I so enjoy my Sunday mornings. While the students are away preparing for the week, I stroll out to the workshop mid morning, to write. The above photograph was taken on Thursday, but very much captures the view from my workbench and the feel of where I sit today.
I finished my brown oak cabinet a few weeks back, and the following Saturday, I presented it to the class and a very special guest. Our grandson Elijah was out for a visit. Yvonne and I so look forward to our grandchildren weekly visits. In my next notebook entry, I will share some photography and thoughts on the first piece completed at our new school.
Since then, I have begun a cabinet for the hall in Roberts Creek. A few years back we were approached by the Community Association who were looking for someone to build a free library. There was little interest from the students so I agreed to make the cabinet myself. I feel very blessed to give back to a the community where our school began its journey, where our children and grandchildren continue to call home.
The cabinet will be made of some beautiful Alaskan yellow cedar milled by Billy Davis a friend and local sawyer. The three planks are in sequence and feature some wonderful colour near the center. This will be the starting point for the cabinet. The cabinet will be loosely based on a cabinet that Gary made as a student in the inaugural program at the College of the Redwoods now the Krenov School.
This past week, I rough milled the stock for the cabinet, and have completed the door Frames which will feature glass above and panels with some of the gorgeous colour near the heartwood below. On one morning when Yvonne, Matt and James were in the benchroom, I ran the stopped rabbets for the glass and panels. I find the fragrance quite strong, even with our new and improved dust collection it tends to linger a bit.
The front of the frame is stepped, which I began on the bandsaw, after completing the frame joints. Then, I finished the surfaces and edge treatment with one of my fine planes. What a joy it is to work this wood with shearing tools. I mocked up panels and made adjustments on Saturday morning before the students arrived. On Monday, I will make the cauls and assemble the frames.
Yvonne has begun fitting the dovetails on her case. The french walnuts is wonderfull to work with fine tools. She is using a modified knife and chisel that she made in the the Impractical Studies Program. She is so very patient and methodical in her work. It was so beautiful to watch her lost in the work this week.
James has cut the low side rails in his chair and will be working toward the front to back assemblies early this week. It has been a joy to watch his progress this term. The chair is a complex piece, particularly when you think students begin it after just twenty weeks at the school. Gary once suggested that his fifty years in the craft, the set of four he made in narra were among the most complex work he has done. Vidar’s Chair Program focus is on three aspects of the craft, the first being grain graphics. This week I watched I watch as a light come on for James, as I have witnessed so many times before. While each of the joints on the chair are increasingly complex, each of the his joints are getting finer off the machine. He has been visiting his sharpening station more frequently, and having to spend less time. He is fitting the joints and shaping the the parts of his chair with joy and this is most evident in the work. The chair really is, a wonderful lesson in grain graphics, joinery and shaping.
It was a beautiful moment to see Matt’s cabinet in the benchroom, dry fit for the first time this past week. The cabinet has been made with a great deal of care and attention and you really do feel it’s quiet presence. I feel so very blessed to watch our students development through the four programs. This piece was disrupted not once, but twice with the pandemic and it took a while to recapture the initial excitement, but he has found it again. This piece, like much of the work we do represents much more than a piece of furniture. In many ways, this piece pays homage to his family and Matt’s dedication and passion for the craft. The woods used in this piece all have such delicate, textures, grain and complementary tones and perhaps more importantly one piece in particular, has a profound meaning to the maker.
Be well, and enjoy your work,
Robert