Greetings, All
My name is Joseph and I’m new to the community. I’m 29, Male, FL.
I started doing wood work 2 years ago as a hobby. After my first project thou draining I feel in love.
My question to the community is who inspires or inspired you?
I would like if everyone that reads that post can post who inspires them and link to the person biography or a link of their work.
Replies
For me, in terms of design, I am inspired by the work of the many Shaker craftsmen. In terms of craftsmanship, I would have to say that I am most inspired by my father, father-in-law and brother-in-law. All three are fellow woodworkers, and the thought of having them see my final results inspires me to constantly improve my work. Nothing with any links to bios of pics of their work to share, but for me theese are the people who keep me going and who keep me striving for perfection.
-pjw
Do you have an pieces that especially toouched your heart that you wouldn't mind posting a picture of. Can you post some of your own work?
I always liked to tinker with wood (or anything else I could build something with), but what really planted the seed was a trip to Williamsburg when I was in the 6th grade.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
As for me, I really can't remember when I
first became interested in woodworking.
I always seemed interested as far back as I can remember.
The first "real" project I made (that I can remember) was when
I was about 11 years old - I built a foot stool from (crap)
scrap wood I found in my parents garage. The top was
made out of very rough plywood and the legs were made
from 2x4's. Took about an hour to make and looked like
an 11 year old made it from crap/scrap.
From then on I was always scrounging to build things
that eventually fueled backyard camp fires during my youth.
As I got older I would have to say Norm (NYW) really caught
my attention and I began collecting tools in college. I've built
a lot of things since then. Most of which have been given
away as gifts, or commissioned work (some for cash -
some for a nice dinner). Very little of what I've made has
actually stayed in my possession.
Norm was my first real inspiration. But as time went on I
grew to appreciate Greene & Greene, Stickley, Peter Korn,
and many others that are here in knots. Just regular people
creating some darn fine work. No one person in particular
now...just anyone that is better than I am inspires me.
I have many photos - but none handy to post now.
Bill-
I had done a little bit of woodworking as a teenager and while in college, mostly simple 2×4 carpentry and the like. But my real inspiration came when I stumbled across James Krenov's A Cabinetmaker's Notebook at the Princeton Public Library (they didn't have a web site back then...).
-Steve
ben,
My question to the community is who inspires or inspired you?
That's an easy one for me to answer: Fine Woodworking.
My first contact with FWW was back in the late 70's, the first peak was issue #3 and the article was a Queen Anne Lowboy. My first reaction was WOW! How in tarnation do you make something that beautiful? Someday, someday.......
Several years passed as I became more and more experienced with essentially carpentry skills, working my way towards my goal - fine woodworking. I thought this was a good way to refine my skills, learn how to use woodworking tools and build things of lasting quality.
All along the way I took on any and all challenges related to carpentry, from framing, roofing, windows, doors, cabinets, decks; you name it. Anything and everything to do with working wood all the while chasing that elusive goal.
Then along came Knots back in November of 2004. That's when the inspiration came on nearly a daily basis. There are folks in here that are experts in every facet of fine woodworking.
You ask who inspired me? Here's a link to his work.
No, I ain't brow nosin anybody,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Edited 5/20/2008 9:43 am ET by KiddervilleAcres
This is great... I've seen some many great starts at woodworking. At 29 yrs old I wonder if my work will ever inspire others to continue this art form.
Me, too, Bob.
I've been a hobbyist for over 25 years. My first inspiration was my Dad (no biography). He was a simple man and a carpenter. He made a few things, but he loved wood. I took shop class in high school and Gus Santolla (now past on) inspired me to do lots of things wood/welding/blacksmithing/machining. I've loved it ever since. I use to buy every Rodale (long gone) book I could and I watched Norm (and still do). I'd go to craft shows and sit and talk to people who made things and ask how. Most people love to talk. Finally only recently have I started looking at what would be considered artists. I want to build a Maloof rocker some day(stretch goal). I truly prefer shaker style & arts and crafts. The artsy fartsy stuff that looks like a Picasso painting in wood, does not do much for me, but to each his own. Jump in, and find what you like and make some sawdust. Just remember if your like me, accept the fact you will make firewood sometimes, but as you progress in skill that happens less and less(well maybe).
If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it.
And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
I can't say anyone in particular inspired me. While there are many woodworkers whose things I like,( most are long dead) it isn't the person, it is the furniture that inspires me.
When I read the title to this thread, the first people that came to my mind were John and Thomas Seymour.
Rob Millard
http://www.americanfederalperiod.com
Edited 5/20/2008 1:03 pm ET by RMillard
I've always been interested in woodworking for as long as I can remember. My mom had my first project I ever made. It was a small little match stick sized table made out of balsa wood from a project kit my older brother Dave got for Christmas one year. I was four years old when I made it. Later when I was seven or eight I was inspired by a tow truck my brother Steve made out of pine and plastic model truck parts. The tow part was a string that wound up on a metal wire. I thought it was the neatest thing in the world and still have it to this day.
When I was in middle school, my shop teacher Mr Morganroth taught me the basic fundamentals of woodworking using a bandsaw, files and sandpaper. After that I was on my own. My dad never worked with wood but yet, my brothers and I all have had an appreciation for wood. My brother Dave is a cabinet maker today, my brother Steve was a carpenter in the union for awhile and I have been going non stop with woodworking for years with a complete shop in my basement.
As for who truly inspired me? I would have to say Roy Underhill. I've always been a huge fan of his show for the past 25 years and no one person has taught me more than him while watching The Woodwright's Shop. I enjoy the fact that he works wood with simple hand tools and doesn't rely on an $5000 drum sander to complete his projects. Unfortunately, I'm the only person I know in my life who likes him. Two other woodworking friends of mine as well as my wife can't stand him. My wife can't stand him because of the scraping sounds he makes with his planes and the fact he doesn't make any modern looking furniture. My friends can't stand him because he doesn't use any power tools and they're both power tool buffs. But I like him and understand where he's coming from. I personally think his show is way under rated as it's taken on and off the air in the Cincinnati market while The New Yankee Workshop will run repeats of previous seasons throughout the week.
mike
Hey mike,
You can count me in as a fan of Roy. I remember seeing his show back in the 80s. Oh and you can also count my wife as a fan too, but I think it was more his sense of humor than his skills.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
If you ever get a chance to meet him in person don't miss it. He's quite entertaining.
I, too am a huge fan of Roy's. Not becuause I want to do the same kind of work that he does, or with the same tools. I want the same passion, humor, and surety. Anyone who criticises him can't see beyond the utensils.Brian
It's in the genes. My grandfather was an old school German carpenter who came to the US before WW1. My mother even says I look like him. I have several of the pieces he made out of oak, foot stools, a toy chest. More valuable than a Stickly original.
My first lathe was my Erector set motor turning balsa. Haven't stopped since.
50+ Years ago my Grandfather started me on bird houses. But the most fun was a three story treehouse at about age 12. Have never stopped woodworking.
Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
Is there any where i can see any of your work?
I do just about all of the cover/prop. shots for the http://WWW.eagleamerica.com catalog.Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
My great-grandfather, a cabinetmaker, all hand tools. He passed at 97 when I was 16. I've been working wood all my life.
Dick
Don't know if I can answer that, Joseph. I grew up on a farm, a poor one, and often we needed to make parts and implements. I was never much good at the metal stuff, but I learned to make wooden parts and implements out of sheer necessity.
In later years I began a more formal study of the trade and found Maloof and Moser (and dare I say, Abrams) to be inspirations.
I was inspired to get into woodworking by my ex-fiancee.
She kept badgering me to marry her, but I knew there was something wrong. So, one day she said to me, "If you don't marry me I'm leaving." I said, "I'll help you pack."
I took the money I had saved for the wedding and bought a bunch of really nice woodworking machines and a few hundred board feet of quarter sawn white oak.
I'm sure I got the best end of the deal. There are no links , that I know of, to crazyellen.com...
PS Two years later I married a really great woman who is perfect in all respect but one. She thinks I'm a "tool collector", not a wood worker. Go Figure...
That's the best story I've heard in a while. Aren't you glad you didn't marry crazy ellen???
Jeff
LMAO. That's a good one!
Cool Thread,
Probably the single biggest influence was my late dad, dad was a Master machinist that owned a fairly successful tool and die business that employed 20 machinists for about 35 years. Although dad worked in metal, he also built grandfather clocks for four of my brothers and sisters.. Dad was a perfectionist, big time..
Dad subscribed to Fine Woodworking in the early days, in fact I have his magazines from #1 to I don't know when.. I can remember the picture of the Townsend kneehole bureau on the cover of issue #23, I thought all that furniture in that issue was the best thing since sliced bread (I was 11 years old), I still do. I guess that issue also influenced me greatly
My inspiration started at an early age. The first half came from my great uncle, who was a master pattern maker at Owens-Illinois and an avid antiques collector. He was forever doing quality repairs on "diamonds in the rough" and producing first rate furniture. The second half is from my maternal grandfather. He was truly a master of all trades, not just a jack of all. He had me shingling his roof with him at the age of 6, and the lessons never stopped from there, until about three weeks ago when his body finally gave up at the age of 96 1/2. I'm thankful to have had such direction growing up, and hope to pass on as much as I can of their lessons and my own discoveries.
All ,
When I was 21 years old I found a small furniture and restoration shop that was willing to hire me as an apprentice .
The fact was the owner had a son a few years younger then me and thought having another young guy there might light a fire under his boy . I did wood shop all through high school and had a small garage shop setup and was doing Redwood burls and bars and clocks and such .I hadn't really learned to build much yet .
Well as fate would have things the boy , Scott and I became best of friends and he was the most artistic person I'd ever met . Within one year he taught me how to draw a sketch and a working drawing and how to sharpen a chisel , hand saws , circular blades and just about anything that cut.
I learned restoration work , Cane , rush and weaving , lacquer work refinishing, how to reproduce just about any piece or part of furniture .
Scott was an inspiration he always went farther then any client expected and taught me to be dedicated to detail .About 5 or 6 years later I moved North to Oregon and soon started my furniture / cabinet shop .
It's been a education in progress, and at times a rough ride but I would do it all over the same if I could .
I'm 56 and I'll have to go it alone without my mentor as Scott recently moved on to the big shop in the sky , I figure they must of had one heck of a tricky job up there and could'nt do it without him .
key boards damp must go
d
Joseph,
Interesting question. I'm inspired by work which showes creativity, either artistically, the way a problem is solved, or is unorthodox. What drives me is a challenge or problem to overcome. I like to push the envelope and come up with new ways to make something work.
When building a treasure chest, I needed metal straps with the hinge incorporated. None were available. Some suggested using butt hinges and mounting metal straps to the outside for aesthetics. But that wasn't what I wanted. So I decided to forge my own hinge straps. I was warned that it would be very difficult to do. That only fueled my fire. I forged and textured the hardware (lots of hammering) by myself, the way I though it ought to be done. And it turned out great. I'm very proud of the result. (Warning: The picture attached at the bottom is massive!)View Image
As for inspirational books, my favourites are 400 Wood Boxes; 500 Wood Bowls; and Sam Maloof, Woodworker. Fine Woodworking's reader's gallery is another source of inspiration, though the pictures are a little small and few details are shown.
Chris @ www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
More than individuals, I'm motivationally inspired by seeing works in person. I visit museums regularly. I'm always charged up after a visit to Winterthur, The Getty and other such places. When I want to be humbled to the extreme, I look at the work of
André Charles Boulle.
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ffurn/ho_1982.60.82.htm
Jean Henri Riesener,
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ffurn/ho_20.155.11.htm
Emile Jacques Ruhlmann
http://www.metmuseum.org/special/Ruhlmann/art_deco_images.htm
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Bensin,
"This is great... I've seen some many great starts at woodworking. At 29 yrs old I wonder if my work will ever inspire others to continue this art form"
Of course. Anything you make for a friend, child or relative may inspire them to do any number of things.
I made my first box when I was 8, still have it. I took shop in high school which was for the kids not going to college, but I took the college prep classes and wood and metal shop. I'm glad I did, I have made some beautiful thing. The two teachers inspired me. I started back into woodworking after college. Look for my Curly maple coffee table post soon.
Fine woodworking inspires me, seeing other peoples projects inspire me to design or make similiar projects. When I look at rough lumber laying on the floor and then see that transformed into a project, I think how fortunate I am to have the skill to make something that hopefully will be around for 50 years. Consequently, everything always seems to be off 1/8". I am a prefectionist and scientist, and sometimes I need to just tell myself to chill out and axcept the project as is without it being perfect.
BTW are you by chance in N Florida?
Dave
hi, Wood Chuck
I'm in South Florida... Send me some picutures of your work.
Bensin,
Search box questions under general discussion forum. I posted some of my boxes there. Here are a few more pics of things and I am going to post my curly maple coffee table today under gallery.Children are our future, unless we stop them now -- Homer Simpson
accidental discharge on the mouse buttonChildren are our future, unless we stop them now -- Homer Simpson
My wife, but not the way you may think. A few years back I saw a bookcase in a magazine, looked at the plans and decided I wanted to build it. I was somewhat handy but knew zip about woodworking. Mentioned it to my wife and she laughed at me; no way you can build that is about what she said. Being a contrarian, of course then I had to build it. Came ok. Fell in love with woodworking and thats the way it began. PMM
Tage Frid, hands down. His practical way of going about his craft is what made him great. It's about working with wood, not fooling around with the process, the tools, the jigs.....
there is so much inspiration out in the world, hard to have only one, I find the gallery on this website, so humbling and inspiring. Recently, came across a man, kintaro Yazara. this is so amazing to see his joinery, awesome!! enjoy!
http://www.eurus.dti.ne.jp/~k-yazawa/english.html
This guy is amazing. Where would one learn to make these types of joints that service and purpose and are very beautiful.
I think there have been an article or two on his joinery in FWW. Can't remember the issue. I also think they had an insructive video.
My question to the community is who inspires or inspired you?
Inspires me: today I am working on wire inlay stuff. I found the art in the riflebuilding(flintlocks kentucky types). Like others have mentioned, I am inspired by the work of others when the work is in progress and the finished results. It changes as you learn new skills.
Inspired me: my early experiences included building lapstraked dories. I loved the water and the pleasure of getting out on the water with a boat made by hand -it was unforgettable really - I'm still trying to build a better ... something.
Photos: walnut and silver wire by a friend Richard. kentucky buttplate - current longrifle in works.
Edited 5/22/2008 1:58 pm ET by danmart
what is the technique used for creating this kind of inlay?
B
This is a process of making a "trench" with a small tool. You can make the tool from a small screw driver. Some grinding, filing then a bit of hardening.
A wire ribbon is set in the trench and the wood is moistened with water to swell it back up and lock the ribbon. Lots of practice at intersections is a must. The ribbons are not expensive they are just hard to find outside the rifle supply sources.
Wire source:
http://www.tennesseevalleymanufacturing.com/catalog.php?category=general_assembly
This is not something you can sand much. You have to shave the ribbon that remains proud of the surface with a sharp chisel. The goal from the beginning isto set the ribbon as closely to the depth you need first time thereby minimizing the chisel work.
You might be interested in someother areas of embellishment in the kentucky rifle building world.
Here is a guy who makes very good videos on lots of high skill techniques ranging from scrimshaw work on a powder horn to carving a stock.
http://www.americanpioneervideo.com
Hope this helps
dan
Edited 5/29/2008 3:16 pm ET by danmart
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled