The Spin Doctor
5th May 2024, 07:52 PM
Been clearing out what's not needed anymore...
I have a box of books that have been my bibles over the decades. When I moved to Australia however, it became apparent that antique reproduction furniture making wasn't a thing in QLD... So the books have lived the last 15 years or more in a box. I pulled them out and for the most part I'm fine with selling all but one - Heirloom Furniture, by Franklin Gottshall. It has been the single biggest influence in my life and the direction I took...
What follows is all the memories that came flooding back after I pulled the books out the other day. The memories were so strong I got choked up - more than once.
Some time, around 13 (I'm 60 now), I ventured off to the main library in Victoria BC, Canada. I didn't really know what I'd be looking for, except I was really interested in woodwork. The interest had been fuelled by my enrolling in grade 8 class woodwork class with Mr Brown (we called him Wee Brune), a gruff short English fellow who taught woodwork at my middle school. I think he saw a difference in me (weirdness, which was to be understood many decades later as neurodivergent) and allowed me to come in on the break and lunch to make saw dust... I was obsessed. I didn't talk, I just was head down, bum up making stuff and he left me alone to do whatever... Anyways, that fuelled my desire to take it upon myself (my parents never knew I did it) to take the 1.5 hour bus ride to the big city of Victoria and then find my way to the public library to look at books on woodworking. I didn't even know what stop to get off on when I got there LOL. I still remember the walk to the library from Dougles Street. This wide-eyed kid with literally no idea where he was going finding his way to the modern 70s red brick building on Broughton Street. I can still remember walking up to, relieved to find it, the front door... And then to go in and see the multiple levels of books. Where the hell do I even start. Luckily, I knew to ask at the front desk. Miss, can you tell me where the books on woodworking can be found? The nice librarian walked me to the section and left me to my own devices. Even at that age I knew I didn't want to thumb through "how to" books. I wanted to find books on style. This is where my memory gets a bit fuzzy in that I don't know how I arrived at antique furniture... But when I did, it was like a switch had been engaged. I spent hours pulling all these books down from the shelf and sitting at the table flicking pages... I was hooked.
One of the books I pulled off the shelf is the one in the pics. Heirloom Furniture. I flicked through it till I reached the page in the other pic of the slant top desk. I don't even know how to describe the revelation I had when I saw it. I knew in my mind, and said to myself, I wanted to make it one day. Problem was the book had a red sticker on the binding - it was reference only, couldn't be signed out... I was a 13-year-old with no money so I couldn't even afford the 5c photocopy cost per page, though I remembered the authors last name luckily.
As my woodworking desire increased over the next years till graduation. I had a great high school teacher, Mr Braun, who knew (in retrospect I understood this) to leave me alone and let me do whatever I wanted. I was a weirdly obsessed kid. I never took a test or did any of the required projects... He'd just throw me the keys to the shop and say: don't cut your fingers off, when I went in on my own time - alone. One thing never left me, that book and that desk. The book and its jacket cover were etched into my mind. A couple of attempts to go back the library were fruitless but I eventually found it again. Well!! I promptly photocopied every page of that book. I had the 5c per page this time!! I still have those photocopies.
When I graduated I, obviously, sought out a furniture making job. By this time I was a pretty good woodturner also, so it wasn't hard to find a place to work. We woodturners, good ones especially, were and are a scarce breed in the woodwork world. Geoff and Grant were generous bosses and let me use the shop on my own time... So, I took the opportunity and pretty much moved in. I dragged all my tools over to their shop. And that's when I dusted off those old photocopies and set about making that Chippendale desk. Back in my late teens/early twenties I wasn't confident in my abilities, so I made it as a Queen Anne style - devoid of all the carvings. It worked out quite well and I put it in their show room, and it sold in hours - to a tourist that resided in Montreal. The second iteration was true to the books plans and I put that one up for sale also in their show room, at a substantial increase in price of course. Took a few weeks but it was also sold to someone back east... My third build didn't go so well LOL. I also decided to include a matching chair. I, for some reason, decided I wanted to make the ball n claw feet more representative of real life - an eagle grasping a round object. Well!! The feet were an abortion to say the least. So much so that I didn't think they were worthy of being put up for sale. My mom was more than happy for the chair and desk to live at her house for the next decade though. Many years later, after I moved to Australia and my wife had made claim over the desk and chair, I tried to repent of my design foux pas and re-carve the ball n claw feet as they should have been. Somewhere in the mid 2000s annals of Woodwork forums archives there's a thread on this... But it didn't work - they still suck. The chair, which is an original design, that I, to this day can't find fault in it (from the ankle up that is). They both would benefit greatly from wearing socks...
All that came flooding back from pulling out a couple books to sell.
The books will be posted here soon if anyone is interested, just not this one...
I have a box of books that have been my bibles over the decades. When I moved to Australia however, it became apparent that antique reproduction furniture making wasn't a thing in QLD... So the books have lived the last 15 years or more in a box. I pulled them out and for the most part I'm fine with selling all but one - Heirloom Furniture, by Franklin Gottshall. It has been the single biggest influence in my life and the direction I took...
What follows is all the memories that came flooding back after I pulled the books out the other day. The memories were so strong I got choked up - more than once.
Some time, around 13 (I'm 60 now), I ventured off to the main library in Victoria BC, Canada. I didn't really know what I'd be looking for, except I was really interested in woodwork. The interest had been fuelled by my enrolling in grade 8 class woodwork class with Mr Brown (we called him Wee Brune), a gruff short English fellow who taught woodwork at my middle school. I think he saw a difference in me (weirdness, which was to be understood many decades later as neurodivergent) and allowed me to come in on the break and lunch to make saw dust... I was obsessed. I didn't talk, I just was head down, bum up making stuff and he left me alone to do whatever... Anyways, that fuelled my desire to take it upon myself (my parents never knew I did it) to take the 1.5 hour bus ride to the big city of Victoria and then find my way to the public library to look at books on woodworking. I didn't even know what stop to get off on when I got there LOL. I still remember the walk to the library from Dougles Street. This wide-eyed kid with literally no idea where he was going finding his way to the modern 70s red brick building on Broughton Street. I can still remember walking up to, relieved to find it, the front door... And then to go in and see the multiple levels of books. Where the hell do I even start. Luckily, I knew to ask at the front desk. Miss, can you tell me where the books on woodworking can be found? The nice librarian walked me to the section and left me to my own devices. Even at that age I knew I didn't want to thumb through "how to" books. I wanted to find books on style. This is where my memory gets a bit fuzzy in that I don't know how I arrived at antique furniture... But when I did, it was like a switch had been engaged. I spent hours pulling all these books down from the shelf and sitting at the table flicking pages... I was hooked.
One of the books I pulled off the shelf is the one in the pics. Heirloom Furniture. I flicked through it till I reached the page in the other pic of the slant top desk. I don't even know how to describe the revelation I had when I saw it. I knew in my mind, and said to myself, I wanted to make it one day. Problem was the book had a red sticker on the binding - it was reference only, couldn't be signed out... I was a 13-year-old with no money so I couldn't even afford the 5c photocopy cost per page, though I remembered the authors last name luckily.
As my woodworking desire increased over the next years till graduation. I had a great high school teacher, Mr Braun, who knew (in retrospect I understood this) to leave me alone and let me do whatever I wanted. I was a weirdly obsessed kid. I never took a test or did any of the required projects... He'd just throw me the keys to the shop and say: don't cut your fingers off, when I went in on my own time - alone. One thing never left me, that book and that desk. The book and its jacket cover were etched into my mind. A couple of attempts to go back the library were fruitless but I eventually found it again. Well!! I promptly photocopied every page of that book. I had the 5c per page this time!! I still have those photocopies.
When I graduated I, obviously, sought out a furniture making job. By this time I was a pretty good woodturner also, so it wasn't hard to find a place to work. We woodturners, good ones especially, were and are a scarce breed in the woodwork world. Geoff and Grant were generous bosses and let me use the shop on my own time... So, I took the opportunity and pretty much moved in. I dragged all my tools over to their shop. And that's when I dusted off those old photocopies and set about making that Chippendale desk. Back in my late teens/early twenties I wasn't confident in my abilities, so I made it as a Queen Anne style - devoid of all the carvings. It worked out quite well and I put it in their show room, and it sold in hours - to a tourist that resided in Montreal. The second iteration was true to the books plans and I put that one up for sale also in their show room, at a substantial increase in price of course. Took a few weeks but it was also sold to someone back east... My third build didn't go so well LOL. I also decided to include a matching chair. I, for some reason, decided I wanted to make the ball n claw feet more representative of real life - an eagle grasping a round object. Well!! The feet were an abortion to say the least. So much so that I didn't think they were worthy of being put up for sale. My mom was more than happy for the chair and desk to live at her house for the next decade though. Many years later, after I moved to Australia and my wife had made claim over the desk and chair, I tried to repent of my design foux pas and re-carve the ball n claw feet as they should have been. Somewhere in the mid 2000s annals of Woodwork forums archives there's a thread on this... But it didn't work - they still suck. The chair, which is an original design, that I, to this day can't find fault in it (from the ankle up that is). They both would benefit greatly from wearing socks...
All that came flooding back from pulling out a couple books to sell.
The books will be posted here soon if anyone is interested, just not this one...