Hey Folks,

My shop has recently seen an infestation of wooden mice; entirely of my own doing.

Every year around this time, I try to come up with some small ornament sized, seasonal gift.  In the past years, it’s been miniature reindeer (with googly eyes), nutcracker soldiers, or snowmen.  This year, I was at something of a loss for an idea, when I stumbled across a Tim Yoder video on how to turn wooden mice.  So I figured why not?  The Mouse King was the major antagonist in The Nutcracker story, so why not make a few mice and have mass coronation of sorts?

 

Currently, the only  regal rodent is the one positioned on the lower shelf of the latest Limbert tabouret.  His crown is a beer bottle cap punched out with a 1/2″ conduit knockout punch, and then painted with metallic gold colored paint.  I know it’s hard to see, I’ll try to post a better picture in the near future.

And yes, as the card says, I am selling them for only $10 a piece.  Sorry though, no internet sales.  If you want one badly enough, you need to visit my shop and put $10 in my hand.

Cheers,
Tom

 

Hey Folks, I was just watching Little Shop of Horrors tonight (so okay, I like musicals)    …and was reminded of the Limbert Tabouret. You see, I put it in the window for just two days, when a couple came to the shop, rang the bell and said, “We couldn’t help noticing that strange and interesting table in your window, we love it and must have it.” Well, okay, so maybe not that exactly. What they did say, was that they were past the stage in their lives when they would normally be acquiring furniture, but they thought the table was so beautiful that they just had to have it. So, I guess that the window really works.  If you don’t get the Little Shop of Horrors reference, you owe it to yourself to see the movie, or better yet the live show. Suffice to say, eerily strange and wonderful things can happen when a, “strange and interesting”, item is put in your display window.

Cheers, Tom

A Who? What?

Charles Limbert was a prolific American designer of craftsman style furniture in the early 20th century, about 1906.  His designs were a departure from the heavier, rectilinear designs of his contemporaries such as Gustav Stickley; although like those of Stickley, most of his designs were made of quarter sawn white oak.

Wikipedia describes a tabouret as a small portable cabinet or stool.  I have never seen the word tabouret used to describe either a cabinet or a stool, but rather a small table, such as an end table.

This tabouret is made from a nice piece of quarter sawn white oak, which accounts for the beautiful ray flecks in the grain.  The finish is orange shellac, dark brown wax, and a couple topcoats of polyurethane, for extra protection.  The design is #238 from Limbert’s catalog.  I think that it originally sold for about $7.  The last original to have been recently sold at auction went for something like $1500.  This one is available for something in between.

Cheers,
Tom

Hey Folks,

I was able to finish the display window today and put a Roorkhee chair in it.  The curtains went up yesterday, and the packing wrinkles are still shaking out.  They looked better today.

Outside, there is unfortunately a lot of reflection from ambient daylight.  I don’t really want to spend the money (or permit fees) for an awning right now, so maybe in the future.

At night however, it really shines.

I’m sure a few more props would make it look more inviting, but I’m not really sure what to do there.  Any suggestions are welcome.

For those of you not familiar with the Roorkhee chair, it’s a campaign style piece that was designed by some unknown person for the British Royal Engineers stationed at Roorkhee, India.  It’s been described as the best camp chair you never heard of.

In addition to being extremely comfortable for extended periods, it also has the ability to self-adjust to uneven ground.  The round mortise and tenon joints all rotate to accommodate any surface.  I typically demonstrate this by having a guest sit in the chair with a book under one chair leg.  Of course, as you would expect of a camp chair, it knocks down and fits in a bag.  With practice, it can be assembled in about eight minutes.

So think about your next outdoor concert, or anywhere else you could use a good outdoor chair, it’s what it was made for.

Cheers,
Tom

Hey Folks,

As promised, here are some photos of the latest shop project.  This is one of those projects for the shop, not from the shop.  For some time, I have wanted to use the north window of the front room as a display window, but the bottom of the window is too high off the floor to make an effective display.  The new platform has the advantage of storage space underneath.

The drawers are 14″ overdraw slides, so 15″ deep.  I plan to use at least one as a lateral file cabinet for plans etc.

Track lighting and carpet are added here, as shown off by Pugsley and Peggy Tzu.  I eventually will hang a dark curtain as a backdrop for the window.   When that’s done, I’ll have another picture, or two, for you.

Cheers,
Tom

Hey Folks,

I’ve been working on a project for the front room of the shop, and hope to have some pictures for you in the next few days.  The days here have been filled with beautiful, sunny yet cool, Fall splendor.

Things changed today however.

…a bit, since 1937, when this photo was taken of what would eventually become Fremont Occasional Woodworks.  The building by then, was already 24 years old.  It was built in 1913 as a theater, well outside of Seattle, on the wrong side of town, on the only road out of town going north.  It was charitably called a “Vaudeville” theater, but given its location at that time, I think it was something a bit bawdier.  Since then, it has been a garage more than once, a laundry or dry cleaner outlet, a white water rafting rental shop, and now a wood shop.

Here’s a recent Google Street View photo.

I’m working on still more changes for the future.  Stop by and see what’s new.

Cheers,
Tom

Those of you who’ve followed my woodwork over the years, know that my Pop was a huge influence on my work.  Hardly a day goes by that I don’t wish he was still around to answer my questions, or teach me what I need to know for a particular project.

Although I inherited a number of his tools, and many of Granddad’s as well, I have only one example of his work to display in the front room of my shop, his flock of terns.

Pop learned to carve birds from a man named Arthur Reisner (I’m unsure of the spelling), who last resided in Reno, Nv.  When I met Mr. Reisner, I was 10 years old, and he was a very old man (older than my Granddad), living with his daughter and son-in-law.  He was still carving, and when I was introduced to him, he offered to make me a free-standing figure of a sandpiper.  I was so intimidated, and fearful of the responsibility of caring for such a precious object that I declined his generous offer.  I have often regretted that thoughtless choice; mostly because I’m sure that he felt that my Pop’s passion for woodwork had skipped a generation.

What drives each of us forward is seldom as simple as one thing.  More often, it’s a complex and subtle blend of desires, passions, ambitions, guilts, and regrets, and surely many other factors that we’re unaware of.  If we’re lucky, we’re able to hang our inspirations on the wall, where we can see them when they’re needed.

Cheers,
Tom

Hey Folks,

I had a window decal made of my workshop’s logo, and I put it up today.

Although the proportions, design and colors are correct, I’m still not really happy with it. I was hoping that the decal would be more opaque. When it was on the white paper backing, it looked a lot better. Kris says it’s fine, and to leave it.

I dunno, I may decide to go old school, and hand paint the window myself. Pop use to paint windows as a kid to earn money; not that he ever taught me how to do it.  I have done a couple of windows for Christmas decorations though, so I know how.

I suppose that this will do for now. 

Cheers,
Tom

…but you can grapple with them in endless, passive aggressive futility. Hey, this is Seattle after all. 🙂

Today, I spent a not entirely frustrating, and not entirely satisfactory, half hour with a city building department permitting “coach”. She very patiently and diligently explained why I couldn’t do that I wanted, and what I would need to do to pursue my ideals in the future; thereby ensuring that I would make yet another (my third) visit to the 20th floor of the Seattle Municipal Building to curry the favor of the lords of the landscape.

This is all because I’m tired of putting up those damned pop-up tents for our biennial pig roast, and because an outdoor workspace for building small boats has been a long standing pipe dream of mine. My plan is to build a pole pavilion/picnic shelter on the south side of my lot, next to the shop.

Should be easy, right? Yeah, sure. Actually, the building itself should be pretty straight forward, but my first foray into the byzantine ant colony of downtown Seattle was pretty discouraging. It seems that my free plans, downloaded from the internet, didn’t include the required engineering calculations for sheer loads on embedded posts, snow loads on trusses… etc. You get the idea.

So although I was looking forward to building it myself, I contacted a couple of contractors that specialize in pole buildings. Let’s just say that sticker shock is not exclusive to automobile purchases. 😮

Eventually, I found a fellow who does material kits, and custom drawn (and engineered) plans for pole buildings. The materials are all sourced locally, so the shipping costs are reasonable. Thus, today’s trip to building plan purgatory.

The process continues, and will likely for some time to come. Just one more project on the stove. Stay tuned.

Cheers,
Tom