Blended Approach
The best tool for the job is the one that works. In my shop, I’m fortunate to be surrounded by options. Some are loud and commanding. Others are silently modest. Each does at least one thing very well, if properly learned and cared for. The luxury of choice is allowing the day’s mood to direct the process. Sometimes that’s the din of hardworking machines. Others, it’s the quiet meditative state of forming stock one shaving at at time.
A tool is but the extension of a man’s hand, and a machine is but a complex tool. And he that invents a machine augments the power of a man and the well-being of mankind.
– HENRY WARD BEECHER
Techniques
What worked 100 years ago is often still the wisest approach today. Methods, like furniture, endure for good reason.
STYLE
Well-Designed
Woodcrafts pull from the past, echo current trends and bring to reality ideas most frequently begin as a few lines on paper.
JOINERY
A Hidden Foundation
Leveraging the structural properties of the wood itself forms the shape and locks it in place, creating pieces that remain sound far beyond what a mechanical fastener could promise.
FINISH
Protective Beauty
A quality finish further reveals the beauty of surface below it. Finishes are selected and hand-applied over meticulously prepared surfaces, then built up to withstand predicable levels of abuse.
The Pleasure at Being the Cause
FORM
Inspired by a need, an image or an admired work — more often all three — the first step is always the formulation of a plan. Defining the shape and the scale and the workings of the joinery. Evolving from sketch to working drawing. Mentally, the piece will have been constructed many times over before the first cut has even been made.
FABRICATE
Working from rough lumber to ready-to-assemble components, projects are a series of mini projects — small assemblies that form larger assemblies, bringing to light a physical something that was once a mere thought.
FINISH
When construction ends, the finishing begins. Each final piece and species of lumber influences the requirements of the finish applied. Dyes, stains, oils and sealants are selected and used in fashion to draw the eye and appreciation to the wood itself.
