I want to introduce the LJ community to one of my mentors. His name is Mike Blatnick and he lives in Billings, Montana. He is an extremely talented designer and craftsman that can fluently speak in all the design vernaculars from Rococo to Modern. His work is absolutely impeccable and has been a benchmark that I have been chasing from the day that I met him.

A few years ago I hired Mike to build a mahogany door with a full view glass for one of my remodel projects. When I was in his shop, he was working on a table that had some swayed legs. I thought the design was the neatest thing that I ever saw and I obsessed over the shape of the legs. This obsession expressed itself in what I consider my breakout piece, the Mahogany Sofa Table.

When you know someone of this caliber, you can’t help but get excited about furniture making and design. The company a person keeps has an amazing influence on creativity. By sharing this I am really paying homage to someone that I consider a mentor and friend. (I am not sure, but he may just consider me a hemorrhoid for hanging around his shop too much.)

I stopped by Mike’s shop a few days ago and saw his latest work. It is a modern desk designed for an office here in Billings. This was just too good not to share, so he is allowing me to post this for the LJ community.

The desk is a modern design made with a solid beech top and beech veneers for the curved work. The finish is catalyzed acrylic from Sherwin Williams. This is a very durable finish for the writing surface and will withstand the abuse.

The drawers do not have surface mounted handles, they are opened by a recessed pull on the side. Just above the drawers, on both sides, are pull-outs to increase the desk area when the client has papers spread out.

The modern style of furniture looks simple but it is incredibly difficult and technical to build. There is very little margin for error in the finished product because all of the reveals have to remain constant. To achieve this level of excellence, Mike took the design to a larger shop that has a CNC machine and contracted out all the curved cutting. The story is that the CNC ran for an hour just to carve out the solid top with the bevel profile. He conceded that all the templates and patterns that he could have made would never have resulted in the same level of accuracy as what the CNC can produce.

Adding to the level of difficulty is the curved work. The accuracy of the work has to go from the top to the bottom over a curved surface. This is incredibly technical.

Mike’s knowledge of woodworking and furniture history is extensive and he can do everything from design to finish. I have used him as a benchmark for all aspects of the craft. Mike is certainly one of the individuals that I owe much thanks to for my growth.

Mike does not have a website and he is currently looking into this. When he gets one going I will be sure to let you know so that you may see more of his work.

Share the Love~Share the Knowledge

You will find them under the heading “Current Events” in the navigation bar.

I still do remodeling and my latest remodel project is posted under the same “Current Events.” It is not always just about woodworking, but it is always about design and quality. There is some built-in action and you may find it interesting too.

I am not trying to hold out anything on LJ, I just have to manage my available time (better.)

Remember to check on “Current Events” in the navigation menu for the latest. From there you can get to each project in more detail

I need to get going, my taxes aren’t going to do themselves. Yes, I filed an extension.

Todd A. Clippinger
http://www.amcraftsman.com

Peace, Love, and Woodworking

It has often been asked of me, why don’t I just move to Ohio? The following images were taken at a Billings city park called the “Four Dances Natural Area.” It is behind our house and across the Yellowstone River. We can look out our back yard upon these sandstone cliffs and watch the sun rise over them in the morning. We also can hop in the car and drive to the top in just a few minutes to take the dogs for a hike.

Sometimes I think to myself, “I can’t believe I live here!”

Here is a view of Sacrifice Cliffs out the backyard. They are illuminated by the last light of the setting sun.

These shots look west to the Absaroka Beartooth Mountains.

This shot looks south to the Pryor Mountain range which is just inside Wyoming. The Pryors hold the national wild horse refuge.

Hope that answers any questions of why I don’t live in Ohio.

Peace, Love, and Woodworking

You can check it out here.

Peace, Love, and Woodworking

I still have plenty of work ahead to finish it. I can wait on floor cabinets and worktop but the upper cabinets or at least some open cubby boxes to store glue, sandpaper, routers, etc. are a must. Clamp storage on the wall will clear a good bit of floor space.

I did not have to buy hardly anything to do this work, it was material that I had on hand.

I have many more ideas and plans for the space but for now I will let the pictures do the talking.

Before Photo

After

That is all for now. I am pretty busy with work and having my shop torn apart.

Peace, Love, and Woodworking

Finished mudwork on walls.
Took Sunday nap.
Painted 2 coats of primer.

Trim and paint to follow on Monday.
Touch-ups and moving on Tuesday

Peace, Love, and Shop Building

I finished this section of wall the other day and the trim. After that I pushed all the shop “furniture” back against the wall. This opened up the center of the shop again so that I could clear the next section of wall to be finished.

I can’t always work corner to corner because I waited until I put too much crap in the shop to finish the walls. I did, however, already have 3 walls finished as you can see in my workshop posting. Now that I think about it, I can’t wait to update the workshop photos!

I now have the electrical run in this section, the sheetrock up and taped, and I am going to finish the mudwork tomorrow (Sunday). Then trim and paint! I should be finished with this section in a couple of days.

Are You Motivated Yet?

Is anybody getting motivated yet? I have been watching a couple of other shops being built. I am excited for those guys and here is a bit of advice: Don’t move the tools in until the space is finished. You will end up like me trying to work around all the tools and crap that you have accumulated.

Getting the shop more complete and organized is very exciting. I will be able to increase productivity and have a more energy efficient workspace. I can’t get over how much brighter it is with the walls being rocked and painted. There is less air draft too. These are things that I sell other people on as a professional all the time. The cobbler’s children never have shoes.

Dust control will be better too. The insulation behind the chopsaw was loaded with dust and I had to replaced it.

Planning Ahead

I am thinking ahead to new base cabinets and wall storage. I have been looking through the many books and magazines to develop my ideas. I LOVE my books.

I will have to finish this section and for now just get things back against the walls. I have some work to get done for clients.

When Momma’s Happy…
I also need to do some work on my house. If I work on the shop, I need to balance that with some work on the house. Hey, if you don’t use the shop to work on the house, how is it justified in the wife’s mind? When Momma’s Happy, Everybody’s Happy. A simple principle for happy living.

Come on guys, get motivated and get organized!

Peace, Love, and Woodworking

I got the walls primed with 2 coats of Kilz. The sheetrock had been sitting in my shop 4 years and it really needed it.

Today

I put 2 coats of paint on the wall today. I have some walls in the shop already finished. I color matched the wall paint to my Jet equipment and I call it “Jet” white. It is an off-white that looks good with the trim and ceiling being a bright white color.

Electrifying!

I installed the outlets. I put in 6 double gang boxes, that gives me 12 oultets. I run 2 circuits. The oulets in the left half of the boxes are one circuit and the outlet in the right are another. This allows me to keep from loading one breaker up too much. I keep all of my outlet boxes in the shop the same height as the light switches. That means no bending over to plug in (I’m a grandpa you know, that makes me old).

MrTrim Where Are You?

After installing the outlets and covers, I had to make a materials run for the trim. I just used 1×4 MDF material. It is perfect for the paint grade trim in the shop. I use butt joints for a simple trim style but I reinforce the joints with biscuits to keep them together over time.

After that it is caulk and fill nail holes. Tomorrow I will paint the trim and move all the “furniture” back against the wall. Then I can start on the next section.

Projects should soon follow. Possibly video? We’ll see! I have a technical curve to climb, I might have to call on the “Teenage Woodworker” for tech support (I got my eye on you Boy).

Get MOTIVATED!

I hope that you guys get the bug and get motivated to finish some of the work on your shop or house. I am anxious to get this done so that I can do some work on our house. I have been gone so long I am excited about the honey-do list.

Remember – When Momma’s happy, Everybody’s happy!

Peace, Love, and Woodworking

Today I finished touching up the mud work and applied 2 coats of primer. It is very exciting to see things get further along in my own shop

Tomorrow I will paint this section of wall.

Peace, Love, and Woodworking

I have been home about three weeks now and I have been quite busy settling back in. I am so happy to be back with my wife, Rita, and my two dogs.

The geography here is so good to see again. Here is the view out my backyard towards the Yellowstone River.

The first thing I had to do was unpack and start settling back into my life at home and in my shop. I have been working for most of the last 4 1/2 years just north of Columbus, OH on some great projects. But I am determined to stay home now and ship or deliver any future projects.

Next I had to start making contacts all over town to let the people of Billings know that I am back and offering my services in my own home town. I have made more contacts than ever before. I know that there will be a delay before calls start coming in so I had to do this immediately.

I have been looking at a few remodel jobs and working on some bids, but I realized that I need to increase efficiency in my shop before I get too much going.

I ran some more circuits and started closing the walls up with sheetrock. I am very excited to see the shop getting brighter already. It will make it easier to heat with the walls properly closed up too.

Things are a bit cramped since I had to pull everything away from the wall to work. I will do this section and even paint it. Then I can move everything back and pull the stuff away from the wall and execute the next section. I will add more circuits and close the walls up with sheetrock and paint. I can’t wait!

I really haven’t had much time to get online and share with the great LJ brothers or to check out the projects and read the blogs.

I just realized that I have not even added my closet into the projects section yet. I blogged it so heavily but I need to add it to the brag board.

Gotta get back out and add another coat of mud. I am so happy to be back in my own shop!

Peace, Love, and Woodworking