Wednesday, February 26, 2014

We have a new home on the Internet!

www.lohrwoodworkingstudio.com
After months of working hard to build the new JD Lohr School of Woodworking website last year, it only made sense that we devote the first few months of the new year to a new furniture site as well, right? The wait is over, folks! Built in-house (like all things Lohr-related), are proud to announce that the Lohr Woodworking Studio now has a new, updated website to pair with that of our woodworking school!

The new www.lohrwoodworkingstudio.com is completely loaded with (but not limited to) information about us (the makers), the history of Lohr Woodworking, photos and descriptions of all of our handcrafted studio and live edge furniture, as well as how to commission a piece of your own! Because both the woodworking school and our furniture-making studio are active, essential parts of Lohr Woodworking, Inc. and all that we love to do every day, we are excited to provide customers, visitors, future students, and alumni with these two sites to explore. We hope that they offer the chance to gain some insight into who we are and what we're about. We are grateful to all of those students, clients, and visitors who have spent time with us and hope that those who haven't will be able to use our new internet location(s) to develop an idea of what lives and grows within the walls of our woodshop in Schwenksville.

Take a few minutes to peruse the new internet home of the Lohr Woodworking Studio and let us know what you think! We do have some additions in mind for the near future but, couldn't wait for the site launch any longer. And, be sure to keep your eye out for regular updates as well as additional custom furniture pieces as they are created and built.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Snow calls for firewood


The apprentice learns more new tricks! To say the least, it's been quite a winter in Pennsylvania this year. As a result, we have been using up firewood like crazy. We heat the shop via a fire barrel stove that needs to be fed regularly to keep the climate inside this big building comfortable enough to work every day. After weeks with temperatures between -10 and 15 degrees, the dried firewood supply has dwindled.

On the first day that snow wasn't actually falling from the sky last week, we took to the yard and turned logs into tinder. Jeff manned the tractor, delivering big logs to areas of hard, snow-free ground. Rob fired up the chainsaw and cut the logs down to reasonable lengths. And, thus, I was left to chop. Swinging a giant (well, 'giant' for a girl who is 5' 4" on a good day) maul over my head and managing to land in a place that splits a log in half is not something I would have anticipated to be part of my skill set; but, consider it added to the resume, ladies and gentlemen. Not only did I actually manage so split firewood, I didn't even break my wrist(s). Score!

As the winter seems to have no sympathy and we are forced to welcome another 4" of snow today, there is least somewhat warmth within the walls of the shop (and my upper body strength is increasingly more impressive). Rob is still hard at work perfecting the design and techniques to build the small wall cabinet that will compose our soon-to-be third level course so keep your eye out for updates on that. In the meanwhile, enroll in Practical Woodworking and/or Advanced Joinery in 2014 so you can join us for the new course when it's launched!

Until next time, I hope that everyone in the local areas is staying warm and safe in this horrendous winter.




Monday, February 10, 2014

Designing a Third Level Woodworking Course!

Great news for JD Lohr School of Woodworking alumni: We are working hard on designing a brand new, third level advanced woodworking course!

By popular demand, we have started the plans, design, and prototypes for the wall cabinet that will be the project for students who return to the shop for a third level course. This project will step up the skill and technique levels from the Advanced Joinery course. In it's roughest planning stages, we know the course will include but not be limited to veneering, frame and panel construction, door making, and a different style of drawer construction.

This third level course will be open only to the alumni of our Advanced Joinery course so, if you haven't taken our first or second level course yet, don't miss the opportunity. Practical Woodworking, our introduction course, is perfect for all skill and experience levels to learn safe and practical methods for woodworking via building a red oak hall table. Advanced Joinery kicks things up a few notches as students get their hands dirty with dovetail joinery, floating shelf construction, Greene & Greene style breadboard ends, and drawer construction. And now, we are excited to challenge students even more with a whole new set of skills built into a new class!

We hope to have the new course organized and prepared to launch before the end of this year but, I will keep you updated on that news as it unfolds. We are excited and hope our alumni are too! Keep your eye out for more updates on this class as we perfect the design and curriculum.


Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Practical Woodworking & Rob's Evergrowing Stardome

The new year was kicked off with the 'weekend warrior' edition of our Practical Woodworking course! What better way to start 2014 than with a group of wonderful woodworking students sharing the shop with us for two long weekends?

Keith, Brad, Esther, Cait, Carol, Bob, Dave, and Steve, Steve, and Steve were a perfect crew to host. Each student was eager to learn and successfully created their own unique red oak hall table. As usual, it was 6 days filled with practical woodworking skills, safety, tools, machines, joinery, jigs, and technique. Most of these students were virtual beginners to the craft and they all did a beautiful job.

We want to congratulate the first Practical Woodworking graduates of 2014 and thank them for, not only being pleasant company, but having an unwavering interest and dedication to learning and practicing the skills. Any and all of the ten of you are welcome back to the shop any time! We wish you the best of luck in all your future woodworking endeavors. These alumni, along with all others, are welcome and encouraged to send along any photos of future projects for us to share on our Alumni Furniture Gallery!

And, Rob has proven himself worthy of fame yet again. Not only was he featured in Woodcraft Magazine TWICE in the past few months but, now he is an alumni face of Northamton Community College on billboards around the Lehigh Valley area! Rocking plaid (as usual) and armed with a caliper, he is advertised as a notable NCC Grad with the title of Furniture Craftsman. If you are in or around the Lehigh Valley area, keep your eyes out for our superstar Lohr Woodworking team member.