For This I Get Paid? Part 1

Monday morning, I left my house at 5:30 a.m. to drive to Franklin, Ind., to the Marc Adams School of Woodworking. I had to be there by 8 a.m., and while it’s only an hour-and-a-half drive or so from Cincinnati (if one drives too fast, as I am wont to), I tend to get lost. And I got lost. Twice. But, I made it by 7:30, and I had my bench set up by the 8 a.m. start.

I’m taking Phil Lowe‘s “Building a Demilune Table” class. Not only is it my first foray into curved work, I’ll also learn to hammer veneer. I’m using mahogany for the legs and top, and bird’s-eye maple veneer will be applied (along with banding of a species yet-to-be-determined)to a substrate of poplar. Monday, each class member cut a series of short pieces of secondary wood, which will be bricked to make the curved substrate for the apron (we’ll pattern rout to an MDF template once the polygon is assembled).

While all of this is new and exciting, what I found most revelatory was the planning process. On a piece of butcher paper, using only a T-square, two triangles, a 6″ rule and trammel points, Phil produced beautiful full-size orthographic and isometric drawings of our project in less than two hours , all with seemingly no math. I must learn this.

Not so exciting? Prepping for hammer veneering. While I’m delighted to be learning this traditional skill, Phil prefers his hide glue well done. So although we won’t be dipping into the glue pots for at least another day, the redolent scent of cooking collagen hangs in the air. That ought to go well with breakfast.

– Megan Fitzpatrick

Read part 2 by clicking here.