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March 2009 Newsletter
Despite my best efforts to get a newsletter out on a more regular basis, there always seems to be more to do than there is time to do it. It’s been long enough since I got the last newsletter out that we are starting to get emails from people asking if they are still on our mailing list! It’s nice to know you’ve noticed our absence in your inbox…
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We ended 2008 with Adrian Ferrazzutti leading his class through the design and construction of some elegant veneered boxes during the first week of December. If you missed your opportunity last year, we plan to have Adrian back to do another box making course in 2009. Please keep an eye on our website calendar for updates. |
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Just before Christmas, we held a couple of weeks of open shop time, where people could come in to finish up projects during Wrap It Up For Christmas. Shown at left, Bruce Duncan completed a very nice frame and panel blanket chest in cherry and curly maple. At right, Ron Hall scrapes the front apron on a serpentine hall table in curly walnut.
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The new year started with a full house for our Excellence With Hand Tools class. This remains our most popular course, and as with past classes, twelve people finished the week with a new appreciation for what they could do with their hand tools.
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Garfield Buck hard at work.
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Lauma Cenne using a spokeshave to shape an apron.
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Lauma's finished table.
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Upon completion of most of our courses, we provide students with a short questionnaire in order to get feedback on our offerings, and their ideas on what we might do differently, improve or offer in the way of courses in the future. To all of you who have taken the trouble to fill these out over the years, thank you. Your input is greatly appreciated, and has helped shape the school as time goes on. Starting early in 2009, we have made some changes to our program mix, adding some new classes where we thought there was a need for more depth in specific areas, and moving some of the material previously covered in our initial six weeks of the Craftsmanship series into specialty courses offered independently of our six and twelve week programs.
The first of our new programs is our Drawers and Doors course, where we will cover the details of making and fitting a traditional, solid wood drawer featuring half-blind, or lapped dovetails in the front and through dovetails in the rear. Later in the week, students will make a solid wood raised panel door with open mortise and tenon joints. After completing their door, we will cover fitting the door to fine tolerances, and selecting and fitting hinges. Throughout this class students will use a combination of machine and hand tools.
We are calling the second addition to our Craftsmanship series of programs Final Details. In this class we will pull together a variety of the skills and techniques we think students need to know in order to have a rounded view of the techniques of solid wood furniture construction. This course hops around a bit, touching on everything from cutting cove molding on the table saw to designing original custom pulls, applying string inlay to selecting and applying a finish, and a bunch more in between.
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Our first guest instructor class for 2009 is Build a Small Cabinet With Garrett Hack, March 30-April 3. In five very full days, students will benefit from the experience of one of North America’s favourite makers, writers and teachers as Garrett takes his class through the design and construction of a small wall cabinet. This is an ideal piece to learn and experiment with a variety of construction and decorative details, leaving you with not only a lovely small cabinet, but also skills and design details that can be implemented in more ambitious projects in the future. We still have a few spaces available in this class, so give us a call if you can join us in the first week of April.
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A little further down the road, we’re again delighted to be joined by one of studio furniture making’s pre-eminent practitioners for Build a Cool Table with Michael Fortune, June 22 – 26, 2009. Michael is currently teaching a twelve-week program at the Sturt School in New South Wales, Australia, but has promised to come back (!) to share his creative vision and both traditional and innovative construction techniques with our class as students create small tables of their own design. This course promises to be both creatively stimulating and a lot of fun. We hope you can join us.
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Resident craftsman Nick Moore keeps busy; he's recently restored an ancient farm kitchen table, done some custom turning and received third place honours in the Journeyman class at the National Capital Wood Objects show in December for his demilune table that we showed you in the September newsletter. He just returned from a week in northern California, and is currently at work on the design of a unique chair, full of construction and joinery challenges, and a veneered box in rosewood featuring some striking inlay work. All this in addition to his help around the shop here. At right, Nick demonstrates some of the finer points of veneer inlay as student Réal Fortin looks on. |
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On the topic of tools around the shop, we recently had the pleasure of putting Lee Valley’s new dovetail saw through its paces. As with previous products from Veritas, their new saw isn’t merely a reproduction of an existing design, but rather a carefully re-thought tool based on using current manufacturing materials and technologies to answer the needs of the woodworker. I think they have come up with a gem here, creating a saw that works beautifully at an outstanding price. At $69.00 Cdn, I think this saw delivers an incredible bang for the buck, and comes highly recommended.
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Finally, this issue of the newsletter would not be complete without wishing Vic Tesolin the best of luck in his new position as editor of Canadian Woodworking Magazine. Vic graduated from our nine month program in May of 2007, and was our first Resident Craftsman, helping us get things rolling when I took the helm here back in July of 2007. His help has been invaluable, and his character (and most would agree he certainly is a character!) has played a substantial part in setting the friendly tone we value at the school. All the best Vic – the place won’t be quite the same without you.
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Keep a keen edge,
Ron Barter
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