Projects from woodworking school part IV- the conclusion

This is the final instalment of the projects I made at woodworking school. If you missed  earlier instalments they are as follows:

Projects part I- as a beginner. Learning to use hand tools and some power tools

Projects Part II- getting to know stationary tools

Projects Part III- a look at jigs, panel saws and drum sanders 

Part three showed that my classmates and I had progressed to more difficult projects as time went on. The shaker table is one project from school that I still puff with pride about.

We had a stock pile of projects at this point all in dire need of some finishing. Thankfully the next module we sunk our teeth into was finishing.

Finishing

Much like the glue-ups, finishing proved to be difficult at first for the majority of the class. Why were we getting such unpredictable results?! It was simple really- we had no clue what we were doing those first days-even after careful instruction from our teacher. Like most things you need to get a feel for it. We learnt how to apply stains, dyes, lacquer, varnish, wax, buffing compounds and touch up products. We learnt that it is possible to layer stains. We learnt how to rid our pieces of unsightly blushing, and we also learnt the importance of scuff sanding between coats of finish. Frankly we didn’t have nearly enough time on the topic and fit in as much frantic experimentation as we could. Bob Flexner was introduced to us in this module- several months ago I was able to track down a used copy of his book “Understanding Wood Finishing” he is a master, and the book is excellent. I finished every project myself except for the shaker table.

Krenov

We had been to two exhibitions of the students that went before us and had seen their interpretations of Krenov cabinets. We couldn’t wait to build our own. This module was a watermark for everyone. We were finally allowed to design the project. We split off into groups and spent many weeks at the drawing board (literally). While we were at it we learnt how to use  google Sketch-up to draft our creations. We still had some parameters to follow. We had to keep the overall dimensions within 30″ x 30″ x 60″ and we had to have at least one drawer in the cabinet. We also had to have doors on the cabinets and install knife hinges. We calculated the quantities of materials and ordered them while we finished drafting our creations. Once we had a full set of drawings each group hit the shop and started building.

One group made a classic Krenov cabinet. I really liked their wood choices. The proportions for this cabinet were strictly using the golden ratio as you’ll see in the next photos

I’m glad I got pictures of it, it was literally moments away from being loaded into someone’s car. We were given the option of buying the three cabinets we built for the cost of the materials. $150 per cabinet.

Needless to say all three of them found a home. The pattern on the drawer fronts is the symbol for the golden ratio.

This interpretation was pretty inventive.

The doors were an unconventional design that kind of reflect the way the legs cross.

And there’s the rest. There is a drawer just under the cabinet and…

… a hidden drawer behind the first central drawer.

My group’s cabinet also came out a bit funky looking- we were constantly unsure of our impressions of the design. The three of us in the group that put together the design, were also the same three that put in extra hours until this cabinet was complete. We didn’t finish building our cabinet within the allotted time.

We thought it would be really cool to create the effect of a floating drawer with two other elements in space. I also happened to have aluminum square rods that we incorporated to make that effect possible.

We built two drawers beside the cabinet- which blend into the cabinet when closed because of the continuous grain of the zebra wood veneer. (we had originally planned for a spalted maple veneer front but the stores didn’t have any in stock.)

This module gave us a great wealth of experience incorporating veneer into projects, installing knife hinges, designing and creating cut lists, material lists and plans from scratch, and so much more. It was a brilliant way to introduce us to Krenov. I even took out a book on Krenov from the library, a woodworker’s notebook, or something of a similar title. I was amazed to find that he would share his thoughts of never being good enough. I think that’s the best thing I learnt. Masters become so because they have a drive to always improve, and always try new things. Among other things.

How to start a business

I was glad that we had this incorporated into the program. Because really the program was built to mainly create industry ready workers. But here it was. One of my classmates called this module “story time with Ted” because our teacher would basically just tell us his own business experiences. But they were gold to me. He covered renting shop space, overhead, zoning, sales and marketing, the business types (partnership,  sole proprietor etc.) and the common pitfalls.

Repairs and restoration

In this module, everyone brought in at least two pieces of furniture to repair, and/or  re-finish. It was fantastic in that we had a wide variety of repairs to do and each learned from the combined efforts of the class. Turning new legs for chairs, re caning a chair, building replacement parts for stretchers and the list goes on.

Personally I brought in a cheap rubber wood windsor chair that was in shambles and disassembled and reassembled it within an hour. Next I refinished my solid oak dining table that had many issues with it. I stripped it,  glued in a patch, and sanded and refinished  it. It looks ten times better. After that I brought in some chinese nesting tables that my family passed on to me. They were missing at least two parts of the stretchers and had very loose joints.

These tables got a lot of attention because of the beautiful carvings. I made replacement stretcher parts, disassembled each and every part, pulled out nails that had caused the joints to fail, cleaned out the glue , and reassembled it with hide glue. Next I cleaned all of the grit from the carvings, covered the million or so nicks with black touch up paint, and added several coats of wax.

Carving

The most amazing thing I learned about carving is that it’s not just for the artistically inclined ( like me). It can be a very calculated craft. The ball and claw is an excellent example. There are so many lay out lines that help make even the novice carve a perfectly beautiful ball and claw. It’s a step by step process- think too far ahead and you’ll be overwhelmed, but really it’s not all that complicated. We were encouraged to read up on Chris pye, and were given several articles on carving.

I learned that I’m not very good at finessing wood to create smooth facets- tool marks and tear out were a reality.

We also did lettering, but I neglected to take a photo of it.

We each has some free time to carve any picture of our choice

This one I heart and is perhaps my shop mascot. It sits in the window in my shop.

It’s funny because I researched grain direction for legs and my teacher laid out all of the blanks ahead of time, tracing the shape of our legs with a template. When i cut mine out I was surprised to find my teacher hadn’t oriented the leg so that the grain would follow the curve of the leg- instead it’s an example of how NOT to orient the grain.

As I said before, everyone in class ended up with a very nice ball and claw, no matter that we had just started carving days earlier.

Stair case

The stair case module was surprisingly mathematical. Rise and run head fuzz was a real thing. It took us several days to calculate properly. We also hit the computer lab and drafted our squat stair case on google sketch-up.

The top step had a mitered return.

This type of stringer is routed so that your treads and risers fit into the stringer and are then secured with wedges from underneath. Here you can see it was a nice tight fit, and the bullnose is a pretty close fit with the pattern I routed into the stringer.

Here you see the routed sections the risers and treads fit into, along with the wedges that secure the steps. There are also glue blocks that keep the stairs from squeaking over time.

At first I didn’t know what the heck to do with this SQUAT stair case, it was large enough that I ruled it out as a step stool for a kitchen. And yet it was so solid…

Then it dawned on me. My mom has a yorkshire that can’t make it up onto the bed, so my staircase has been put to work, and the yorkie uses it every day.

Final Project

The krenov was the first project we were allowed to design, and our final project was the second(and last). We were allowed to build from an existing plan or build just about anything under the sun- except that we needed to have it approved by our teacher. It was at the teacher’s discretion to decide whether your project was too involved and needed paring down in order for us to reach our building deadline. We had 20 days at 6hrs a day. This included waiting for tools at the tool crib, and waiting for machines to free up during the build. The month or so leading up to this module we started our designs, and by the time the module started we had not only had our designs approved, but also had our wood ordered and delivered and fully acclimated. We also had full sets of drawings that we individually laboured over using google sketchup. We burst out of the starting gates- it was insanely stressfull and exciting at the same time. We were each on our own truly for the first time, because we were not building the same project- problem solving was ours alone to tackle.

I snapped a few photos during lunch. Everyone was so absorbed by their own projects that we hardly had a chance to see what our classmates were working on.

This one would later turn into a filing cabinet for drawings

Carts were at a premium- but I think we all managed to snag one.

If I’m not mistaken this later turned into a coffee table.

This project got the most attention during and after the build.

This is my design. It’s a hall table, but can also be a Laptop Desk. I made sure it would also fit behind a standard couch. Made out of Maple and Walnut.

When it was all over, we had an exhibition, and then abruptly it was time to leave school and start our apprenticeships.

You can read more about my final project here.

And you can find the photos of my classmate’s final projects here.

Apprenticeship

I actually had a hard time finding an apprenticeship at first. But ultimately I got a lead from one of my teachers that worked out very well. We were each to spend 6weeks apprenticing, still on school time, and our teacher was to drop in unannounced at least twice. After our apprenticeship we gathered at the school for one last time and shared our experiences. And then school was over! It was time to find a job.

You can read more about my apprenticeship here, here,  here and here.

And you can read more about my quest for a job here, here  here and here.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the look into what woodworking schools have to offer.

Stay tuned for updates on recent events- a possible client! And some projects in the works.