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  • 23 Jun

    A Rose is a Rose by Any Other Name

    It was true for William Shakespeare, and it is true today. Changing the nomenclature does not alter the essence. I speak here of the idea of apprenticeship.

    I have known a couple of woodworkers over the years who gleefully refer to people helping out in their shops as “apprentices”.  But, just as the vast majority of woodworkers these days who slam out slab tables with live or wane edges do not even know who George Nakashima was, I do not believe that some of these “masters” necessarily understand the concept of apprenticeship. Or worse, maybe they did and they chose to take advantage of it.

    What I have been seeing is a guy who is making a living at woodworking, accepting novices into his shop to do grunt work for no pay. That does not even resemble what an apprenticeship has traditionally meant. For one thing, in an apprenticeship arrangement, if one party is the apprentice, the other is necessarily a master. I believe that is a term that is too easily bantered about. Years ago, when I had been working for more than 20 years, I fell in love with a set of Japanese sharkskin handled chisels. They were very expensive, but that was not my problem. I felt that if I were to purchase them, I was believing myself a master craftsman. But, even after having received several awards, appearing in a number of magazines and having commissions set years in advance, I cringed at the idea of being thought of as a master. Now, after more than forty years building furniture, I still do. So, I would be similarly leery of having an “apprentice” in my shop.

    No, an apprentice does not work for free. That is more like indentured servitude. Historically, apprentices were not paid either. They, or usually their families PAID the master to take the youth under his wing and TEACH him. (Back then, virtually every master and apprentice was a him). The master then welcomed the apprentice not only into his shop, but often also into his home, where he was boarded and fed. The daily hosting aspect of the relationship would be easy to set aside in today’s world. But NOT the real obligation of the master: to proactively teach the apprentice all the skills necessary to one day rise to the level of journeyman, and then, ultimately, one day become a master himself.

    Call an unskilled assistant in your shop a helper or an unpaid assistant, or, I suppose a protege, but “they”, (because, thankfully, we are changing the culture rapidly these days, and it is no longer a foregone conclusion that it will be a male on either end of this relationship), is probably not an apprentice.

    By Jonathan Cohen Thoughts
  • 16 Jun

    What’s in a Name: The Ebanista School of Fine Woodworking

    I spent some years living in Barcelona, Spain, and later married a woman from Mexico, where we lived on and off for many years. In both countries, people occasionally asked me what I did. Linguistic note: English speakers ask what you do, Spanish speakers ask, “A que te dedicas?” To what do you dedicate yourself? And for me, that is particularly appropriate for a woodworker, as this is a field where one has no chance of making it without being dedicated.

    In the beginning, I would answer, “Realizo muebles”. (I make furniture). And they would nod, and say, “Ah, tu eres carpintero”. (Ah, you are a carpenter). When we started carrying our phones around with us in our pockets, they sometimes asked to see a picture of my work, and after fumbling cyber-clumsily with my phone, I would show a photo of one or two of my pieces.

    Often they would take a tiny step back and look at me anew, and say in a more reverential voice, “ Ohhh, pero eres Ebanista, pues”. (Oh!, But you are a Fine Woodworker, then).

    I never have felt that this was something I should decide about myself, but I must be honest with you and confess that I usually stood up a little straighter in those moments.

    Linguistic note II: the French use a similar term, “ebaniste”, and over the last centuries this was an honorific spoken of the very finest craftsman/artisans. The word, in both languages, derives from the name Ebony, the kind of wood only a superlative cabinetmaker would dare use. It seems like a sufficiently high level for our students to aim for.

    Hence, the name of our school.

    By Jonathan Cohen Uncategorized
  • 09 Jun

    Lumberyards

    The two basic sources for lumber are to mill your own (very fun, control over the way you like your wood cut, extremely slow to cut and to wait for it to season, and even if you get the trees for free, a far more expensive way to get wood in your shop) or to head on down to your local lumber yard and let go of your credit card.

    Depending on where you live and the size of the city, you may have several choices. The biggest yards are generally the cheapest, but I rarely use them for a number of reasons. One is that they mostly do not want to sell to smaller shops buying just a few hundred feet and forget about trying to get a stick or two of lumber for a project. They also generally do not display their wood but just stack it up in huge banded bundles- several hundred board feet of wood. and will give you a dirty look if you ask them to drop it down so you can sort through. Never, but never go into one of them and ask for 1” or 2” lumber. They will whip around and go back to playing solitaire on their computers what idiot does not know that sawn hardwood lumber is referred to in quarters of an inch, in these examples 4/4 and 8/4. My two biggest issues with the big yards, however, are that they very rarely carry more than a handful of “popular “ species such as oak, walnut, maple, and cherry. And most of them will not let you sort through the lumber to find what suits you best. That, for me, is the deal breaker, as I consider lumber selection to be one of the most enjoyable and critical aspects of my work.

    At the other end of the food-pyramid-of-wood are the local boutique lumber yards. Many are attached to tool stores, and they often put price stickers on each board. Red flag! This is the most expensive way to buy wood. And while they often have a dizzying array of species, and they encourage you to comb through them, I have yet to see one that has much of any one species at the same time, and that leaves the woodworker to have very little choice in the exact boards they may require for a project.

    Above you will see an example of the best price, but little access or variety accompanied by surly salesmen, or too much selection, high prices, and not always the best quality.

    In between lies perhaps the best of all worlds for small to medium-sized shops. One could even call them the “tweener” lumberyard. Prices better than the boutiques, not always terribly more than the big yards. Much more access to and ability to select exactly what you want. Prices probably not marked on each individual board, but maybe a board footage tally so you can see how much you are buying. And they will talk to you whether you refer to inches or quarters, although you may get a better price if you appear to know more about the business of buying lumber.

    By Jonathan Cohen Uncategorized
  • 02 Jun

    Western Style Planes vs. Japanese Style

    There are several principal differences between the two kinds of planes, Japanese and western used throughout the world. One of the more simplistic is the fact that western style planes are designed to be pushed across the surface of the wood, while the Japanese ones are made to be pulled. While these are the preferred methods, it need not necessarily be so. I enjoy using both kinds of planes, I have many of each, but I generally pull them all. It seems so much more natural to me and effortless.

    Another obvious distinction between the two styles of plane is the materials from which they are made. Western planes can still be found made of wooden bodies, but the most common version has them made of steel or some other metal. The only thing on them that was wooden was the handles, although the cost-efficient ( read: crap)  modern versions of them have annoying plastic handles. Not so with the two most high-level western planes produced today from Lie-Nielsen and Veritas. Very high quality they are, with prices to match. But there is no other piece of a woodworker’s tool cabinet that is more worth spending extra money. The western planes typically also have various knobs and screws and levers for fine adjustment of the iron (or blade). Unless you are buying one of the very high-end planes, all those bells and whistles are fool’s gold and can get in your way as much as help. The adjusting mechanisms either come poorly made out of the box, or wear to a certain sloppiness with time.

    The Japanese planes are disarmingly simple. In appearance. Just a simple block of aged wood, generally red or white oak, with a steel blade, wedged into very carefully cut tapered mortises. Adjustment on these planes is all achieved by the gentle tap of a small hammer. Tap the blade on the top of the iron to lower the blade, tap the back of the wooden plane body to back it up. At first glance, it may seem less accurate to adjust a plane in this manner, but with just a little practice you will find these planes and you will become very good friends.

    But the biggest difference between Japanese planes (and chisels) is the steel blade. Which, when you think of it, is really the most important part of a plane, or any cutting tool for that matter. Japanese plane blades are laminated, with, a very hard steel,  just on the cutting edge, again, where all, the action is. This is then backed by a softer steel that dampens vibration just a bit, and also makes for a less laborious sharpening process. The only western planes that I know of with that high a quality of steel are, again Lie-Nielsen and Veritas. But their blades are of one solid piece of steel and that slows the grinding process considerably. Hardened, quality steel is important for achieving and maintaining really fine cutting edges. Less expensive planes scrimp on this and are, as a result, quite inferior. You will notice that the good western planes have thicker blades than the cheap ones, close to the dimensions of the Japanese ones. This aids greatly in achieving a smoother cut.

    So which style of plane is for you? If you are new at this, try and find a friend or a store that has both kinds. Take a number of strokes with them and see if you don’t start to feel a stronger urge to keep one of them in your hands. My sense is that most westerners will see the western style plane as more recognizable, and perhaps tend to go that direction. There is a long history of craftsman all over the world becoming maestros with their western planes and doing magnificent work. Same with the Japanese planes, although I will say that if you check online you will find footage of Japanese masters whose work with a plane will make your jaw drop. But, in the end, it is each individual’s familiarity with their own planes that is the greatest predictor of success. That and developing a great deal of skill at the sharpening stones.

    If I was pushed to make a recommendation, I would lean towards Japanese planes and chisels for one simple reason: the steel.

    By Jonathan Cohen Tools
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