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Woodworking in America at Valley Forge: 17th century carving for furniture makers, with Peter Follansbee

February 22, 2010 By Al Navas

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Duration: 26:14 minutes

From the session announcement:

Early American furniture was decorated with bold and lively carvings that are straightforward for the modern woodworker to reproduce. Find out how to prepare the material for this low-relief method and watch the tools being used to produce a simple for a chest. Close-up camera work will show all the details.

— Woodworking in America announcement
October, 2009

I first met Peter Follansbee at Valley Forge just minutes before he started his session. He was attentive and totally focused, although many people were already finding seats in the room; the room would be quite crowded before long. But he was relaxed, ready to get to the job at hand: Showing us how he carves panels in the style of 17th century craftsmen, and to share wonderful information on carvings and details of furniture of the period.

Peter was introduced by Steve Shanesy, Publisher, F&W Media, Inc., who called him a historian, teacher, one of the “wonderful people” who found a craft and has pursued it for well over twenty years. Peter works at Plimoth Plantation’s Living History Museum; he also makes and sells wonderful period pieces. I encourage you to visit his blog, where he documents much of the work he does.

Peter proceeded to give a wonderful slide show of very old furniture pieces and carvings, placing them in historical perspective, and in preparation for the techniques he would later demonstrate. Then he proceeded to demonstrate the carving techniques that result in wonderful panels, to be used in chests, stools, tables, cabinets, etc.

About the video: I hope I have given you a good sense of the terrific work Peter does in carving panels, and the joinery techniques he demonstrated for use in various period pieces. To see a wonderful carved pattern emerging from a flat piece of gorgeous, “true quarter-sawn” (riven) oak, is a wonderful thing. But to experience it in person is something else again.

Now I want to whet your appetite – this is a sample of Peter’s work, which I posted some time ago:

Details on carved box, by Peter Follansbee, Joiner.

Note: I will also be posting video of Peter’s hands-on session, which he conducted the day after I filmed this “formal” session.

Looking forward to October 2010, in Cincinnati: I also hope you will get a sense that the Woodworking in America conferences are a unique experience, where we have an opportunity to see fine craftsmen like Peter demonstrate their skill and knowledge. I hope to see you in Cincinnati!

I would love to hear from you about the following:

  1. Please let me know if you liked this video, and the techniques Peter shared with us during this session.
  2. Do YOU do any carving on furniture pieces you make? If you do, I would love to highlight it here!

— Al Navas

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Filed Under: Blog, Cabinetmaking, Conference, Education, Valley Forge, Video, Woodworking in America Tagged With: 17th century, carving, details, furniture, gouge, low-relief, method, Peter Follansbee

Woodworking in America at Valley Forge: The all-powerful joinery planes, with Adam Cherubini

January 11, 2010 By Al Navas

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Duration: 23:11 minutes

I had never met Adam Cherubini, until the Woodworking in America conference at Valley Forge (October 2-4, 2009). I regularly read his column, the Arts & Mysteries blog at Popular Woodworking magazine; as a result, I looked forward to his presentation at the conference. I was not disappointed; this was a learning experience for me, an experience I brought back to my own, hybrid, power-tool and (incipient) hand-tool shop.

To start the presentation, Cherubini sat in front of the audience and chatted with attendees for a while. His style is totally disarming, and erudite. When he grabbed the hand planes, he became an authority on period tools, and on the techniques. I don’t believe anyone present knew, or grasped, until he mentioned it, that a craftsman of the era typically dealt with as many as 65 hand planes! By last count, he had introduced approximately 20 at the end of his presentation.

I hope my editing skills do not betray the quality of Cherubini’s presentation. It was truly outstanding. It was fascinating to see a tongue and a groove (T&G) emerge from previously flat edges on boards – quite a difference from using my T&G router bits on the router table, and just as fast. As you watch the video, notice how sharp his vintage tool irons are; he even comments about this, from an experience at a session he attended in which some modern premium hand planes were used.

If you ever have a chance, plan to attend one of the conferences, and watch Adam Cherubini in action. I enjoyed it, and I know you will, too.

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— Al Navas

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Filed Under: Blog, Conference, Valley Forge, Video, Woodworking in America Tagged With: Adam Cherubini, Conference, hand tool, joinery planes, Valley Forge, Woodworking in America

More about an old drawer, and one request

January 10, 2010 By Al Navas

You will remember this old drawer I found in an old chest, in the Old Woodshed store in Intercourse, Pennsylvania:

In that earlier article I requested feedback, as I did not know what this joint is called. I received excellent feedback from several readers (I included links in the earlier article).  Today I received an e-mail from another Al, who read that article, and wrote:

Those pin & crescent half moon joints are actually called Knapp joints.  Charles Knapp of Waterloo Wisconsin patented the machine in 1867 and then sold it to a group of investors that formed a company called the Knapp Dovetail Company of Northampton Mass. The company sold machines to furniture manufacturers for a little over 20 years. The machines were widely used from about 1870 to 1900 until the first machine that cut more traditional looking dovetails came out. I’ve been looking for info on furniture built with Knapp joints because I have a gorgeous solid maple dresser that has them.  However a previous owner replaced all the pulls with really cheap Chippendale style reproductions … I’d like to get back to original looking pulls.  And, I’ve built a pair of nightstands that match the dresser (minus the Knapp Joints – I used traditional dovetails) and need pulls for my drawers.

I regret to say that I did not take any photos of the pulls. However, if you read this, and can provide a good source for the pulls, please let us know – Al needs pulls for his drawers. Thanks!

And my thanks to Al for writing with additional information!

.

— Al Navas

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Filed Under: Blog, Conference, Dovetails, Joinery, Valley Forge, Woodworking in America Tagged With: Dovetails, drawer, Joinery, reader