College of The Redwoods Fine Furniture: Week 3

Week 3

Another week has passed by. I try to think back at what I’ve done and it doesn’t seem like much, but somehow every day has been filled with about 9 hours of work either at my bench or in the machine room. Calling a single day off per week a weekend isn’t right. Maybe I’ll just call it Laundry/Nap day as that’s about all that happens.

A picture of me, as per requested by my mom.

8 am Monday and I’m back at my bench staring down some dovetails and hoping that I can complete the first set without having to sharpen my chisels. I do not like sharpening, but it’s essential. It’s a goal this year to keep my tools as sharp as possible, so I’m trying to be good about stopping with my work and sharpening when I need to. Apparently by the talk in the bench room I'm not the only one starting to dream about dovetails. And one advantage of living with three guys from the program, no wife or girlfriend to bore with shop talk. Darrick's wife made a formal request that he leave the dovetail bemoaning and general wood grumbling at the shop. My second set of dovetails came out a little nicer than the first, but improvements can still be made.

Tuesday 8 am and it's Dovetails again. I spent 9 hours today working on a single set of dovetails. I was surprised at my patience with them and my ability to slowly work on them until they fit well. They’re nothing but a piece of practice wood; they’re not going on a drawer or a box, they are simply an exercise on a piece of wood that I will throw away. My dovetails became my sole focus, and they transformed from a piece of practice wood into an endeavor of excellence and patience. I may have learned more from the experience of the work than the procedure of the work. They’re starting to look decent too.

9 hours of work.

Wednesday, Half Blind dovetails. Mine look like they were cut by a full-blind woodworker. All that talk of patience yesterday and today I feel like I may throw a chisel through a window. I need some time in the machine room to rip apart some boards, send some sawdust flying, and then I’ll come back to dovetails later in the week. 

Planing the end grain of a set of half blind dovetails.

Thursday, a little bit off lurk about (checking what other people are working on) and then off to the machine room. I was thankful to get away from the precise work of the dovetails for a little bit today, put on some ear muffs (hearing protection, not ear warmers) and drowned my precsion sorrows in some saws. I worked a little on my sawhorses, bringing the pieces down to the dimensions I wanted. Greg Smith was teaching today, and went over dowelling for cabinet carcasses. Too much sugar earlier and I'm finding I'm crashing hard in the afternoon. You're right mom. Thankfully all my dowels and holes lined up and my carcass is now ready to plane and bring together. I guess I’ll spend the start of tomorrow sharpening plane irons. Stay sharp!

Adam listening intently to a lecture. 

Friday and my 10 am Union break is interupted by a lady who intercepted Hank after he jumped the damn fence again. Instead of working in the machine room I’m doubling up the electric wire on the shorter sections of fence and adding it to the five and a half foot high section of fence Hank is clamoring over. He hates the electric fence, and loves the cats on the other side. Some wood for sale came into the shop today and I bought some Myrtle (also known as Pepperwood, Bay Laurel and it’s latin name, umbellularia californica) and some crazy looking Siberian Elm (ulmus pumila). Laura told me as I was hesitating to buy wood that Krenov's philosophy was to buy it if you can afford it and buy it anyways if you can't. I may not have a project for it now, but I'll come up with one. 

Another picture of me since mom requested more. Horizontal Borer.

After a Friday night potluck at Ron Hocks with some steel talk I'm back at work on my Sows Ear Cabinet this morning. It’s all squared up with a level backside and ready to take over to the shaper to get ready for the frame and panel back. I have two days off this weekend thanks to Labor Day, and thought about heading out to Yosemite. I really would like to climb some, but the 7 hour drive, plus the cost of diesel combined with my tiredness makes me hesitant. I think I’ll stick around and just head into the shop to work on Monday to work on some more dovetails.