Every year the woodworking club that I belong to (the Rochester Woodworkers Society) hosts a series of guest speakers. The speakers usually do a lecture on Friday night and on Saturday they sometimes do a workshop for the club members.
Last night, we had the pleasure of having Kelly Mehler speak to our club. If you are not familiar with Kelly, he is a frequent contributor to Fine Woodworking. He has also written several books and done a few instructional videos. He is most noted for his book and video: “The Table Saw Book” and “Mastering your Table saw“. During his lecture he kidded that as a result of this book and video he has now become known as the “table saw guy”! This was not something that he was aiming for but he doesn’t mind it. I can tell you that Kelly’s book and video were some of the first things I read/viewed when I started woodworking and I found them to be a very good source of information for the beginner.
Kelly’s lecture started with a brief history of his woodworking career. In his early twenties, he lived in Cincinnati and had a strong interest in woodworking. He said that he was young and inexperienced and did not know what a hard road it might be to pursue a career in the craft – that’s probably what allowed him forge ahead and pursue it. He decided that if he went to school to learn the craft then he might be able to eventually teach and he could also make and sell custom furniture which is what he really wanted to do. So, Kelly moved to Kentucky to attend a technical college in Berea (where he still lives).
After a time at the college he decided to quit school and start his custom woodworking business in a building that formerly housed an car dealership. That first shop was where he got discovered by Fine Woodworking and in fact his videos were actually shot there. Fast forward to today, after a long and successful career in woodworking Kelly has sold that first shop building and built a new shop and school on land adjacent to his home in Berea. Kelly says that the only furniture he builds now is for his home (by order of his wife). He concentrates all of his other efforts on his school, which is well regarded.
The school itself is a two story building with an upper floor housing a bench room and a lower floor with a well equipped power tool shop and wood storage. Kelly teaches only half of the classes at his school opting to bring subject matter in experts for the balance of the classes. When I spoke with Kelly before the formal lecture he said that he is really pushing students to develop hand tool skills because he finds that very few students have them – he feels that power tools only get you so far and hand tools really allow you to execute fine joinery and details.
While there was a lot more that the lecture covered, the two things that struck me the most were Kelly’s discussion of design and building and his information on safety.
Being the “table saw guy” is a responsibility that Kelly takes very seriously and he has been a strong advocate of mandated safety features on power tools including the new upcoming regulations for guards and riving knives on table saws. In fact, Kelly has switched to mostly European equipment in his shop/school for the efficiencies they offer and more importantly for their safety features.
As for Kelly’s furniture design and woodworking, he tends to create pieces with simple lines. Most of his pieces are reminiscent of the Shaker style although, he did show a couple of Federal style reproductions that he has done that were full of detail. His approach is to allow the wood to define the piece. Kelly works in all solid woods (including drawer bottoms and case backs). He feels that a piece with simple lines can be made spectacular by taking time to choose and match the wood and grain. Some of the simply designed pieces that he showed exhibited this very quality. He joked that he has a “sickness” because when buying lumber he obtains the stock from entire trees and stores it in his shop waiting for the right project. I can tell you that the pieces he showed using matched woods from the same tree were both exceptional and inspiring.
Unfortunately, I was not able to take part in Kelly’s workshop demonstration today – he was to build a Shaker side table out of a single board showing the very techniques that he espouses for wood and grain matching. It would have been nice to see his techniques in practice. None the less, it was an informative lecture that I’m glad I got to attend.
This past weekend I finished work on a new table design made from Walnut. I showed its design previously in another post. Now, with the final coats of finish on it I wanted show you the completed project, talk about the details and get your take on its design.
Construction Details
First, a bit about how the table was constructed. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of the construction process, but I will walk you through the relevant details.
The legs were cut from 8/4 stock using a template that I made from 1/4″ hardboard. I traced the pattern onto the stock and used the bandsaw to rough out the legs within about 1/16″ of the line. The curves were smoothed with an oscillating spindle sander, a card scraper and finally hand sanding. I cut the joints into the legs before doing this shaping so that I could use square stock while executing the joinery – I’ll talk more about that a bit later.
All of the other parts of the table were cut from 4/4 stock. The curves on the both sets of upper and also the lower end stretchers were done in a similar manner to the legs, except I used double-stick tape between each two pieces and then cut and shaped each set together. For the upper end stretchers, I planed the stock down to about 5/8″. The notches in these pieces that fit over the legs were done on the table saw, nibbling away until I achieved a close fit.
The upper and lower curved stretchers and the legs were both mortised using the mortising jig I posted about here. These joints were assembled with loose tenons. I assembled the two end leg sections first. The top stretchers are attached into the tops of the legs with Miller Dowels. I had never used these before but, I thought that this was a perfect application for them. Once the two end leg sections were assembled, the cross stretchers were glued up to complete the base of the table. For the lower cross stretcher I again used contrasting Miller Dowels to join it to the end assemblies.
The top was glued up from three Walnut boards that I selected for a good grain match. The top needed to be assembled to the base while allowing for wood movement.. To accomplish this, a shallow stopped grove was routed into the upper end stretchers on their underside. These groves were drilled with an oversize screw hole to allow the top to expand and contract across the grain without splitting. The top was fastened to the base through these holes with four wood screws.
The entire piece was hand scraped and sanded with 220 grit. The finish is three coats of thinned General Finishes Arm-R-Seal scuff sanded between coats with 320 grit. The final coat was rubbed out with a piece of paper grocery bag to remove any remaining dust nibs.
The Design
My aim with this design was to create a piece in an Arts and Crafts style while adding some Asian influence. I was inspired by looking at some works in the Greene & Greene style as well as some James Krenov pieces.
I did not want too much ornamentation on the table because I thought that the wood could speak for itself without too much competing detail. As a result, I opted to use subtle curves repeated in the legs and stretchers. The only slight ornamentation was the use of a contrasting colored dowels to join the lower cross stretcher.
I like the way that Krenov’s cabinet pieces sometimes float above a base. In this vein, I attempted to create some negative space and lightness in this piece by raising the top off of the stretchers. My thought was that this would create some visual interest and along with the leg styling, offer some Asian influence to the piece. The edge treatment on the table top again was simple. Just a hand planed chamfer on all edges so as to not compete with the wood.
All in all, I’m happy with the way that the table turned out. I think that it generally conveys what I wanted when I set out to design it. The wood is beautiful in and of itself and I hope that the subtleties in the design allow that to come through. If there were anything that I might change on another version of this piece, I might try curving or tapering the legs on both outward facing sides rather than just one. That detail might create a bit more of a balanced look when viewing the table from the ends.
I’d enjoy hearing what you think about the design – good and bad. Do you think I hit the mark in obtaining an Asian/Arts and Crafts feel? Please let me know your thoughts – you can contact me at thecraftsmanspath@gmail.com or leave comments here using the comments link at the end of the post.
Tags: Arts and Crafts, Asian, Design, James Krenov, table, walnut
This past weekend I had a few simple tasks left to complete on a sofa/hall table that I’ve designed an built (more on that in a future post) before starting the finishing process. What I needed to do was to simply cleanup the edges of the table top and then to put a small chamfer on all of its edges.
To do this, I had a few choices: grab a sander and go at the edges to remove the milling marks with successive grits of sandpaper and find the chamfering bit for the router and set it up to relieve the edges of the top – or – enlist the help of my trusty block plane and accomplish both tasks more quickly, quietly, and possibly with less dust and mess than with the other methods. If you haven’t guessed after reading the title of this post, I chose the latter.
It never ceases to amaze me how efficient well tuned hand tools can be for various woodworking tasks. Once you learn how to tune and sharpen planes and chisels and learn the basics of using them, so many woodworking tasks can be accomplished with extreme precision and efficiency. I don’t believe in doing major milling operations with hand tools – the amount of time I have available to me to do woodworking causes me to want to get those tasks done more efficiently with power tools. However, for me fine tuning joinery and some certain surface preparations are better suited to hand tools.
This weekend I made quick work of smoothing all of the edges and chamfering the top of the table in just a few minutes. The resulting surfaces were pristine and I enjoyed some peace and quiet working in the shop – the only noise to be heard was the crisp swish of the plane as it removed fine shavings from the wood, a really great sound if you’ve never heard it. The experience of doing this was a lot nicer than revving up the router and sanding myself into a cloud of dust. I was able to engage my hands a little bit more directly in the work and I think that the end result has just a bit more of a hand-made quality to it.
I don’t have too many hand tools and planes in my arsenal – just some basics: chisels, a card scraper, a dovetail saw, block plane, jack plane, and a shoulder plane. However, the more I use them the more I think that a smoothing plane is in my future! I like the idea of quickly removing milling marks on the surfaces of work pieces and minimizing how much sanding (if any) I have to do. I’m all for less sanding!
As always, please contact me at thecraftsmanspath@gmail.com with questions and also please leave comments here using the comments link at the end of the posts.
One of my favorite woodworker/designer/craftsmen is Sam Maloof. I think that his designs are truly unique. He seems to have created a woodworking and design style all his own with the furniture pieces he has created over his lifetime.
Recently I have been doing some reading on Maloof and some other designers – looking for guidance and inspiration. While doing so, I came across a couple of quotes from Maloof that are interesting to me and that seem to symbolize his work and approach. Maloof says:
“Good furniture must convey a feeling of function but also must be appealing to the eye. I never make conversation piece furniture…”“My goal is to make furniture that people can be comfortable living with. If you’re not preoccupied with making an impact with your designs, chances are something that looks good today will look good tomorrow.”
“I try to make my things aesthetically pleasing; but, if it isn’t functional, people will ‘oo’ and ‘aah’ over it in an exhibit but they won’t buy it. … My feeling is a chair has to be functional and comfortable for tall and short alike.”
What this says to me is that: for design, form follows function. It seems to me that Maloof believes that if you build something that is functional as well as beautiful, that design will endure changed viewpoints over time and always remain aesthetically pleasing. I think that I agree with this perspective as it relates to furniture design – which, I think was Maloof’s intent. Purely artistic pieces can certainly be beautiful but, they are rarely functional. While I think that developing art in wood is a valid pursuit, for furniture designs in wood, I believe that function is where we must start.
Another interesting – and fairly famous – quote from Maloof is:
“There’s a lot of work being done today that doesn’t have any soul in it. The technique may be the utmost perfection, yet it is lifeless. It doesn’t have a soul. I hope my furniture has a soul to it.”
To me, this quote is the epitome of Sam Maloof, his designs and his impact on woodworking in general. Somehow, when you look at Maloof designs there is an intangible but, unique quality that is there in the design… a soul. I’m not sure where this comes from or how to get it into my furniture designs but, I’m working on it! It would be great if there was a simple checklist that designers could go through for each design to assure that these qualities were present but, of course, there is no such thing. My sense is that that the best first step toward attaining these rare qualities in my own designs is through closer examination of those designs that seem to exhibit them.
I’d be interested in your take on what makes Maloof’s designs so timeless, functional and beautiful as well as any other designers that you feel achieve this quality with their work. Please feel free to e-mail me at thecraftsmanspath@gmail.com with questions or leave comments here using the comments link at the end of the posts.
Tags: Design, Sam Maloof
Sometimes you do something and wonder: “what took me so long to do that?” Well, yesterday was one of those days for me in the workshop.
For years, I have been working with the standard table on my drill press. 
As you can see in the picture, I simply clamp a straight board to the table and use it to align the work piece that I needed to drill. However, the table is fairly small, and there is no zero-clearance support below the point where the bit exits the work piece – so, I always either have to put a piece of scrap below the work piece or I risk having tear-out on the exit side of any through-hole being drilled. On top of that, the board that I typically use for a fence is a piece of scrap 3/4″ stock so, it is low to the table and does not offer good support for pieces that are being drilled on edge. This setup is functional, but certainly not very efficient or convenient.
During my recent efforts to clean up the workshop, I came across some scrap stock from an old TV stand. It was melamine coated particle board. Rather than dispose of it to get it out of the way, I decided that I would finally make a simple drill press table and fence and I thought that this melamine piece would make a good table base. So, I grabbed a couple of other pieces from scrap bucket and set off to building. 
Because the melamine had exposed particle board edges, I used some scrap Oak to trim the edges of the table base so that they could take some abuse from stock being loaded on and off the table during drilling operations. Nothing fancy here, I just attached the trim pieces with glue and some finish nails.
Next, I needed to determine how to attach the new table to the existing metal drill press table. I did not have any t-bolts or anything similar on hand so, I decided to dome something simple with wood. I created a simple bracket in an “L” shape that would allow me to attach the table to the drill press by attaching the lower part of the “L” with screws. To do this, I marked the size of the actual drill press table to the bottom of the base piece. Then, I cut some runners (the vertical part of the “L”) equal in size to the thickness of the metal drill press table. I attached them to the underside of the table base with CA glue to hold them in place temporarily and then shot some finish nails from the top. I probably should have used screws here because the melamine chipped out a bit from the nailer – but, it was no big deal I just filled the holes and moved on.
So, how is this thing going to stay on the drill press, you ask? Well, a couple of swipes from a block plane on the runners took off less than 1/32″. This is enough so that when the botoms of the “L” are screwed to the runners, the table base will tighten up and be very secure. The last step in preparing the table base was to create a mortise for the a zero-clearance insert that would be flush to the table and replaceable. With the router I created a mortise to allow for replaceable 1/4″ hardboard inserts. Next, it was time to move on to building the fence.
Again, I was off to the scrap bucket to find a couple of pieces to use to create a fence for the new table. I wanted a taller fence than before (again in the shape of an “L”). I found a piece of maple for the fence face and I had an off-cut of melamine that would suffice for the base of the fence. Last, I needed some pieces to support the vertical section of the fence and keep it square to base of the table. The fence supports came in the form of some scrap Oak cut to size to fit the fence. The fence face received a half circle cut-out to allow for the drill press chuck to have access to work pieces that need to be drilled close to the fence. Also, as you can see in the picture, I chamfered the inside corner of the fence supports so that they would not interfere with getting the fence face square with the table base when they were attached.
I used the new table base with the old fence clamped on to drill and countersink a series of holes in the fence face and fence base. I attached the fence face to the fence base with screws and then I chamfered the bottom of the fence face so that there would be some clearance for chips when it is used. Next, I attached each of four fence supports being sure that the fence face remained square to the base of the table all he way across its width. As you can see in the picture, I used some strips of paper to shim each support piece for a perfectly square result.
The last thing to do was a little sanding and to wipe on a little shellac to protect the fence and table trim pieces from moisture. You can see in the picture that the table insert is off center from the drill bit – this is to allow it to be rotated counter-clockwise as it gets perforated by the bit to expose a fresh zero-clearance surface as needed. Of course, it is also able to be replaced as needed.
So, this was by no means anything fancy. However, this simple upgrade provides a great deal more utility to me when using the drill press. I’m not sure why it took so long to get started, but completing the project only took a few hours once I got rolling. I may take a few additional steps to enhance this table even further but, for now this simple upgrade is a huge improvement. Of course, there are more opportunities out there in other corners of the workshop just waiting for action!
Please feel free to e-mail me at thecraftsmanspath@gmail.com with questions or leave comments here using the comments link at the end of the posts. I’d like to hear your thoughts!
Tags: drill press, fence, table, upgrade
