Taking The Next Step Toward Boatbuilding

The house in East Boothbay.

Life has been busy, busy, busy lately. Hence the lack of posts here.

My book draft is now in the hands of the team at Popular Woodworking Books, with some 1400 captioned photos.

My shop time has been occupied teaching individual classes. That's produced good material for some upcoming technique blog posts.

I've started reading through my stack of boatbuilding books. That'll take a while, but Greg Rossel's excellent Building Small Boats has been a great first step, detailing the sequence of operations.

A Place To Build Boats

The next step in the journey is the other big thing occupying my time, a place to build boats. That place is in East Boothbay, Maine, where my mother-in-law has now bought a house. She'll live there in the warm months, then with us in the cold months. Meanwhile, we'll spend weekends and vacations there. Eventually, we'll retire there permanently.

The two main criteria for the house were that it be near water, and that it have a space for my woodworking, specifically large enough for small boatbuilding. We had previously owned a house near the Damariscotta River in Boothbay, Maine, so we were familiar with East Boothbay. That was our general search region. It's spectacularly beautiful, as you can see from this image search.

The house she bought meets the criteria wonderfully. Built in the mid-to-late 1800's, it sits directly across the street from the historic shipyard waterfront of East Boothbay, on the bend of the Damariscotta a couple miles upriver from open ocean.

They've been building ships and boats there since the 1700's. Two small yards are still active, Hodgdon Yachts, America's oldest boat builder, building high-end sailing and motor yachts, and Washburn & Doughty, building commercial tugs and fireboats. 

Hodgdon Yachts is on the site of the former Goudy and Stevens yard, where Louis Sauzedde (www.TipsFromAShipwright.com) worked on the replica of the yacht America as a teenager in the late '60's.

In between those yards is a public boat ramp and a separate kayak ramp. There's another public boat onto Linekin Bay less than a mile away. Ocean Point Marina, where we used to keep our old boat, is 50 yards upriver, on the other side of the mouth to the tidal millpond.

So near water, check. About 100 yards from house to ramp. The river is visible past the Washburn & Doughty buildings. Their launchings are always an event.

The workspace is behind the house, a small barn with loft and one-car garage. It's perfect. There's a big sliding door in the wall that opens to an ideal spot for a small boat construction frame, leaving plenty of space on the side for workbenches and general woodworking. The loft upstairs is perfect for, well, lofting! And sailmaking.

Rear view of the house showing the barn.

At some point this will become Close Grain North, where I'll teach private classes in hand tool woodworking, violin-making, and boatbuilding. Of course, I have to learn how to do those latter two myself first. See one, do one, teach one.

There are many other small boatbuilders in the area, as well as riggers and sailmakers. The shop of Nathaniel Wilson, master sailmaker, whose work graces the USS Constitution, among many other historic ships, is a couple houses upriver from the marina. That's only a quarter mile walk from the house.

I picked up this great poster for Nathaniel Wilson at the Maine Boatbuilders Show in Portland in March.

The whole area is just steeped in it, with 300 years of history. I even met a lady who's a former instructor at the WoodenBoat School and staff editor at WoodenBoat Magazine. For an aspiring boatbuilder, you couldn't ask for anything more.

I continue to learn about other schools in the area. In Bristol, on the other side of the river, there's the Carpenter's Boat Shop. Then just down the road from that there's the Maine Coast Craft School.

The latter school is particularly interesting because founders Kenneth and Angela Kortemeier have taken over the torch from Drew and Louise Langsner's Country Workshops in North Carolina now that they have retired. Kenneth was an intern at Country Workshops in the 90's (Peter Follansbee is another Country Workshops alum).

Boothbay Region Historical Society

When we first found the house, I was curious about the history of the barn. I was aware of the long history of boat and shipbuilding in the area, so I wondered if it might have been used as a workshop by someone building small workboats for the bigger ships.

I contacted the Boothbay Region Historical Society, and over the course of a few emails, historian Barbara Rumsey very graciously gave me some information.

The real-estate listing said the house was from the 1880's, but based on tax records, she felt it could have been built in the late 1860's. She also felt the barn was probably a small livestock barn, since it was common at the time for families to have a few animals.

I visited the Society, where Barbara showed me how to go through their copies of the old tax collector's books. That was fascinating. The book for each year was a hand-written account of every resident and their taxable property, roughly alphabetical by last name.

People were taxed on their land, buildings, and various types of livestock. There was even a heading for musical instruments over $15 (a significant sum in the 1880's). Anyone who had an ox was very popular; they were like the guy with a truck you could hire to help haul stuff.

What she had found was that the house's street address appeared in the book for 1882, listed under the name Alvin Goudy and occupied by his mother. That gave me a starting point.

Working back through earlier records, I found Alvin Goudy's name first listed for that location in 1867. Working forward to see if taxes increased due to property improvements (for instance, adding the barn), there didn't appear to a major change. So it's possible the house and barn have been there since 1867.

What I wasn't able to determine was what Alvin did for a living. Presumably he was of the same Goudys as Goudy & Stevens shipyard. Lacking any other evidence, it seems likely the barn was indeed used for livestock.

After we closed on the house, I stopped by the Society again to say hi, and found Barbara talking to another gentleman. She said he was one of my neighbors in East Boothbay, Nat Wilson. I said, "The sailmaker!"

Indeed it was. I told him sailmaking was another thing I needed to learn, and I would love to visit his shop. He invited me to stop by any time. The mind boggles. What more could an aspiring boatbuilder ask?

Hobie Tandem Island

Since building even a small boat is 100 to 200 hours of work, it'll be a year or two at hobbyist pace before I have something ready to put in the water. In the meantime, I'm happy to enjoy some rotomolded plastic fun.

So under the heading of YOLO, I bought a Hobie Tandem Island, which is an amazing trimaran sit-on-top tandem sailing sea kayak. It has pedal-powered Mirage drives. The pedals power fins that move sideways, inspired by penguin fins; they're even reversible so you can backup as well as go forwards. You can paddle, pedal, or sail!

This thing is a marvel of mechanical engineering. The modular assemblies go together quickly and easily for use, and detach just as easily for breakdown. As a tandem, it's large, 18' long; as a trimaran, it's heavy, 240 lbs. fully rigged.

But those outriggers (called "amas") make it incredibly stable, able to handle any kind of conditions, even out to open ocean. That's perfect for the Maine coastal river estuaries. It has molded-in fishing rod holders, and Hobie says it's even suitable for bluewater trolling. I've never been a fisherman, but this I can get behind!

How To Transport A Hobie Tandem Island, New In Box

We spent a small fortune on Thule pickup truck bed and roof racks to transport the boat from Sebago Sailing And Watercraft in Raymond, ME. But with a boat that long, I wanted a good secure support to avoid damaging it or the truck. And now we have a very versatile hauling setup.

The boat was in two packages. The main hull was wrapped in a long bubblewrap bag. The amas and all other parts were in a cardboard box about 14' long. Both fit side by side on the racks. Captain Mike, a tall fellow (who also has a timberframing business), helped us load it up. His wife Maura had been my contact for buying it.

The boat loaded on my wife's F150 pickup truck. Mounted to the bed is a Thule XSporter Pro rack. On the roof is a pair of Thule AeroBlade bars. I secured the packages to the racks with 25' lengths of half-inch climbing webbing fore and aft.

To unload the boat on our own, I used a retired climbing rope and a pair of carabiners to rig a 2-to-1 haul system from the upper door of the barn. My wife, Cat, belayed the rope to sway the front end of the box down off the rack while I stood on my toes and lifted off the other end. That allowed her to lower away easily. Then we repeated that with the main hull.


Cat belays the box.


Belaying the main hull.

I unpackaged everything and laid it out, then followed the instructions on assembly. It didn't take long. The boat is made to break down for transport with minimum fuss. I had also bought a heavy-duty two-wheel dolly that included a cradle for the amas.


The boat fully assembled with sail unfurled. You've heard of sailing on the mooring? This is sailing on the driveway.

This boat also takes a spinnaker. That'll be next year after we've spent some time buzzing up and down the river and out the mouth.

Two Events At FIM

This young man intently testing the Lie-Nielsen tools told me he reads the blog, but I neglected to get his name. I gave him a demonstration of fitting a tenon for a cherry frame and panel door, though the results were rather gappy.

I've been busy the last two weekends with events at Phil Lowe's Furniture Institute of Massachusetts. First was the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event on Friday and Saturday the 6th and 7th. Second was Phil's presentation yesterday for the Society of American Period Furniture Makers New England chapter, the third in his series building a Seymour night stand.

Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event

There are two things I love about the events Lie-Nielsen puts on at various places around the country and the world. First, they let people try out every tool they make, providing skilled staff to help out. Second, they open them up to local vendors and demonstrators, giving them a venue to share their love of the craft.

I had a bench setup in the demonstrator area, representing SAPFM. I got to meet several readers and gave a number of impromptu demos. As always, my sharpening station was a favorite item, along with the Al Breed carving vise I used to hold the cabriole leg I was working on.

One theme that came up several times was people interested in learning to work with hand tools because they lived in small spaces. One young lady told me she was a grad student living with her husband in a small apartment, and the landlord let her use some space in the basement.

She spent nearly an hour with me asking questions and trying things out. In addition to limited space, she also had a grad student's limited budget. But the key was she clearly had the interest.

She got me to thinking about how to deal with these limitations, so in a future blog post I'll be presenting what I call the "apartment workbench", a hybrid of the Roy Underhill portable workbench and Paul Sellers workbench I've built previously.

The goal will be to bootstrap the woodworker who has limited space, limited funds, limited tools, and limited skills, using only what's available at the typical home center. While this isn't my favorite source for tools and materials, with some judicious selection it makes a practical starting point.


Roughing out a cabriole leg with a bow saw and turning blade. The carving vise is held canted in the bench vise.

Remember Paul Lelito's West Bridgewater Walnut? He managed to wrestle several slabs of this in for sale. He also had some smaller, highly figured pieces. If you're interested in any of this unique wood for your project, contact him at 508-451-9999 (cell) or 508-563-2000 (home/shop), or via email at plelito@hotmail.com.


Paul with two large crotch pieces from the upper trunk section.


A section of lower trunk, dead straight grain. Just strap this to the roof of your car to get it home!


Some of the bookmatched sequential boards.


The flitches stacked and stickered at Paul's sawmill at the Magnolia Cranberry Bog in Marion, MA.

There were several other demonstrators I know from previous events. Peter Follansbee was there Friday making his signature 17th-century riven oak carved pieces. Matt Bickford was there with his magnificent moulding planes. Tico Vogt was there with his Super Chute shooting board. John Cameron, one of Phil's instructors, was there with some amazingly complex joinery.


Peter Follansbee working on a carved frame-and-panel door.


Matt Bickford demonstrating his moulding planes.


Tico Vogt demonstrating his shooting board.

John Cameron with some of his beautiful joinery.

Padauk frame-and-panel top showing the puzzle-like interlocking pieces. He said these techniques were invented to hold tropical woods together before the advent of modern glues.

Chairmaker Peter Galbert was there Saturday with his toolmaking assistant Claire Minihan and a new assistant, Tim Manney. Peter is a fantastic chairmaker and teacher, but he's also quite a tool inventor. I've tried out his lathe caliper in the past, as well as the absolutely fantastic travishers that Claire makes. 

He had several new items this time, a couple developed with Tim's help. There was a reamer, an adze, and a drawknife sharpener (now being carried by Benchcrafted).

The fascinating thing about Peter's tools is that he's addressed some very specific problems for chairmakers and created tools, or refinements of old tools, that work amazingly well. Of course, their use isn't just limited to chairmaking.

The adze was fantastic. This is something of a lost tool. I have a commercial one, but it doesn't work very well. Peter's version is easy to use, well-balanced, extremely effective, and easy to sharpen. Tim gave me a brief tutorial, then I worked on the pine slab they had on the bench of a shaving horse.

The Drawsharp drawknife sharpener was equally fantastic. Like Peter's caliper, it's a unique approach to an old problem. He demonstrated its use for me. The edge it produced was breathtaking, with beautiful cutting action. I have several nice old drawknives that would benefit from this (in case anyone's wondering what to get me for Christmas...).

Peter Galbert dishing out a seat slab with his adze.

As always, the main Lie-Nielsen tool display was like a candy store. They always have several benches setup with a variety of fine hardwood practice lumber. You can see more event photos in their Facebook photo album.


Sampling the wares in the candy store.

SAPFM Seymour Night Stand Presentation

Phil's presentation this time focused on the joinery. The front legs are joined with rails, as are the back legs. The top front rail is dovetailed into the leg ends. The other rails are secured with mortise and tenons; the bottom rail is a double-mortise and tenon.

Phil laying out the dovetail socket in the top of the front leg.

The back panel floats in grooves. The side panels are glued into grooves. Drawer runners go front to back, floating in mortises. The primary wood is mahogany, with poplar secondary wood.

I only have a few photos, because like the last meeting I ran his video camera so people could watch closeups on a projection screen and record for posterity. I setup my tripod with pistol grip head on another workbench and stood on the bench. That gave me a nice high shooting angle down onto Phil's bench.

This time I had the wireless mic set up right. After the meeting I downloaded all the video onto his Mac and put together a quick test movie comparing the camera's built-in mic from last meeting with this meeting. The wireless mic makes a huge difference, eliminating all the background noise, people and chairs moving around, coughing. His voice comes through warm and strong. It makes the whole video seem much more professional.

This meeting was a real lesson in precision layout and fitting. I've read about everything Phil did before in his various magazine articles, but being there really made it sink in. There's just no substitute for watching and hearing him work.

The tools make a distinctive sound as the chisel snaps into a knife line, then slices across the grain. And with over 40 years of experience, he's breathtakingly fast and efficient.

For layout, Phil always takes measurements from his full-size drawings, then takes the measurement from the ruler. That's how he sets his gauges and combination square length.

He marks short widths and lengths with a cutting gauge. To mark longer dimensions, he sets the combination square, then holds the head to the part and makes a small mark at the end. Then he sets the knife point in that mark, slides a square across to it, and knifes all the way across. He marks firmly and deeply, so that a chisel edge will drop positively into the line.

He always chooses a reference surface, then takes every measurement from that same reference. For instance, for the double mortise-and-tenon, he stepped off each line progressively from the front face. That way, even if the piece isn't quite at the right width or thickness, short or fat by a bit, the lines will still be spaced correctly.

And he always marks both parts (mortise and tenon) at the same time, off the same setting. That point dropped magically home when he laid the marked up double tenoned rail end on the marked up double mortise leg face. All the lines matched up exactly.

There are those who argue you should be able to fit a joint straight from the saw, no trimming. But Phil always cuts fat by about a sixteenth, then trims to the line with a chisel. He did that for the dovetail, the tenons, and the notches in the drawer runners.

The only thing he cut to finished size was the mortises, since he was using a hollow chisel mortiser with specific size bit. So all the layout was based on the width of that bit.

Watching him trim to the line was the final point that drove it all home. With the piece upright in the vise, he would slide the chisel along the wood until it dropped into the knife line; you could hear it snap into place. Then he would lean into it, slicing into the grain.

He always worked either directly across end grain, or across side grain, never down the grain. That ensured that the chisel would stay in the knifed position, not get caught and run with the grain.

For end grain, he worked progressively across the full width of the cut. You could hear a distinctive rhythm of slide, snap, and scritch as the chisel moved to the line then cut in.

For side grain, he worked from alternating sides into the middle, to avoid blowing out the far side grain. Again, the sound of the chisel snapping into the gauge line, then scritching flat across the grain.

That rhythm is what I want to work on. With good positive knife and gauge lines, I could see that's what gave him fantastic precision and control. That, and 40 years of experience!

He quickly had each piece fit with a snug joint, tight enough for everything to hold together dry fit, yet pull apart with moderate hand pressure or light mallet taps.

Chopping the dovetail socket in the leg, holding back a sixteenth for later trimming.


Paring tenon shoulders to the knife line. Slide the chisel up along the wood until it snaps into the knife line, then push in to cut to depth. Repeat working sideway across the full width of the shoulder.


The rails and side panel dry fit to the legs.


Mortising a leg.


Notching the end of a drawer runner, sawing fat by a sixteenth.


Paring down to the line, across the end grain. One half of the notch width has been pared, the chisel is moving to the next. You can see the vertical knife line ready to pare across the side grain.


Paring to the line, across the side grain, first from one side...


...then from the other, again sliding the chisel along the face until it snaps into the knife line, then pushing in to cut.

You can bet these faces are trimmed EXACTLY to the desired dimension. Spectacular precision!

The next meetings in this series are 9AM-1:00PM on the following Saturdays:

• Feburary 22
• March 15
• April 19
• May 17

Meetings are open to SAPFM members and guests, but space is limited. If you'd like to attend, contact Freddy Roman at sapfmnechapter@gmail.com. Not a SAPFM member? You can join here for a modest cost.

Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event At FIM

Deneb Puchalski of Lie-Nielsen Toolworks demonstrating hand plane techniques. The gentleman in red and black checks is one of my blog readers. Hi, Albert!

I got to participate in the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event this past Friday and Saturday at Phil Lowe's Furniture Institute of Massachusetts, in Beverly, MA.

This event had a number of connections for me. I had used Phil's articles and videos as my primary references to build my Queen Anne foot stool. The plan I had used was from the Society of Period Furniture Makers, who was to have someone there. I had met most of the other presenters at other LN events and SAPFM meetings, and met the remaining presenters online.

I had emailed LN a month ago to inquire about participating to promote my blog and share the craft as a SAPFM member. Deneb Puchalski, LN show coordinator, responded to say that I was welcome to join them, and I should coordinate with Mickey Callahan, who would be demonstrating for SAPFM (and in fact it was Mickey's foot stool plan I had used). I contacted Mickey and we put together a tentative plan to share a bench. A big thank you to Deneb for allowing me to join in!

I brought my foot stool and enough tools and prepared stock to demonstrate making another set of cabriole legs. They make a good demonstration because the finished shape looks so complex, yet broken down into discrete steps, they can be done easily just with hand tools.

When I arrived, Deneb told me Mickey was sick and unable to attend, so I took on the role of SAPFM representative. I was there all day Friday, and the afternoon Saturday (Saturday morning I attended Al Breed's second presentation to the Guild of NH Woodworkers on building a Townsend document chest; that'll be a separate blog post).

A number of people were interested in SAPFM. The society is open to anyone interested in American period furniture, regardless of skill level. It's composed of a broad range of members nationwide, from hobbyists to professionals. Whether you work more with hand tools or power tools, if you read my blog, you would probably enjoy SAPFM membership, $45 annually.

To me, the primary benefit is the opportunity to spend time with some of the top period makers in the country, online or in chapter and national meetings. They have an incredible wealth of knowledge and love to share it. Many of today's well-known woodworking authors and instructors are members.

My personal message to people (standing there flanked by two 14" bandsaws and a jointer that could serve as the flight deck of an aircraft carrier) was that I do everything with hand tools to show that even if you don't have access to power tools, you can still do fine work (and often, better work). Whether you're limited by space, funds, or concerns about noise, dust, or safety, hand tools allow you to do everything. After all, they got it done 200 years ago.

Some steps may take a little longer and be a little more laborious, but they can all be done. You can build magnificent period-authentic furniture or other pieces in a tiny space carved out of even the most restricted living area.

It was fun meeting several blog readers and members of my Google+ woodworkers circle, like Nick Roulleau of Mansfield Fine Furniture, and Lance Gomes, one of my students last year. It was great talking to you guys! I also handed out a stack of cards to interested people. So if you're a new reader, welcome!


Our host, Phil Lowe.

Phil is a great guy. I've been reading his articles in Fine Woodworking books and magazines for years. He's one of the true masters of the craft. He taught at the North Bennet St. School for 10 years, serving as department head for the latter 5. He was the recipient of the 2005 Cartouche Award, SAPFM's highest honor.

I was thrilled to be demonstrating under the eyes of the master. A bit intimidated as well, but he's nothing but encouraging!

He offers a number of instructional programs at his Furniture Institute of Massachusetts, ranging from one-day seminars and part-time programs, to a full-time 2-year program. He also offers plans and videos.


The LN team: Deneb, Marta, and Ted.

If you haven't been to one of these events before, they're great fun. The entire LN tool line is available to try out, with knowledgeable show staff providing instruction and advice. You can put your hands on some of the finest tools on the planet, take a few shavings, chisel out some chips, make some sawdust. Get to feel them and how they handle on the wood.

Like most hobbyists, I started out rehabbing flea market tools, but I've come to appreciate having at last a few premium tools to know what standard I'm striving for. These are investments that will still be working beautifully for your great-grandchildren.


LN planes on display for people to try out. The three people in front are Mike Morton, a reader and Google+ acquaintance, Michael McCoy (just visible behind Mike Morton), and Mike Morton's son Liam.

Mike Morton, of M. Scott Morton Furniture Design and Construction, lives just a couple miles from me, but we had to travel to Beverly to finally meet in person. You may have seen him (and Liam) in product videos from Highland Woodworking, a Lie-Nielsen tool dealer. Michael McCoy, of Castlewerks Fine Contemporary Furniture, also lives nearby; I used to work with him in his high-tech days.


Peter Follansbee demonstrating 17th century carving on riven oak. He's working on a "joyned" chest.

Peter is a joiner at Plimoth Plantation living history museum, and has been practicing green woodworking for many years. You can see him in action in the presentation he gave at the May SAPFM chapter meeting at Phil's. He sells carved pieces at his website, and has an excellent blog. He has a video available from LN, and an upcoming book from Lost Art Press, Make A Joined Stool From A Tree.


Tico Vogt, of Vogt Toolworks, demonstrating his Super Chute 2.0 shooting board, using an LN miter plane. The piece of wood he was shooting was about 4" long. He told me when he first started demonstrating his shooting boards a couple years ago, that same piece was 18" long. He's been shaving it down a thousandth at a time.

Tico, a recent blog reader, sells his Super Chute 2.0 and Micro Sharp Honing Kit at Vogt Toolworks. Read his account of the event on his blog. If you haven't used a shooting board before, they are the secret precision weapon of hand tool woodworking. They allow for stock trimming to length and angle tolerances that would make NASA jealous.


Matt Cianci (Matt the Sawright) sharpening a saw. Watching him is Bill Barrett, who I know from Al Breed's Townsend chest project with the Guild of NH Woodworkers.

Matt C. offers saw sharpening and restored saws at The Saw Blog.


Matt Bickford demonstrating his wooden molding planes. I first met Matt at an earlier LN Hand Tool Event.

Matt B. has been making and selling wooden molding planes for several years at MS Bickford. They look gorgeous and work magnificently. The floor under his demo bench is always covered in beautiful long shavings. He also provides information on using molding planes on his blog, Musings From Big Pink.


Matt Kenney, senior editor at Fine Woodworking magazine, putting a Vogt Toolworks shooting board set through its paces while constructing a small wall shelf with drawers. I had met Matt at last year's Hand Tool Event at FIM.


The resources I used building my Queen Anne foot stool. Lower left, the plans from the SAPFM member website. Lower right, Phil Lowe's DVDs on ball-and-claw foot and furniture reproduction. Upper left, Phil's article in the October, 2011 Fine Woodworking on chisel usage. Upper right, who is that fellow on the cover? Phil Lowe nearly 30 years ago, October 1983.

Phil offers the two DVDs, originally released on VHS, for sale. The titles don't do them justice. He packs many additional details into each one.


Phil Lowe, then and now. Photo by Tico Vogt. Tico was very excited when he saw my copy of the magazine. Be sure to read his blog post if you haven't already to understand how this connected the dots for him across nearly 30 years!

Measuring Furniture For Reproduction should really be titled A Complete Mini-Course In Queen Anne Side Chair Reproduction, because he goes through the whole process of documenting a chair at the Peabody Essex Museum and then reproducing it in his shop.  You can also get it as a package with the plans for the chair. I loved this DVD; I'll be getting the plans and building this chair as my next major furniture project.


My workbench, with plans, magazines, and SAPFM newsletter for people to peruse. That's my finished foot stool on the left, and I'm demonstrating shaping a leg with a rasp on my Al Breed carving vise. You can see a couple of additional walnut leg blanks sitting under the cabriole pattern. Photo by Jeff Burks.

I demonstrated cutting and shaping a couple of cabriole legs with hand tools. I should have done the mortising first, but I wanted to have some curved parts for people to see, since the skills for working on them are less well known. I also brought some of the walnut stock cutoffs for people to try out the tools and techniques.

I did all the curved work with my Gramercy Tools bow saw (available complete or as a hardware kit) and cabinetmaker's rasp, and my LN spokeshave. Gramercy Tools is the house brand for Joel Moskowitz's Tools For Working Wood, which will be at the January 6-7 LN Hand Tool Event in Brooklyn, NY.

In the midst of talking to people as I worked, I even stumbled on another method for sawing out cabriole legs. I had cut out the original foot stool legs entirely with the bow saw. It works great, but even the coarsest blade is a pretty fine tooth, and my control is still pretty poor. So it takes a while, and I have to stay well away from the line, leaving a lot of cleanup work.

Cleanup on the flat or convex portion of the curves is fast with a spokeshave, so that's not a problem...wait a second...flat portion of the curve?

Aha! I realized that a large portion of the S-shape cyma curve is actually almost flat. That means I can use a full-size ripsaw on the tangent to the convex curve, down the length of the flat until it starts into the concave recurve. That's something like 75% of the length, even more for longer legs. I can rip to a close tolerance at good speed. So I tried it on the first leg, and it worked great!


Sawing out a second leg, using a full-size ripsaw on the roughly straight portion of the cyma S-curve. Photo by Peter Follansbee.

I'll be sure to use this method in the future, saving the bow saw for the truly tight areas. This falls under the category of "use the tool with the biggest bite you can". Added to the use of a carving or paring gouge to remove sizable chips from concave areas, rough shaping a leg from the blank by hand starts to approach the time it would take with a bandsaw. Well, maybe only twice as long instead of four times as long.


I did manage to get a fair amount of work done on a leg in between talking to people! This was all by hand, starting from a squared-up blank. The LN spokeshave and scraper leave a gorgeous sheen. Note the gouge marks I haven't yet cleaned up on the top of the foot.

I had a great time at this event. Thank you again to Deneb Puchalski for the opportunity. He could have said no, but he didn't. I know for most of the participants this is working, but for me as a hobbyist it's like a great party (I told Phil I would probably starve if I was doing this for a living, and he said that's why we have a trim figure!). It's great fun to share the knowledge.

Lie-Nielsen 30th Anniversary Open House

A beautiful summer day in Warren, ME.

Saturday, I went to the Lie-Nielsen 30th anniversary open house, in Warren, ME. It was a gorgeous day, barely a wisp of cloud in the sky, though quite warm. I had been to the 25th anniversary open house in 2006, where I bought my first Lie-Nielsen tools, a pair of small joinery saws and a dowel plate.

This was a good buying trip, too, since after 5 years I finally stepped up and bought a #4 and #7, as well as a small shoulder plane and set of saw sharpening files, and the Steve Latta DVD on federal table inlay. Thanks to my dear wife for letting me buy them, I know she loves me! While I've tuned my old Stanley 4, 6, and 7 reasonably well, there's no question that the LN's just work better every time I've tried them.

One of the things I like about the Lie-Nielsen events is that they bring in a number of other small tool vendors and schools, plus well-known guest demonstrators. This is a chance to try out some great tools and watch some highly-skilled woodworkers. I've learned never to pass up a chance to watch someone who's better than me. My apologies to those I've overlooked here.


Ron Brese with his custom infill planes. The mass of these planes imakes them oblivious to the wood, they just float across, producing feathery shavings. Unfortunately, they exceed even my expanded budget. http://www.breseplane.com/ and http://www.breseplane.blogspot.com/.


Bob Van Dyke of the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking. He gave me some excellent tips on fitting tenons, and told me about an upcoming class Steve Latta will be teaching on federal table building. My neighbor down the street, Freddy Roman, whom I met through SAPFM, is an instructor for CVSW. http://www.schoolofwoodworking.com/.


Garrett Hack. I had him autograph an article in one of my books, under his autograph from the 25th anniversary open house. I also put in my request for a design book of some sort. I love his work, full of fine, subtle details. Are you listening, Taunton? http://www.garretthack.com/.


Peter Follansbee demonstrating 17th-century carving. I had met him when he did a demonstration for the NE chapter of SAPFM in May. He told me he follows Close Grain on the UnpluggedShop.com aggregator. I don't have any books or articles by Peter, so I had him autograph my copy of Drew Langsner's book Green Woodworking under Drew's autograph, since he's taught at Drew's school. http://www.peterfollansbee.com/ and http://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/.


Christian Becksvoort demonstrating dovetailing. He doesn't saw out the waste, he chisels up the top 1/16th-inch chip or two, similar to making half-blind dovetails, then makes a deep chop with the chisel slightly undercutting. He repeats on the other side, which completes the chop through. A quick cleanout of the corners with a sharp Murphy knife, and it's done. Wait a second, Murphy knives are made 3 blocks from my house! http://www.chbecksvoort.com/.


Jameel Abraham with his Benchcrafted products, using his tiny miter box for slicing inlays. He showed me how he works with the geometric inlays featured in his article in the April, 2011 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. These are just beautiful, and once you have a few shapes, you can form them into complex repeating patterns. He looked at my CloseGrain logo T-shirt and said, "Is that your blog? I know you!" Cool! http://benchcrafted.com/ and http://benchcrafted.blogspot.com/.


Upstairs in the classroom, it's hand tool heaven. Multiple benches set up, with plenty of LN tools and demonstrators answering questions and showing people how to use them.


Kevin Drake, of Glen-Drake Toolworks, whom I had also met at the 25th. I use his Tite-Mark gauge all the time. http://www.glen-drake.com/.


Raney Nelson, of Daed Toolworks, and more infill planes that just glide across the work. http://www.daedtoolworks.com/ and http://www.daedtoolworks.com/blog/.


Matt Bickford's molding planes. He showed me a set of ogee bracket feet he had made with the large pair of #13 hollow and round on the left end of the row. http://www.msbickford.com/ and http://musingsfrombigpink.blogspot.com/.


Pat Megowan, an Oregon furnituremaker working as a demonstrator for LN, left, and Konrad Sauer. Pat is trying out one of Konrad's magnificent Sauer and Steiner infills. I went through his whole set, making pillow-filling shavings. http://patmegowan.blogspot.com/; http://www.sauerandsteiner.com/ and http://sauerandsteiner.blogspot.com/.

Pat was particularly helpful when I was trying out the LN 4's and 7's. He critiqued several details of my plane handling and gave me some important tips. In particular, I was using too much downward pressure, especially on the toe of the plane, and too much arm motion, not enough lower body. He set the 7 for a heavier cut and had me work on putting more body into it, saying, "Imagine how fast that tires you out if you use too much arm motion." These are the kind of fine details that make it worth paying close attention to others more skilled than I.

I also had a nice conversation with a lovely young lady named Emily who turned out to be a boat-builder. I don't have a picture of her, which is just as well, because everyone would be emailing me asking for her phone number! I told her about my daughter's school project building Harry Bryan's dory skiff, and Harry's email about it. It turned out she knows Harry, and had seen him a couple weeks ago at the Mystic Wooden Boat Show.

And speaking of Harry, there was an organization there featuring boatbuilding, the Compass Project, which bases a youth development program on building and rowing. The wooden kayak they had on display? A Harry Bryan design. Naturally, I found that out as a result of telling them about my daughter's project. Yes, the proud father on the loose!

The day ended with a lobster bake, catered by the Narrows Tavern in Waldoboro, ME. This was the best lobster I've ever had! They also had clams, which were also the best I've ever had, and I'm not normally a clam person.

My wife and I were joined for dinner by Duane, the fellow who had been the first to respond and get me one of my first interviews when I was laid off back in December. He's another hobbyist who works near me in the same industry.



The guys from Narrows Tavern pulling the lobsters out. They baked them in seawood on a steel plate elevated over a small fire. Hot work on a hot day!


Setting out the plates of lobster, clams, and corn. The seaweed was not part of the meal.

Actually, the day hadn't quite ended yet. Timber framer Steve Chappell and his three sons were working on a small replica of the roof and cupola structure on the LN building. They had been at it all day, and worked past dinner to complete it. It was full of intricate, precise joinery, like a giant puzzle hewn from the raw timbers.

I bought a copy of the new 2011 edition of Steve's book, A Timber Framer's Workshop: Joinery, Design & Construction of Traditional Timber Frames, and had him autograph it. This is spectacular in breadth, full of details of design, construction, and engineering. I'll probably never get to build a timber-frame project, but I'll know how!


Steve paring the shoulder of a tenon with a large framing slick.


Closeup of Asher Chappell paring another tenon. The precision fitting was beautiful, because everything had to come together at once.


Tait Chappell paring off the point on the tenon of a rafter. Ok, that's probably not the right term, but I haven't read the book yet!


The base fitted in place.


Rapid progress on assembly once all the trimming and fitting has been done.


A tough crowd: all the LN demonstrators, including the Australian LN distributor (who knows Derek Cohen, whom I follow on several woodworking forums). How's that for a little pressure?


Setting rafters from the four corners. Tom Lie-Nielsen watches in the background at the end of the building.


After some final adjustments, the structure is complete. It should also have a cap, but they didn't have time for that.

A note of travelogue: my wife and I spent the night at the lovely Craignair Inn, at Spruce Head off the main road from Thomaston. Breakfast was an excellent frittata and tomato on English muffin, with blueberry and orange muffins on the side.


How about waking up to this every morning? The view off the porch outside the dining room.


We stayed in the vestry building.

I'm looking forward to the 35th!