Littleton Common Makers Now Open

Matt Filipski, my first student at Littleton Common Makers, tests out a chisel he's learning to sharpen by hand on oilstones.

I'm very excited to announce that Littleton Common Makers is now open! This is the makerspace I first wrote about in this blog post.

The purpose of a makerspace is to provide a workspace and community for people who like to make things, but don't have space or equipment of their own to do it. This covers the whole range of making, from low-tech to high-tech, for hobbyists and professionals.

One of the real values in a makerspace is that it provides access to a number of disciplines and facilitates cross-pollination across them. This includes electronics, robotics, woodworking, metalworking, fabric arts, plastics, leather, jewelry making, the list is endless.

Littleton Common Makers (LCM) is available for member use, with classes open to the general public. It's currently limited to age 18 and above. It's an evolving work in progress, so capabilities and options will change over time.

All the credit for making this happen goes to my friend Faisal Mohammed. He had the dream and put in all the work to find a space, pay the rent, secure insurance and other paperwork, organize and administer membership, and prepare everything for use. He's the one who's made the initial investment in this community resource. The more of us who join him, the better it will be!

The Littleton Common Makers website is www.LCMakers.com. Like LCM itself, the website is a work in progress. For all inquiries, send email to info@LCMakers.com.

The Lowell Sun has also published a nice article about Faisal and LCM here.

Getting There

Littleton Common Makers is located in The Littleton Mill, just off Littleton Common, at 410 Great Rd, Littleton, MA, right by the Rt. 119 exit off Interstate 495 (map here).

The main parking lot is near the traffic light at the eastern end of the 495 overpass. There are a number of entrances to the building. The proper one to reach LCM is up the small outside stairwell with the signs for Dolphin Insulation, New England Yoga, and Indoor Batting Cages.


Look for the second-floor entrance from the deck at the top of these stairs from the parking lot.

It's a maze inside to reach the space, so look for the signs to Littleton Common Makers. From the entrance:

1. Go straight to the end of the hall, past the batting cages on the right. 
2. Turn left.
3. Go to the end of the hall, through a small tunnel into the older building.
4. At the Victory Liberty Loan poster go up the stairs on the right.
5. At the top of the stairs turn left and left again to the hall behind the stairs.
6. Turn left again.
7. Head in the direction away from the orange double doors.
8. Head to the end of the hall.
9. Go up the stairs.
10. At the top of the stairs turn right.
11. Head to the red double doors.
12. LCM is the white door to the right of the red double doors.

Open House Nights

Faisal has a standing open house at LCM every Thursday from 6-8pm. (subject to cancellation, check www.LCMakers.com or send email to info@LCMakers.com to confirm).

Equipment

A variety of equipment covering a range of maker disciplines and crafts is available for use by anyone who has completed the required training and been checked off in its use.

Some equipment has metered usage to ensure fair access and manage wear and duty cycle. Some has associated materials cost.

Training classes will be offered at modest cost to ensure proper usage to avoid injury or damage.

Current equipment includes:

• Workbenches
• Woodworking hand tools
• Electronics worktable
• Laser cutter
• 3D printer
• Sewing machine

Note that most of the equipment is member-owned and rented to the makerspace. Like me, other members had things in their basement and garage workshops that they wanted to move to a more publicly-accessible location. Renting the equipment out helps cover the cost of ownership. Some of it is lighter-duty consumer-grade, some is heavier-duty industrial/professional-grade.

Is there some equipment you'd like to place at Littleton Common Makers? If so, you should consider becoming a member!

Membership

Membership is on a monthly basis, payable by credit card online via Square, or by check. Depending on membership level, members enjoy access to the space (controlled by RFID key), storage, time allotments and discounts on metered equipment, and discounts on classes.

There are currently three levels:

• Full membership, $75/month. This offers 24/7 access, with storage.
• Partial membership, $50/month. This offers limited access (weekdays 6-8pm, weekends 9am-5pm), and no storage (all work is "bring in, take out").
• Military and emergency personnel discount membership available.

To join or for further details, send email to info@LCMakers.com.

Note that partial member hours will expand as membership grows, since a full member must be present.

Woodworking Classes

This is where I will now be teaching my hand tool woodworking classes, both paid private and group classes and free classes for veterans. If you're interested in any of these classes, you can leave a message at 978-772-0030 or send me an email at sdbranam@gmail.com.

I've moved my four Paul Sellers-style student workbenches out of my basement workshop to the space, and once I get fully organized, I'll have all of my student tools there as well.

This means that these tools will also be available to members who have completed training. I offer the following training class:

• 3 hours of hands-on instruction for $64 (includes $10 materials fee).
• An additional hour of hands-on practice time is available for $18.
• Covers basic use and handling of the following unpowered hand tools:
• Workbench and work-holding
• Handsaws
• Handplanes (including router plane)
• Chisels
• Measuring and marking tools
• Sharpening tools

This is an intensive boot-camp style introduction to these tools, just enough to get you working safely and effectively on your own. The optional additional hour of practice gives you a chance to spend more time getting used to them with an instructor present. The class does not provide detailed coverage of woodworking techniques; for that, I offer full instruction.

Other Classes

Other instructors will be offering classes in their areas of expertise. As noted above, some of these classes are required before you are allowed to use the covered equipment.

Is there a class you'd like to teach at Littleton Common Makers? If so, you should consider becoming a member!

About The Location


Faisal working at the electronics table. The windows to his right look out onto the IBM building.


Matt working at the workbenches. The windows behind him look out toward Littleton Common.


The laser cutter with some laser-cut and laser-engraved wooden parts. This vents exhaust smoke out a tube in the window, an example of why you need a workshop to use this kind of equipments.

Faisal's original plan was to have the space in Ayer, because wouldn't it be great if it was 5 minutes from home? Unfortunately, there was no suitable venue that was affordable for a budding makerspace. By necessity it has to start small, then grow with success. Fortunately, Littleton is the next town over, so it's just another 7 minutes down the road.

The Littleton Mill is an old mill complex that's been converted into mixed use suites. Other occupants include a community theater, various one-room workshops and studios, small manufacturers, even indoor batting cages! Like all such old mills throughout New England, the place is a maze of buildings of various vintage, corridors, and stairwells, so it's easy to get lost.

I actually used to work right across the street back in the 90's at the King St. Digital Equipment Corporation facility (old DECcies still fondly refer to it as LKG). That later became Compaq, then HP, and is now IBM (you can see it from the makerspace's north-side windows). Ironically, Faisal is an engineer at a company in another old mill related to DEC, Clocktower Place in Maynard, MA. Known simply as "the mill", this was DEC's headquarters from 1957 to 1992. This area is a major part of the Boston 495 high tech corridor.

LCM currently occupies a single 650 sq. ft. room at the eastern corner of the complex (nearest the intersection of Rts. 119 and 110). As the membership and equipment grows, Faisal will rent additional suites, with the expectation that this room will become the "clean room" for hand tool woodworking and classroom space. The noisier and messier equipment will be located in the added space.

The building already has a well-established woodworking presence: my friend Freddy Roman, professional woodworker and restorer, has his workshop downstairs. I wrote a profile of Freddy several years ago here. At that time, he was sharing another suite in the building with renowned woodworker Will Neptune. Prior to Freddy and Will, that workshop was occupied by guitar-maker Julius Borges.

If you live in the area and are interested in tinkering with some of these things, join LCM or take some classes there!

Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event At FIM 2015

The Lie-Nielsen tools on display and available to try out.

Last Friday and Saturday, December 4th and 5th, was another great Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event at Phil Lowe's Furniture Institute of Massachusetts.

The front room was the main LN display. The back room had additional demonstrators:

• FIM instructor John Cameron, http://johncameroncabinetmaker.com/.
• FIM instructor Joseph Karagezian.
• Freddy Roman, http://periodcraftsmen.com/.
• Tico Vogt, http://ticovogt.com/toolworks/.
• Matt Cianci, http://www.thesawwright.com/.
• Peter Follansbee, https://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/.

Visitors trying out the tools. LN staff member Roger Benton is at the back bench.


Danielle and Deneb manning the register.


They had this lovely toolchest next to the planing bench.

Outside, Paul Lelito demonstrated custom milling of a pine log on his portable Wood Miser bandsaw mill. He milled both flatsawn and quartersawn pieces. This lumber is available for purchase at FIM.


Paul operating the mill.


The bandsaw travels down the log cutting a precise slab.


John Cameron with his Krenov-style handplanes. He teaches a class in making these.


The setup in the back machine room.


Tico Vogt with his Superchute shooting board.


Peter Follansbee demonstrating green spoon carving.


Matt Cianci sharpening a handsaw.


Freddy Roman demonstrating Federal inlay techniques.

Joseph Karagezian demonstrating reupholstering an old wing chair.

Like the last event in November, I was promoting my Popular Woodworking University online video course Intro To Hand Tools. I also had my violin-making items.

Once again, this proved to be a great combination for engaging people. I gave several demos of sharpening and dovetailing, and went over the violin-making process with a number of people. Hopefully by the next event I'll have more progress to show with the luthiery practice pieces.

CCAE Spring 2014 Registration Now Open

Come build this Shaker step stool entirely with hand tools with me at CCAE.

This is a quick reminder that registration for Spring 2014 classes at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education is now open. I'll be teaching a 10-week Saturday afternoon class where we'll build a Shaker step stool entirely with hand tools. Register for the class here (HTSS 01: Hand Tool Woodworking: Build A Shaker Step Stool).

In the process you'll learn a variety of hand tool skills that you can use in all kinds of projects. They can be used alone or blended with power tools. And yes, we'll talk about the orientation of those wedged tenons, along with general considerations of grain and how it affects construction.

If my class doesn't quite match your interest, there are several others in the woodworking category, including evening classes using mixed power and hand tools with Freddy Roman or Carl Spagnoli, and hand tool classes with Dan Paret.

You can read my profile of Freddy here, and visit Freddy's and Dan's web sites for more information about what they do.

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.

Classes At Cambridge Center For Adult Education

Come build this Shaker-style step stool with me at the Cambridge Center For Adult Education.

I'm very pleased to announce a new venue for classes, the Cambridge Center For Adult Education, located at 42 Brattle St. in Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA.

For their Spring 2014 term, I'll be teaching a class building this Shaker step stool entirely with hand tools. Shaker styles make good introductory projects because they're practical, functional forms without being overwhelming.

Exploded view of the step stool, showing the different joinery.

The step stool will be a 10-week class on Saturday afternoons, 2-5PM, April 5-June 7, 2014. Registration opens February 7; I'll post a reminder before then.

For details, see the full description on my Hand Tool Instruction page.

Freddy Roman

But that's not all! When I was talking to CCAE about my class proposal, they asked if I also knew someone who could teach classes covering their power tools. I said I knew just the guy.

So I'm equally pleased to announce that Freddy Roman will also be teaching there. You can read my profile of Freddy here. That's a real two-fer when you can arrange a gig for yourself and for a friend at the same time!

Freddy will be starting almost immediately, with the Winter term, currently open for registration. He'll be teaching two classes, a one-day Boot Camp, and an 8-week course.

The Boot Camp runs twice, 10AM-4PM, Sunday, January 12th, 2014, and 9AM-5PM, Sunday, March 23; registration details here and here, respectively. This covers basic woodworking tools and concepts and includes a simple woodworking project.

The 8-week course will be Monday evenings, 6-9PM, starting January 13th, 2014 (no class February 10). The project will be a Shaker table, using both power and hand tools. Registration details here.

He'll be repeating the 8-week course for the Spring term, again Monday evenings 6-9PM, starting March 31, 2014.

SAPFM Phil Lowe Seymour Night Stand Project

Phil Lowe prepares to route the field for an inlay on a leg.

Yesterday I attended a meeting of the Society of American Period Furniture Makers New England chapter at Phil Lowe's Furniture Institute of Massachusetts. This was the second in a series of free presentations where Phil is building a Seymour night stand, assisted by Freddy Roman.

Freddy had originally suggested the idea to Phil, similar to the series Al Breed has been giving to the Guild of New Hampshire Woodworkers Period Furniture Group. Phil is another one of those museum-quality woodworkers, and in fact has worked on a number of projects for various museums in the area.

I've learned a great deal from Phil's articles in books and magazines over the years. Once again this just confirms what a great guy he is, like Al very generous with his time and knowledge. We're incredibly fortunate to be in a part of the country where we can spend time with people like this.

I missed the first meeting where Phil showed how to draw up the project due to other commitments, but I'll be there for the remaining ones, 9AM-12:30PM on the following Saturdays:

• December 14
• 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 at sapfmnechapter@gmail.com. Not a SAPFM member? You can join here for a modest cost.

As an additional bonus, Phil is offering paid workshops the Sunday following each meeting for those who'd like to build along. I think that's a great way to pay him back for his generosity.

This project involves cabinetmaking and joinery, inlaid veneers, stringing, and cross banding, doors and drawers, and shaped feet, accessible to those at any skill level. Phil is using a mix of hand and power tool methods. This is especially helpful for those taking the Sunday workshops to ensure everybody is able to complete their projects.

The goal for this meeting was making the inlaid legs. Freddy had already dimensioned the mahogany leg blanks. Phil demonstrated how to route out the field with a hand router or with a trim router and jig, then clean up the corners with chisels.

He showed how to orient the 1/16" thick tiger maple veneer face to show off the chatoyance to best effect. He glued that in with Old Brown Glue, then inlaid the black and white stringing surround, showing how to miter the corners. Then he scraped the inlaid face flush.


Cleaning out the corners of the field.


Scraping the inlay flush with the leg.

Using the full-scale drawing, he laid out the transitions and coves of the foot. He shaped these on the table saw and router table. Then he removed the excess on the bandsaw. He finished up the foot with a spokeshave and rasp.

The shaped foot and inlaid face. It still needs a few fine details finished off.

I helped out by running Phil's video camera, projecting closeups on a screen and recording it so he can produce videos. After the meeting we downloaded the video to his Mac and reviewed it. It came out pretty well.

Meanwhile, don't miss the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event at FIM December 6 and 7. I'll be there on the 7th demonstrating for SAPFM.

With Phil Lowe At Topsfield Fair

Phil Lowe hands out fresh spiral shavings to passers-by. Dana Smith gets ready to help out for the evening inside the booth.

This weekend I had the privilege of helping Phil Lowe promote his Furniture Institute of Massachusetts at the Topsfield Fair, in Topsfield, MA. Begun in 1818, Topsfield is the oldest agricultural county fair in the country.

It's a typical county fair, with agricultural displays, arts and crafts, rides, small business vendors, and food vendors. Lots of food vendors! It runs through October 8. Phil's booth is located on a small loop with other craftsmen near the Kiddieland.

Prior to opening the Institute, Phil was an instructor at Boston's North Bennett St. School from 1975 to 1985, the last 5 years as head of the furniture-making program. He's been a contributor to Fine Woodworking magazine for most of its history. In 2005, he was awarded the Society of American Period Furniture Maker's Cartouche Award.

I consider him one of my true woodworking heroes. Helping out at the fair was my way of paying back for the all the knowledge I've gained from his articles and videos.

The weather was damp and gray. Back when I was a Scoutmaster with my son's Boy Scout troop, this was typical Fall camping weather (where the boys would tell you it rained 25 hours a day). Fortunately the light rain tapered off by the time we had the booth set up Saturday morning, so we pulled the workbench out front.

Phil clamped an 8' pine 1x8 in the vise and started planing full-length curls off the edge with a wooden coffin smoother (notice the board has been somewhat reduced by the end of the day in the photo above). He also had a wooden jointer and a Stanley #4 of about World War I vintage with a Hock iron.

As people walked by he offered them shavings to drape around their necks or over their heads. The kids played with the tight curls like wooden Slinkies.

I clamped a small piece to the corner of the bench and started working on it with my Lie-Nielsen spokeshave. As people stopped to watch, I asked them if they'd like to try it. Most did, men, women, boys and girls as young as 4 or 5. Phil was a little worried about someone dropping my expensive spokeshave, but I want people to see what top quality tools feel like.

A well-tuned spokeshave is highly addictive. It works so easily and leaves such a smooth surface. I explained about using it for curved work, while the planes make things flat and straight. I also showed people how to skew it and produce little corkscrew shavings. While some took just a few passes with it, many kept at it, fascinated.

I also clamped a couple pieces to the opposite corner and set out my Spofford brace with a half-inch bit. I like to tell people about the history of the brace, which has a patent date of 1859 and is marked "Fray and Pigg". Since Messrs. Fray and Pigg parted ways in 1869, that dates the brace to a 10-year window. It might have been around when Lincoln was president.

It still works beautifully, my favorite work brace. I had them drill holes with it, not putting any pressure on the pad and observing how the lead screw pulled it into the wood.


When one is at the fair, one must eat fair food. Mmmmm, jalapeños on spiral potato chip fries, with sour cream, cheese, and bacon bits! Wilbur Pan assures me via Twitter there's vitamin C in those potatoes, so this is healthy. Just visible above the plate is my copy of the September/October 1983 Fine Woodworking, with Phil's article on making cabriole legs.

After lunch, while Phil worked on a chest of drawers he's building inside the booth, I picked up the planes and continued to make shavings. When people stopped to watch, I asked them if they'd like to make their own.

I showed dozens of people how to grip the various planes and guide them along the edge with their fingers down the length of the board. Most were able to get a decent shaving within a couple tries.

For the kids who were too short to get over the tool, I pulled it from the front. That worked especially well with the wooden jointer, half as big as they were. Then I would have them try the spokeshave and brace. When a good crowd built around the workbench, there was activity on three sides.

All of this was a great way to engage people and tell them about the Institute. Many were just having fun as they passed by with their families, but a number looked more closely at the sample work and picked up fliers. I had several in-depth conversations with quick impromptu lessons.

In addition to full-time programs, Phil offers weekend and weeknight sessions. He covers the full range from hobbyists with limited time to people looking for career training, from beginner to advanced. The Institute is state-licensed and approved for veterans GI Bill.

Whenever someone says they can't do it, I tell them it's like learning to play a musical instrument. You don't try to play Mozart right off, you learn the techniques and practice to develop the skills.

Throughout the day, we had a young visitor who really loved the spokeshave, six-year-old Julian. His mother was one of the blacksmiths at the nearby Prospect Hill Forge booth. In between other people trying it, he spent about an hour working the piece of pine I had setup down to almost nothing.

I set him up another piece, and he said he wanted to make a chair leg (Phil had a number of leg samples set out, in additional to the frame for an upholstered chair). So he spent the rest of the day shaping it and showing other kids how to use the spokeshave. I love seeing kids get fired up like that.

I headed home at 5 after Dana Smith arrived to help Phil for the evening.

Sunday it rained all morning, so I asked at the Forge booth if we could set up the bench under their side overhang. Meanwhile, I had a surprise for Julian. I had cleaned up a Stanley #51 spokeshave of 1920's vintage that I had gotten at the Nashua tool auction for $12. After checking with his mother first, I gave it to him and went over the rules:

1. Use it only with Mom's permission.
2. It's not a toy.
3. Don't let your friends play with it.
4. Don't touch the sharp part.

He was ecstatic, and immediately went to work on his second chair leg.

Julian pumps the air supply for the forge while the blacksmith heats a piece. By the time this kid is 16, he'll be able to make anything. Anything!


Julian puts his new spokeshave to work.

Several of Phil's instructors and students had pieces in the Coolidge Hall arts and crafts displays. You can see the type of work people learn to do at the Institute. It's just magnificent, covering a range of styles.


Dresser by Freddy Roman. You can read a profile of Freddy here.


Side chair by John Cameron.


Side table by John Cameron.


Table by Art Keenan.


Side table by Brian Days.


Cabinet by Art Keenan.


Corner chair and dressing table by Brian Days and dining chair by Art Keenan.


Nightstand by Mike Fossey.


Shaving stand by Art Keenan.

Once the rain stopped, we pulled the workbench back out. One of Phil's students, TC Mannetta, arrived to help out for the afternoon. He told me he reads the blog and had some very nice things to say about it. He said he had never used a wooden handplane, so I gave him a quick lesson.

The large wooden jointer is a bit awkward at first due to its different shape and balance, but you get used to it after a few passes. Once TC got it down, I showed him how to withdraw and set the iron with a plane hammer to adjust the shaving. We took turns the rest of the day showing people how to use it.

At one point, a gentleman wearing a Wooden Boat cap stopped to watch. I asked him if he was a boat-builder. He said he had built one, but he was really having trouble sharpening his chisels.

So I pulled out my portable sharpening station and an old chisel I got at Nashua and gave a quick lesson on double-bevel oilstone sharpening. However, I told him Phil uses a hollow-ground/waterstone sharpening method, so we would have to fight it out. In a few minutes I had the chisel taking nice end-grain shavings on the pine.


While Phil talks to someone at left, TC Mannetta takes a shaving with the wooden jointer, and a young lady works a curve with the spokeshave.


Another young man uses the spokeshave while Phil works on decorative elements for a dresser and TC adds to the pile of shavings.

I'll be back at FIM November 30 and December 1 demonstrating at the free Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event. Stop by and meet Phil, see the Institute, and try out the full line of Lie-Nielsen tools, which will be available for sale or order. You can read about last year's Hand Tool Event at FIM here.