frank

I just checked out the web link by your name, and I absolutely love that maple table top. I made a cherry/maple table for my son and used the cherry as a frame and there was a huge part of bark showing and I just couldn’t bring myself to remove it so I put it in the front just to show it off. I love the center of your maple with the hole all the way through it. Were it mine, I think i’d just oil it and put a piece of glass on top of it so you wouldn’t have people trying to stuff things in it. Beautifully crafted by nature. If theres a way to send you pictures I’d like to send you a copy of the table top. It was my first attempt at using two different woods, and it could have been done better, but for my first table it wasn’t real bad.

-- http://ye-olde-cabinet-shoppe.com/

Hi Obi,
Glad to hear from you as I am always liking to hear feedback and good to see you stopped by the weblog. Feedback is the fuel that feeds the fire of sorts and can even help to hold my imagination in check so as to not run too far afield.

I liked what you said here,.... “a huge part of bark showing and I just couldn’t bring myself to remove it so I put it in the front just to show it off.” Yes this is the idea I have myself when it comes to rustic furniture, I decided sometime ago that there are parts of the wood; checks, cracks and twists that are just too beautiful to try and hide so I will bring these to the forefront of the piece, as a form of highlighting the wood. Highlighting these areas are the revealing of the true character of the wood and bring forth the beauty of nature as found in rustic furniture.

I love working with maple and have one other ( maybe more not sure) piece, like this one still sitting around and waiting. This piece of maple wood is about six years old, while the lilac legs are somewhere along at four years now. Hoping to have this piece completed by Apiril for a show and am excited as I have already had one person express a desire to see this work when completed.

As to sending me some pictures, I would be delighted to see that ‘table top’. If you can send the pictures by email then send away at: rusticwoodman@gmail.com or email me again at same and I will give you my address.

...and once again, thanks for your comment!!!
GODSPEED,
Frank

rusticwoodman@gmail.com
www.frank.wordpres.com

-- --frank, NH, http://frank.wordpress.com/

Great Blog: keep warm and keep typing.

thanks for your words,
Mark

-- Mark DeCou - American Contemporary Craft Artisan - www.decoustudio.com

Frank, i’ve got you as a buddy and have never visited your profile. So I thought I would check it out and you. You’re quite a man, a mans man. Living how I’d love to be living, in the forest surrounded by nature. In my younger days I used to explore Ontario quite a bit and have seen moose in the wild and bear. Have lived out where coyotes would sneak in to our garbage pit at night and fight for scraps and make such a racket it would wake us up. Canoed pristine lakes and streams that were so pure you could quench your thirst in them. I’ve seen bald eagles sitting on nest high in an old dead scotch pine. Walked through woodlands maybe never walked through by a white man. Sat for hours deer hunting until I became so much a part of nature my head started to clear itself and I realized the true meaning of spirituality, and I was in the finest church ever built. And I respected that so very much, I will never, ever forget it.
You truely are the richest man in the world. God Bless, Mike Wurm

-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com

Yes

-- Ron, Twain Harte, Ca. Portable on site Sawmill Service http://westcoastlands.net/Sawmill.html http://westcoastlands.net/SawBucks2/phpBB3 http://www.portablesawmill.biz/concrete/

Frank, did you hide your Profile page? First time I’ve seen it as well. Guess Mike and I are slow. Anyway, welcome…..I think? Have a great week this week and every week thereafter.

-- Carpe Lignum - Seize The Wood,

....hello to everyone making the comments herein;

—-....thanks Mark, for your words and encouraging attitude of character….

—-Mike; just noticed you had commented here….thanks! Yes, I’m still canoing some, although the wife and I have now taken up kayaking. Looking forward we are, to exploring some of the Northern canoe trail this summer, which starts in upper NY….through VT….through NH….through ME up to the northeastern section of ME and Canada. No we want do the whole trip this year, but will start in the NY area….at least thats the plan and plans can change. As far as church being a place I go to in a building….well, I never was meant to sit in a building and listen to some other one tell me what their idea of God is all about. Thats why you’ll find me outside….and as you stated, “finest church ever built”....! We all are rich and all you or I ever have to do is recognize that ‘richness’ that dwells within us. Thanks for stopping by Mike….

—-Hi Ron; can I second that….yes, yes!

Hi PanamaJack; ....hide my profile page?
....not I,....ha! Whats there to hide anyways, I’m usually on the front page here just about every morning with a blog story. In truth though, this site is quite large and growing every day which is a very good thing….a lot bigger from when I first came here, so that probably speaks well of why you never found my profile page before now. Ha!....and then we could just say, ‘pro-filing’ at ‘pro-filling’ up my ‘profile’ page….you just have to love those word plays. at least I do.

....and so, thanks to all who come and sit awhile for all your comments or lack of comments, and may your days be filled with all that ‘just is’ as being ‘very good’!
GODSPEED,
Frank

-- --frank, NH, http://frank.wordpress.com/

Frank,

You asked about the cedar bench I have posted on my website. I’m assuming you’re talking about the one on the ABC’s Extreme Homemaker page. That’s actually aromatic cedar that turned nonaromatic once the show’s designer wanted tung oil put on it. It really made the colors pop out but ruined the wonderful smell.

As far as my finish of choice….that would be General Finishes Arm-R-Seal. I’ve used it now for about 10 years and just love it. It’s a wipe-on but I’ve been spraying lately with terrific results. I’ve tried other finishes but I keep coming back the Arm-R-Seal.

-- What goes around, comes around.

Frank! first I have only begun to read thru your library of blogs, but I would like to commend you. As people become more exposed to eastern crafts I think the old cultural bias will fade. For me this is one of the promises that the internet first held, so much knowledge as well as lessons learned over the course of generations. I will continue to read your blogs, although it will take me some time to digest it all.
Thank you for taking the time to share your insight,
harold

-- If knowledge is not shared, it is forgotten.

Hello Harold;
I noticed that you stopped by and took some time to post some warm and kindred spirit words.

....and what you call my ‘library of blogs’ is indeed only words and thoughts from over the past year here at LJ, One should see my library of journals that surround me from my past, some never seeing the light of day since I carved words on their skins of paper, with pencil and pen….words….words and more words, but these are my daily medicines of my soul….and still I write.

I notice you mention and are a follower of the ‘eastern thought’ on woodworking. I myself was first trained in western thought, pertaining to wood and how to work the wood. Thought I knew just about everything there was to know….and then even if I didn’t, well that that I lacked could be fixed by going out and getting an-other power tool//power machine. Learning to work the wood by hand was not on my agenda….and so the years rolled on by as I became a hacker of wood, working the money tables for gain-full enterprise.

My crisis as I like to call it, in woodworking came about when one day I read a statement by Ted Benson; where he stated “that Japanese carpentry has highly evolved and that they, (Japanese woodworkers, temple builders) have developed over four-hundred wood joints.” Haha, and I thought the dovetail was some-thing as I worked it by jig….LOL. I could not shake those words out of my mind, and so I started reading and meditating on the ways of eastern thought. I should pause and reflect here that there is the line of thought also that states the Japanese learned their craft from the Chinese and Koreans, so now we go back….receding in time some more.

Western thought and eastern thought, timber framing and post and beam vs traditional home//barn building and furniture making. All my power tools soon started taking a back seat, (and yes I still have those power tools and machines, plus I still use and buy more of them) but they don’t give me joy any-more….as now my joy comes from working the wood by hand.

Over ‘four hundred wood joints’, some lost in time, as the eastern way became fiercely competitive and guarded within the individual families….still there is hope. And yes, you have stated correctly, ”As people become more exposed to eastern crafts I think the old cultural bias will fade. For me this is one of the promises that the internet first held, so much knowledge as well as lessons learned over the course of generations.” This is what I see as a major shift that is taking place in the field of woodworking, the learning again of the old ways with wood joinery, which in turn brings with it the satisfaction of being able to look at a piece of furniture and say….I did that by hand!

I will add that one of the major stumbling blocks in woodworking is the ego, and with all those wood joints concerning what eastern thought has given us, there remains not much to be seen by the eye of the beholder. Much of what makes up those joints in detail is soon buried within the wood, once the joint is put to-gather and so where is the praise for what can not be seen. Also there is the time factor, which is increased when working by hand vs machine, which often means….how many mouths must I feed. And then also, how do I do a 4-5 minute video on making a hand cut wood joint….duh, but again there is a satisfaction that I never knew.

So much to talk about here, and so many words….and then this could also be a blog story for the rest of my appointed time on earth before I cross over. I do hope I have not lost you or bored you with these words….and yes I also spent a little time at your website before writing this reply….where I saw that you in-deed do like making beaut-i-full ‘wood art’, and so I likewise say,

Thank you.
GODSPEED,
Frank

-- --frank, NH, http://frank.wordpress.com/

hello Frank
thanks for the comment on the box ive enjoyed reading your blogs as well as your work
pleased that you took the time to say hello, having a love of the woods the wood and the hand tools
your praching to the chior so the say…...
honored

-- "when you think youre going to slow, slow down just a little bit more" .... Pop's

Hey Frank, wow, love your style. Remind me of my best buddy. He is a vagabond and one of the best carpenters I’ve ever seen. Tree houses , decks, furniture, you name it, and he’ll scrounge up the wood for you if you can’t afford it. Anyway, you have a great eye for seeing the world, a very appreciative way to live. Finding the natural beauty of things. My favorite saying is ” It’s not what you see, It’s how you see it”.

-- mtnwild (Jack), It's not what you see, it's how you see it.

Hi Frank some lovely work here. Just wondering how did you get on with the thread on Japanese woodwork. I know its a while ago but I am undertaking a project soon on Japanese techniques and I could use some help.
Appreciating any help you might have.
B

-- shavins

Peace Frank

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

Frank:
Congratulations on being a Lumber Jock for 3 years. Thanks for helping make LJ a great place to visit. I enjoy checking out your Blogs.

-- Gary, South Central Wisconsin. So much to learn, so little time!

Congratulations on your Anniversary. Hope you have many more on LumberJocks. We appreciate your posts and projects

-- Jerry--A man can never have enough tools or clamps

Gary and Jerry;
I still remember LJ when I first came here, much has changed if one can remember how small we were back then. Whenever I go back over some of my earlier blogs, ....the many who used to comment and be around, and those who have now moved on, but that’s how I’ve found it to be on the many different forums in cyberspace. Then there are those of us who are still active here and the many new….and then there are those who were silent and lurking at one point, who decided to one day stop being silent, sign up and join in, while we are still many ‘opinions of breeds’ who love woodworking. All in all…., a great bunch of men and women!

LJ was small back then, and has grown to bigger now….the content, well seeing all things as good it was good then and good now….as long as one never looses their ‘focus’.

Now ‘focus’....there’s a word to chew on, and that ‘focus’ for my-self has all-ways been on working the wood. so much so that I can go on and say; ”....work smart, work safe, and live, to work the wood....”

As for the ‘many more’ here, well time all-ways plays host to the moment of now and in that phrase is summed up a life-time of writing word plays….much as the wood still plays me. I do have many more word stories to tell about wood, so stick around and read.

Thank you.
GODSPEED,
Frank

-- --frank, NH, http://frank.wordpress.com/