Trying

Here's one more plane, this time a trying plane (or a jointing plane). The plane is so long so that you get a lot of registration between the plane and the wood, allowing you to get surfaces perfectly flat.

Roger Rabbit

Here's another plane, this time a rabbet! Building your own tools is kind of a neat thing. Up next is a jointing plane...I just need to get my hands on some Lignum Vitae!

Chip off the old block...

A well setup block plane is a wonderful thing. It's a tool that takes some practice and care, one that can you can always get better at using.

I recently picked up some cheap blades from Lee Valley and I'm in the process of making a couple of my own wooden block planes. My first one came out pretty well and I'm excited to get to use it.

Poplar, Joints, and Uwe Senka

I just finished up a new lamp and some tables. I'm starting to use Japanese paper and I have to say that I'm really enjoying it as a material. 

This side table is based on the Fibonacci spiral. Usually I don't like things like this, but I think this  table is really nice and simple. One for all the math geeks out there.

Finally, this coffee table is made of poplar and beech. I had never used beech before and I really liked it for this table. After gluing the top together I hand planed it, one of the more challenging skills I'm still working on. The corners have some nice joinery and the bracing underneath takes some inspiration from my guitar building work.

Disposability

Speaking about the current state of humanity and what is necessary to reengage our global creativity and regain harmony with our planet, George Nakashima said the following:

“It is a difficult movement, a pioneering movement, similar in a way to that experienced by the early English settlers. The movement involves not only beating back the wilderness but also beating back the soulless urban jungles throughout the world.” 

- George Nakashima

Nakashima sees the 20th century as an era devoid of great humanity. We have conquered the planet, we have developed incredible technology, and we have lost touch  of the simple 

values and the sense of community that are truly important.

In our modern society we have embraced the disposable-permanent object. Disposable in the sense that the objects are created for convenience, created to be used once or twice and then thrown away. Permanent in the sense that they will never decay, that in 10 000 years they will still live on perfectly preserved in the garbage dump. As a society we have created a sense of quality defined by permanence that is in direct contradiction to the way the rest of the natural world works. A tree can live for thousands of years, with some standing now that have witnessed the rise of modern man from the early days of the Greeks. When its grand life is finally finished the tree then falls to the ground. It decays and releases all the energy it stored up over its life, it provides a foothold for new trees and nutrients for these new lives to be nourished by. 

So how do we design for decay? Is the biodegradable cup I get at the gelato store enough? We’ve been staring at ourselves in the mirror for the past hundred years admiring our drive and ingenuity. It now seems that we’re finally starting to peek around at the world again and are seeing how great we actually are.

MB

Milling

My friend Mohrgan recently had a maple tree removed from his back yard and decided to get it milled into slabs. The portable bandsaw mill pulled up to his house the other day and we started cutting up his tree on a windy, cold October day. Well Frank, of Franks Planks, actually did all the cutting, but we helped load and push and roll the logs and finished lumber around his front yard. It took about a day to get everything cut and he got a lot of great wood.

For helping him out he's going to give me 4 slabs that we cut from the crotch of the tree. They should provide for some opportunity for incredible results.

I've also got my eye on some more of his large slabs that would be perfect for desks, benches or kitchen tables. I'm working on sketching up some ideas for the y-shaped slabs with a nod to Nakashima's work.

The wood is being sent to the kiln and should be ready in about a month...I can't wait.

MB

Nakashima

I just came across George Nakashima's work for the first time the other day. Do you know how it feels to have an idea that you just can't find the right words to express? Then the next day you're walking along and a song comes on that says exactly what you want to say, but only a thousand times better than you could have ever said it. That's how I felt when I saw his furniture.

Simple, elegant, and honest. The raw beauty of the wood is magnified by the presentation, but at the same time functionality is dominant. Japanese joinery is an art in itself, and it's these techniques that make Nakashima's work so spectacular.

His work is a reminder of the beauty of simplicity and the natural world. It also acknowledges uniqueness and individuality.

I've ordered one of his books, The Soul of a Tree, and I'm looking forward to learning more about this great builder.

MB