| Blog series by Mark Mazzo consisting of 41 parts so far |
Part 1: An introduction
Since I already blog at my own domain I did not want to duplicate all of that content here at LumberJocks each time that I made a post. So, I asked Martin if it was appropriate for me to have blog entries here at LumberJocks that link to my own blog. The answer was a resounding yes – in fact it was encouraged! So, Beginning with this post I will have some short into text and a link to entries on my blog. If you are using an RSS reader you can still subscribe to the posts if you...
Part 2: Woodworking choices: hand or power?
This post is a pragmatic look at the choices between hand a power tool woodworking. Click here for the post. Thanks for reading!
Part 3: Furniture design starts with a sketch
This post talks about the basic process I go through for every furniture design project. Click here for the post. Thanks for reading!
Part 4: It's woodworking season!
Tis the season for sawdust! Click here for the post. Thanks for reading!
Part 5: Workshop cleanup and in praise of the workbench
Weekend activities and some praise for the unsung shop workhorse. Click here for the post. Thanks for reading!
Part 6: Improving your drawing skills for design
I’ve posted a new entry on my blog regarding ways to improve your drawing skills in order to help with developing new furniture designs. Check out the post here. Thanks for reading!
Part 7: Guidelines for good design
I’ve added a post to my blog on some techniques and guidelines for developing a good furniture design. Click here for the post. Thanks for reading and please leave a comment and let me know what you think!
Part 8: Loose Tenon Joinery - A budget alternative to the Festool Domino
Given all of the buzz about the new Festool Domino, I thought that I’d share a technique that I’ve been using for years to do loose tenon joinery. While I think that the Festool Domino looks like a great tool, it may be out of reach, price-wise, for many woodworkers. In this post on my blog, I show a budget alternative. Take a look and let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!
Part 9: The benefits of rough lumber for design and building
I was out this weekend at a friend’s place where some logging is being done (I’ll be posting about that in the near future). I started to think about the process of gathering lumber for use in the design and building of furniture projects. The work being done at my friends was very small scale when compared to any kind of a commercial operation however, it made me think about the benefits that small operations like this offer to the average woodworker. I buy rough lumber fr...
Part 10: Super-simple drill press table upgrade
Sometimes after you complete a task, you wonder why you procrastinated so long to do it. I had a good day in the shop yesterday doing a simple but, long-overdue upgrade to my drill press. If you are considering a similar upgrade, or you are just looking for some inspiration to tackle a project that you’ve been putting off, you might want to take a look at the post about it on my blog. Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!
Part 11: Sam Maloof on design
I’ve recently been doing some reading on various designers in search of guidance and inspiration. Sam Maloof has always been one of my favorites. In doing so, I came across some quotes from Maloof that express some of his philosophies on woodworking and design. In this post on my blog I explore these and share some of my thoughts on them. I’d be interested in hearing the perspectives on this subject from all of you LumberJocks out there. Thanks for reading!
Part 12: The joy of a well tuned hand plane
I spent some time in the shop this past weekend working on a couple of final tasks for a new table before starting on the finishing. I had a choice on how to do the work and opted for a simple block plane. If you’ve done work with well-tuned hand tools, then you know how my experience was…either way, you can read about it here.
Part 13: Asian/Arts and Crafts inspired table
I’ve completed the table based on a design that I blogged about in a previous post. I talk about the construction and design details in a new post on my blog. There are some pictures of the detail there as well. Take a look and let me know what you think. Thanks!
Part 14: An evening with Kelly Mehler
The woodworking club that I belong to hosted Kelly Mehler for a lecture last night and a demonstration today. I had the pleasure of attending his lecture last night and I wrote about it at my blog. Take a look!
Part 15: The legacy of one woodworker
I recently went to a sale for a wood shop that was being sold off. What I came home with was a bit more than what I had expected. You can take a look at my thoughts on the subject here. Thanks for reading!
Part 16: Twin boxes in Cherry, Maple and Walnut
Not nearly as much time in the shop as I would like lately. I did however, get a bit of time in between other things for a small project. I did two twin boxes with some offcuts. Take a look at the post on my blog for details. Thanks for reading!
Part 17: Gene Landon lecture
I had the opportunity to hear a talk given by Gene Landon recently. If you don’t know Gene, he has been featured in Fine Woodworking numerous times (that’s him in his shop pictured below) and he specializes in period furniture reproductions from his shop in Pennsylvania – for the most part all done with traditional hand tool methods. Gene gave a good talk about the his home and shop and the furniture he has done over the years. His capabilities and work were inspiration...
Part 18: Queen Anne Side Table - Roughing out the legs
As I mentioned in my last blog post, I was recently inspired to build a period reproduction piece of furniture. I chose to do a side table in the Queen Anne style based on a Glen Huey design with cabriole legs, scrolled aprons and a single drawer. I like this style and it poses some challenges in developing new skills. The picture is Glen Huey’s version. I’ve started down the path of building this piece and I hope that you’ll follow along as I post entries about its de...
Part 19: Queen Anne Side Table - Turning and shaping the feet
After band sawing the legs to rough shape in my last post, the next steps in developing the legs were to turn and shape the feet and to smooth and mark them for final shaping. This was an interesting process. There’s a good description and lots of pictures in the latest post on my blog. Let me know what you think – thanks for reading!
Part 20: Queen Anne Side Table - More leg shaping
I was out of town last weekend for a family wedding so, progress on the table was stalled a bit. I got some more time in the shop yesterday and went to work shaping the legs for the table toward their final state. I had started this process before my trip but, I was not quite happy with some parts of the effort. The trip away allowed me to think about how I wanted to approach making changes for the better. You can read about my progress at my blog where there are a lot of pictures of the ...
Part 21: Queen Anne Side Table - Leg mortises, knee blocks and posts
I’ve been progressing on the legs for the Queen Anne Side Table. In my last post, I had shaped the feet and reworked the heel transitions on the legs. This left the tasks of adding and shaping the knee blocks, cutting the mortises and trimming the posts to final size to be done. There’s more on this with a bunch of pictures of the process in this post on my blog. Thanks for reading!
Part 22: Queen Anne Side Table - Cutting tenons on the aprons
Well, after milling the stock and making a new tenoning jig for the table saw I was ready to cut the tenons on the aprons of the table. The jig was worth the effort and I was able to do a first dry fit of most the table parts. There’s more info in this post on my blog along with pictures of the new jig and the process. Take a look and thanks for reading!
Part 23: In search of a smoothing plane
After contemplating adding a smoothing plane to my shop for quite some time, I finally took the plunge. I looked at some of the beautiful new tools available out there and made my decision…what I decided may surprise you. I take you through the process in this post on my blog.
Part 24: Thomas Pafk Lecture
I had the opportunity to listen to a lecture by Thomas Pafk – a Roycroft Master Artisan about his work and methods of construction. His work is made unique buy his use of veneers in its design and construction. I wrote about the tlk in this post on my blog. Thanks for readng!
Part 25: Queen Anne Side Table - Dovetailed top rail and scroll work
Well, after a brief diversion with the new (old) smoothing plane, I have been back to work on the Queen Anne Side Table. This post covers dovetailing the top rail above the drawer and cutting the Queen Anne style scroll work on the aprons. Next up will be the glue up and drawer runner assembly. Take a look and let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!
Part 26: Queen Anne Side Table - Glue up and drawer runner assembly
With the joinery completed on the table I set out to pull all of the pieces together. In this post I tackled the glue up of the table carcase and top along with the building and installation of the drawer runner assembly. With this completed the next step will be building the dovetailed drawer. Take a look and let me know what you think – thanks for reading!
Part 27: Queen Anne Side Table - Dovetailing the drawer
With the table carcase complete it was time to build and dovetail the drawer. I have a fairly long and detailed post on my blog with the process that I used to do this. Please take a look and let me know your thoughts. Thanks for reading!
Part 28: The loss of a teacher
Sometimes the best teachers are not who you might imagine they would be and sometimes the best lessens are the hardest to learn. I recently experienced the loss of the best teacher I have ever had. I’d be honored if you’d like to read my thoughts on the subject. The post about it is on my blog. Thanks for reading.
Part 29: Queen Anne Side Table - Contemplating the finish
With most of the construction done it was time for detailing and contemplating how to finish the table. I share my thoughts on how I will proceed in this post in my blog. Thanks for reading!
Part 30: Looking ahead - How about lutherie?
Things are winding down on the Queen Anne Side Table project (more tom come on that in a future post) so, I’ve been thinking ahead to what is next. I have lots of furniture projects queued up but, I won’t start those until the table is finished and out. I’m always up for a challenge so, I’ve come up with something interesting…take a look at my latest post and let me know what you think.
Part 31: Dreadnought Guitar - Assembling the sides and kerfed linings
Well, I’ve officially started down the road of lutherie! The guitar project has started and I’ve posted about my first efforts at my blog. Take a look at the initial steps in creating an instrument. Please let me know what you think – it’s definitely an interesting process so far. Thanks for reading!
Part 32: Dreadnought Guitar - Sanding the kerfed linings and installing the rosette
This weekend I took the next steps in the guitar project. I posted about an interesting process for contouring the kerfed linings to accept the radiused top and back later in the prokect. I also got quite a surprise while installing the rosette that took a bit of thinking to recover from. Take a look and let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!
Part 33: Dreadnought Guitar - Adding the back braces
I spent some more time on the guitar project. This time adding the bracing to the back plate. Doing this glue-up required some interesting clamping operations which I describe in the post. Take a look and let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!
Part 34: Dreadnought Guitar - Bracing the top
There was more bracing work to do on the guitar. This time a more complex operation on the underside of the guitar top. I found an alternative to the wooden dowel go-bars that I used last time. Take a look at the latest post to see the operation. Thanks for reading!
Part 35: Queen Anne Side Table - Completed finish and hardware
After waiting a while for the finish to cure and a brief hiatus out of town, the Queen Anne Side Table is finally complete. I posted about the final finish process, and adding the hardware at my blog. There are a bunch of pictures of the finished table and some close-ups as well. Thanks for reading!
Part 36: Dreadnaught Guitar: Notching the sides for the top braces
Finally getting back to the guitar project…I’ve done some more work toward bringing the top and the sides together. Things are coming along. Take a look at my recent post for details. Thanks for reading!
Part 37: Dreadnought Guitar - Attaching the top
Interesting clamping challenges abound in this project. In the picture you can see the solution for attaching the top of the guitar. Take a look at my latest post to see what they are and how they are used. Thanks for reading!
Part 38: Dreadnought Guitar - Enclosing the body
It was finally time to close up the body of the guitar. Yet another fun clamping operation.Things went reasonably well. The stage is now set for routing the channels for the binding and purfling. Take a look at the post for details. Thanks for reading!
Part 39: Dreadnought Guitar - Routing channels for binding and purfling
Well, I just got the body together – so, what else would I do but take a router to it ??! Seriously though, this was probably the most nerve-racking part of the build so far. Read about my adventures in my latest blog post. Take a look and let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!
Part 40: In design simple is elegant
With some impetus from a post that Chuck Bender (acanthuscarver) recently wrote, I discussed some of my thoughts on design in a recent post at my blog. As the title suggests, my take is that: “Simple is Elegant”. I’d be interested in your thoughts on the subject. Take a look and let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!
Part 41: Dreadnought Guitar - Installing the binding and purfling
Now that the channels have been routed it was time to install the binding along the back and top as well as the decorative purfling along the top. It was interesting and a bit tricky at times. Take a look at the details at my blog. Thanks for reading!
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