I spent a week in Winchester Va. a couple of weeks ago making a corner chair with Jeff Headley and Steve Hamilton. I have finally recovered enough to make a posting. This was the most intense week I have ever spent in a shop.
Jeff and Steve are truly master cabinetmakers. Steve did most of the instruction; his skills with hand tools are amazing. For example, when shaping the cabriole leg portion of a leg Steve does it all with a spokeshave. He says he doesn't own a rasp. Shavings fly and in a matter of minutes he is done. What spokeshave does he use? A Bogg's from Lie Nielsen? Maybe a custom shave from Woodjoy tools. No indeed, he uses a Kunz spokeshave with all of the green paint missing because it was salvaged from the shop stove after it was inadvertently swept up and thrown in there with the shavings.
Steve's carving is superb. He can knock out a ball and claw in about an hour. He is self tought and has what I would call an "idiosyncratic" technique, and he is amazingly fast.
I left Winchester with all the parts and enough knowledge to finish the chair. I am working dilligently. I will post when I'm finished.
Howard Steier
Jeff and Steve are truly master cabinetmakers. Steve did most of the instruction; his skills with hand tools are amazing. For example, when shaping the cabriole leg portion of a leg Steve does it all with a spokeshave. He says he doesn't own a rasp. Shavings fly and in a matter of minutes he is done. What spokeshave does he use? A Bogg's from Lie Nielsen? Maybe a custom shave from Woodjoy tools. No indeed, he uses a Kunz spokeshave with all of the green paint missing because it was salvaged from the shop stove after it was inadvertently swept up and thrown in there with the shavings.
Steve's carving is superb. He can knock out a ball and claw in about an hour. He is self tought and has what I would call an "idiosyncratic" technique, and he is amazingly fast.
I left Winchester with all the parts and enough knowledge to finish the chair. I am working dilligently. I will post when I'm finished.
Howard Steier