masterpiece

     A MASTERPIECE!...Inspires thoughts of a beautiful creation doesn't it? Maybe a painting, or a poem or even to some extant a fine meal. Well honestly any or all of these may be true, but how many can one man (or woman) make in their lifetime? 5? 10? dozens? hundreds? The answer contrary to most beliefs today is just 1.

   You see there is no problem with my answer...or even with the question. The problem is with the proclamation: Masterpiece. A masterpiece is actually never made by a master believe it or not. A masterpiece is made by someone attempting to be proclaimed a master. Think of it as the final test of a tradesmen.

     In the old-world way of teaching there was no (or very few) 'centers of higher learning' available to the masses, where one could go to class and study to earn a 'masters degree'. The way it was done is you were sold. That's right sold. As in indentured servant. A recognized master craftsman would 'buy' you from your family at about age 7, give or take. You were then kept by this master for an average of 20 yrs while he taught you his trade. At about the 19yr mark this master was expected to give you the materials (and to have given/taught you to make you own personal tools along the way in your training)  to build YOUR MASTERPIECE. When you were done with this piece it was presented to your master. Who then judged it to either be the work of a master , or not. This was a make or break test - pass or fail. So you pulled out all the stops, used all the tricks and techniques you knew, spent all the extra time you could. Because if you passed this test you would be recognized as a 'wandering master' able to build your own business in just 4yrs time, but if you failed this test - you would never be a master. You could not 'retake' this test, there were and are no 'do-overs'. So even though after this point you may hold the title 'master', because of the time and tears involved you probably never made a piece of this magnitude again. Quite honestly , you never again have a need. By the time you are again producing pieces of this stature and grandeur- you have apprentices of your own to help. So you see, a masterpiece is not merely a piece made by a master but instead a piece made by someone begging to be recognized as a master...

Photo Update: Master's Project

I've been so busy taking out that Olive Tree and working on it, I'm a bit behind on posting my progress.  These shots are from much earlier in the year. 



The reason the Drafting Table was made was so that I could use it as a place to design the Master's Chest.

Here it is in use: 

You'll notice there is a wooden block at the top that I've added since I last took a picture of the drafting table.  This is a place to keep my drafting tools so that they are easy to grab as I need them. 

Do I look like a furniture maker now?

Well here I am in the beginning of the next step: turning my log into lumber.

Guess what I found out about trees? God apparently didn't make them with the intention of going through my bandsaw. They are lumpy, twisty, and have this funny bark stuff on the outside. Which generally says my bandsaw is too small and the tree is more powerful than it.

Speaking of powerful trees, who'da thunk they were 85% water. And water weighs 7lbs per gallon. Don't think that's much? Go measure your milk jug. It's not that big of a branch. Now stack that milk jug on top of itself 9 times and tell me how heavy the branch is?

So with all of that said, I'm finding out both how strong I am and how out of shape I've become. And how much both of those effect being able to make a rectangular piece out of a round branch. Especially a branch that's too big around to fit under my 6" clearance on the saw. So you'll find a couple of things have happened. Some of the logs I've had to center split with a chainsaw first, while others I've used chisels, mallets, a hatchet even to remove the bark to thin them down. (Thinking about that - where did I put my draw knife?)

All this fun and I'm on branch one of five, plus two trunks and a burl of tree one out of nine! A lot more blogs to come about the trials/ tribulations and back pain of milling a tree.

First day of a Master?

If this was it take it back!  LOL.  I started today in earnest working on my masters project . My friend Bob was kind enough to give me an olive tree from his back yard. Sooooo

Step 1. Remove tree … Mother told me there would be days like this

Lets back up.  4 days ago I caught either bronchitis or walking pneumonia.  Couple that with the fact that I’m in season for my allergy induced asthma and that’s where I start today – not breathing.

So all day I’m dropping cough drops like they are my favorite candy ever (EVERYONE KNOWS that,  THAT is CHOCOLATE)  and we decided we are going to take THIS branch off this tree….that’s all just one branch.

Yeah, uh huh, 1 branch.  This tree is HUGE.  This 1 branch , one of the smaller ones, was 9ft long and 8” in dia. After pruning it to a ball head, with several smaller ones able to be used for lumber as well (I will have pen blanks for sale not TOO far down the road) in total I harvested 4 logs (5 1/2ft , 4ft,6ft and 3ft…remember I had to clean cut them all after they  were grounded)…..but lets not forget the foliage.

So here’s the count…. 4 logs and 2 truckloads of foliage .

So I take it back to the shop to mill it down to rough lumber. Getting there at 4PM. By 8PM I was calling Kat to bring me my rescue inhaler that I foolishly left at home, a 16 mile round trip for her – she loves me. . . or my life insurance isn’t paid up :/

By that 8oclock time I had accomplished exactly 3 things:

1.    (1)  I DID get 1 branch to the shop…..remember this started with step 1 up there LMAO yeah right

2.        (2)1 did get ¼ of 1 log milled down….the other 3 and 3/4  logs? Not so much.

3.      (3)  I got all the ends of all the logs painted to slow the drying process in order to allow me time to mill them & then air dry them

Remove tree?.....yeah right next time I’ll know better and I’ll have a better plan.
Why didn't I have a better plan you ask?...after all  I AM working on my masters project??!!
To this I say : I'm a furniture maker not a lumberjack or millwright!!! ( though I may be when Im done! )

More about the Master's Project

I recently got a question about my Master's Project. So, I wanted to clarify a little bit.

Its for a Masters Appointment. This is "the light at the end of the tunnel".

18 yrs ago I met "my" master, Carl ( now deceased) who started me on this path. He was a certified master Coo coo Clock maker from the olde world, indentured servant school of learning. I have done my best to follow the system he laid out for me all those years ago & now it has come time to build my Masters Project.

When I am done it will be presented to a couple of recognized standing masters ( I am fortunate enough to know 1 personally & have met & made arrangements with 2 others).

If I get 1 nod of approval I'm a master in standing next to them - if not , I never will be. Its a make or break all test. If I pass this final test I believe I will be the first such appointed master since WWII.

My time is running out - the only CERTIFIED master I know is in his early 90's, if I don't do this soon the opportunity simply wont exist anymore to be passed on to anyone. In a sentence : I'm struggling to preserve an extinct tradition.

A very "Green" Drafting Table

The drafting table is completed!

As mentioned before, this was built so that I can have a space to work on the design of my Master's Project. (see below)

This is made, primarily out of spare wood from around the shop. Even the butcher block top.

The top was a butcher block (Northern Soft Maple) from a home (where we built the replacement). The "I" of the legs was shop scrap left over from building that replacement butcher block.

The cross member, foot rest, was a fall off from a production built butcher block used for the island in the same home. Also Northern Soft Maple




The Fiddleback Maple of the pencil lip on the front of the table was from my personal stash. I try to pick up any in the lumber piles at my suppliers when I'm lucky enough to find a figured piece.

The back and front connector of the legs were a remnant from a large mall job a friend had. These are pieces of maple that were rejected for their grain, on a job that wanted straight grain.

The African Mahogany "/" of the legs were a remnant after a large job of trophies.

The four hand turned pins were random maple scraps from my firewood pile.


Two pieces of All-thread that were donated from a friend who was replacing lighting, are set at the back with hand turned Mahogany handles (also from the trophy remnant above).

The drafting arm itself (Bruning) was given to me by my high school woodshop teacher when the high school disbanded the drafting class. Sadly, the other 29 drafting arms in the class were left to rust and sold as scrap metal along with the desks. Worse still, I kept in contact with my wood shop teacher until he no longer remembered his wife, due to severe Alzheimers. A dear friend, sorely missed.

Because almost all of the parts were either kept from being discarded, left over from jobs, or donated, it was a very green job and in the end it cost $10.70 to build this. Well that was the price of the hinge and some copper plumbing end caps.

A Master's project

It used to be, that to become a Master woodworker, a person had to pass one last test. He had to use all of the skills he had learned from the master he studies under to craft a final piece. It would be his Master-piece.

If his master approved of his work, the woodworker was now a Master himself. If he didn't approve of his work, he never would be. It's a one shot deal, there are no do-overs.

Today things are done very different in most trades. But woodworking is one of the oldest professions (in here we need to interject a little story: woodworking is in fact the second oldest profession. When the first profession was offered, a branch was broken off a local tree, thus creating a club and the second profession - woodworking. The club was then used to procure the first profession, thus creating the third profession - war. And eliminating a problem that would not appear for an eon, pacifism).

Back to the point: In woodworking there is still a respect for the ways of the past. Many advances have been made, but you'll find that much of that is about making things easier and faster. But those old ways still work wonderfully and still inspire the hand to touch the piece.

However, most have forgotten the test of the Master Piece. Few attempt it these days. But I'm going to be among those few. I'm going to create my Master's Tool Chest as my Master's project. Because I'm a furniture builder, my Master's piece needs to contain elements of that in it's design. It will also have elements of all of the things that I can do.

The biggest trick, I can't really use all of the modern electrical tools to make things easier and faster. That's right, no power tools. Am allowed to use a mill to cut, but everything beyond that, including the drying, must be done by hand.

The first step has begun. I am building a drafting table (Pictures of this will be coming soon) in the shop so I can design my Master's chest. This is not part of the master's project, so yes, I am using power tools on it. And I have acquired a private tutor to teach me to use a slide rule so I can relieve myself of that wonderful little gadget, a calculator. UG If the slide rule don't work out, I may end up making an abacus. I know how to use an abacus. :)

My next step is to obtain a log. That's right, not lumber, but a log. And I'll have to turn that log into lumber. Surprisingly this has been harder than expected. But I'll discuss the trouble with this later as well.

Be sure to check back often as I work my way through this amazing project!