I have been immersing myself into the world of Kumiko over the past year. The intricate patterns or motifs draw you in and the possibilities are endless to the application of the panels in furniture. Another interesting fact is that Kumiko is a traditional Japanese form of craft. To be able to recreate the same motifs that were designed centuries ago intrigued me. At first I thought the delicate technique would be difficult to achieve since the scale of the components in Kumiko is quite small. Kumiko can be intimidating to a novice. Upon further research, I decided to further explore and experiment. As a woodworker, I enjoy challenges and this would be yet another in a long string of challenges over the years. How else do we grow as woodworkers if we don’t embrace new skills and techniques.

So one thing led to another and after a few early failures and struggles, I was successful at mastering the Kumiko process of creating intricate lattice-like patterns within a grid or frame. The prerequisite to even beginning Kumiko is to create a couple of guide blocks. The blocks have preset bearing surfaces shaped at various angles. These angles are instrumental to the components within a Kumiko grid. Through the judicious application of a chisel to the miniature Kumiko components, precise angles that interlock the pieces are shaped or beveled. The process is methodical but enjoyable. Small or large grids of components can be created, where time and patience are the only variables.

Filed with the USPTO recently, so I can disclose it. A project important to me as I have experienced kickback a few times and made it a mission to fully understand it. New AKS system addresses table saw safety and the pervasive problem of dangerous and violent table saw kickback. The AKS system actively mitigates kickback. It electronically senses the 3 common kickback conditions and activate a braking system. The table saw in video is a purpose-built prototype for testing the AKS system. A considerable amount of time went into development of this technology with several unforeseen problems. As typical of any invention, partway through and the complexity can be overwhelming. So after a few setbacks, the results looks positive. The AKS system can be integrated into any new table saw. Testing has exceeded expectations!

After many weeks of writing, editing and photography. the new book is complete and published. The premise for this new book is to provide insight into the craft of woodworking and more specifically the making of furniture. The book is composed of sections, each of which is critical to your woodworking journey. Acquiring a well-rounded knowledge of woodworking can be accomplished through vocational schools and part-time studies. Looking back at the decades of involvement in this craft, I often ask myself if I would have done anything differently. The answer is almost always no. So much has changed since I began woodworking in the mid 1980’s. It is difficult to compare resources available today to what was available then. Learning is more convenient today.

Although home computers existed then, the Internet connectivity we enjoy today had not been established. Acquiring skills and knowledge in the last century involved taking classes, reading books or mentoring with a knowledgeable woodworker. Today, there is a wealth of knowledge available through the Internet. What is lacking however, is the hands on aspect of the craft of woodworking. Learning involves making. I know of no one that learned a craft by simply reading and not applying themselves. It is critical to embrace the often lengthy learning curve involved. The book includes articles focusing on aspects of woodworking in a contemporary world.

The book is composed of four sections. Each section contains articles that a woodworker or furniture maker will need to embrace as they evolve. The first section introduces basic woodworking skills. A large part of this book is devoted to hand tool skills. Although machines are combined with hand tools in my furniture making, I advocate that woodworkers should embrace hand tools. It is necessary to form a connection between hand and wood medium prior to seeking efficiency and a production mindset. Hand tools often get a bad rap as being slow and tedious. Instead, what hand tools offer is control,  dexterity, quiet and a close connection to the wood medium. In a one person furniture making studio, hand tools offer a healthy balance to the use of machines.

The second or  furniture maker section provides a glimpse into furniture making as a vocation. Woodworkers often aspire to become furniture makers or go into business for themselves. As a furniture maker for several decades, I share knowledge and insight acquired over the years. Some articles will inspire you to take the leap and become a full time furniture maker. Topics in the section include setting up shop, the furniture maker journey, the furniture maker lifestyle, social media and insight into diverging from furniture making to other forms of woodworking.

The third section is devoted to furniture design. Furniture design forms a large part of woodworking. Often, it is necessary to design a complete piece of furniture or modify an existing design. The design process has evolved over past decades with the advent of computer software (CAD). Pencil and paper are now combined with CAD. Articles include how to create and refine a design, the concept of form & function and how it applies to furniture.

The fourth or advanced woodworking section delves into techniques to further your woodworking and furniture making. Veneering techniques, both manual and vacuum veneering are described. The process of creating a jewelry box is discussed in one article. The Japanese art of Kumiko is described in a final article.

Available in the Books section or through Amazon.

The idea was hatched a year or so ago. A new magazine catering to the discerning, fine woodworking enthusiast. It was an idea that slowly developed and at one point became a reality. So a small team and I have been working at this and are happy to announce that the latest issue of WOODSKILLS woodworking and furniture making magazine is now available. Some of the features in this Furniture Maker Edition include furniture maker articles, profiles of accomplished furniture makers, best studio practices, contemporary furniture design, gallery, vacuum veneering, Moxon vise build, sharpening + woodworking strategies, wood selection strategies and social media for furniture makers. The terms studio and workshop are used interchangeably throughout the magazine. WOODSKILLS is a semi-annual publication, published twice yearly in late spring and fall.

As a follower and practitioner of James Krenov style of work and methodology, both hand tool and some machine techniques are included. Although the vast majority of articles refer to hand tools, machinery is not excluded. I find this to be a more realistic approach in this day and age. Machines can do the grunt work whereas hand tools are used to create joinery, shape and finesse furniture components, smoothing surfaces, etc. Advertising is at an absolute minimum and consists of curated advertising, a term gleaned from the art world. Advertising must reflect practices and products that our readers and the team at WOODSKILLS could use or include in their own workshops and studios. Available through woodskills.com (digital) or Amazon (print version) or Blurb (premium print version).

Furniture Designer + Maker Profiles
Darrell Peart, Craig Thibodeau, Jan Lennon, Brian Greene
Workshop Setups & Best Practices
Furniture Maker Articles
Vacuum Veneering
Furniture Design Gallery
Contemporary Furniture Design
Moxon Vise Build
Sharpening + Woodworking Strategies
Social Media for Furniture Makers

WOODSKILLS Issue 02 (digital)
WOODSKILLS Issue 02 (standard print)
WOODSKILLS Issue 02 (premium print)

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Twitter: WoodSkills
Facebook: WoodSkills
Web Site: www.woodskills.com

Not long ago, woodworking was considered to be in a downward spiral of diminishing followers and practitioners. The pundits were proclaiming the demise of woodworking as a hobby and how fewer young people were taking up woodworking and interested in building their own furniture. Why bother, with so much commercially mass-produced furniture available at reasonable prices. In addition, style trends come and go and being saddled with an out of style furniture piece became an issue. Staying on top of style trends has become instilled in us through the proliferation of interior design and renovation shows on television. Furniture has slowly become a disposable or recyclable object instead of a heirloom piece to be handed off to future generations. When you think about it, this trend flies in the face of environmentalism and celebrates the creation of even more trash. Out of all this doom and gloom rose the maker movement.

This younger generation of makers has slowly begun to appreciate the creation of things with their hands. The increased waste going to landfills brought awareness to the never-ending cycle of consumerism. Let’s face it, people are much less likely to throw out something they have created themselves. The virtues of designing and making an object has returned people to their heritage of being self-sufficient, inventive and to not be reliant on industrially produced goods. Through handcrafting, people could imprint their own mark on an object and customize the design to reflect their own aesthetic. The current maker movement is simply an evolution of the arts & crafts movement which has defined creative people for countless decades. The maker movement is an updated form of the craft movement where new materials, technology and ideas are incorporated into craft.

A spin off of the maker movement has been the return to creating one’s own furniture. In fact, a large and growing segment of the maker movement revolves around designing and building furniture. The best part of this is how young people have once again embraced the creation of their own furniture for reasons different than in the past. In the past, the younger consumer could not afford furniture so instead built their own. Today, the reasons for building your own furniture revolve around handcrafting, channelling creativity into a furniture design, and the process of creating an object. It isn’t so much about the result but the experience of getting there. Younger makers today are turning furniture design on its ear by shunning age old design constructs and paradigms, and instead embracing a fresh outlook on furniture design.

In the past, bolder and radical furniture designs were the product of reclusive studio furniture makers with limited means of communicating with one another. Today instead, younger makers are informed primarily through social media. Practicality and functionality of design have become the new criteria for furniture design. The furniture of this new generation of makers embraces universality and democratizes design. Social media plays an important part in design today within the maker movement. Through social media, furniture designs have become instantly available to both inform and influence other makers. Through social media, makers can quickly adapt an existing design to their own aesthetic or style. The process of fleshing out designs is considerably accelerated through social media and democratization.

So from what I observe, things are looking up for furniture making and woodworking in general. There is a resurgence occurring in this decades old creative outlet. A new awareness of the virtues and benefits of creating objects using wood as a medium is occurring. I am fairly active on social media and an often awed by radical new furniture designs from this new maker movement. Along with this, the democratization of design will hopefully benefit us all as we can extract elements of shared designs to incorporate into our own work.

Norman Pirollo
WOODSKILLS Magazine
www.woodskills.com
@woodskillsmag

I have a small Krenov-inspired cabinet which I have enjoyed for the most part. The drawers not so much. The cabinet is solid beech but long ago the decision was made to make two stacked drawers with walnut fronts to provide contrast to the beech. I realized at the time that the contrast was not ideal, but for the sake of expediency, went ahead to see if it would grow on me. Well it hasn’t. Another idea at the time was to have through-dovetails to attach the drawer fronts to the sides. This provided another level of contrast and introduced yet another wood to the mix. Overall, I wasn’t pleased. So recently I decided to give the drawers a makeover and replace the drawer fronts with something more aesthetically pleasing and to provide not so harsh a contrast. Pic below of original drawer fronts.

My first attempt was to use some highly figured veneer I had stored away. It is commercial veneer so very thin. The veneer itself is beautiful, light in color and would make the interior of the beech cabinet pop. First step was to scrape down the surface of the drawer fronts and glued a piece of this veneer to each. Did this successfully and began to create the mortises for the new pulls. However, there is something about commercial veneer that doesn’t sit well with me and I was not able to get past this. The thickness of the material is paper (thick paper) thin and brittle, too fragile for my taste.

Since it would be necessary to scrape the surfaces to get a polished aesthetic, this was entirely not possible with this thin, brittle veneer. I typically use shop-sawn resawn veneers in my work. Instead, I created some band-sawn ambrosia maple with beautiful figure between 1/16 and 3/32 in. thick. I decided to go ahead with this shop-sawn veneer instead. Next I band sawed the drawer front to the thickness of this shop-sawn figured ambrosia. Applied the veneer to the drawer fronts and I could not be more pleased with the outcome. Shop-sawn veneers are more workable and forgiving with hand tools.

I then created two new wide pulls out of blackwood. A single pull instead of two in the original drawer front. Also decided on eliminating the upper and lower shoulders of the pulls to be able to have them thinner. This would not take away from the figured fronts as much. This step introduced a level of risk in creating the mortises, since there is no drawer pull shoulder to rely on to hide an imperfect mortise.

After some judicious mortising using chisels and a mallet,, then some paring, the drawer pull mortises were created as seen above. The most critical part of this step is to remove the top-most layer of wood; it is so easy to tearout the surrounding wood if the chisel cuts are not clean. Then it is simply a matter of cutting and paring to the correct depth of the tenon for the drawer pull. Contemporary-styled blackwood pull temporarily inserted below.

So very happy with the outcome and will be completely replacing the doors of the cabinet next. I intend to use veneered figured wood for the doors, similar wood (Ambrosia Maple) as the drawer fronts. I plan to write a detailed article about this in the next issue of WOODSKILLS Magazine

The idea was hatched a year or so ago but other projects came first. A new magazine catering to the discerning, fine woodworking enthusiast. It was an idea that slowly developed and at one point became a reality. So a small team and I have been working at this since the month of January and are pleased to announce that the latest woodworking and furniture making magazine WOODSKILLS is now available. Some of the features in the magazine are articles on hand tool use and techniques, profiles of accomplished woodworkers and furniture makers, best studio practices, contemporary furniture design, gallery, tool discussions. The terms studio and workshop are used interchangeably throughout the magazine.

As a follower and practitioner of James Krenov style of work and methodology, both hand tool and some machine techniques are included. Although the vast majority of articles refer to hand tools, machinery is not excluded. I find this to be a more realistic approach in this day and age. Machines can do the grunt work whereas hand tools are used to create joinery, shape and finesse furniture components, smoothing surfaces, etc. Advertising will be at an absolute minimum and consists of curated advertising, a term gleaned from the art world. Advertising must reflect practices and products that our readers and the team at WOODSKILLS could use or include in their own workshops and studios.

Instagram: woodskillsmag
Twitter: WoodSkills

 Available here: WOODSKILLS Issue 01 Magazine

After completing and successfully testing the portable board jack in the previous post, I decided to continue on with workbench workholding accessories. At this point, two clamping attachments came to mind. The first, an edge dog, alternatively known as a bench puppy, was modelled after a College Of The Redwoods derived design. This particular design was gained from a Timothy Coleman article on this type of workholding device, also derived from a College Of The Redwoods design.

The premise of the edge dog is to use both the edge of a workbench top and one dog hole to hold a board on edge. This is performed through a unique design that hangs off the edge of the workbench top. When used in conjunction with a tail-vise, the edge dog excels at clamping the free end of a long or wide board along the edge of a workbench for jointing or other bench operations.

The edge dogs are customized to the spacing of the dog holes on a workbench, this would be the distance from the edge of the workbench to the leading row of dog holes. The measurement I refer to can be seen in the following images. I applied a leather face to the edge dogs and also drove a reinforcing wedge into the 3/4 in. dowel. The edge dogs are a combination of beech and maple, essentially what I had lying around in these dimensions.

A good example of how an edge dog can be used to hold a board on edge can be seen in the following image. One end is held by a edge dog whereas the other end is an add-on to a twin-screw vise which I discuss next. Instead of clamping a board to the surface of a workbench, the edge dog is used to clamp the board along the workbench edge and therefore at a more reasonable and lower height suitable for handplaning. Having a pair of these edge dogs allows either side of the workbench to be used. The edge dogs are created with opposing configurations as shown above.

My current workbenches do not incorporate dedicated tail vises. In place, I use a Veritas Twin-screw vise which performs as a tail vise when clamping boards on their face. When it comes to clamping boards on edge, the twin-screw vise can also be used along with bench dogs. The edge of the workpiece would be then sitting on the workbench top. However, this raises the height of the board considerably and is not very conducive to handplaning or jointing an edge of a board. Ideally, the edge of a board should be slightly higher than the workbench surface to effectively perform handplane operations. With this in mind, I created this outboard add-on to the twin-screw vise which extends the width of the vise movable jaw past the edge of the workbench.

Shown above, this newly designed outboard add-on accessory is an addition to the twin-screw movable jaw. In effect, the vise now becomes an enhanced tail vise capable of clamping boards on edge along the side of a workbench. The clamping is done in conjunction with the previously mentioned edge dog. Images of a board being clamped between these two accessories are shown below.

In these photos I am jointing the edge of a white ash board. I was surprised at how tightly the board is clamped with minimal tension applied to the twin screw vise. The friction from the leather pads contribute to this as slightly more tension was necessary before applying the leather pads. The outboard extension to the twin-screw vise is removable and can be adapted to either side of the twin-screw vise. I am left-handed so having it located to the right of the vise as shown, is more practical. For right-handed use, the opposite edge of the workbench would be used for jointing. As an added bonus, there is no racking of the twin-screw vise regardless of the clamping pressure I apply to the outboard extension.

Soon after completing the Moxon Vise project and creating the illustrated drawings, build steps, images, video… I decided to work on a few other workbench accessories.

Workbench accessories – any workbench add-ons that facilitate the holding and clamping of boards or panels. Boards or panels can be mounted on their edge and along their length. You get the idea…

Workbenches can be large in size, massive in weight and beautiful looking but their ability to hold and clamp boards is one of their most important criteria. So holding or clamping a long, wide board along its length can be a challenging tasks of a workbench. In an earlier workbench I incorporated a sliding board jack that worked in conjunction with the face vise. This has and continues to work well since I had built this workbench from the ground up and allowed for the addition of the sliding board jack. With two of my newer slab-type workbenches, adding a sliding board jack was much more of a challenge. I did not want to modify the workbenches or drill screw holes through the tops. Adding an apron or skirt with dog holes along the length of the workbench top was an option, but this involved modifying the workbench itself.

Enter the portable board jack. I designed it to easily attach to the underside of a slab-type workbench top where it serves to support the free end of a long plank or board. It can either be left attached to the workbench or removed when no longer necessary. It can also be moved across the length of the workbench, relocated to the opposite side of a workbench, or moved to another workbench. The nice part is no modifications are necessary to the workbench.

After a period of testing, I was pleasantly surprised at how well it works. It is completely unobtrusive and designed to accept standard 3/4 inch or 20 mm accessories such as surface clamps, bench dogs and shop-made planing stops. The portable board jack can be adapted to any slab-type workbench top without an existing apron or skirt as can be seen in the images. A face vise at one end keeps the board securely clamped on edge. Jointing the edge of long boards has become so much easier and second nature to me now.

The hole arrangement on the portable board jack is optimized for the work I do but can be modified if necessary. I no longer give any thought to attaching or clamping a long board on edge and along its length to my workbenches. Often, I simply need a peg to be able to rest the free end of a board on. This allows me to quickly and easily flip the board around to work both long edges.

Now, I just selected my most-often used side of a workbench to work on and leave the portable board jack attached. In the future, I will possibly be creating another board jack for my other, similar workbench. This adds to the versatility since it will no longer be necessary to move the board jack from bench to bench.

Next up in the forthcoming installment or Part 2, a couple of cool bench accessories  that continue with the theme of attaching and clamping long boards to a workbench. These are boards that are too long to simply clamp to a face vise. It just makes it so much more pleasant to perform handplaning or hand tool tasks once a board or panel is securely clamped. I like for this to be straightforward so I can focus on the task I need to perform instead of spending needless time on securely attaching and clamping a board to a workbench.

The Moxon vise build continued and the vise was completed a couple of days after beginning the project. There was a considerable delay in determining the optimum length of the vise. This actually held me back since making it too short is essentially non-correctable later. Too long and there is a weight penalty as these Moxon vises tend to be heavy, especially with the Benchcrafted solid iron handwheels. Although the extra mass and weight can be your friend when clamping boards down, portability of the unit is also a consideration. I would need to determine the size of panels I most often worked with. In my work, I never go over about 20 inches in width so I set this as optimal distance between the screws. Then, using guidelines on screw hole placement provided in the Benchcrafted instructions, a final length of 28 inches was decided on. I did follow the suggested screw hole placement in the Benchcrafted instructions, this saved some time. Next was to mark the 3/4 inch screw holes and begin drilling, careful to have the holes in the front and rear jaws perfectly aligned.

Mortising for the captive nut in the rear jaw inside face was performed using bevel-edge and mortise chisels. Hard maple is well.. hard! In this case, the mortise chisels excelled at hogging out material from the 3/4 inch deep mortise. With a softer hardwood, lighter bevel-edge chisels would have been sufficient. I also oriented the nut so it would align well with the long edges of the rear jaw, mostly an aesthetic consideration.

After test-fitting the Benchcrafted hardware and ensuring it worked smoothly, the next step was to attach a large block of wood to the rear. This block of wood would both stabilize the vise assembly and allow holdfasts to be used to clamp the Moxon vise to the workbench top. Several other intermediate steps were performed, always careful to get alignments exactly correct. There is almost no room for error in making these vises since replacing either of the jaws is both time and material consuming. A more in-depth article on how I made this Moxon vise will be available at the web site soon.

A table extension and vertical support was then added after ensuring the stabilizer was effective at clamping down the Moxon vise to the workbench. The table allows me to extend horizontal boards for marking..i.e. dovetails. I customized the design to use an extra row of dog holes in the center area of my workbench. I have two of these workbenches set as my primary workbenches, so the Moxon vise will be completely portable between benches. The vise can also be located almost anywhere on the workbench surface as the holdfast locations are optimized to clamp the stabilizer block of wood at rear of the vise. I am using Gramercy holdfasts but any holdfasts can be set up for use with the vise.

More detail of the handwheel, screw, and captive nut can be seen above. The table is reinforced below both long edges for maximum support, this to allow for any mallet work. i.e. chopping out dovetails. A large design consideration was to not make the Moxon vise too heavy as I would often be removing it from the workbench top and/or moving it between workbenches. The table size was optimized for this vise and the type of work I do. When designing your own Moxon vise, you will need to determine the size of boards and panels you most often work with. The overall length of the Moxon vise is the most important consideration in its design, it is best to get it right the first time!

I am in the process of writing a more extensive article on this Moxon vise build and will publish it soon at the web site.

So I decided to build myself a Moxon vise over the holidays. Business slowed and I had the time to get going on this project. A Moxon vise was something on my mind for quite some time, it was simply a case of finding time to make it. Some time was spent on research to determine which version best suited my work methods. It is essentially a straightforward build, but critical to get it right to ensure the time and material investment is put to good use.

I’m not 100% sure of the origins of the Moxon vise design, but it is widely attributed to Joseph Moxon. Joseph Moxon (August 1627 – February 1691), hydrographer to Charles II English printer specialising in mathematical books and maps. Moxon’s 17th century book The Art of Joinery first described the double-screw vise. In this historical publication was documented the Moxon vise – a double-screw held to a workbench top with clamps or holdfasts in order to facilitate certain work.

The main criteria for me was to be able to hold work above the standard height of a workbench. Rather than piece together the hardware for the vise itself, I opted for the Benchcrafted Moxon Vise hardware kit as it includes everything mechanical. I would need to supply the wood and shape the vise jaws (chops). This would be for the basic vise. A more complex version with an additional work table behind the vise would involve several more steps. The overall length of the Moxon vise I decided on will be in the 28 to 32 in. range.

So after deliberating on the design, I simply went at it and worked on the front and rear jaws. Not having 8/4 stock available to me, I opted to laminate some 4/4 maple pieces instead. In the past, I have had success with the strength and stability of 4/4 boards laminated together. In selecting the boards, I mixed the grain orientations up so each of the laminated boards would counter the grain of the other board. This, in my opinion, balances out the internal stresses of the woods and keeps it all straight and stable. Laminating one of the jaws here with 4/4 boards. As they say, one never has enough clamps. In the pic above, this was almost the case, but it worked out. I do have other clamps, but for the most part, they are lighter.

To be continued…

Several years ago, 2006 to be exact, Michael Dresdner contacted me to ask about profiling my work and practice in an upcoming Woodworker’s Journal online publication. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity to talk about my woodworking and how I got to where I was at the time. I was transitioning from primarily being a box maker to furniture making and the reasons for this shift in direction were discussed in the interview.

I have recently compiled a series of 16 videos into an online class. The subject was a recent display cabinet. The design and build of the striking Krenov-inspired display cabinet seen above is discussed and demonstrated. The contemporary styled display cabinet features veneered sides and doors. The veneers selected are highly figured although they can be substituted with alternative veneers. The frame and panel back adheres to the Krenov principle of properly finishing the back of the cabinet. James Krenov is widely known for his classic cabinets on stand as well as the incredible attention to detail he brought to furniture making. He also brought a unique philosophy and vision to furniture making of which I heed and practice. A large part of this veneered display cabinet has been created using an assortment of hand tools although some machinery is used in the initial wood preparation stage. Follow me as I describe the steps involved in creating a masterpiece veneered cabinet on stand.

The following topics are covered in detail in this 16 part design and build class:

1. Inspiration and design of the display cabinet
2. An overview discussing components of the cabinet
3. Wood selection and resawing veneers used in cabinet
4. The advantages of using veneers over solid wood
5. Detailed information on creating and using resawn veneers
6. The process of applying veneers to the sides and doors
7. Implementing bake-ins to create panels with hardwood edges
8. Hardwood edging and the veneer press
9. The veneer press and joinery used in the cabinet
10. Card scrapers and the use of a shop-made drilling guide
11. Dowel drilling guide in-depth
12. The case construction process
13. Frame and panel construction of the back panel
14. Back panel detail and installation
15. Final case assembly of the display cabinet
16. Installation process of knife hinges for the doors

Each video segment addresses one aspect of the cabinet build. The design process as well as the methodology behind the build are addresses. This is not simply a class on how to build a cabinet on stand. The class will inform you of a similar design process that James Krenov used in his own work. Since I am an ardent follower of James Krenov, the practices I use in this cabinet build closely follow those of James Krenov. Discussions and demonstrations describe how the design of this display cabinet originated and the design considerations in its build. Information on wood selection and preparation as well as the joinery used in this cabinet is covered in detail. Tips and techniques acquired over several years of creating this style of cabinet are shared in this class. The process of creating and applying veneers is covered as well as information on the installation of knife hinges. More info in the Tutorials section.