many face the budget axe in the near future. I guess it's hard to justify woodshop when there is no woodshop section on the No child Left Behind tests.

Anyway, it's been fun working in the high school shop. I only hope it's around for future generations of students.

The last lunch

2008-08-20T11:49:00.001-07:00

Last day of school
Originally uploaded by Mark Juliana.

Just unloaded a few photos from the camera and thought I'd post them to the blog. Here's one of our class at our last lunch. We're eating leftovers from our graduation dinner the night before.

And now with a bit of perspective I ask myself would I do it again? Yes, without question. The time for me in Maine was exactly what I needed--I don't know if I'll become a designer/maker of furniture as my sole source of income, but I hope it will definitely be a big part of the rest of my life.

A note to the guys in my class:
Thank you for all of your support and encouragement. Your work was inspiring and your wit and energy made the class what it was--great.

A note to the CFC staff and instructors:
You guys are fantastic. Everything about the school is top notch and the love of teaching this stuff shows in how well the school is run.

And then you're done...

2008-05-30T12:10:00.000-07:00

Nine months gone in a flash.

A bitter-sweet parting of ways.

A long drive ahead.

Would I do it again? No thought required--a definite yes.

See you back in Ashland.

9 Days to go

2008-05-20T06:49:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's gone by so quickly. Counting today, there are only 9 days of school left and then it's time to head home.

This past 9 months has been jammed packed with woodworking and learning all things wood. In fact, I would have to say that for me, it's been too much. It seems almost every student was behind on almost every project. I think there were only a handful of projects that were 100% done when they were supposed to be done. And that's with many students working nights and weekends.

For me, this past 3 weeks has really been a time to catch my breath and relax. I know I'm supposed to working on a 'final' project and I have been, sort of... but man, I'm cooked. I have been working on a couple of boxes and built a wall cabinet for Jim and Misty (my friends/landlords)--but I'm having a hard time keeping the motivation up.

On another note... I met my cousin Herb Smith on Sunday. He's my dad's cousin (not sure what that makes us) and I grew up hearing about him from my Grandmother (his aunt). He's built 6 wooden schooners (all 40ft or larger) and sailed 2 of them around the world. He wrote 2 books about those trips. His current boat, the Eastwind is in Boothbay Harbor and is two masted 68ft schooner. The 2 hour sail was fantastic! and Doris and and Herb are two of the nicest people you'll ever meet.

I should probably get back into the shop (I'm in the CFC library avoiding work as I write this). Oh, and hi Brycen.

Tall cabinet detail

2008-04-22T17:13:00.001-07:00

Tall cabinet detail
Originally uploaded by Mark Juliana.

Here's a shot of the the drawer in the tall cabinet. I had it photographed on Saturday along with the demi-lune table. All of these shots will go into my furniture making portfolio.

This week in the shop we are all furiously working on our chairs--which are supposed to be done on Friday. I think mine will be 95% there so I'm not too worried about it. Although I seem to remember saying that about each project so far and missing the mark.

Also, this Friday the 9 month students are have the opening to our show in the Messeler gallery. My demi-lune will be in the show.

-mj

Demi-lune in better light

2008-04-22T17:05:00.001-07:00

Demi-lune
Originally uploaded by Mark Juliana.

After months of delay, here is the final professionally done portfolio picture of the demi-lune table. There are a number of detail shots out on flickr. Let me know what you think.

Thanks- mj

It's done!

2008-03-31T18:40:00.001-07:00

Demi-lune playing surface
Originally uploaded by Mark Juliana.

After a fair amount of delay, here for your viewing pleasure... the demi-lune gate-leg card table.

The last few days before the show were very busy! I spent a lot of time on the finishing (French polish). I also mortised in the hinges and applied the suede to the playing surfaces.

Here you see the card table with the top 1/2 opened to show the playing surface details.

I'll post more photos soon of the booth and such. Of course you can always hop on over to my flickr account to see them there.

Detail of leg banding on the demilune table

2008-03-03T16:35:00.001-08:00

We're in the last week of our multiples project here at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship and I've been alternating working on my multiples (carved wooden spoons) and finishing the demilune table.

On the spoons... for me, I've pretty much determined that unless I can automate/mechanize much of the carving or get much better/faster at carving, the spoons are not going to be a profitable item for me to make. As it stands it takes me about 40 minutes to make one spoon with a materials cost of about $1.50. Now I don't know about you, but I don't often spend $30-40 on wooden spoons so I'm thinking that the most I could charge for them is around $20-25.

With the lesson of shop rates still fresh in my ears, the spoons just aren't going to cut it as a multiple for me. Oh well, I still like making them--I guess they'll just be gifts.

detail of leg banding
Originally uploaded by Mark Juliana.

On the demilune front:
Here is a nice shot of the banding that wraps around each of the table legs about 5 inches above the ground. The table itself is finaly coming together... both tops are now veneered top and bottom and now just need the ultra-suede playing surface applied.

That will involve routing a slot around the short grain edging and I'm a bit worried about break out. I may apply a bit of hide glue to the surface of short grained edging to help prevent that. I recently read that hide glue doesn't inhibit the absorption of finishes and if that's true, it could be a huge benefit--I'll try it and let you know.

I keep saying "I hope to have it finished by x-date" so I'll just say it's still coming along and leave it at that.

Oh, BTW I used the vacuum press I made to press the veneer on the 2nd top and I'm happy to say it worked perfectly. I'll post some pictures of it soon. I just added up the cost of the system at $370 (without the price of the bag) which is quite a savings over commercial systems. I'm happy I built it and look forward to working with it for years to come.

How to add banding to a table apron

2008-02-26T10:52:00.001-08:00

Skew block plane and marking gauge
Originally uploaded by Mark Juliana.

I thought I would post a brief description of the method I used to add the banding to the bottom of the demilune table.

What I didn't do:
I was considering using the router and making a curved jig to fit the table curve, but the thought of that much power at 10-14k RPM made me a bit nervous--any little glitch would quickly remove wood that I'd rather have still attached to the table apron.

Another approach I considered was using the shaper--but that would have required too much time making a jig--since I wasn't planning on making a dozen of these tables, I didn't want to invest the time making a single use jig.

So I settled on a handtool approach that worked wonderfully. Using a Tite-Mark marking gauge, I scored a line around the bottom of the apron that matched the width of the banding I was going to use.

I then set the fence on a Lie Nielsen skew block plane to cut to that line and after that it was a trouble/stress free process of planing down to the depth I wanted. It was actually kind of meditative and I was never worried about things going wrong.

If you are ever searching for a method of adding banding to a project, I would highly recommend you give this one a try.

And still more work on the demilune...

2008-02-07T18:53:00.000-08:00

The last bits of the demilune table are coming together. I've just started to apply the inlay to the legs. Here you can see that the holly is going to contrast nicely with walnut.

The top veneer has been glued down.

Still to do:

Veneer the playing surface side of the primary and secondary tops
Scratch the bead and cove into the edge of the tops
Hinge and attach the tops
Finish the inlay on the legs
Apply the lower bands to the table legs
Glue the legs to the apron

I hope to have it all wrapped up by the end of the weekend--but the toboggan races are this weekend and we're competing!

-mj

Work continues on the demilune card table

2008-01-30T17:46:00.000-08:00

This week in the 9 month program at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, we students are rushing around and staying late to get our curves projects completed by the end of the week.

For me, that has meant a lot of hours working on the demilune card table I'm building as well as a few rush orders of last minute supplies (like ultrasuede for the playing surface and holly string inlay).

So here are a few more pictures showing the progress of the table. In this one you can see I've finished cutting the dovetails and the apron and rear rail are now together.

Here is a view of the wooden hinges that make up the gate-leg table joint. I wouldn't cut them this way again (especially in white oak!!!).

So those little blue bits in this photo are a rather big mistake. They were on the back of the veneer and are used to hold it together until the white veneer tape dries. You must take them off before you glue your veneer down. if you don't, you'll need to chisel off your veneer to remove them--that's what you see here.

A little hide glue and a bit of hammer veneering to fix it up and voilà, she is as a good as new (of course it took about 3 hours to chisel it all off and get new veneer back on it).

And this last photo shows the inlay going on (or is it in... I don't know). The inlay is a commercial inlay I bought at Rockler. On the right you see a finished bit, on the left, the place where the next bit of banding will go. You might ask what that big black arrow is for in the leg joint--that's to keep me from cutting the wrong edge of the apron.

That's all for now--should have more pictures on Friday as that's when the project is due (not that mine will be completely done as I won't have the Ultrasuede or the string inlay by then.

Demilune Table Apron

2008-01-20T15:02:00.000-08:00

Wow, when I settled on this project I thought it was going to be fairly easy--that hasn't really been the case. As I've been working on this project many things have come up that I totally didn't foresee as I set out. But, if you are going to take on something that will stretch you as a woodworker, this is definitely the place to do it. All of the instructors and staff are so supportive and the great energy you get from your fellow students is really encouraging.

This group of photos shows the evolution of the apron as it goes from a bunch of straight pieces of wood to a curved, veneered table apron.

The brick-built apron. You can see that the front has already been run by the shaper to curve it.

Here's the apron now that it's been cut with both the inside and outside curves.

And here it is with a couple layers of mahogany veneer applied to it. The finished apron will have a fancy veneer put on after all of the joints and such have been cut.

This picture shows the back of the table apron with its dovetails cut.

Curves and veneer

2008-01-10T19:05:00.000-08:00

Our current project in the 9 month class here at The Center for Furniture Craftsmanship is a table--but not just any table--it needs to have a veneered surface and feature some sort of curved element.

Now some folks find this kind of open field exciting and come up with all sorts of ideas. I, on the other hand, really struggle with so much design freedom. I cast about trying to think of furniture that I personally want (which is not much)--so finally, after some forced sketching, meager designs, and much frustration, I come up with something that isn't really what I want, but more designed to explore areas of building that are new to me.

So... that being said, I'm building a folding demilune card table with as much federal styling as I have time for. Right now I'm brick building the apron out of poplar and will veneer it later this week. Pictures to follow soon!

Coming along...

2007-12-12T18:05:00.000-08:00

A little late, but the cabinet is almost done now. I just finished fitting the drawer and I'm please with how it is coming along. Still left to do: Make 2 shelves, the door catches, attached the top, and add door handle. I hope to have all of that done by next Wednesday (when I'll be going home for Christmas).

This week we've been making veneered table tops with Darryl Keil (President of VacuPress Systems). It's been a fast paced couple of days packed with a ton of information, and lots of tips and tricks on using and pressing commercial veneers onto man-made substrates. The practice tops we're making are shaping up nicely and many of the students are so please with them that they are talking about building tables to take them (me included).
One more day of this class left and I'm of the mind that we could have used another week to cover all of the material.

Next week we're on to marquetry and turning (although I'll miss two days of it as I'll be flying home on Thursday).

As always, there are many more photos posted to flickr

Review of the Festool Domino

2007-12-09T17:58:00.001-08:00

Twin Domino tenons
Originally uploaded by Mark Juliana

My case piece project in the 9 month program here at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship has been largely assembled using dominoes.

After using the Domino system for a bit of time, here are a few points I'd like to share:

1. The quality of the Domino screams Festool--it is a precision tool that's well built with all of the bits and bobs you'd expect on such a tool and none of the plastic, turbo, neon-BS that the marketing guys talk everyone into including on so many of today's handheld power tools.

2. The speed of using the Domino is truly amazing. You can cut a mortise in the two mating pieces, spread some glue, slip in a domino all in just a few seconds.

3. Putting in two or more dominoes into a rail that meets a leg can be tricky if the spacing doesn't allow you to use the built-in registration pins. You need to make a registration jig to use on both parts.

4. Twisting has been an issue--pieces don't always line up exactly as you'd like. I've had to smooth over several parts to get the surfaces flush. I think this is more to do with my inexperience with the machine rather than an idiosyncrasy of the Domino system. I'm going to do more experimentation to figure it out.

5. The Domino cutters cut very clean mortises. In fact I've used it to cut through mortises with great success. They were cleanly cut, both front and back with no break-out whatsoever.

6. The Domino has other uses! I drilled hinge screw holes in the wrong location and needed to plug them. Rather than stuff a small piece of wood in the hole and hope the end grain would hold up, I cut a mortise using the Domino, rounded the ends of a domino, slipped it in the mortise, let the glue dry and then pared it with a chisel. Worked great and I had nice long-grain beech to drill into for my hinges.

7. Work in metric. It will make things much easier--every little thing about the Domino is measured out in metric. It makes laying out joints so much easier to just give in and use the metric system. I did and after this one project I can say I'm staying with metric--it's much easier than fractional inches!

Conclusions:

After building several minor projects and now this one big project here at school with the Domino I feel I have a pretty good understanding of what it can do. First I have to reiterate that working in metric makes working with the Domino system much easier. The speed of laying out and cutting simple single mortise joints can't be beat. Using the Domino on a panel instead of biscuits is also very easy and fast. Laying out and cutting complex joints requires a bit of planing and often some creative jigging--but no more than cutting a traditional M&T or to use a slot mortiser.

So, is it worth the price? If you are planning on making a lot of M&T joints it's definitely worth the price.

The sides of the tall cabinet being finished with an oil finish

2007-12-08T19:05:00.001-08:00

The sides of the tall cabinet
Originally uploaded by Mark Juliana.

I'm using an oil finish for the cabinet. Here are the side after a couple of coats. The finish is 1 part tung oil, 1 part mineral spirits, 1 part Waterlox (around here they call this, Korn oil as it's what Peter Korn uses as an oil finish). This picture was taken in the drawing/finishing room of the Satterlee building (9 month program @ Center for Furniture Craftsmanship)

Edge gluing veneer to a rebate

2007-12-08T17:25:00.001-08:00

edge gluing veneer to a rebate
Originally uploaded by Mark Juliana.

This is what it looks like when you rebate a panel too deeply and have to glue a bit of veneer onto the edge so it doesn't rattle in the door. About 3-4 hours worth of work that I couldn't really afford in the last week of this project--but I did learn a lot this last week. Like how to dovetail in a door rail to an already assembled door to take a 5 millimeter bow out of it.

A design opportunity

2007-12-03T15:14:00.000-08:00

That's what David Upfill-Brown (our lead instructor) calls a mistake. Today I got a great design opportunity to apply veneer to my door panel. I got this opportunity by cutting the rebate on the panel too deep--yesterday when I setup the shaper, my test piece was slightly thicker than the actual panel by about 1/2 a millimeter. Now that doesn't sound like too much, but it's enough to make the panel loose enough to rattle in the door frame (and that ain't good).

Mason at his bench

2007-11-29T17:22:00.001-08:00

Mason at his bench
Originally uploaded by Mark Juliana.

Here's a photo of Mason McB. at his bench--he's got most of the pieces for his solid-wood case project stacked on his bench. His project is a graceful sideboard made from spectacular curly maple. Look for future photos of the completed piece.

By the way, you'll notice Mason has a choice bench location--living 5 minutes away from the school has its benefits :-)

Tool cabinet

2007-11-29T17:17:00.001-08:00

Tool cabinet
Originally uploaded by Mark Juliana.

This is the tool cabinet I built as the second project of the 9 month course. All of the students built cabinets of the same design. You can't really see it in the picture, but the cabinet is pretty complex--it was designed to teach us a lot and boy did it. The doors are coopered which meanse the top, bottom and shelves in each door are curved. The main cabinet is put together with finger joints and the middle shelf in the doors and cabinet and through mortised. Another thing that amazed me was the amount of wood it took to complete it.

Tools on the bench
Originally uploaded by Mark Juliana.

This other shot is of tools sitting on my bench--I like stuff like that so here it is. The bench room has a lot of windows and the day light coming in is great--it makes working in the bench room a real joy as well as making pictures look better. And, it will be nice to have that much sunlight during the short days of winter. It's already getting dark here at 4:30.

My bench at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship

2007-09-27T16:11:00.001-07:00

My bench at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship
Originally uploaded by Mark Juliana.

It's been almost 3 weeks now (of what will be 9 months) here at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship and I've completed the construction of the first project. (pictures to follow after finish has been applied).

This picture here is my workbench which oddly enough is in the bench room. The bench room has 13 student benches, a demonstration bench, an instructor's bench, 4 assembly tables (in which each student gets three drawers) and a sharpening station. It also contains various school owned planes, chisels and saws.

I must say these tools are definitely a cut above the loaner tools I saw at Rosewood Studios--with many Lie Nielsen planes available for student use. Of course you'll want your own planes so that you can keep them tuned up just the way you want them (or tickity-boo as Andy Woods would say).