Graceful Nakashima

There are w few woodworkers that are so revered as George Nakashima. He was a Japanese-American woodworker who use great slabs of wood in their most natural state to combine them with the foundation that creates a chair or a table or a desk. This is one of the rooms in his home. His trademark addition is a butterfly joint to stabilizes wood. While they are necessary to stop wood from cracking apart as it ages, they are also beautiful. His daughter continues his work at their Pennsylvania home. A more complete picture can be found at their website: http://www.nakashimawoodworker.com/ from which I borrowed the photos as an example to help educate those people who pass by the blog. What the Nakashima's imbue their work with the Zen-like lines that are calm and natural. We are blessed the such a talented woodworker lived among us. We are also indebted to his daughter, Mira who carries on in her father's tradition while moving forward into the 21st century.

Button, button, who's got the button?

Here are some of the first experiments with buttons Okay, tried some different approaches. The Lighter ones are holly and I like the texture the wide toothed bandsaw gave them. I like the large spalted Maple because they remind me of picture jasper a naturally occurring sedimentary rock. I like them. Now I'm off to design some button cards and holes in the buttons. Very excited to add them to the Etsy shop. Cool. Buttons are cool.

Branching Out

SO we've got some really interesting pieces of wood that are too small for the projects we work on. But there is still a lot of great wood out there. One of our trees a stately Maple was severely damaged during Hurricane Sandy and there are branches galore. We also have the annual pruning of the Apple trees: And some trimming of the Japanese Maples which give us this beautiful leaves in the fall. So we've been thinking about adding wooden buttons and glass coasters to the products we currently make. Stayed tuned for the updates as the new projects take shape. Saw dust awaits! Kristin

Mr. Krenov’s knives and planes adhered to the natural contours of the wood and the patterns of its grain. He loved curves, and was known for creating door panels with concave, billowing shapes, like sails in the wind. David Welter, the shop technician for the woodworking program, was Mr. Krenov’s credo “that the work had life in it.” “It wasn’t about showing off technique as much as about having a personality in the work,” Mr. Welter said in a telephone interview last week. “He worked with material rather than on material; it wasn’t a matter of conquering the wood. He had just a killer instinct for wood combination, the colors and textures, melding them to make works with an elegant simplicity.” http://jameskrenov.com/images/kremarbl_white.jpg http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-james-krenov-11905 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/us/20krenov.html?_r=0

Indonesia - Hi! How are ya!

Quick shout out to Indonesia for stopping by the blog.  Hope to see you again!

Cepat berteriak ke Indonesia untuk mampir blog. Harapan untuk melihat Anda lagi!

Drying time, Humidity and the Oven

Drying Fast and slow.

When applying finishes, you want a clean, smooth wood surface in order to get a glass like finish on the item ou are making.

Most finishes are evaporative - which means that they need to dry by something in them evaporating into the atmosphere.  Like wall paint.  Put it on wet, then water evaporates and it is then dry.

So there are factors that either slow or speed this process.  One of the is humidity if there more water in the air, the slower that the finish will dry. 

It's humid in the summer.  It's humid when it rains.  Cool and rainy is possibly the longest wait for the finish to dry. 

Waiting is not my personal forte.  AND, in waiting your finish is wet a lot longer.  Like when the furnace kicks on for the first time in the Fall and throws dust around.  Dust LOVES finishes.  It Looks for them.  Dust will get in your finish.  Cat hair, dog hair, feathers, and dust will get in your finish. 

So, in order to get the finish to evaporate you can put pieces in the oven.  And turn on the light.  The humidity is very low.  The light bulb raises the temp to about 90F.  Perfect.  No dust, warm and dry.  Perfect to let a piece set overnight.  I walk away. 

Now, once in an apartment I started the oven and successfully burned up the directions.  I look in the oven now before turning it on. EVERY time.   Always.

Until the afternoon Eric decided to pre-heat the oven.  And didn't look.  Shellac burned up pretty quickly.  The finishes had to be dragged off and redone from the beginning.  Finishing takes 4 days to accomplish on one piece.  4 days gone.  4 Days.  GONE.

NOW - we have a system.  See below:  Lol.

Best Supplier of Wood

Let's take a moment to consider our wood.  Yes, we do use wood from our own property.  We have used Apple and Maple and are waiting for the Willow to dry out.

One of our favorite wood suppliers is NC Wood.  We get a lot of spalted and ambrosia turning blanks from Gary at NC Woods.

Not only do they have exceptional wood but they have just about the best customer service around.

You can visit their ebay shop at http://stores.ebay.com/NCWood or their new website at http://www.ncwood.biz/Ambrosia-Maple_c7.htm?%20%20coupon=Ambrosia25.

So, if you looking for some great wood give them a visit. 

btw - I don't have a referral interest in recommending this great company.

Thanks for stopping by!  Leave a comment if you have any questions or just want to chat :)