a second shout-out to some great guys!!

I wrote this over a year ago but really feel that it is something that should be renewed periodically.  Some of the people of your past are important.

February 14, 2016

     I was in the construction trade, carpentry, for 40 years, before I “retired” and started building furniture full time.  While in the trades, I worked for almost 60 different companies (some of them many different times) in over 200 locations. Most of the time, I would be on the job for the “finish” work, installing millwork or doors and hardware.  Every company has slightly different tools in the gang box, a slightly different method of working, and vastly different expectations of what the work should look like when you leave.  The quality of work and the quantity of work were the 2 contradictory things that constantly were a sticking point. 

     In your life, there are people who stand out, people who made a difference in how you saw things.  These are 4 people who stand out in my working life, people who helped me immensely with that aforementioned contradictory sticking point.  By the way, these are all wonderful people and I know that, typically, these guys all think that this is no big thing!  I’m saying that, in my life, it was a very big deal.

    Gary Guilmette:  The little Vermont Frenchman who, with humor and example, taught me to care ONLY about the integrity of the work!

    Charlie Duffer:  The outside foreman for National Door who brought me inside based on my work ethic.  A believer of the integrity of the work, Charlie taught me how to install doors and hardware on a fast production basis.  Please, work smarter not harder!

    Norman Godfrey:  This guy hired me based on our work together and on his jobs (the Henri Bendel store in Chestnut Hill in particular), quality of work was primary.  He pushed me to new heights. pickled oak panels for 3 floors while carrying a 1/8” reveal cut through the whole job.

    Bob Drover:  This man is the best mechanic I have ever known. He taught me how to make a living installing millwork to 1/64” while keeping production in line with what any other carpenter could do at a much lower level.  I carry his techniques now in making furniture and am incredibly grateful that this man took me under his wing.

joinery

I've added a new page to the website.  I've recently come to realize that many people don't understand what goes into making fine, long lasting furniture.  You can put pieces of wood together with nails, screws, and glue and it will last a while (think ikea), especially if that furniture isn't used.  If you want furniture that will last and stand up to continuous use, then the mechanical joints need to be sound, substantial, and solid.  

So the new page is - the joinery - and it's an attempt to explain custom furniture from my perspective.  There may be more pages to come, the cradle I made may get a page of it's own.

COLD!!

It's cold in my shop so I took the time to set up and take a few pictures of my latest chairs.  I think I'm going to take these 3 (the 2 low backed chairs and the armless walnut rocker-seen elsewhere on the website) to the Philly show.

My inspiration..

        There are no straight lines in nature.  Even the flatness of water has to have the curve of the earth. Straight lines are a manmade event, and a curve is so much more appealing to the eye.  When a horizontal member smoothly curves into it's vertically load carrying component, I love it!  It's so gratifying to me to find this line and carry it to the floor.  My objective is to make my pieces as light and flowing as possible.

        Most all woodworkers and many other people have a reverence for wood.  It is a material that was at one time alive.  All trees live in an environment with traumatic events.  These traumatic events during the course of a tree's life are noted in the tree's autobiography.  I always feel honored to be using slices of this book in the pieces that I make.  Wood is an amazing medium to work in.

        It is said that it takes an eye, a hand, and a heart to create furniture that has soul.  It is the eye to see the proportions and curves.  it is the hand to have the skill to make a joint that is sound, and the heart to have the courage to see and change a piece with the instinct that it will be an improvement

  "With the mud of the earth, make a cup from which your brother can drink."                                                    

 Antonio  Machado

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clamping

These are Wetzler clamps (no longer made).  The bar is 1 5/16" x 1/4" tool steel.  Gluing with PVA glue, it's good the put some pressure on the joint while the glue sets.