Progress

Here are some photos Dana took of me working on my chair.

Making measurements for the all critical armest

AARRGH, the frustration of trying to line up the spindles of the footstool so they go into their respective mortises

Feeding my desire to use large power tools

HERE IT IS!! One finished side of chair.

For those of you expecting me to have the finished chair with me when I return will be disappointed. I will glue up as many pieces that I can that are flat to drive home. I will then glue the chair together when I return to SF. I will also have to stain it and have it upholstered as well. But the hard work will be done.

Because of the day we missed because of the power outage, the last couple of days has felt like furniture "boot" camp. We have started working byt 6:15AM both mornings and worked until 7PM. It has felt fast though, because I am not feeling lost because I feel as if I have command of the woodworking techniques as well as an idea of what we are doing and why we are doing the things we are doing. At the beginning if felt like I was just doing what I was told even though I had no idea it's relevance to our project. Working "blind" has gone away.

We are able to work pretty fast in this endeavor because of the presence of all the special tools. Every kind of special machine that is needed is here at the school. In addition, most pieces are pre-cut by Brian Murphy (our instructor) and Mike (the school director). All that time usually spent measuring out wood is something we don't have to worry about. In addition, the settings for all the machines are done for it. When I have to drill a hole, I don't have to worry about finding the right size drill bit and then setting it into the machine. All I have to do is walk over the machine and drill my hole. I get to do all the fun stuff and never have to do the drudgery. It's woodworking heaven!!

Ernie in Action!!

The first days before the great power outage of July 13th, our first job was to build the four corner posts of the footstool, but laying out mortises and then cutting them out.

Laying out the location of mortises

Classmate Matt (also from California) using the dedicated mortise cutter

Then it came down to laying out the tenons:

Laying out the location and dimensions of the tenons

However, due to there being NO POWER on Wednesday the 14th (the day after the storm), we had to cut the tenons by hand. Were there electricity, we would have cut the tenons on a dado saw and/or a band saw. Instead, we had to revert to the old handsaw.

Cutting tenons by hand in the dark

Woodworking entirely with handtools after being accustomed to powertools, is equivalent to having to to all calculations by hand after being used to a calculator. It's torture. Plus, precision is much more difficult with handtools and I am not precise by nature. My hand cut tenons SUCKED, but luckily there are ways to remedy that and tenons are hidden from view when the piece is assembled.

I WANT THE POWER TO COME BACK ON!! I WANT MY POWER TOOLS!!!!

More Car Drama......

Tuesday July 13th, 2004 was our second day working on our Morris Spindle chairs. Around 4:30PM, all eight of us are in the shop working away when the lights start to flicker and the natural light coming through the windows dim and then cease.

KABOOM!!!!!!!!

A huge storm hits the area and winds in excess of 60-70 miles start swirling all around and then the power goes out. Here is the story in the Indianapolis Star. All we could do was stand around and wait out the storm. I walk to the front of the shop and this is what I see:

A fallen sycamore tree in the parking lot

Isn't that MY car parked where the tree has fallen

I rushed out into the rain to check on the car. It was my car.

Upon closer inspection, IT IS my car (I'm smiling for a reason)

Here is the entire sum damage to the car:

I was lucky in two ways. First, the tree didn't fall (or I wasn't parked) a couple of feet to the right of where I was parked. Secondly, another tree "caught" the fallen tree in it's "crotch" preventing it from falling completely to the ground and perhaps causing my car more damage.

Lucky Break #2

The last comment I want to make if about how different people reacted to my car getting hit. Most people had a "glass is half empty" kind of attitude, in that they were telling my how unfortunate I was to have my car get damaged. I was in other camp, laughing and feeling lucky for not having more damage to the car. One thing to remember, I picked the car up in South Bend with it's new engine the day before this happened.

I continue to live the charmed life!

"Furniture Camp"

Early Sunday morning (7/11/04), I left the Eastern Seaboard. I drove west across Pennsylvania and Ohio back to South Bend, IN. I had the opportunity to see Rae and Erin (from Baltimore last week) who were in town for Erin's parents 35th wedding anniversary. A shout out to Rae and Erin for coming to pick me up and driving us all back to Erin's house to eat ice cream, play with the dogs and hang out for an hour. It was nice to see familiar faces after a long day of driving.

FYI: The book I am listening to at the moment is "The Prodigal Summer" by Barbara Kingsolver. I love the book although it took me a while to get into. For those of you who have read it and would like to discuss it with me, email me!

This morning, I went to the Subaru dealership to pick up the car. It was ready, washed and cleaned up. Unfortunately, my buddy Stephen was not in, but I was charged $73.40 for a timing belt and was on my way. I must admit that when I first started driving the car, I was quite timid with it, not wanting to "break" it again. It's just like the saying, once burned, twice shy. But the car is running great. How lucky am I???

This week and I at "furniture camp" as my friend Leah puts it. Two years ago, I came to the American Sycamore Woodworking School and loved is so much, I decided to come back. Click here to see a map of Cloverdale, IN. Here's what I built two years ago:

Cherry wood blanket chest

Because I had my accident right after I built this Mike and Dana VP (the owners and proprietors of the school) kept it here for me. I will bring it back to San Francisco this time in the car. Here is a picture of what I will build this week:

Morris Spindle Chair and footstool

I would post pictures of my progress, but, well, we all know about my camera woes.

The woodworking shop

Mike and Dana have become great friends and are so kind to me. One of the perks I have gotten is a free room here at the school. Mike has added two rooms (with bathroom and shower) for outside instructors to stay in while there are here teaching classes. This week there is only one instructor so I have snagged the other room. The other seven people in my class are all staying in local motels. My sister has been commenting on how lucky and blessed I am with good fortune. I say that a person makes their luck, but I think that on this trip, I am getting more than my fair share.

Master woodworker and friend Mike VP

Dana VPt

My accomodations here at "furniture camp"

So, that's the week. I'll post if anything interesting, but for those of you in San Francisco, You'll soon see me with two new pieces of furniture!

One last day in New Jersey

Saturday June 10th, 2004 and Jim and I got up and had the entire day to do whatever we wanted. What are two teachers with the summer off to do?

Quick aside: Jim J. has been urged by numerous friends (numerous is an understatement) to join the modern age and obtain a cell phone. He has been resistant, perhaps obstinant, in being a man without a cell phone. My visit was the tipping point. The fact is that I showed up in Jersey last Saturday and then went on my journey to DC and New York. During the time I was in New York, Jim called me on his new cell phone. In fact, he has the same service provider and same exact model phone as I do. I am all powerful and influential.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming. Jim and I decided to drive out to the shore again. This time to the beach at Belmar.

A beach scene taken from the Belmar town web site 
We spent a couple hours at the beach and just as we were leaving, Tim, Patrick and Elvin plopped down next to us. They were arriving as we were leaving. The weather was great, and the scenery (wink, wink) was fine too. Jim summarized the day, "the beach was littered with and smelled of mussels but not enough muscles!"

We left the beach early. Jim and I continued the theme of the weekend by going to Monmouth Park Racetrack to play the ponies. I will fully admit that I know nothing about racing, but I'm sure that I should stay away from it. If you have ever seen a racing form, it is full of DATA and I know I could get much too engrossed. Anyway, Jim and I bet on a couple of races and left. Races go off every 20-30 minutes. That is not nearly enough action for me to be engaged. At least at baseball games, there is between inning entertainment. At the races, it is 20-30 minutes of sitting around before the next two minutes of excitement.

Speaking of baseball, my last evening in New Jersey was spent watching the Trenton Thunder (AA) play the Norwich Navigators. I was accompanied by Jim and our friend Megan M. If you've been following the blog, the Navigators are the same team that played the Portland Sea Dogs. The Thunder posted a heroic come from behind victory. There were postgame fireworks and at the beginning the fireworks were dubiously anemic. But the Thunder came through with a great show.

Side note: All the music played at the Thunder game was dance/club music. I think the guy in charge of music plays in my sandbox.