Just heard from Peter Korn! This summer I'll be in Rockport, Maine working as an assistant in the summer workshops at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship! I can't wait to get back to CFC (read about my time in the 9 month course 07/08) and I hope to blog about the experience of being a summer assistant.
Between now and then, I'll continue volunteering at the Ashland High School woodshop 2-3 days a week. There are a number of really talented students producing some great work in the class. One student is making a very nice hand-cut dovetailed box. He's been working on it for a few months now and it's looking great.
I'll get some pictures of it next week and post them here.
Going on in my much reduced shop: Still setting things up post move. The new shop space is a tiny 1 car garage that also contains quite a bit of camping and other gear. I'll post some pictures of it soon (did I mention it's really small?). I've been working primarily with hand tools--including hand ripping with a panel saw. It's been fun, but it definitely slows down the pace of work. Although it has given me quite a bit of time to tryout Lie-Nielsen's new panel saws. Here's a mini-review:
Review of Lie-Nielsen Panel Saws
After using the crosscut (12ppi) and rip version (7ppi) of these new saws from Lie-Nielsen for about 6 months, I feel I have a fair understanding of how well they perform--in a word: They are FANTASTIC. Both saws track well and cut fast. They came from LN ready to work and have held their sharpness well working in domestic hardwoods.
In use, I've ripped several 80 inch long 1/4 inch edge strips for cabinets out of red oak and had just a few minutes of work with a handplane to get the cut line up to finish quality. The tote fits nicely in my hand and the saws are light enough to use for extended periods of time. My only complaint, and it's really more of a product request, is that they would make a full size version of each saw. I've pulled the rip saw out of the kerf several times while I adjusted to its length.
