I would classify myself as an intermediate woodworker. I got started in this wonderful craft when I bought my first house. Like many of us suddenly thrust into home ownership, there was a “honey do” list a mile long and I had to figure out how to build stuff. I was fortunate to have inherited a bunch of tools from my wife’s grandfather who was a carpenter and home builder. I remember not even knowing what I had in my garage workshop having never even seen a router or hand plane before. My high school had already succumbed to budget cuts and there was no woodshop or industrial arts program to introduce me to this craft. I wonder now what I might be doing today if I had been exposed early. The more I fiddled with my “new” tools and the more I watched shows like “The New Yankee Workshop” and “Woodworks”, the more obsessed I became.
It has been almost 9 years now of loving this craft in all of it’s forms and trying to build new things and try new techniques and I am still just as passionate as the day I picked up an old Rockwell router and looked down into the collet like it was the barrel of a gun and wondered “what does this thing do?”
This passion had to be shared so this blog and podcast quickly resulted. Today there is not a day that goes by in my shop that I don’t have a camera rolling or at least close at hand. Within these walls you will see me try many different things and maybe you can learn something along the way. I try to work with hand tools as much as I can as I find a much deeper connection to the wood and to the craftsmen who came before me. My goal is to turn my occasional commissions into something that might sustain me full time, but whatever I do I hope to be able to augment it with this blog as I enjoy sharing my experiences so much.
So enjoy this site and drop me a line at shannon@rogersfinewoodworking.com if there is something you would like to see.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Greg // Mar 13, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Greetings,
I came across your site a few months back and thought it was so intriguing. I’ve since bookmarked it and now visit it frequently. I’m currently in architecture grad school and work part time in our architectural wood shop (I’ve always loved carpentry). We have both hand and power tools, but I enjoy using many of the hand tools as well. Watching your methods on your site are very interesting (videos are well presented also).
One tool I’ve been experimenting with lately is our motor-powered lathe. I’ve been able to rough out some interesting rods, however I’m curious on how to fabricate bowl-shaped objects. I’m also a cook and love making my own cooking equipment. We have a CNC, however I would like to shape out a spice crusher. Would you have any knowledge on this area?
Also, this may be more of metal working question, but would you have any knowledge on fabricating chef knives? Nothing would be more satisfying as a cook/carpenter/designer than making my own set of chef knives.
Thanks and keep up the great work!
Greg
fastgs@muohio.edu
2 Shannon // Mar 17, 2010 at 1:35 pm
Greg, turning a spice crusher or mortar would be just like standard bowl turning. I haven’t done this on the show…yet but based on the requests I should do it soon. I haven’t done too much faceplate turning like this but I have made a dozen or so bowls. Stay tuned and I do an episode on it. In the meantime there are a lot of bowl turning vids on the net. If you want something more in depth I recommend Bill Grumbine’s bowl turning videos for a comprehensive look at the topic. Smartflix carries both volumes for rental. As far as knives go the only think I can advise is how to make the scales for the handle, no metalworking experience here. Sorry.
3 Greg // Mar 17, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Hi Shannon,
Thanks for the response. No worries about the knives, I discovered that my classmate has extensive experience in this and should be willing to help out. If you’re interested, these are the types of knives I’m planning on fabricating:
http://www.surlatable.com/category/id/104391.do
Since I wrote, I began digging around our shop and began experimenting. After flipping through some books and doing some experimentation with some softer scrap wood, I managed to lathe out some french rolling pins and the pestle for the mortar. Today, I finally found the missing attachments for bowls, and I’m already excited to try them out. Bill’s website is awesome. I would love to see how you perform this (especially hollowing out centers with a smaller opening) , but before you do, I might have some better questions below:
I started out in woodcraft in the macro level. Large furniture pieces: tables, chairs, cabinets, however I was lacking craftsmanship on the micro details, which is so important for quality. So I’m shifting my attention to smaller projects. Because I’m big on cooking, I thought this would be a great chance to stock up my kitchen supplies. So far, I have over 20 different items on the list of things to make. Many of these are your standard utensils (wooden spoons, spatula, tongs, ladle, etc.). I’m also interested in making my own set of high-quality chop sticks.
Here are a few new questions (these were questions I couldn’t find answers to online. There’s a good handful so don’t feel obligated to answer these): Because these tools require little material and these will hopefully be a lasting set, I would like to use a special kind of hard wood. Something with good marbling, such as olive wood, is beautiful. Do you have any suggestions for a wood species that works well with food products?
I presume preserving the wood requires some kind of special food-safe sealant. I have some beeswax and mineral oil in stock. Do you think melting down the wax into the mineral oil would be a good solution? I’ve heard of salad bowl sealant too? Any suggestions there?
Every artist must sign their pieces. Bill seems to do it with a wood burning wand. In my ideal world, I would love to make some kind of metal stamp of my signature that I could heat and burn into the wood piece. Do you think this is possible?
I feel confident about shaping spoons, however we don’t currently have many carving tools, which are needed to shape the bowl out of the spoon. This tool runs for almost $50 online, which is not something I can really afford. Would you know of a way to fabricate a wooden spoon carver?
I’ve seen some great wood pieces (knife handles, jewelry, pool cues, etc.) with contrast wood or stone inlayed flush inside the wood. Is this simple chiseling or something more complicated like routing?
Lastly, I would like to make a metal spatula with a wooden handle. Typically, the two materials links together with brass pegs penetrating through them. The end product shows the wood handle perfectly flush with the pegs, which I’m confused how that’s done. Any ideas?
Sorry that this message is a little longer than I expected. Like I said, please don’t feel obligated to answer all these questions. Whatever feedback you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks again!
Greg
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