kmack

Of all the people in the woodworking field, it was Sam Maloof That I most admired. In the last 60 years there have been only a handful of true original ideas in the furniture industry.Sam's furniture like the classics of centuries past will assume its rightful place along side the likes of Chippendale, Sheraton, Hepplewhite,Ruhlmann, Greene and Greene etc. Sam was scheduled to give a lecture at the North Bennet St. School The first week of May, An opportunity to meet the man who inspired me to begin a career in furniture. Unfortunately he became ill and was not able to make the trip. I was truly saddened to hear of his passing. I will visit his work at the MFA Boston this weekend and pay my respects.

Having gone to the North Bennet St. School for furniture, I was fortunate enough to spend some down time in the violin dept. Your Box reminds me of those days. Fantastic work.

I love the big ones. Do the 14-20 sizes have the same thin sides as the smaller designs?

Hey Chris, Great looking website. The shop is an amazing space. Id love to get out to see it first hand, and catch up with you guys. Hope all is well, say hi to don for me. kevinmackfurniture@gmail.com www.kevinmackfinefirniture.com

I recently Purchased this book at the Harvard Bookstore in Cambridge Ma. Next to the Masterworks of John and Thomas
Seymour by Robert Mussey, this is my favorite book. I grew up in southern Ma. so this book is especially interesting to me.To me using the book for inspiration in my own work in some way continues the lineage of the furniture makers that came before me.I can only hope that 100 yrs. from now my work might be worthy of a book of the quality of this one.

Fantastic! I make my living building furniture, and have my high school woodshop class to thank for it.My Uncle taught woodshop for 37 years and I was fortunate to have him for 4 years. I never made anything that comes close to the skill level these kids make, but I did get the bug for more. What fascinated me was the ability to make just about anything I could imagine. I saw what my uncle made and he told me, with time I could do the same. Without a class like this many kids never find this potential skill. Forget that they may use the skills learned to become a furniture maker, better yet they learn they CAN do what they once thaught they could not.Keep up the great work.

I look at this question from a strictly practical point of veiw. I do woodworking for a living, and can not afford to take chances with "questionable" techniques or untested designs. This is not to say that I dont enjoy pushing the limits of my skills and in some cases the limitations of the materials. Having said that I am not going to make something that is inherently flawed for the sake of design. Throughout history furnituremakers and designers have built pieces that did not last the test of time. Those that did were firmly grounded in time tested methods of work. One look at the Wintherter Museum Collection would be hard pressed to deny these pieces as ART.Just as beautiful today as the day Chippendale or Shereton or Hepplewhite put pen to paper.M customers come to me because they know my skills allow me to build LASTING furniture of a quality that is no longer the norm.Its hard enough for me to make a living without taking on reiventing the wheel at the same time.If I want a BIG MAC I dont go to Subway. FWW is My Big Mac, complete with a sesame seed bun...

As they say imitation is the purest form of flattery. What if Nakashima or Maloof had a dime for every time someone copied their designs... Or maybe ask Gary Regowski about his experience with seeing what he thought was his original design, showing up at the local IKEA being massed produced by a Chinese manufacturer. I doubt he got any kind of Attribution.This kind of thing has been going on for centuries, Early American furniture is nothing more than English designs made for a less formal American market. This landscape design obviously speaks to our collective imaginations, which is why I clicked on the picture. I think Ill make one myself,Heres the attribution in advance (just in case it ends up at IKEA).

String line inlay is done in 2 ways. The easiestof these is the (scratch stock) method. This is done with a piece of old bandsaw stock (about 2" long) pinched between two pieces of hardwood (maple). The wood is cut in the shape of an 'L' with the short end used as a fence and the long end used to hold the steel. 3 screws are used to hold the two peices of wood together and the metal "scraper", 2 on the short end 1 at the far end of the long end. Using a grinder and a metal file, shape the steel to the thickness of the veneer that you choose to use and long enough (about 1/8") to hold the inlay strip in the wood. It is then just a matter of 'scraping' the scratch stock over the edge of the panel, following lines drawn out on the board to the required depth and glung in the veneer. Curves are done the same way using a "trammel". The other version is done with a laminate trimmer, fences and small router bits. I like the latter version better because of the fine lines possible. Router bits however small are still larger than the classic designs.

Thanks for the comments. This project was my case piece requirement at the North Bennet St. School. It took about 4-5 weeks of 50+ hours per. Much of the time was spent taiming the quilted and tiger maple veneer. All the panels were pre finished prior to assembly.As with all the projects at school this had to be drawn in full scale, templates and bending jigs built and many operations were practiced in poplar before doing the actual peice.Now having all the templates and jigs, a copy of the same peice could be done in about 2-3 wks.

Im with wcutter, I would like to see more info about federal embellishments. The more intricate items of the Seymours inventory, such as how to make the 'half moon sand shaded inlays' they used in their edge treatments. Also The bellflower swags they inlayed into tambour doors. Samual McIntire carving techniques IE:fruit basket carvings and background texturing tools used. Maybe a step by step on creating a carved,turned and fluted leg for a federal sideboard or secretary

I have been fascinated with your work from the very first time I saw it. In the years that I have been builing furniture I have been looking for a style of my own, often thinking that (Its all been done before.) Work like yours gives me inspiration that creativity is still alive and well.
I hope all works out for you and I look forward to seeing your NEW work in the near future.GOD BLESS.

Whats up D. the chairs look awsome. What happened to these? Did you sell them? have you any pics with upholstry?

I love this peice. The Material Girl inlay is very cool.

Wow Dennis, this is very special. Carving purpleheart couldnt have been easy. Did you use power carving tools or chisels?

WOW! this is nice. I am curious about the door? is it solid or veneer? How was the marquetry done?

Yes Dennis, I do have closeups, I will post them soon. P.S. I checked out your work as well, some fantastic marquetry and carving. Im working on a mahogany and satinwood worktable with a parquetry top.My first foray into advanced veneering techniques after a conversation with Silas Kopf about possibly apprenticing with him. His advice to me was this: How do you get to Carnegie Hall... Practice, practice, practice.

Hi Matt, I will be beginning a large (9'x9') mahogany and satinwood breakfront,built to house a 60" flat screen tv in the next few days. This project will incorporate handmade inlays,crotch mahogany doors and a large sandshaded fan arched pediment. I would love to share my progress with with you if you feel this is a project readers would be interested in. This will be my largest project to date after graduating last February from the North Bennet Street School in 08.

I have found some great wood on craigslist under Materials.Usually the lumber was locally felled and cut with a bandsaw mill,the price is usually $1 to $2 bf. . Like others have said local municipalities are more than happy to get rid of logs they cut down to protect power lines. All is needed is letting them know your interested,then bringing it to a sawyer. I recently got several black locust logs from a neihbor who removed them form his backyard to make room for a garage, the sawyer will come to my location and cut it onsite.My sawyer charges $50.00 per hour. the five logs should take 3 to 4 hours and yeild in excess of 1000 bf.

can you say saaweett. Come on Greenie, A peice of this quality deserves A little more description.

The panel in the top is a bent lamination. 3 layers of 1/8"birch ply all layed up in the same direction. Then an underlayment veneer layed up cross grain ,finished with the face veneer. Each step was done in a vaccum bag over a mold.

An amazing example of inlay work. Having a love for this type of federal work myself, I know just how difficult and daunting a task this type of quality work is. As a graduate of the North Bennet St. School this is what we were taught to aspire to. I love the demi lune form and may use some of your ideas in my own version in the near furure. Incredible work.