Author: robert@insidepassage.ca

Gary once described cutting dovetails by hand as a meditation, and I find this to be true.

It’s a personal undertaking within the craft – everyone has their own way of doing even as they follow in the same techniques and steps, and there are many different methods to work. The experience is always a little different depending on the wood, the size, the number, the day, the mood… but always requires patience and focus. 

This week our students began their practice of this ancient way of joining wood.

Alberto has been cutting dovetails in Garry Oak – British Columbia’s only native oak species and a super beautiful wood. Now in his Upward Spiral, he is working on a reproduction of JK’s pipe cabinet. This week he put his carcass together. Nice work Alberto! 

On Thursday I showed the students how I do it, a little differently from Robert. This demo brought my own attention to how my way has evolved with experience, a nice insight. My familiarity with my tools has grown and my connection to them is natural joy… the satisfaction of a sweet fit still a great pleasure!

The students continued their toolmaking journeys with a set of tools specific to dovetailing. Each one made a small wooden bevel gauge for laying out dovetails, a small brass hammer, diagonal sticks, a paring chisel, and a single bevel knife. They learned to anneal hardened steel so that it can be repurposed and shaped easily, then to harden and temper it to hold an edge.

Thank you all for a wonderful week of dovetails. 

For the last two weeks the Impractical Studies students have been making planes – a smoother, jointer, and a coopering plane. They also started this week on edge jointing and shaping the door of their Wabi Sabi exercise – a small wall hung cabinet with a coopered door.

John has been making awesome progress on his Composing piece, a cabinet out of spalted Western Maple with two coopered doors. This week he finished dowelling his carcass, ran grooves for his partitions and rabbets on the sides of the cabinet.

Inside Passage and Roberts Creek has been a life changing experience. A place where I have built dear friendships, beautiful memories and special moments. It is hard to pick just a few to write about. It is not only about becoming sensitive to this craft. It is not only about making your work better. It has fundamentally been about making yourself better. You have to open yourself up to it; let yourself be surrounded by it. It has been about soft spoken memories and kindred spirits of a Scandinavian woodworker and his student who both wanted to let people know that it is possible. That it is possible to to take this passage and be changed forever. 

Resident Craftsman & Teacher

Robert Van Norman – Canada

Admissions & Student Services

Yvonne Van Norman – Canada

Teaching Assistant

Caroline Woon – Singapore

Relief Teacher

Gary Kent – Canada

Vidar’s Chair

Nondas Iacovou – Cyprus 

Impractical Studies

Marchand Van Rooyen  – South Africa
Jose Alberto Perez Gonzalez  – Spain
Fei Shi – China
Vanessa Cruse – New Zealand
Eli Mara – Canada
Robert Whelan – Canada

I always thought of myself as a woodworker, but spent most of my life not really knowing what was possible in this craft. The Artisan Program changed all that. Studying the fundamentals for six intense weeks at Inside Passage broadened my perspective. I learned a new way of working that opened my eyes to all kinds of possibilities. I had to go back for more!

So, I enrolled in the Craftsman Program. It was a major commitment of time, energy and resources, but definitely worth it. Every day I was pushed to my limit, and then some, but that’s what helped me grow. The support of Robert and Yvonne, and of my fellow students created a welcoming atmosphere at the school that made it a great place to learn. Robert’s teaching, and the James-Krenov-way-of-working that is the foundation for this fine school, brought me to a place of confidence in, and enjoyment of, this craft that I don’t think I could have found anywhere else.

Most recently, I had the opportunity to make a reproduction of Vidar’s chair in the Journeyman Program. This was just what I needed to push my skills to the next level. Chairs are challenging to make, and this chair was no exception. It presented studies in grain graphics, shaping and fitting of complex joinery that demanded my full attention.

Robert, thank you for generously sharing your expertise and for helping me see what was possible. My work will always reflect the huge influence that you and the school have had on my woodworking career. In the beginning, I had high expectations of Inside Passage. Now, I’m happy to say they were all exceeded!