Lately I’ve been contemplating the concept of “scale” in great part because I am now incorporating the making of smallish things for smallish people (for 2, soon to be 3 grandsons) into my shop time, building my huge tool cabinet, and touring the largest timber frame structure in the world.
When we visited Li’l T and his family for Thanksgiving I had in-hand a small step stool I’d made specifically for him. I made nearly identical versions for his mom and her sister when they were little girls, and these little step stools not only served them well at the time but are still in regular service 35 years later. I expect the same results for Li’l T’s step stool and the one I make for his brother MightyM next year and his new cousin in a couple years after that. This one was made to fit exactly inside a 12″ x 12″ x 12″ cardboard shipping box in case I had to ship it to him.
On our way home from Thanksgiving we made a couple of memorable stops in Kentucky, again emphasizing scale. First stop was Mammoth Cave, of which we got to see about 1%, but what we saw was still monumental. Then on to The Ark Encounter outside of Cincinnati, where an interpretation of Noah’s Ark was presented at full scale. “Big” does not begin to describe the structure, and if you have any interest in monumental timber framing it is worth the visit.
It is over 500 feet from end to end, and although it has a modern steel frame skeleton the interior structures are built almost entirely of timbers including whole tree trunks. I believe they employed Amish barn framers for the work. I spent hours just looking at the structure itself.
Back home I have resumed work on the parquetry for the tool cabinet, probably the largest piece of furniture I will ever make. Ironically the presentation surface will be a parquetry surface assembled by combining hundreds of small triangles approximately 1″ x 2″ into scores of parallelograms roughly 2″ x 4″, further enhanced in the final composition with hundreds of mother-of-pearl dots and ivory diamonds. There will be much blogging about this as the project resumes more fully.
This is a pattern for a half-scale version, I decided this was too small.
In addition I am delving once again into the world of Gragg, where I am still working out the details of a 3/4-scale elastic chair for Li’l T’s upcoming birthday (hope I get it made in time). Again, at least two additional iterations will be manifest in the coming couple of years.
One of the issues with “scale” is the question, “Can something be scaled-up (enlarged) or scaled-down (miniaturized) and still be successful?”
I think I am about to find out.
PS – Warmer and sunny with an inch of rain tomorrow, so the snow should be all gone.
I’ve been a Norman Carver fan-boy ever since the Fine Homebuilding profile of him decades ago. This video reminds me to dig out that back issue and reread it for inspiration. At the time I also bought the Carver book on Japanese folk houses. My fascination with Japanese carpentry and design almost got me in trouble at work when I did an online search for “Minka” vernacular architecture. (“Minka” architecture is characterized by massive steep thatched roofs on Japanese farmhouses. Minka is also the stage name of a, uh, “model.” I still remember the heat on my face when a gallery of her “performances” popped up on my screen.)
A colleague of mine at SI knew a lot about Carver and his houses, and if I recall correctly had some relatives who owned a Carver house. I should probably plan a trip to Kalamazoo some time to see any that are open to the public.
This is a bit of an explanation as to why the blog has gone dark for three weeks or so.
Three and a half weeks ago the weather forecasters shocked the snot out of us by getting the “what, when, and how much” guesses right on the mark. I mean dead in the bulls-eye. We got the “eight to fourteen inches of snow” exactly when they predicted.
The next morning I fired up my monster snow blower and got to work. I was thinking it would take me two or three hours to get the driveway and parking spaces cleared. At the end of my first trip to the cattle gate at the entrance to the driveway down by the road, the blower snapped both of its auger/blower drive belts. Okay, I’ll just go into town and get a couple more.
Mrs. Barn and I did just enough shoveling to get my truck off the property and into town. Unfortunately, my experience was replicated many times in the county as this was the first time in four years we needed to get out our snow blowers, and a lot of them broke their belts on the same day. As a result there were none in town. Anywhere.
Okay, I’ll find some close by on the interwebz so it can be here the next day or two. Alas, my phenomenon was apparently replicated thousands of times across the mid-Atlantic and none were close by. Eventually I found a place in Milwaukee that had them “in stock.” It’s been three weeks and they have yet to arrive.
Meanwhile, we spent dozens of hours shoveling the driveway and parking area by had so that life could proceed with little further disruption.
This was not the worst snowfall we’ve seen since buying here 25 years ago. I remember planning to come for a long weekend in maybe 2009(?) or thereabouts to work on the barn, and when I checked with my pal Tony he told me not to bother. “The snow is as deep as the top of the cattle gate. You aren’t getting in.” Two weeks later I got in, no problem.
You see, our normal weather pattern is for a storm front to come through and dump some snow, followed by a couple very cold days, followed by a couple weeks of mild (above freezing in the daytime) weather.
Not so this year. Yes, we had a storm front with the snow, exactly how much is unknown because the howling winds moved it a bunch even after it fell. Yes, I saw and shoveled snow that was 8-inches deep. But, I also saw and shoveled snow that was more than a foot deep.
Patiently we waited for the mild weather to return and take care of the snow cover on the driveways.
It never came. It still hasn’t
Once we started getting the long range forecasts for last week and this week I knew we were in trouble. If it got as cold as predicted we would be using a week’s worth of firewood every day. Every day.
Fortunately I had about half of next winter’s firewood already cut, split and stacked. Unfortunately, it was up next to the barn. This meant I had to get a truck up to the barn to retrieve it. And for that to happen, the whole driveway to the barn and much of the parking area next to the barn had to be shoveled by hand so we could replenish our firewood inventory at the cabin.
So I did. Shovel the complete driveway. This meant that from beginning to end I/we shoveled almost a quarter mile of driveway. By hand. Much of it twice as there were several subsequent weather fronts coming through dropping more snow. Sunday’s yield was 5-6 inches, fortunately light fluffy snow so the shoveling was easy and (comparatively) fast. Still, I would guess that in the ten days between two weeks ago and yesterday I estimate 50 hours with my hands on the shovel. I make a point of going slow and steady. Almost every night I was almost asleep by the time supper was over.
This is by far the most and longest-lasting snow cover we have had in our years here. This coming weekend we will have a few days at or above freezing, with sunshine, and that should cure all the ills. It follows two really cold weeks, including this REALLY cold week with five consecutive nights near or below zero at night. This morning was -10 when I checked at 8AM. We haven’t used a week’s worth of wood per day, but still it’s been a lot. Around a dozen arm loads per 24 hours rather than the normal half dozen.
All that Light has been why the blog has been dark.
Although there are several in the pipeline, I do not have any active workbench projects in the barn at the moment. I am delighted to feature other folks’ work, though, and here is a video from Bob Rozaieski on his new magnificent workbench.
I don’t think Bob and I have met but I plan to rectify that shortcoming the next time I pass near by his shop, which does happen on occasion as we head up and down the highways. We correspond with some regularity but thus far no in-person fellowship.
I’m never sure how yootoob executes searches, as I frequently have something pop into my Recommendations that I had unsuccessfully searched for many moons ago. Much to my delight this is one such example that showed up last week.
As I have already indicated I could listen to Delphine Galou sing the phone book. I am no fan of operatic music but somehow this oratorio by Vivaldi is captivating. I am such a fan of hers that were she to tour the US I would make every effort to attend a concert. Even if it meant going to NYC, especially if Congress manages to pass CCW reciprocity.
Mrs. Galou is firmly ensconced in my current pantheon of female vocalists along with Jennifer Warnes and Eva Cassidy, with Alison Krauss, Gloria Lynne and Deborah Holland in the bullpen. Full confession — I just don’t get Billie Holliday.
Against the glory of Mrs. Galou’s singing is the ridiculous visual of the chamber music ensemble wearing face diapers in keeping with the edicts of the Fauci Flu fraud purveyors and their gullible myrmidons. Was the Fauci Flu a real thing? Of course, I spent nearly two weeks in the hospital with it. I know folks two degrees of separation who died from it, usually in forced isolation as they died. Was Fauci Flu something “special” epidemiologically? Other than its sponsorship and source, not particularly. Periodic lethal respiratory flus sweep the nation with only slightly less mortality.
I have a good friend who was a BCN specialist in the military. That’s Biological, Chemical, and Nuclear weapons. His expertise indicates that the only protection against viruses the size of Fauci Flu would require a full, sealed hazmat suit with independent air source. Face diapers are futile, as the unfolding medical literature is confirming. (Mrs. Barn is a trained scientist and reads the stuff)
Thus, the sight of this instrumental ensemble performatively wearing completely ineffective “protection” is more sanctimonious virtue signaling than anything else. I wonder when or if we will look back at such posturing with the ridicule it demands, or if any of the perpetrators will ever receive justice..
Ironically, one of the guys who got this exactly correct, and was systematically silenced and defamed by the “smart people,” will soon become the most powerful person in the US medical establishment. Karma, baby. Karma.
If my comments about the Fauci Flu disturb you, I will give your concerns all the gracious consideration is appropriate.
Okay, I’m done with those considerations.
And if you are not enamored with the voice of Delphine Galou? You just might be a barbarian.
One of the great things about possessing and occupying the barn is that I have 7,000 square feet of space. And occupy it I do. Lots of storage, lots of work space(s). As a matter of fact, I have more than a dozen work stations allowing me to set up multiple projects, moving from one to the other as needed. Or more truthfully, moving from a cluttered one to a less cluttered one.
Thus the down side to occupying the barn. It needs more regular cleaning than I am inclined to do.
I have two dear friends, MikeM and MartinO, whose shops are so neat and orderly at all times they are what critics of shop videos would say, “It looks like no one ever works there, they are too clean.” I can attest that Mike and Martin are indeed so orderly their shops do look that way. Whether it is by necessity or temperament, the shops reflect the orderliness of the men themselves. Everything is in its place, put away immediately after use. Everything is kept clean, all the time, beginning with the moment a task is completed.
I will resist the churlish temptation to brand this as some sort of psychosis (smile). Alas, I do not possess the traits these two neatniks have as my operating system.
For the past few months I have been paying the price for my own poor housekeeping habits, working my way back into regular shop time by cleaning the place, one work station at a time. The end in in sight but I know well enough the trial of messiness will return soon enough.
Here’s a partial montage of my work stations. I apologize in advance for the photography; trying to get good images when the space is ambient light and blinding snow reflection is blasting through the windows.
On the east wall, directly underneath a double row of windows is my FORP monster workbench, 8-1/2 feeet long and probably close to 500 pounds. This bench gets used almost every day, currently is is the working platform for assembling my parquetry units for the big tool cabinet I’m making. Underneath the bench is a cabinet full of marquetry/parquetry tools and supplies, and my stash of adhesives. They are located here to be near the wall propane furnace.
Turn around from Roubo and you’ll find my third child. If I was a Viking I would have this one buried with my in the mound. This bench, with one of my Emmerts on board, is my most used piece in the whole shop. I’m currently using it tp layout the doors of the parquetry tool cabinet.
One step behind and parallel to this bench is an early Roubo, not really successful but good enough to use as my metalworking and tool repair bench. It has an Emmert machinists vise on it, and many jigs underneath.
Midway along the north wall is another Roubo bench, now my primary finishing station. Underneath are cabinets full of brushes, pigments, and tube paints, etc.
Turn around from my finishing bench and you will find the Studleyesque bench I built for the exhibit now almost a decade ago. It is perfectly usable as a general bench, but I mostly use it for my sellable inventory underneath, and packaging orders to ship out.
Down in the northwest corner of my shop is my “fine work” bench, a salvaged and renovated Sjoberg I use for all manner of small scale work. Gunsmithing, engraving, checkering, silicone mold making, chasing, etc.
Literally adjacent to the Sjoberg bench is my writing station. You might not think writing is work, but I promise you it is. The chair frame was made by my Roubo translation collaborator Philippe Lafargue. I use a turned over seat deck from a long gone project as my lap desk.
In the corner opposite my engraving station is my waxworks, encompassing all manner of wax processing. It’s on top of a large map case unit full of veneers, mother of pearl pieces, and other exotic material. Keeping the waxwork tidy is an unwinnable proposition, I just try to keep it usable with minimal fuss.
And this is just some of the stuff inside my 15′ x 35′ heated shop.
Stepping outside the heated shop is the “great room” in the center of the floor. In the center of that is this Nichiols that I use whenever I am traveling to demonstrate traditional hand tool work. It gets used here too, currently for making a Japanese planing beam and the base frame for the parqutery tool cabinet.
The north side of the great room is just tool and supply storage, but along the south edge is the space for my lathe, chop saw, and a vintage machinist lathe I bought at Donnely’s and then it was restored by my long time friend Jersey Jon.
At the east end of the room, in front of the wall o’windows, are two rolling benches with a variety of power machines, and next to them is my drill press.
On the opposite side of the floor from my shop is a space I originally designated as a classroom. It contains several work stations for students, but now serves as an intermediate space for things in process of being “put away.”
Then on the fourth floor is my Gragg chair workshop.
At one end of the 40 x 24 space is my Roubo workbench, steam box and many bending and assembly jigs.
I also have a couple of large assembly tables that can be situated as the need arises.
So there is a truncated account of all the work stations I need to clean.
I’ve never been a “New Year’s Resolution” sorta guy; either I do something or I do not. That’s not to say I don’t articulate goals, which is itself a fluid undertaking. The primary manifestation of this is a large “DO, MAKE, BUY” whiteboard always on display in the shop. This gets updated by erasing items once completed or new ones added when they pop into my fertile brain. Remember, manure is fertile, too. There is no hierarchical organization to the contents, things just go where there is space.
As of January 1, 2025 this is my set of reminders.
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