Journeymans Piece

Congratulations!

A very inventive and beautiful design, and the construction is wonderful.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Perfection. Yes, you pass with what we call “flying colors.” Yes, asian and yes a little F.L.Wright all the same. I have been to 90 per cent of Frank Lloyd Wright’s homes and buildings from Oak Park, Illinois to the state of Wisconsin. He had many different styles early…then became more rigid later, it seems to me. He did build a very famous hotel in Japan…with many asian design elements…your piece has a studied and balance sparseness.
The joinery is perfect. The finish is perfect. The design is perfect balance. And though I’m no expert…100 hours seems a little time…I thought such quality would have taken much, much longer. Congratulations on your achievement.

-- /\/\/\ BarryW /\/\/\ Stay so busy you don't have time to die.

You should boast. This is really beautiful, both in design and construction. Congratulations and thanks for sharing.

-- learning, building, playing

Waldschrat,
Quite unique and stunning in the design. To me it is Modern European in most all respects, except for the appearance of the cabinet floating on the base, which I like very much. I can certainly see where the construction of the hinges would have presented an awesome challenge. Congratulations on a both a magnificent final project and completion of your studies. I hope this piece brings you significant accolades and allows you to graduate with all due honors. I’ll go ahead and give you a grade of “A+”. Now go out and show the world what you can really accomplish with all this talent and knowledge. Wishing you all the best.

Sincerely,
Ken McGinnis

-- woodbutcher north carolina

This is a wonderful design that has been well executed. I can see and appreciate the technical expertise that it took to put this together. It looks like you rung the bell with this one for design and craftsmanship.

It does carry some of the Frank Lloyd Wright feel, but you are also correct. Of course, you realize that Frank Lloyd Wright had works inspired by Asian design and architecture.

A good example of this influence is the Westcott house in Springfield, Ohio.

This is a great piece. I love it!

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Hey guys thanks for the comments! and it was quite a run! I unfortunately have not been able to visit anything built by F.L. Wright, but I guess I will now have too! Thanks for posting the pics, and I must admitt looking at this house here, its hard to imagine that it stands in Ohio! Crazy who would of thought?

again thanks for the great feedback!

-- Nicholas, Journeyman Cabinetmaker, Partenkirchen, Germany

These pix of the Westcott house were taken when it opened after an extensive restoration.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

very nice piece!

couple questions

1. what does being a journeyman cabinetmaker entitle you too?

2. in the building of your cabinet why would you purposely design it to be harder to build? i have to assume to get more points from your instructor but at the same time i could see if you built the same piece with an eye towards ease of construction it would also be impressive to your instructor, maybe even more so? work smarter not harder?

very nice work ,
reading your story ,
made me realize that i too would have to go thru a course like yours ,
to be able to pass this test ,
all of my work is self taught ,
exept for the building trades .
i got a 3 month course for that .

-- david ,new mexico ,allheart

Gorgeous piece of wooden artwork ! Congratulations on a job well done : )

-- You know you're getting old when you know the difference between you're (you are) and your (belonging to you) AND how to use them in a sentence .

What a nice piece of work. Congratulations. I love the details. Very cool.

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

This is a beautiful piece. I love the hinges!

-- - Jim, Vancouver,WA

Very impressive detail and design! You did a beautiful job on this piece! Congratulations on the completion of your studies. Thanks for sharing.

God Bless
tom

-- Mc Bridge Cabinets, Iowa

WOW!!!

Wow Great design and congrats on your achievment of Journeyman. Wonderful accomplishment

-- Ben Kahmann Dayton, OH

Very nice piece of work, you skills and craftsmanship show that you are a true Artisan! I guess it’s time to hit the road for a couple of years so you can start working on becoming a master in your chosen field! Wish you the best of luck.

One question, is that a magnet in the door shown in picture number six?

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

sIKE, yes its a magnet, a very special kind called neodym. (I hope I spelled that right). They are very powerful and come in standard full mm sizes so one can drill one hole and just glue them in… (of course watching that the right side is glued in or otherwise the door is pushed open). Some of these magnets are so powerful that a warning is given when shipped that you should not put your hand between two of them because the attraction of the magnets is so strong it can crush your hand! (with the bigger ones of course).

-- Nicholas, Journeyman Cabinetmaker, Partenkirchen, Germany

Mike Gager,

Well Journeymans’s title, a bit hard to explain. I guess aside from the obvious things such as better pay and better work (sometimes, not always forced to do the carrying and sanding and cleaning up, one has offically the ability to lead projects and what not…. if you have been in the military its the difference between being a private and a Sergant, I would say)

You could also look it like difference between a Padawan and a Jedi Knight! Both can use the force but one is certified!

The difficulty of the piece… Yeah, sure I could have done some thing completly easy, and something I have routinely done for the past years… but where is the fun and excitement in that? I really, truly, believe as an aritsan, handworker, or whatever you want to consider a fine furniture maker or someone who creates objects in general, one has to push himself a little further each time, whether it be in complexity or time/speed (which is also important because anyone can build furniture given enough time, the real skill is good quality in a shortest possible time), or the craftsman does not come any further in his skill level.

And this kind of skill pushing is what I see here alot on Lumberjocks! Which is pretty cool. Just look at projects from people (their first ones) and look at thier later ones.

Alot of people I studied with, did not push themselves, and they stay where they were in time and skill, there were others who did as I and are much farther.

So I chose something that would challenge me, but knew I could finish in the time limit. I took a risk with the self made hinges (I foolishy did not make any sort of test piece), Just one crude one and it worked so I went with it, because I knew I could make it work.

We are graded accordenly to our difficulty/complexity. There are required things that have to be there in the piece, but loosely said, you could say, the less complex the piece, the more perfect every tiny, small, detail has to be. If you have a small dent or some imperfection, in your glue up, and an extremely complex peice, then it is more likely not to carry so much wieght in the grade…. so in simple words the Guild master and Exam Commision are fair.

Thanks for looking to you all once more!

Nicholas

-- Nicholas, Journeyman Cabinetmaker, Partenkirchen, Germany

Wow that is a nice piece I am trying to figure out how you did those doors well done Erste klass.Alistair

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease

heyn Nicholas
beautiful design and fantastic look

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon