June Shop Notes

June brings another rarity to the shop.  As you know, most of my work is in cherry, to me the ultimate, nearly perfect wood: great color, very workable, good structural strength, well behaved, native, and since I buy from Kane Hardwoods, sustainably harvested.  My most recent commission called for teak.  At nearly six times the price of cherry, it is not a wood I work with very often.  It does have two major points in its favor: First it is extremely decay resistant, great for boats and outdoor furniture.  Second, although very heavy and dense, it is remarkably stable.

The project involved turning a European bed (63″ x 78″) into an American queen size (60″ x 80″), and raising the top of the mattress to 22″ high.   I salvaged the head and foot boards and rails, but had to make new side rails, posts, and a center support for slats and mattress.  When freshly milled, teak is a tobacco brown with shades of green.  In time it takes on a more reddish color.  In a few months, the parts should all look identical.                             C. H. Becksvoort © 2011

June Doings

Summer in Maine is always busy: great weather, long days, short growing season, friends and family visits, and chores we’ve been putting off during the winter.  In addition, for me at least, it’s also a time for teaching and volunteering.  I run a few Saturday workshops at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker village: dovetail construction, drawers and a bench.  This past week I was at the Carpenters Boat Shop in Pemaquid.  It’s one of my favorite places to teach: a huge, well equipped post and beam boatshop, great food and wonderful people.  But it’s not all work all the time.  Relaxation is also a big part of summer. After classes we go sailing on Muscongus Bay.  The Boat Shop keeps several vessels in Round Harbor.  We had several afternoons of glorious sailing.  The breeze was good, the scenery spectacular, and the conversation and camaraderie both stimulating and enjoyable.  Add a few dolphins, ospreys, and a loon, and the time spent on the water was one of those unforgettable Maine experiences.             C. H. Becksvoort © 2011

May Shop Notes

With all the outdoor chores come spring, time in the shop is even more precious. This year, I’m already three days behind.  My current project is a 7-drawer chest.  Nothing unusual about that, except this is my northern most piece.  In mid June it will be shipped to Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada.  For the geographically challenged, Inuvik is located on the Mackenzie River just below the Arctic Ocean, where the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Alaska almost meet. (Map National Geographic © 1975)

The drawer parts are cut, sized, grooved and the sides have the tails sawn and chiseled, ready for the pins on the drawer fronts and backs. When completed, the entire face gets sanded and polished.  The drawer bottoms are glued up and 12 knobs need to be turned.  Then the top gets edged, sanded and applied.  One more week and it will be ready for the finish.  Then the chest is crated and sent on its way, about 2,800 air miles, or 4,660. miles by road.  A bit too far for me to deliver… but what a trip.          C. H. Becksvoort © 2011

Maine May

Here in southern Maine, May is in full swing.  On our road, the last detectable snow disappeared May 4.  Every season has its pluses and minuses, its pros and cons.  May is the time for peepers and black flies, flowers and lawn mowing, tree swallows and ticks.  Overall, the pluses far outweigh the minuses: the intense color of the fresh grass, the forsythias, PJMs and daffodils. A few years back I planted four wild trout lilies (also known as dogtooth violets).  They seem to like the location and have spread into a patch over 50 feet long, and about 20 feet wide, a virtual carpet of mottled leaves and small, yellow flowers.

I’ve already had to cut the lawn.  After a very wet April, it greened up in two weeks , from a brown mat, to a lush green, compete with dandelions.  The first mowing is kind of fun:  I get to walk in areas of the yard that I haven’t been to all winter.  However, from now until October, it is a weekly chore.  With roughly  1  1/2 acres to cut,  using a walk behind mower, I put in about 5 extra miles of walking.

I spend a lot of time walking.  It’s good, low impact exercise.  Spirit insists on two walks a day, and since last fall, I’ve been averaging 8 miles a day.

 Now, two weeks later, spring is at its best.  Lilacs, quince and apples are in full bloom.  For this part of New England, it is a long spring, almost 4 weeks.  The last two have been rainy, drizzly, and cool, extending the blossoms.  The smell of apple and lilac blossoms, combined with damp earth and rain, is almost intoxicating.  So far, the warm weather has held off.

May is also “volunteer” month for me.  As a member of the Friends of the Shakers, we have our annual Spring Work Day, to help the Sabbathday Lake community get ready for the opening on Memorial Day.  We put in screens, mow, paint, repair picnic tables, weed, and cut brush.  It’s also sheep shearing time.                                                                                                              C. H. Becksvoort © 2011

Shortly thereafter, a few members of the Maine Woodworkers Association head up to Haystack Mountain School of Crafts for a few days of work.  We are responsible for getting the woodshop ready for another summer of classes.  This year, 8 of us sharpened over 100 chisels, gouges, and turning tools.  We made two beds for a new building, shelves, stools, and performed basic maintenance on the machines. Haystack is one of Maine’s treasures. Located on the edge of Deer Isle, it sits on pink granite, surrounded by dark fir trees draped in lichens.  Angular gray shingled buildings connected by wooden walkways, talented people, amazing food, and the artistic atmosphere, make this one of my favorite places.

April Shop Notes

April has been busy so far.  I finished one large dining table, 46″ x 90″, four boards wide. All four boards were from the same tree.  Really nice looking.  Since the top was large and a full inch thick, I beefed up the base, using 2 1/8″ legs, 1″ thick rails.  Two hefty side-to-side cauls screwed under the top  with my expansion washers keep the top flat, and are screwed  to the inside each of the end rails.

I have two more tables to go: long, thin hall table and a round coffee table.

By far the most interesting project was a set of  Jack-in-the-pulpit lights. The client wanted them wall mounted instead of hanging from the ceiling; with no metal showing.  I decided on a dovetail key and slot, cherry to match.  First I cut  strips and dovetailed them with a 1/2″ router bit.  Then I traced the rough outline of the curved back onto the side of the strip and cut it on the band saw.  To clean the cut and get a perfect fit, I stuck a piece of PSA sandpaper onto the back, sanded the strip back and forth until it fit, then removed the sandpaper and glued the dovetailed strip in place.  The key was cut with the same bit, fit properly, cut to length and screwed to the wall.  Since hollow wall anchors were used, I ovalized the screw holes to allow for side-to-side adjustment to be sure that the lights were perfectly plumb.                                 C. H. Becksvoort © 2011

Spring’s On The Way

We’ve had a few more storms recently, including our April fools surprise, which dumped 10″ of heavy, wet snow, and left us without power for over 25 hours.  Somehow we survived that too, knowing that it wouldn’t be long before the snow retreats and spring arrives in earnest.

What a difference a few weeks can make. It was 14°F (-10°C) in late March, and now the snow is receding, the sun is higher, the days are getting longer and the snowdrops and crocuses are finally appearing.  The birds are returning, too.  First the red-winged blackbirds, and woodcock, then flocks of robins, even though a few hardy souls stayed the winter.  Today was the first sighting of a broad-winged hawk, and the Canada geese have been honking their way north.

The snow is slowly disappearing in the woods.  Spirit and I are now able to navigate with a minimum of difficulty.  There are still vast patches 12″ to 18″ deep in the shady areas under the white pines, but in sunny areas, the ground is clear, albeit spongy.  It’s a real pleasure to get off the road and back into the woods. One of my favorite aspects of returning warm weather is the reappearance of smells:  leaf mold, white pine and damp earth.  Those odors are locked tight below freezing, and it’s a real joy to take a deep breath and inhale spring.                     C. H. Becksvoort © 2011

March Shop Notes

March is almost over.  Weather-wise and shop-wise it’s been busy.  I was convinced to do a built-in, something I don’t usually do.  My preference is building free standing pieces.  I know the pitfalls of built-ins: crooked walls, sagging floors, cramped space, working on your knees without shop tools, and the endless trips between the shop and the job site.  This project had one additional challenge: no routers, sanders or skill saws.  It was a “clean” job site in a bedroom with carpeting.  No dust allowed.  The narrow stairway precluded any attempt at moving large pre-made sections to the site. First, one wall had to be shimmed.  Then a template had to be made of the roof to knee wall angle.  Next, plywood partitions, floor and shelves were cut, taken to the job site and installed.  The face frame consisted of 11 pieces, all of which had to be carefully marked, disassembled, and joined in the shop.  It too, was too big for the stairs and had to be assembled on site. Finally, the 10 doors and 5 drawers were made, and fitted, again requiring numerous trips.  The fine fitting and tuning was done with a block plane and the doors were hung with no-mortise hinges.  Lastly, the entire piece and all the components were given a couple of coats of Tried & True Varnish Oil.                                                                                       C. H. Becksvoort © 2011

Long Winter…

It’s been quite the winter here in Maine.  The snowbanks on either side of the driveway are over 5 feet high.  As I sit here and write, I can’t look out .  The snow that slid off the roof is up to mid-window. Snowshoeing has been great. Spirit, our husky loves it.  Twice a day I take her out for a walks, usually 2-3 miles at a time.  The rest of the day she sits on a 7 foot pile of snow, just to keep an eye on things.  On cold and windy days she comes into the shop and relaxes in the shavings, begs for treats and then wants back out.

It’s now the first of March, but not a hint of spring.  We still have to shovel paths to the wood shed, the garden shed and a canyon between the house and shop so the propane  man and the meter reader can get through.  Twice this year I’ve been on the roof to shovel off excess weight.   Looking forward to a little melting.  I know there are snowdrops and early daffodils under there somewhere.  Mud season doesn’t sound so bad right now.                                      C. H. Becksvoort © 2011

February Shop Notes

The 15-drawer chest has had a few different layouts.  The overall size remains the same, but I’ve made one with a door, one to house CDs, and this is the newest custom version, featuring eight small  and four large  drawers.  At 50″ tall, 14″ deep and 15″ wide, it’s rather small, but still very functional, making it a favorite among my clients.  Based very loosely on a similar sized Shaker cabinet,  it continues to offer a wide variety of options for use in the office, bedroom, bath, living room or hallway.

Next on my shop agenda, is a quick but sturdy workbench for the shop at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village.
C. H. Becksvoort © 2011