woodworking tools tips

at my age, 64.5 years, i think that most people would agree, time accelerates (is it already the 15th of january?), memory becomes less able, and when we think back, we sometimes wonder, where did last year go? so, for the last 3 years i have collected relevant (to me) photos in folders on my computer appropriately called 2011, or 2010 or recent work 2009. this morning i uploaded the 2011 folder to my picasa account and it is now online and i can access my photos from anywhere with an internet connection. looking through it, i might have included too many pictures but it makes me realize that the year was actually full of life, full of work, and full of important moments. if you are a new reader, there are dates attached to some of the groups of photos showing the relevant blog post, which, if you are interested, you can access through the archives of my blog.
if you are interested in how to create online slide shows for your ownself and dont have an easily accessible young person, i wrote a blog post back in december of 2010 with instructions for downloading picasa and uploading your pictures ...
its a beautiful sunny winter day and i am outta here ... on to 2012 ...

someone, i forget who, asked me over the holidays, so what type of furniture do you make most often? my answer was dining tables. a lot of our projects take longer and require a lot more concentration, organization and problem solving, but im fairly confidant if you asked my guys what their favorite type of project was, youd get the same answer. dining tables. one of the reasons may be is the flow of them. you start. not that long later, you finish. they leave. you know people will have good times around them ...next project ...

how many different tables have we made over the last 34 years? more than a hundred for sure. i put this slide show together as much for my own convenience, so i can find a picture of a table that is not on my website when i want it, and also so folks can see the different styles we work in. this is certainly not all of the tables we have made, but it does cover some stylistic ground, from high traditional, to contemporary slabs. click any photo at the link above to start the show, and enjoy your tour. a few of the highlights are directly below.

some have carved details

some are very traditional

some are made from one slab of wood, in this case bubinga

and some have inlays and specific stylistic details ..

anychoice, there are many different tables in the slide show, and were alchoices on the lookout for new opportunities to stretch our design legs .. send us your ideas and well have at it ..

ps ... im working on getting links from the photos to the blog posts, but it will probably be a while before i finish that part of the show .. enjoy!

Kamis, 07 Juli 2016

those dam beavers!

i forgot about this one until i stumbled across in my email a minute ago :
and i am, originally, from pennsylvania ...

You’ll probably enjoy this, especially if you are from Pennsylvania.

This is an actual letter sent to a man named Ryan DeVries regarding a pond on his property. It was sent by the PennsylvaniaDepartment of Environmental Quality, State ofPennsylvania . This guys response is hilarious, but read the States letter before you get to the response letter, you wont stop once you start. This guy is good!
This is an actual letter: State of Pennsylvania s letter to Mr. DeVries:
SUBJECT: DEQ ... File No.97-59-0023; T11N; R10W, Sec 20; Lycoming County
Dear Mr. DeVries:
It has come to the attention of the Department of Environmental Quality that there has been recent unauthorized activity on the above referenced parcel of property. You have been certified as the legal landowner and/or contractor who did the following unauthorized activity:
Construction and maintenance of two wood debris dams across the outlet stream of Spring Pond.
A permit must be issued prior to the start of this type of activity. A review of the Departments files shows that no permits have been issued Therefore, the Department has determined that this activity is in violation of Part 301, Inland Lakes and Streams, of the Natural Resource and Environmental Protection Act, Act 451 of the Public Acts of 1994, being sections 324.30101 to 324.30113 of the Pennsylvania Compiled Laws, annotated.

The Department has been informed that one or both of the dams partially failed during a recent rain event, causing debris and flooding at downstream locations.. We find that dams of this nature are inherently hazardous and cannot be permitted. The Department therefore orders you to cease and desist all activities at this location, and to restore the stream to a free-flow condition by removing all wood and brush forming the dams from the stream channel. All restoration work shall be completed no later than January 31, 2010.

Please notify this office when the restoration has been completed so that a follow-up site inspection may be scheduled by our staff. Failure to comply with this request or any further unauthorized activity on the site may result in this case being referred for elevated enforcement action..

We anticipate and would appreciate your full cooperation in this matter. Please feel free to contact me at this office if you have any questions.
Sincerely, David L. Price
District Representative and Water Management Division. Here is the actual response sent back by Mr. DeVries: Re: DEQ File
No.. 97-59-0023; T11N; R10W, Sec. 20; Lycoming County

Dear Mr. Price,
Your certified letter dated 11/17/09has been handed to me. I am the legal landowner but not the Contractor at 2088 Dagget Lane , Trout Run, Pennsylvania .

A couple of beavers are in the process of constructing and maintaining two wood debris dams across the outlet stream of my Spring Pond. While I did not pay for, authorize, nor supervise their dam project, I think they would be highly offended that you call their skillful use of natures building materials debris.

I would like to challenge your department to attempt to emulate their dam project any time and/or any place you choose. I believe I can safely state there is no choice you could ever match their dam skills, their dam resourcefulness, their dam ingenuity, their dam persistence, their dam determination and/or their dam work ethic.

These are the beavers/contractors you are seeking. As to your request, I do not think the beavers are aware that they must first fill out a dam permit prior to the start of this type of dam activity.

My first dam question to you is:
(1) Are you trying to discriminate against my Spring Pond Beavers, or
(2) Do you require all beavers throughout this State to conform to said dam request?
If you are not discriminating against these particular beavers, through the Freedom of Information Act, I request completed copies of all those other applicable beaver dam permits that have been issued. (Perhaps we will see if there really is a dam violation of Part 301, Inland Lakes and Streams, of the Natural Resource and Environmental Protection Act, Act 451 of the Public Acts of 1994, being sections 324.30101 to 324.30113 of the Pennsylvania Compiled Laws, annotated.)

I have several dam concerns. My first dam concern is, arent the beavers entitled to legal representation? The Spring Pond Beavers are financially destitute and are unable to pay for said representation -- so the State will have to provide them with a dam lawyer.
The Departments dam concern that either one or both of the dams failed during a recent rain event, causing flooding, is proof that this is a natural occurrence, which the Department is required to protect. In other words, we should leave the Spring Pond Beavers alone rather than harassing them and calling them dam names.

If you want the damed stream restored to a dam free-flow condition please contact the beavers -- but if you are going to arrest them, they obviously did not pay any attention to your dam letter, they being unable to read English.

In my humble opinion, the Spring Pond Beavers have a right to build their unauthorized dams as long as the sky is blue, the grass is green and water flows downstream. They have more dam rights than I do to live and enjoy Spring Pond. If the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection lives up to its name, it should protect the natural resources (Beavers) and the environment (Beavers Dams).

So, as far as the beavers and I are concerned, this dam case can be referred for more elevated enforcement action right now. Why wait until 1/31/2010? The Spring Pond Beavers may be under the dam ice by then and there will be no choice for you or your dam staff to contact/harass them.

In conclusion, I would like to bring to your attention to a real environmental quality, health, problem in the area It is the bears! Bears are actually defecating in our woods. I definitely believe you should be persecuting the defecating bears and leave the beavers alone. If you are going to investigate the beaver dam, watch your dam step! The bears are not careful where they dump!

Being unable to comply with your dam request, and being unable to contact you on your dam answering machine, I am sending this response to your dam office.
THANK YOU,
RYAN DEVRIES & THE DAM BEAVERS

Jumat, 11 Maret 2016

Merry Christmas !!

Merry Christmas Everyone ..... I was sort of stumped as to what to say and put up here until I noticed the framed card above hanging in our bedroom ... Its a card Sam drew when he was (we cant remember exactly), 3 or 4 years old ... We remember watching him do it though ... He started with the four red foot dots, then drew the reindeer, and then switched back to the red for the nose ... Rudolph ...
Well, a lot has happened in the last 24 or so years and I thank all of you .... readers, friends, and clients ... for your support and enthusiasm for our work over the years. Kit and I and Sam and Will wish you and your families a Happy Holiday Season and a Healthy and Prosperous New Year ...

And Mr. Barred Owl came by the shop yesterday and today to say Merry, Merry too ....

Selasa, 01 Maret 2016

Sam Mosheim Metalwork

OK ... Well, I posted quite a bunch of Wills work recently and now its time for a little of Sams .. You can see more details regarding these photos by clicking on the sam mosheim category below to the right. Using Picasa 3 and the slide shows post instructions, I put up a a slide show of sams work, most of it from previous blog posts .... Take the tour at this link if you have a minute and give him a call if you need some custom metalwork ... Click the photos to enlarge them ...

The hanging lights

Custom belt buckles

The Classic Vermonter

Bridges Bench

The Tansu Stairs

The Balcony

The Cockatoo Chairs

A Cool Signpost

Kamis, 11 Februari 2016

christmas 2013

as joan miro once famously said in response to the question "what do you do when you are not working?" answered "i think about my work." i had a christmas day like that ... sunny, cold, clear, beautiful, no obligations. just kit and i and sam and jen for a simple everyday dinner around 5:00. will was off to Connecticut for the week with his girlfriend, the local aunt and uncle and cousins were in pennsylvania, and the neighbors were busy. i slept late. i read. i contemplated. i walked in the woods. i thought about my work. i worked for an hour. i napped. i walked again. we cooked. we ate. we napped again. its now 9:00. the nova about cathedrals is on .. im writing. its quiet and peaceful. i am appreciating my amazing good fortune to be doing what i do and making a living for the past 34 years at it.

i started by the pond ... click the photos to enlarge them.

worked my choice to the shop in the first photo above .. sunny, amazingly quiet, beautiful ..

i sanded and varnished the bottom of the hill farm table. i left.

back at the house, kit was reading in the sun. i joined her. i read a book for a while called creation out of clay by brother thomas bezanzon. in it, he discusses pottery and art. the process of art. the difference between that process and work, which he says, its not. but there is no other better word to describe what we do ... so for now, work will have to do. i recently received an email from a fellow woodworker i knew back in the 80s, michael coffey. i found a letter he wrote to me in 1983, thanking me for a steam bending course i taught at his woodworking school, then in operation in poultney, vt. after a little googling, i was able to get an email to him, and his response was intriguing. in part, it read:

"I am happy to see that you are still alive and kicking, as I am. I am still making and selling the same kind of furniture I specialized in in Vermont - custom, contemporary, carved work. I am 85 now and slowing down but not close to quitting. I have several younger woodworkers who do a lot of my building and carving while I do the marketing, designing and management. More when we have a chance to meet."

so, HES 85!!, and still working ... 19 years to go, and with luck, ill be there.

i then later read a little about plant intelligence, an article in this weeks new yorker by michael pollan, and then, chickadee intelligence in this seasons Stratton Magazine, and how my friends bucko and geoffrey norman got to town 35 years ago. that was interesting. and now cathedrals ...

back to work and happy to be at it tomorrow. on to the cathedrals ..

merry christmas from vermont !

woodworking tools tips

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Minggu, 22 Januari 2017

the year in pictures 2011

Senin, 02 Januari 2017

merry christmas

Jumat, 18 November 2016

merry christmas to all

Rabu, 26 Oktober 2016

Student Desk Christmas Gift

Kamis, 29 September 2016

Retinal Cryoplexy

Selasa, 30 Agustus 2016

A Christmas Jewelry Box

Minggu, 31 Juli 2016

what kind of custom dining tables do you make

Kamis, 07 Juli 2016

those dam beavers!

Jumat, 11 Maret 2016

Merry Christmas !!

Selasa, 01 Maret 2016

Sam Mosheim Metalwork

Kamis, 11 Februari 2016

christmas 2013

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