I felt a bit disjointed in my work, this week. Perhaps it was just a bit of a change in what has come to be my cherished summer routine. This has been a special time for me. I feel more connected to my work than I have for quite some time. 

In the beginning of the week, Caroline and I ended up doing a last minute wood run to the lower mainland. It is always wonderful to see young craftsman so enthusiastic for our chosen material. Looking under everything, in corners, climbing all over the piles, looking for surprises or possibilities. We returned with a few precious sticks of wood, most of them harvested within a hundred and fifty kilometres of the school.

With the stock for my drawer pocket settling, I returned to the shaping of my doors. The teak has moved quite a bit since it was first cut, the curves had sagged a bit and I had to work hard to get every bit of the pinch I had intended. I laid out the inside curves and something didn’t look right. I adjusted my lines, stepped back and looked again. That was better. I went out to have another look after dinner and they are just fine. Funny how ones perspective changes when you get away from something for a while. 

The teak is wonderful to work, however even with a couple of planes and spokeshaves on the go, it was giving my stones a workout. Be well and enjoy your work, I know I am.

I spent a couple of days at the school, preparing for the fall term, then returned to my little shop to continue with my work, and to write. I set aside the chairs I had been working on. This was familiar work, and can be done in the mornings before I teach this fall. 

One of my students had asked me to bring out the little ‘Buddha’ cabinet I had started a while back and had set aside, because the next stage would require more focus and regular shop time. When I was preparing my shop for our end of session elephant, I sat with it a while and decided that now might be a good time to return to it. It is good to have curious students.

I had the carcass and the doors, but it took me a day or so to find the rest of the wood, and hardware. As I began to look at each of the pieces, I realized that there had been some significant movement, most notably the bottom which had cupped nearly 6mm. My tolerances were pretty tight with the doors, and after thinking on it, I decided to replace the bottom. I looked through my stock and found one nearly as good as the first. 

This week, I mocked up the interior. As the cabinet is quite low, I had initially intended to have three drawers across the top, in the end I opted for one, with open sides. I resawed the stock for the partitions, drawer and frame and panel back. The partitions would be teak, consistent with the carcass, as would the rear frame. The panels and drawers of Lebanese cedar. The drawer front, a small piece of yakka, I have had with me for many years. After allowing the pieces for the partition to rest a few days I jointed and thickness planed each of the pieces closer to their final dimension. The replacement bottom, I was able to joint, but the planer head on JK’s old machine wasn’t wide enough to thickness it. I have access to one just down the road, but I would have it done in the time it would take me to walk down to the school,  so I would do it by hand. 

When I came in the shop this morning, ready to mill the stock to final dimension I realized, it had moved again. They were flat the day before, and had been stored carefully. I have told my students before, that we are dancing with a living material, but were not always leading. I decided that my tolerances were too tight, even for Jim’s fine old machines. I would leave them another day or so and do them by hand, an exercise, I have my students do regularly, ensuring them that it is something that they will need to do from time to time. Teak is wonderful to work, but it is tough on edges. I would need to sharpen often. I brought down a couple of Jim’s old planes, and one I had made from a piece of mesquite and an iron, he had left for me, and tomorrow will began to make shavings. 

Be well and enjoy your work,
Robert

Welcome to our new website. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Craig Johnson for his support and guidance through the process. Craig is a fine craftsman and an even finer person, we are very grateful for his ongoing involvement with the school. It has been a pleasure to watch him develop as a student, an gifted craftsman and we look forward to him taking on a teaching role at the school.

At the school, we are nearing the completion of our summer session of the Impractical Cabinetmaker Program. We have been very fortunate to have yet another group of beautiful people originating from five continents. In a few days we will hold our final Elephants at our home where our students will have the opportunity to see what I have been up to in my shop, including Jim’s original hand tools and machines. They will also have the opportunity to experience one of his cabinets, while we listen to one of his farewell addresses he delivered to our students a few years back. While it there will be difficult goodbyes to say, I am very much looking forward to some time in my shop and the opportunity to work on my book. After having been set aside for several years, Heart Hand & Eye is scheduled for publication in the fall of 2015.

Yvonne and I have settled on the dates for our tenth annual Student Alumni & Faculty Exhibition, which will take place on May 2, 2015 at the Roberts Creek Community Hall. We would like to take this opportunity to invite our alumni, friends and family to join us for a retrospective of work past and present. A welcome Elephant will take place at the school Friday night, with a Alumni Brunch at the Gumboot Cafe on Sunday morning following the exhibition. Please stay tuned for more details. 

Since completing her second year of study, Caroline Woon has stayed on for a residency, and has moved into a teaching assistant role at the school. Yvonne and I are very grateful to have this fine young craftsman and person join us at the school.

I would like to thank all our students, past and present. This school not only exists for you, but because of you. I would also like to thank Yvonne, my partner in life and work. None of this would be possible without all your years of loving support.

This journal will focus on my current shop work and reflections on teaching. The image above was taken in my shop this morning. You will notice that there are a few tools missing. That is because they were at my bench in use. My next entry will focus on what I have been up to in my shop. 

Be well and enjoy your work,
Robert

Student Alumni & Faculty Exhibition

Saturday, May 2, 2015
6-9pm
Inside Passage School
of Fine Cabinetmaking

Join us as we celebrate our tenth year of providing craft education for the aspiring amateur

Welcome Elephant

Friday, May 1, 2015, 5pm
IPSFC

Alumni Brunch

Sunday, May 3, 2015, 11am
IPSFC

Hello and welcome to my journal. I am honoured and excited to have this space to share with you a look into our work and life at the school.

For the last ten weeks I have been assisting in the Vidar’s Chair program, working alongside Nondas as he builds a set of two. Soon his chairs will be travelling across the country to Nondas and Melissa’s new home in Maine, to find their place at the dining table. 

Here we are in the final stages of fitting and shaping of arms and back splats, looking forward to our final assemblies.

It has been a most enjoyable shared learning and teaching experience for me and I am grateful to have crossed paths with this fellow woodworker. Nondas, your unfailing kindness and amazing energy will be missed in the shop. 

As I complete my second build of this chair in the next few days, I will be reflecting more on this summer session, a very significant one for me as a craftsman and in my life here in the Creek. For now I give deepest thanks to Robert and Yvonne for creating this warm and beautiful place, where I come to enjoy my work.

It has been a year since we changed the format of our program, enabling our students to take our Impractical Cabinetmaker program a session at a time. Our Impractical Studies program, a foundation in the teachings of James Krenov, maybe taken a week at a time or as a complete ten-week program, and is a prerequisite to each of the other three ten-week programs. The Upward Spiral program is an exploration of the solid wood construction of an established piece, and serves as a prerequisite to our Composing program, where students have the opportunity to compose a piece from a plank to a cabinet under the guidance of the Resident Craftsman and Teacher, further exploring the many subtleties of our craft including the use of shop sawn veneer, curves and glass. Vidar’s Chair program is a comprehensive lesson in grain graphics, increasingly complex joinery and shaping. This fine chair, originally made in Jim’s little basement shop in Bromma Sweden, in 1970 by his dear friend Vidar Malmsten. At the same time as we changed the format of our program, we reduced our class size by over forty percent. In just three weeks we will begin our tenth year of offering craft education for the aspiring amateur in a supportive and creative environment located in the quaint seaside community of Robert’s Creek on the beautiful Sunshine Coast of British Columbia.

back row from left: Yvonne, Brad, Russ, Kelly, Kevin, Nondas, Chris & Gary
front row from left: Gavin, John, Robert, Caroline & Tom

Caroline Woon, who recently completed her second year of study and is undertaking a residency at the school will begin her training as a teaching assistant in the coming program. With a student enrolled in Vidar’s chair program, she will be making a chair along side him, as she guides him through the process. Having recently completed the chair, she has proven herself as one of the finest craftsman to come out of our small school. Yvonne and I are very grateful to have such a fine young craftsman join us in providing craft education, in the Krenovian tradition.

Yesterday the final Elephants of this session, took place at our home just down the road from the school. We began with a tour of my little shop and listened to a farewell address lecture Jim had given at the school back in 2007. Students then had an opportunity to see first hand some of my work, the work of my students and of course one of JK’s cabinets that grace the floor of our home. I also brought out some of Jim’s archive to share with the students. We had a bon fire where in keeping with tradition, I burned my Wabi Sabi exercise cabinet. It was a night of good food and wonderful people including alumni from our first year. I was filled with a deep sense of gratitude for all the wonderful people in my life.

This past week, after spending nearly two months dismantling, cleaning, lubricating and setting up Jim’s Stenberg table saw and mortiser, I decided to set aside the restoration of his remaining machines for a while and make some shavings. I installed the phase converter and all the machines are up and running except the tablesaw and mortiser, which is awaiting a part for the switch. The following is from my notes of the past two months: Jim often said “make sure they know you’ve been there.” While he was referring to our work, I have taken this approach with their restoration. Each machine would need to be disassembled, cleaned, lubricated and tuned. Twenty years of salty sea air had taken its toll on them and while, they had been cleaned before their arrival, I wanted to get to know them better, to prepare them for another lifetime of use. I began with the tablesaw and mortiser. After dismantling the machine, I removed all surface rust, despite a little pitting no parts required machining. All paint is original, with two exceptions, the motor for the table saw had been rebuilt about six years ago. When it returned from the rebuilder, it had a paint inconsistent with the original Stenbergs green. The dust bin had also been modified and fitted with a dust collection port. In an effort to return them to as they were in Jim’s little basement shop in Bromma Sweden, I made a minimalist patch for the dust bin, neatly covering the hole and attached it using the same screw holes. The patch and motor were the painted to paint carefully tinted to match the rest of the machine. In preparing the motor to repaint, I located and uncovered the motors specification plate. Once completely dismantled all surfaces where thoroughly cleaned and lubricated and I began to reassemble. I began with the arbor assembly, it which pivots on two bushings. The photograph below shows one cleaned with surface rust removed prior to lubrication, the other is as the machine arrived.

When the machine arrived, the raising and lowering of the arbor and chuck, which run on the same shaft, was a bit rough. Cleaned and lubricated, it works beautiful including the micro adjustment which is smooth and a delight to use. Each of the machines, are built with simplicity in mind, but built for many lifetimes of use, like our work. I then attached the saw casting and trunions. The tilting table had not seen much use so when it arrived, the trunions were nearly seized. After a lot of cleaning and sensible lubrication, they are as smooth as the day they left the small family run factory. The pulley was then cleaned and reinstalled on the motors shaft. With one grunion attached to the top, the top was carefully lipped into place and was reattached, and the table tilt stop set pretty close for the time being. The tilting of the saw is smooth in both directions and the locking mechanism solid.

I began work on a pair of chairs underway in narra. With mortising of the legs complete, I turned my attention to the tapers on the front and back legs. I brought down a couple of Jim’s planes, ground the irons and put on a fresh edges. I could have cut the tapers on the bandsaw first, but decided to set on of the planes for a heavier cut to plane in the tapers and the other set very fine to take the tapers down to final dimension and surface. I was reminded of the following quote as I made the first shavings in my little shop.

“ I stand at my workbench. Shavings curl from the plane in my hands, swish-and-slide, as I rock to the motion of work. The smell of fresh cut wood, a slick, silvery yellow surface gleaming under the tireless plane, and a feeling of contentment. Nothing is wrong. Here I am, here is my work-and someone is waiting for the fruits of these fleeting hours. My contentment is bound by the whitewashed walls of my little cellar shop, by the stacks of long-sought woods with their mild colors and elusive smells, by the planked ceiling through which I hear the quick footsteps of a child- and yet it is boundless, my joy…” – James Krenov  A Cabinetmakers Notebook 

We will be launching our new website in the coming weeks. Our new website, was built on simplicity and will enable weekly Journals, even for a luddite like myself. I will be sharing my personal work and thoughts on teaching, and Caroline, who will be completing a residency at the school, will be sharing her work, and the work of the students. The rest of the site will be a work in progress, your patience is very much appreciated.

Over the next few days we will be saying goodbye to a few very special people. We will be preparing the school, and ourselves for our tenth year of offering craft education for the aspiring amateur founded on and dedicated to the teachings of James Krenov. Yvonne and I would like to thank the over three hundred alumni from over thirty five countries who have entrusted our school for their craft education, and are reminded that this school not only exists for you but because of you.
Be well and enjoy your work,
Robert

Over the past few weeks at the school, in the Impractical Studies program, students have completed their grain graphics and shaping exercise, made three planes including a jointer, smoother and a curved bottom plane. In doing so have sharpened and dialled in their handtools. Last week they have begun cutting carcass scale through dovetails and begun making more shop specific tools for their task at hand. This week, they have moved onto Joinery & Surfaces. In the Upward Spiral and Composing programs, joinery and surfaces and edges treatment are well underway. Our Resident Craftsman Caroline Woon, has returned and has just completed the upper rear assembly of her chair. Several visits from alumni in the past few weeks including Fergal Spain and family from county Sligo Ireland, always nice to see so many familiar faces around the school. In my own shop, I continue with my work, dismantling, cleaning, lubricating and tuning of each of Jim’s old machines, and getting myself organized. This past week, I moved my chair parts home from the school and more of my personal wood. My shop is 165 square feet in size, so when I bring something in it needs to have a place. The bandsaw and jointer are connected to power and have been looking at the options for connecting the shaper, table saw and mortiser, which are three phase machines. When the jointer arrived, it’s simple guard was in need of repair. The metal base was bent, and the wooden sole of the guard was cracked and was attached to the metal base with duct tape as the holes for the brass machine screws were stripped. I dismantled and cleaned and straightened the base, then repaired the sole and reattached it as shown below, maintaining all original paint. The restoration work is slow, but steady and very gratifying.

This coming week, I will return my attention to the tablesaw trunions and the sliding table. I have waited for more than a decade for a shop of my own again, and a place to continue with my work. In the Fine Art of Cabinetmaking, Jim wrote “The best shop for you is one in which you can do good work and feel happy doing it.” I am happy, and enjoying the work very, very much. 
Be well and enjoy your work,
Robert

This week at the school, we began the spring intake of the Impractical Cabinetmaker Program. We have students joining us from Canada, United States, Singapore and Cyprus enrolled in Impractical Studies, Upward Spiral and Composing. In the first week of Impractical Studies, Graphics & Edges, we have just completed the Gumby exercise. The exercise focuses on preparing our tools, careful selection of wood, and shaping including surface preparation and edges treatment. In the Upward Spiral program students have rough milled the stock for their solid wood piece and have moved onto dovetails. In the Composing program, students have selected the wood, mocked up, rough milled the stock for their pieces and have joinery underway. Our resident craftsman, Caroline Woon, who has just completed her second year of study, is taking a well desired break, joining her family in Europe for a few weeks.

A little over a week ago, JK’s original machines arrived in my home shop. I have spent the last week dialling in the placement of each and am awaiting the electrician to come by to connect them. I have begun the process tuning up each of the machines. I suspect this process will take several weeks, but will give me the opportunity to become familiar with the subtitles of each machine. This week, I began with the tablesaw and mortiser. I dismantled the chuck on the mortiser, cleaned and lubricated it which now runs freely and takes bits from 0-15mm.

This coming week I will remove the table and clean and lubricate the trunions which have not been moved much in the last decade. I will then turn my attention to the sliding table. I have included a few photographs of my little shop. The main shop is approximately ten by twelve feet and the adjacent wood room, which is also home to Jim’s old eighteen inch bandsaw measures about nine by five feet. His hand tools, hang above the bench and old mechanical press sits next to his old Italian shaper. Before he passed, he said he wanted his tools used. It was based on this comment, and a conversation I had with Yvonne that I have decided that the hand tools I have collected, pampered and used for more than twenty five years will remain at the school. As I sit in my shop writing this I am filled with a deep sense of gratitude, as I begin the return to my work.
Be well and enjoy your work,
Robert

I have been away a while. It seems, that since the fall of 2009, I have been at a loss for words. In the coming weeks I will begin to bring you up to date with the exciting developments at IPSFC. In a few months we will be entering our tenth year of providing quality craft education for the aspiring amateur. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the many people from across the world who have joined us over the years and are reminded that this school not only exists for you, but be cause of you.

This past week we moved my bench, JK’s hand tools, wood to my new home shop. Yvonne and I are anxiously awaiting the arrival of a few very special machines, which we will share with you in the coming weeks on the Journal. Every time I walk through its doors, I am reminded my partner in life and work who has been with me my entire life as a craftsman. Without my soul mate, none of this would be possible.
Be well and enjoy your work,
Robert