The Craftsman's Path #14: An evening with Kelly Mehler

If you have the opportunity, take a class from Kelly . I took a class – hand-cut dovetail blanket chest – from Kelly at Marc Adams School of Woodworking before he built his own school. Although I have not attended his school, it looks like a wonderful facility and I know the teacher is excellent!

-- Paul, Texas

Paul,

As evidenced by his lecture (and also his videos), I can certainly agree that Kelly is a good teacher. During the talk he showed some examples of student work at his school – the hand cut dovetail blanket chest was on of the projects. It looks like that would be a wonderful class to take with him. I’m sure during that class you gained some of Kelly’s insight on wood and grain matching to highlight the chest. It was most impressive to me that he took simple designs and made them outstanding through the use of the material.

Thanks for sharing your experience with him.

-- Mark, Webster New York, Visit my website at http://thecraftsmanspath.com

Kelly Mehler Class

Handcut Dovetail Blanket Chest

You might notice how the grain wraps around the chest. We tried to apply his insights to our projects.

-- Paul, Texas

Paul,

Beautiful work! You can definitely see some of Kelly’s influence in there.

-- Mark, Webster New York, Visit my website at http://thecraftsmanspath.com

I’ll have to make it back to read your blog – sounds interesting…I admire Kelly Mehler’s work…

Your’s too Mark!

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Dorje,

Thanks. Take a look at the blog post. Kelly is an interesting guy to talk with and listen to. His designs are fairly simple, but he makes up for that in material selection and use. There’s something in the saying “simple but elegant” that I definitely agree with.

-- Mark, Webster New York, Visit my website at http://thecraftsmanspath.com

Made it back and was good to read the blog – loved hearing that he buys all the boards from whole trees!

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Dorje,

Thanks! Please keep visiting. Kelly is a nice guy and certainly an accomplished woodworker. I think that it is a testament to his abilities that he can take designs with simple and create pieces that are exceptional without a lot of adornments.

-- Mark, Webster New York, Visit my website at http://thecraftsmanspath.com