My Woodworking Journal

To the left, and below, are  detailed photos from a sets of  spiral stairs.  They are made from  virgin, long leaf southern pine,  recycled  from joists and columns  of a  building built c.1840 in  Manhattan.   The building was a 4  story  furniture store with its warehouse above and in 1986 it was converted for co-op apartments into a 6 story building.  My task was to reuse the timber and fashion it into spiral stairs.  I was given free reins to design and execute this project. Two of the aparments were to be duplexes and two were to be triplexes. 6 flights of stairs in all.   Designing the risers and treads were mathematical plus some inspiration, but designing the handrail took me 6 weeks to engineer.  The grain of the wood was so beautiful I didn't want to lose its characteristic so I decided not to laminate the curve but to segment the wood and carve it and the result was exciting.

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Using Videos as Your Woodworking Classes

When it comes to learning from a woodworking class, I’m a hands-on kind-of-a-guy.  I have learned to look for details from the beginning, even looking at my own techniques for perfections or more accurately for imperfections.  For then I can see the imperfection, I then know what to work toward.  It is much the same as rereading a good book or watching your favorite movie and getting more out of it each time.  I’ve lost count of the times I’ve watched Casablanca or The General or The Seven Samurai but I know that I haven’t finished watching them.  

As I said, I like hands-on not translations and I like to watch others do their thing with deliberation and forethought.  So, in looking for some good videos or woodworking, I came across several that I want to comment on.  The first is from Woodcraft at http://www.woodcraft.com/videos.aspx.  They have a list of videos to watch, all to do with products they sell.  To me, these videos are no better than a movie trailer touting the next blockbuster, but for the most part.  They don’t titillate me enough.  For example, the first on their list, #1 Odd Job Tool Video is about a lovely, multi-purpose tool, but they cram all of its functions into a 2 min 34 sec video.  I’m sorry but I’m not sold yet, I want to see more.  Why should I buy it simply because it’s a 4-in-1?

Another video is Building The Ultimate Birdhouse DVD Preview. This is a 4 min 13 sec video of poor audio quality that spends almost half of its time showing a craftsman ripping some pine boards.  I know how to do that.  Please, show me something I need to learn.  Would I really buy that video on the hope that I might get something out of it?  It may be that Woodcraft has good products and great instructional videos, but I guess I’ll never know.

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I found an 85 page eBook with a clear approach to beginning a career or simply gaining the skills to tackle a project. 

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