woodworking

edited February 2011 in creations
this one's about steam-bending.

Mike Jarvi is a well known furniture maker/woodworker. Most of his stuff doesn't appeal to me personally, but his simple steambent bench is a thing of beauty.

this vid is 15 minutes long. starting with the selection of a white oak butt and through to the finished bench, it's a lesson in mastery and awesome workshops. :)

at about the 9 minute mark, he pulls the piece from the steam barrel and sets it to form in six minutes. pure poetry.




his gallery is online at Mike Jarvi
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Comments

  • edited 5:37PM
    I wasn't going to watch it all. But I couldn't help it. Best workshop ever.

    I think I maybe in the wrong profession.
  • edited 5:37PM
    Wow that's great, thanks mick - after a week of dealing with pointless bureaucracy through work, seeing this reminds me of the simple pleasures of 'craft'.



    (Remind me, why did I leave furniture-making/restoration? :happy: )
  • edited February 2011
    "Wow that's great, thanks mick - after a week of dealing with pointless bureaucracy through work, seeing this reminds me of the simple pleasures of 'craft'."

    Because this morning, If you were me.. You crawled into an attic/basically a crawlspace with 2 feet of room to work in..You then put 2 2x8"s flush with the drywall ceiling between 2 10" roof joyces (36"s apart) so the Home owner could screw some hooks into her kitchen ceiling to mount a a really crappy artsy pot and pans holder. You did not fall through the ceiling onto the very ugly "Island/cooking thing that is the pride of their kitchen. You only had 2 roof nails stick you in the head due to the fact you had 2 feet of moving room.. Then there was the joy of crawling out with 100 year old black dust on you... :heart:
  • edited 5:37PM
    we need more fine craftsmen, y'all.

    do any of you have a woodworking collective in the area? that's the only way most people can afford the tools and the space.


    dang, blues'.....a working class hero is something to be..... ;)

    the crawl space.....they always make me do that shit... "you're small; you'll fit better". i have a sawed-off hammer for those short swings.
    the dust sounds horrible. i'm sure you wore a properly fitted dust mask/respirator. (sure i am)


    i'd settle for a workshop 1/4 as awesome as Jarvi's. as it is, mine is the size of a large bedroom and there's precious little cool power equipment.



    this (Canadian) fellow made his own mortising machine. i'm impressed.

  • edited 5:37PM
    blueshead said..."Wow that's great, thanks mick - after a week of dealing with pointless bureaucracy through work, seeing this reminds me of the simple pleasures of 'craft'."

    Because this morning, If you were me.. You crawled into an attic/basically a crawlspace with 2 feet of room to work in..You then put 2 2x8"s flush with the drywall ceiling between 2 10" roof joyces (36"s apart) so the Home owner could screw some hooks into her kitchen ceiling to mount a a really crappy artsy pot and pans holder. You did not fall through the ceiling onto the very ugly "Island/cooking thing that is the pride of their kitchen. You only had 2 roof nails stick you in the head due to the fact you had 2 feet of moving room.. Then there was the joy of crawling out with 100 year old black dust on you... :heart:
    :happy: Funny, after I typed it, I said to myself 'I know why I left, because I twice came as close as I ever want to to losing part of my anatomy in some machinery!' ...part true, part said for effect when someone waxes lyrical about working with your hands :)

    That said, we were lucky that mostly we worked on biggish jobs and you got to see the end of something, you made something. Where as some of the 'paperwork' I'm about to start doing for project evaluation is like banging a nail into oak... ...with your head! :happy:
  • edited 5:37PM
  • edited 5:37PM
    who made that beautiful chair, peak'?
  • peak' said...
    Funny, after I typed it, I said to myself 'I know why I left, because I twice came as close as I ever want to to losing part of my anatomy in some machinery!' ...
    Yes there is that scary part.
    Another big reason many people don't get into woodwork is that it happens to be a really hard way to make money. Price is important to everyone and competing with mass production is tough. And as mick said, those machines are EXPENSIVE. Each easily worth a multi core MacPro plus studio display monitor.

    I've always loved my own shop space which is built into an old barn but wow, this guy's shop is huge ....and that ceiling height would be wonderful too.

    I steam bend a lot of pieces for my rocking chairs and loved to see the setup. Owner built like mine and perfectly adapted to a specific use. I believe the essence of wood craftsmanship is finding a creative way to make what you want, using what you have available. When I was making my press to bend the wood I was all set to go a supplier and buy an official bending press mechanism, Then I thought... that old car jack will lift my car so... maybe that'll work here.... and I used that. It's a bit hard on its bearings, but pretty cheap to replace! For some reason, I am foolishly proud of that idea. :wink:
    Good tools are wonderful, but many people have a 'precious' attitude about them. It's not about the tools. A good craftsman can make a beautiful piece using an ax if that's what he (or she) has available. The other important skill, which I'm sure that Blues will agree with, is the ability to make a mistake and then to make it look as though you always intended it to be that way.

    Mick, I think of steam bending as more of a dance than poetry. I rehearse the steps in my mind before starting. Absolutely everything has to be in place and accessible. It’s the heat more than the humidity that makes the wood flexible, so speed is essential. Even at his 5 minute time it's pushing things and the wood can start to cool. And believe me, it's disappointing to have done all the cutting, shaping and other preparations and then put the wood into the steamer for the proper amount of time and ..... to hear a CRAAACK just as the clamps bend it into the final shape. And even worse if it's because you've forgotten to have a clamp or something ready and the wood is cooling while you rearrange things. Even with everything perfect, the wood can fail under that stress. Some more than others and he is using white oak, which is one of the best bending woods.

    And.. now I expect to hear no more about lurkers not posting! You guys may not realize it, but we lurkers have a list too, and believe me you don't want to get put on that list!
    NOD!
  • edited February 2011
    mick said...who made that beautiful chair, peak'?
    click on the image mick (John Makepeace) Some of his stuff I really like, some I think is just over the top.
    veryfunnybones said...
    peak' said...
    Funny, after I typed it, I said to myself 'I know why I left, because I twice came as close as I ever want to to losing part of my anatomy in some machinery!' ...
    Yes there is that scary part.
    Another big reason many people don't get into woodwork is that it happens to be a really hard way to make money. Price is important to everyone and competing with mass production is tough. And as mick said, those machines are EXPENSIVE. Each easily worth a multi core MacPro plus studio display monitor.

    (...)

    Good tools are wonderful, but many people have a 'precious' attitude about them. It's not about the tools. A good craftsman can make a beautiful piece using an axe if that's what he (or she) has available. The other important skill, which I'm sure that Blues will agree with, is the ability to make a mistake and then to make it look as though you always intended it to be that way.

    (...)

    There are some ways in which Joiners have an better time of it than furniture makers/restorers, as I was; this was back in the 80s when people in the UK knew the cost of everything and value of nothing, so we would often have people in the middle and lower-up classes (sounds terrible that!) who wouldn't want to pay for the time 'craftsmanship' took. In truth it was that leap from being just me in a garage to investing in a 1,500 sq foot workshops and the tools, combined with spending more time out with my camera, that led to the demise of my cabinet making.

    I'm with you on the value of tools, you look after them, but they are tools, same with cameras, computers and cars, use them, don't abuse them (or is that women, joke :) ).

    Oh yes, and the serendipity of mistakes :happy: true - designers know that too!
  • edited February 2011
    Some beautiful work,the steaming. sighs.. My work is more rustic.. but hand made with the sense of feeling I hope my customer will like. I talk to them, get an idea..take 'em out for a drink, loosen them up..then listen to them. I work basically with recycled cypress (new cypress sucks and is too green and old red heart pine--easy to get from house demos, and we still are demoing after Hurricane Katrina). And as veryfunnybones said.. Mistake? That was part of the design...:smile: People here are very comfortable with odd angles, more artistic rustic and primitive furniture and houses.. It does after all suit our city. Shiny and slick does not work in the City of 24/7 bars and Mardi Gras...

    Anything I make is built to be sat on, eaten off, tripped over when drunk.. and hopefully it will be around for another 100-200 years.
  • edited 5:37PM
    veryfunnybones said...Mick, I think of steam bending as more of a dance than poetry.
    i'll go with poetry in motion, then. :)

    i've only steam-bent small pieces, and cedar is very forgiving. (i use a bamboo steamer over a wok).

    your work is stunning, vfb, and that rocking chair is goodness made palpable and fine.
  • edited 5:37PM
    peak' said...
    click on the image mick (John Makepeace) Some of his stuff I really like, some I think is just over the top.
    i was sure i did a hover. dang. thanks. you're right about some being over the top, but that chair is a graceful thing.
  • edited 5:37PM
    blueshead said...

    Anything I make is built to be sat on, eaten off, tripped over when drunk.. and hopefully it will be around for another 100-200 years.
    your skill and care and the love of the wood shows in what you do, blues'. it will be around. :)
  • edited 5:37PM
    Actor-turned-woodworker repurposes New York City structures as classic furniture
  • edited 5:37PM
    someone paid him 1500$ for a freakin' trestle table??



    not that it isn't lovely, but... that would go for 300 max here. they're almost no work at all, and ... 'course, wood's there for the finding. milling into slabs is the most expensive part. you usually have to slip one of the loggers an extra 20.



    he has a nice big workshop, too. :)
  • edited February 2011
    mick said...someone paid him 1500$ for a freakin' trestle table??



    not that it isn't lovely, but... that would go for 300 max here. they're almost no work at all, and ... 'course, wood's there for the finding. milling into slabs is the most expensive part. you usually have to slip one of the loggers an extra 20.



    he has a nice big workshop, too. :)
    ya run that shit through a very good fucking planer.. then through a joiner.. if yer anal straight edge it on a $10,000 table saw.. then TIME fer the GLUE UP!.

    Break out the clamps get out the powdered blue to make your formula from scratch depending on the humidity and weather for the next few days.. Then.. Do you biscuit or Domino? For a table top we Domino.. (This ones for peak.. we love the fucking domino system for tabletop glues-ups!)

    http://www.festoolusa.com/products/domino-joining-system/domino-df-500-joining-system-574307.html


    "mick said...someone paid him 1500$ for a freakin' trestle table?? "

    Hey mick ..we made 4 of these out of old 130 year old red heart pine from demoed house... $1.200 each. Breadboard ends, hand waxed finish,.. sorry no minwax poly etc, etc, no nails or metal.. just a lot of old wood and love... :heart:



    The table Is 8 feet by 36"
  • edited 5:37PM
    biscuit and clamps and a flat dry spot. good enough for what it's for. unless you want the underside of the table carved with scenes from the Sistine Chapel, it's still a 300 dollar table.

    if it's flat, it's cheap here. (exterior doors excepted) there are more low-end woodworkers here than there are almost anything. maybe there's more potters.... you can get a set of hand thrown ramekins fresh out of the kiln for 15$. there's no work here. you sell your stuff for what you can get. since almost no one has any money, that "what you can get" ain't much.

    i wasn't suggesting that skilled work isn't worth much, but a flat table knocks together in a couple of hours (after the glue sets).


    :) i looked too, sorry 'peak. cool system. mark, plunge, and assemble sounds dreamy.
  • edited 5:37PM
    that's a lovely table, sweetie. i believe in the worth of it. i know the real value of your skill.

    it just wouldn't sell for anywhere close to that in my neck of the woods.
  • edited 5:37PM
    blueshead said...
    Hey mick ..we made 4 of these out of old 130 year old red heart pine from demoed house... $1.200 each. Breadboard ends, hand waxed finish,.. sorry no minwax poly etc, etc, no nails or metal.. just a lot of old wood and love... :heart:



    The table Is 8 feet by 36"
    Nice
  • edited 5:37PM
    blueshead said...


    The table Is 8 feet by 36"
    this looks pretty similar to my dining table (which isn't nearly as old, of course). so it's tre marvellous in my book, of course!
  • edited 5:37PM
    just so. :) i've made myself a promise to not fall over in public about the price of fine work. it's not pertinent to the admiration.

    x
  • what in the world?!

    image
  • someone has a touch of OCD or is VERY anal about the bottom line when it comes to the cost of shipping vs the amount of wood per shipment.
  • Jake owns this thread...
  • ^Or...maybe just maybe...it's part of a new range of picture covered tarpaulins.
    You read it here first :D
  • haha! that's a nice idea... *patents*
  • image

    not sure how i feel about the other end, though, but hey (or the price :D) https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/63394039/10x42-bench-live-edge-cedar
  • seems to be carefully avoiding the waterfall end. hmmmmm.....
  • yeah. that really annoys me that they couldn't take a photo of it.
  • image


    anyone for sushi?
  • oOOoo lovely :)
  • They're gorgeous!
  • thank you :)
    other sets, in maple, will have sliding dovetail joints on the feet (honestly, these should have, but the very slight curve in the bottom made shaped straight dadoes more practical) and matching chopsticks. we'll see how they are received when the shop opens in a couple weeks.
  • ^OOOooo...I LOVES DEM!!!!
  • goodworking
  • Oh wow bull, that's bloody lovely.
  • holy crap!!!
  • edited May 2016
    holy crap!!!
    Ya..It blew me away.. Jesus fuck.. Jeez..That Computerized Router made me cum in my pants! :P
  • great stuff :)
  • Ya..It blew me away.. Jesus fuck.. Jeez..That Computerized Router made me cum in my pants! :P
    BWAHAHAHA!!! yeah. that workshop is the shop of my dreams.
  • Oh my lord, that's beautiful!
  • so much sanding this week.
  • Is nice right but...the knee high floor vase at 7:09...YUMMY!!!
  • you can never have too many clamps.
  • god so true bull! i try to buy some every time i go to the store. :)
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