Thanks to a generous donation from Landon Marx, one of our students, we’ve recently added a high quality video camera and a High Definition L.E.D. Screen to our teaching facility!

This new setup really makes teaching the fine details a breeze. Details are very important when working with hand tools, and now everyone in the class can see a clear, close up view of all the fine points that I am trying to communicate.

The idea of having a live, bench-mounted camera came from Roy Underhill. Our setup is pretty simple – I modified a camera tripod and attached it to a piece of wood so I can move it wherever I need to on the bench. An HD video camera is mounted on the tripod, and I used an HDMI cable to connect the camera to a large screen.  The screen is positioned where everyone in the class can see it easily. (The only disadvantage to this setup is that now any mistakes I make are also magnified 100 times!)

We’re excited about this new improvement, and we look forward to you coming back and taking more classes with us.

Thank you again, Landon!

Some of you may have been wondering what has happened, since I have not written in a while.  The truth be told, I tend to get so busy and wrapped up in other projects that my writing just gets pushed to the back burner. But it’s certainly not because there is nothing to write about, in fact there is a ton to write about!

We are actually right at the end of finishing up a prototype workbench class. It seems that a workbench class has been one of the most requested new classes so I finally said, “OK, let’s just do a class!”

Two great students joined me earlier this month to embark on building 3 benches in a 12 day class. Carl, Rob and I started with a huge pile of rough lumber and began milling wood and cutting mortise and tenons. We have had an absolute wonderful time working together and putting our heads together to resurrect an ancient tail vise which dates back to the 16^th century. Please stay tuned as I promise I will be writing more about this exquisite vise in the near future.

There was one clause in the workbench class contract: if my wife went into labor we would stop the class and resume at a later date. Well, our new son decided to arrive just a few days prior to the completion date of the class! Needless to say, we had to resume the class after Christmas.

Each of us constructed a bench using primarily hard maple throughout. I designed the benches with the traditional European bench in mind. We used a quick release vise on the front and our lovely wagon vise for the tail vise. The size is 31” wide and over 7 feet long. These benches, when finished, will be worthy to be used as any piece of fine furniture in the home and they are sure heavy to boot!  I will be sending some pictures of the guys with their finished benches in the near future.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Holiday and that the New Year is filled with many blessings. I look forward to all of you joining us for another year of great classes in 2012.

Happy New Year!

Frank Strazza

The Texas Furniture Makers’ Show is now open and will run through December 11th. You can visit their website here to find out directions and hours to the show. I have not seen the show as of yet, but I got a few pictures sent to me so we could get a sneak preview! I have posted some of those pictures below.

Many of you have asked if I was going to enter anything into the show. The answer is yes and no! I was asked to participate as a judge this year, so I will be going down this weekend, and with the help of a few others we will decide the winners. Needless to say I will not have a piece entered. On the other hand, there is a little place for the judges to show their work. I sent down my Texas Welcome Hall Table. Click the link to see a short video about the table.

The winners will be announced on Saturday evening, November 19th, at the awards ceremony. Be sure to check back to see who the winners are! The Heritage School of Woodworking is providing the apprentice award which is a wonderful package of handmade tools and a one day course at the school.

This weekend I am in Covington Kentucky, right next to Cincinnati Ohio, at a woodworking conference. Now this is not just another woodworking conference, this is truly amazing, drawing people from across the country and even overseas. The breadth of skill and knowledge here at the show is truly outstanding. There are two parts to the show. First there is a huge marketplace with vendors from all over the country and even from other countries. You have your standbys like Lee-Valley tools from Canada and Lie-Nielsen tools, but then you have small tool makers like Konrad Sauer who makes incredible planes, or Chris Vesper from way down in Australia. He makes some of the finest bevel gauges, A little more than my budget! There are sawmakers, planemakers and benchmakers. Jameel from Benchcrafted is selling his vises. One booth down we come to The Old Street Tool company with a visit with Larry Williams, the extremely knowledgeable planemaker from Arkansas. Or just several yards away another wooden planemaker, Matt Bickford, with his lovely planes and lots of molding that he has made by hand.

A visit to Lie-Nielsen’s booth will of course yield the opportunity to try your hand at any of their tools but also the opportunity to meet Thomas Lie-Nielsen. You will also find the 5^th generation rasp maker, Michel Auriou from Auriou Rasps all the way from France, hand stitching a rasp right there in front of you! A quick walk around and you can see Rob Cosman making shavings!! One of my favorite stops in the market place was using the 2 man rip saw for cutting veneers. It is just like the one in Andre Roubo’s plate from the 18^th century, where it shows two men cutting veneer from a log, well I got to cut some 1/8” veneer, it was a real workout! Then I went and visited with Don Weber who is an old school chair bodger from Wales.  He has been working wood for 50 years and he is a wealth of knowledge. He was telling us how he makes his own charcoal for his forge so he can then make his own chair making tools, truly a craftsman.

This is all downstairs at the market place. Upstairs is where there are about 8 classes going simultaneously. The first class I attended was with Steve Hamilton and Jeff Headly. These men are amazing craftsman and Jeff is a 4^th generation furniture maker. His brother Mack works as the master cabinetmaker at Colonial Williamsburg. The class was on building a Winchester desk from the late 18^th century, complete with a whole array of small drawers and many secret compartments. It was very, very inspirational!

Then I went and watched Roy Underhill as he talked about the rising dovetail.  What a blast that was! I went back and watched him cut and carve wooden screws, complete with a full history lesson on how and where the wooden screw evolved!

A quick jaunt around the corner and I saw Peter Follansbee showing how he works wood in the 17^th century, using riven green oak to produce furniture in the same style that was made over 300 years ago and that is still around!

If you ever have a chance to attend, it truly is worth every bit. I have enclosed several pictures that I took around the show, of course I took several videos but they would be too much to post! Today will be much the same but it will be over too fast! For more information on the conference here is the link. Woodworking in America