Craftsy was here & Rob is a star again

In May, we had the pleasure of hosting three awesome members of the Craftsy crew here at the shop for a few days. Their mission? To film a course designed and taught by Rob to share with the woodworkers of the internet. Craftsy is a site designed to offer online courses taught by experts to learn crafts at your own pace, in your own space, and on your own time. So, with the wonders of modern technology, you can now learn all about making doors and finishing wood from Rob on your tablet in your basement shop at home. Woah.

Jared, Nathan, and Tony brought bright lights, cameras, and an overall feel of Hollywood from Denver to our dusty, farm shop in Pennsylvania... it was awesome! We got to see the fancy camera swoop-ins, hear the snap of the slate, watch live editing, and all the other fancy movie-making magic. The roosters didn't care about the sound sensitivity factor so the background noise is filled with authentic shop/farm activity.

For three days, Rob taught lessons on how to make doors for fine furniture and cabinets; Suitably, the course is titled Doors for Cabinetry & Fine Furniture. A couple of weeks later, Rob was off to shoot an additional course called Flawless Finishing. Meanwhile, I was dubbed "Rob's Assistant" for the week which means I am taking it upon myself to claim a small degree of fame by association (and because I was lucky to be featured as 'glue up partner' in one of the lessons).

In the Doors for Cabinetry & Fine Furniture course, Rob covers everything you will need to make doors for your furniture/cabinets. He discusses choosing the right materials, designing doors, proper joinery terminology and execution, hardware installation, and, of course, actually making and assembling doors! He covers raised-panel doors as well as flat panels and discusses how to resaw pieces so that it's easy to create those panels with bookmatched grain patterns. The course is broken up into digestible lessons complete with downloadable course materials that include materials lists and jig plans.

Flawless Finishing is all about the Lohr Woodworking approach to finishing any type of wood with a smooth, perfect-sheen finish. Rob flew out to Denver to shoot this one. Wait, did I mention that it's free? Oh yeah, kids, it's a free for all mini-lesson. Get it while it's hot! Rob teaches four lessons (totaling about an hour and a half) covering the process we use to ensure natural, stunning color that is then protected by a smooth, durable finish. He walks you through the step-by-step procedure we use ourselves at the shop for all of our furniture. He covers various finish application methods and rub out materials to provide surfaces that will resist ringing when wet as well as feel smooth and soft to the touch. 

For those who have taken classes with us, you know how much we care about the craft and harbor a love for teaching others about it. Now, we're so happy the internet world is getting a chance to learn something from us too. Even better, you can trust the instructor on the other side of your computer screen instead of crossing your fingers that the guy on YouTube knows what he's talking about.

Well done Rob, well done. And a big thanks to Craftsy for coming to hang out, but moreso for making such wonderful productions to help eager woodworkers learn a thing or two from home.

Now, readers, go enroll! Learn to make doors! And then finish them!

Live Edge Walnut Desk in the Works!

Summer is in full swing, kids. I know, I know, summer "officially" starts this weekend; It's been over 80 degrees for over a week and that means it's summer, I don't care what anyone says.

As summer begins, we at the Lohr Woodworking Studio have our eye on Labor Day weekend. Why? Because it's Long's Park Art & Craft Festival and we're going to be there with bells on! The past few weeks we have been hard at work on a new, collaborative project to bring with us to the show. The piece is well on it's way
to being a live edge walnut desk (that I wish I could keep for myself because it's awesome). The walnut slab was the result of Jeff bidding (and winning) the flitch at a charity auction held at Hearne Hardwoods. The proceeds from the sale went to support the Moringa Community Project- a non-profit organization started by Jeff and Linda in 2008 in Ghana where they (with the help of their African project director, Abu) built a woodworking school and taught sustainability via food preservation.

Jeff designed the overall plan for the desk and as the development began, we were each put in charge of different aspects in order to make it a collaborative project. Jeff took command of the trestle base of the desk. He hand sculpted the legs on the shaving horse and incorporated a flowing, curvy aesthetic to marry with the live edge of the walnut table top. With the legs at an angle, I can attest that every aspect of this base took careful planning and execution to fit together perfectly- there was some careful routing and chiseling involved.

I was assigned to dovetail bones to be inlaid into the top surface anywhere there were crack, splits, or voids that needed repair. I was in charge of designing and making the shapes and sizes, picking their placement, and finally inlaying the bones; And, the apprentice steps up to the plate! I made twelve bones. As per usual, they were bandsawed to rough shape, fine-tuned with sanding drums on the drill press, double-face taped in their place on the table top, and traced with a marking knife. The high-anxiety came with having to carefully router out the shape of each unique bone as perfectly as possible. And, finally, they were glued in with epoxy and sanded down level with the surface.


Rob was assigned drawer construction. As usual, he killed it with the dovetails. The design of the base calls for the drawers to be able to be pulled through from either side of the desk so he crafted double live edge fronted drawers. There, of course, is a curve to the natural live edge drawer front, and he did a stellar job of making some dovetails to accommodate. The longer, wider drawer is even more impressive but you'll have to wait for the finished desk photos for those!

Today was the big day- boiled linseed oil the desktop day. Between the figure in the crotch, and the pop of the maple bones against the walnut, the application of the oil was just as exciting as we anticipated. These are the moments we look forward to throughout the whole process.

We break on desk construction for a Practical Woodworking class next week but, check back for updates as we near completion on this beaut! Happy Friday to all.

Save the Ramp Wall 2014

Once upon a time, a stone-filled ramp was built leading from the parking lot area at the end of the driveway up to the second floor of the sawmill building. The sides of the ramp were built with stacked retaining wall blocks. Unfortunately over time, and the added aid of the harsh winter elements this year in Pennsylvania, the stones compacted on each other to such a degree that the wall started to grow a bulge halfway down one side and the collapse of the wall was too real a possibility.

No worries though, folks, we are the Lohr Woodworking team and we are led by a master of all things practical. Jeff drafted a plan for us to use huge pressure treated posts and boards to create a strong, straight, stable box around the collapsing areas of the wall to fill with stone. For added strength, we would run cables between the posts across/under the ramp to keep them forever pulling inward.

With a plan in place, we set to work. The first stage of "Save the Wall 2014" was measuring out the distance between, and placement of, the pressure treated posts. During this phase, I got my hands on a plumb bob for the first time.

After the post placements were decided on and marked with stakes, we called in the big dog- Trixie, the tractor. With a massive auger mounted on the back, she dug holes for the posts to be mounted in to. I have personally thanked Trixie for eliminating the alternative situation in which we would have had to dig out those 10, 3' deep holes with shovels. Plus, watching that auger plunge through PA bedrock was pretty impressive.

Once the holes were drilled into the earth, we were off to Home Depot to load up some pressure treated posts. With a trailer of posts and boards, we returned to hoist the posts up into their holes. Using the bucket on the tractor and some brute strength, we got them upright.

Then, we leveled the poles 90 degrees upright in all directions and held them with 2x4's and stakes. When they were all equally spaced and neatly in a row, we started mixing concrete; what a messy job, by the way! We poured a bag of concrete into each hole surrounding the base of the posts to keep them in position.

The posts were then connected to one another using long lengths of pressure treated boards to create a new, strong wall to support the collapsing stone one. We cut end caps from the boards as well to close off the areas into space to accept the tons of stone we were soon to dropped into them.

The strength of this wall-save does not stop here, though. To ensure this ramp will stand the test of time, Jeff decided it was best if we took the extra step to run steel cables between each pair of posts. First things first, Jeff jumped on the tractor again to dig 6" deep valleys across the ramp between the posts for the cable to run in; later they'd be buried with the replaced dirt and covered in a new layer of stone to smooth and level the ramp.

We drilled holes through the posts and ran 5/8" galvanized threaded rods through them. On the inner ends of the rods, we screwed on eye bolts with attached thimbles and clipped stainless steel cable through them. Once this was done to each pair of opposing posts, we tightened the nuts on the out-facing ends of the threaded rods to pull the cables tight.

Thanks to the spring season finally making it's way to the north east, we have been hard at work to dress up the outside of the shop. Our first mission- Save the Wall 2014. And, as you can see from the image to the left, we managed to get it up just in the nick of time. The vacant area you see between the bulging stone wall and the pressure treated posts is where the tons of gravel and stone now live to add pressure and support.

When the cables were all tight, we replaced the dirt that was removed to bury them and flatten out the ramp once again. We had over 60 tons of stone delivered the following day to smooth and level the ramp, parking area, and driveway. I had a grand ol' time driving the little tractor around with the iron drag rake in tow to disperse the stone evenly. The discussions have already begun regarding how we plan to decorate the new wall in all it's glory. But, as it stands now, it is a sigh of relief that the ramp will remain standing for years to come.



The upkeep of the Lohr Farm is an essential part of the Lohr School of Woodworking and Woodworking Studio being able to function and flourish year in and year out. Part of being a Lohr Woodworking team member means I am lucky enough to get the chance to learn about everything that goes into woodworking, milling, teaching, machine repairs and maintenance, farm/home repair and maintenance, landscaping, animal care... and, in this case, how to save a falling stone wall. Cheers to another practical and successfully completed mission at Lohr Woodworking!

The Latest Generation of Advanced Joinery Grads

A big ol' congrats to the Advanced Joinery graduates that completed their second level course with us today! Outside, the north east was battling weather ranging from perfection to flooded disasters, while inside these eight woodworkers we crafting their own stunning walnut and cherry accessory tables. Patrick, Perry. Allen, Matt, Dave, Anneliese, Ed, and Brian can all go home today proud to know how to make drawers, floating shelves, drawer pulls, breadboard end table tops, and much more about intricate joinery. Way to go, kids, way to go!

Over the past few weeks, the Lohr Woodworking staff has been working hard to save the walls of the ramp bank leading to the upper floor of the sawmill. Over time, the compression of the stone and weight of the elements have stressed the walls enough that they were nearing collapse. Luckily, with Jeff's ability to design a fix for anything, Trixie the tractor and her giant auger, and some giant pressure-treated beams and boards, we have made significant strides to keep it upright. Check back next week for the full story on the design and work that went into this mission!

Spring in the Showroom

As spring has allowed for at least a moment or two of sunlight, I was able to finally capture some shots of the Lohr Woodworking Studio showroom. If you have perused our new website, you have seen that the showroom is open for visits upon request/reservation so we wanted to give the world a peak into what we have in stock upstairs.

On the second floor of the barn, in what was once Jeff's first woodshop on the property, there is a showroom of the finished pieces for sale. The pieces up for grabs include, but are not limited to: a cherry table sofa and morris chair, a ghost (spalted) maple and walnut coffee table, a set of dining room chairs, a walnut and oak cabinet, Jeff's original arts & crafts style floor and table-top lamps, and even a few live edge tables! All of these pieces are handmade by Jeff and/or Rob and are awaiting visitors. I can post photographs all over but nothing compares to coming in to sit on, feel, and see close up the details of this furniture. We encourage people to turn the pieces upside-down, open drawers and doors, and ask questions about the joinery. These pieces are meant to be used as much as they are meant to be admired!

Now that the harshness of winter seems to have subsided, the showroom is already getting visitors. After 15 years, last weekend Barbara decided it was time to swing by Lohr Woodworking and see what had developed since her last visit.

Barbara has a deep-rooted respect and admiration of arts and crafts style furniture as she is, and has been, actively involved with the Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms. The museum "is the centerpiece of Gustav Stickley’s early 20th century country estate" and "is one of the most significant landmarks of the American Arts and Crafts movement."  She has been been president of Craftsman Farms Foundation (which runs the Stickley Museum) for three years, serves on multiple Committees, Chairs the Executive and Development Committees, and still has found time to volunteer her services as a docent. Needless to say, she knows a thing or two about the history, purpose, and design elements of the Arts & Crafts movement and thus style that Jeff incorporates into his own custom furniture.

Up in the showroom, only a few furniture pieces made from the English brown oak burl log that came from the Alnwick Castle (one of the filming sites for the Harry Potter films) remain unclaimed. These highly figured and unique burl slabs were cut from an entirely-burl oak log brought over from the UK and most of it's pieces have found their place in client homes around the nation. Two of the tables that we still have are in the form of live edge side tables and a third in the form of a live edge cocktail table. After Barbara's visit this weekend, only two of the tables remain in the showroom. We are happy, as always, to see a piece of furniture find a new home and sincerely hope that Barbara enjoys her first Lohr Woodworking table for years to come!

In JD Lohr School of Woodworking news, we have added a Lohr Woodworking Community forum to our school website. All alumni or registered students our course(s) are encouraged to join the group and start up the conversation! We aim to provide a resource for our beloved woodworking students to chat, share, ask, and brag before and after they visit us for class(es).

Splinter Stitches

Last week, disaster struck [[dramatic drums and organ play]]. Well, not really, but I did manage to get a 2" shard of plywood lodged in the depths of the palm of my hand that required a hand surgeon to remove.

It all began as a normal Friday. We are working on putting together a live edge desk that Jeff has been designing over the past couple of weeks. I was in charge of shaping and drilling the holes into the supports that will attach the legs to the live edge walnut slab desktop. Because we exercise such consistent safety precautions here at Lohr Woodworking, I got through milling the rough material, cutting it all to size, and routering the edges (top and bottom) all unscathed. Naturally, no machinery, sharp tools, or handling of heavy material was necessary for me to wound myself.

I was setting up the famous Jeff Lohr router jig that conveniently uses wedges and a back fence to hold wood stable and properly-placed for easy routering of more than one piece at once and accurately without any hassle. Now, I will say that again; I was setting up the router jig (which requires little-to-no effort) when I decided to brush off some dust with my hand. I must have harvested the perfect circumstances for my hand to catch on the edge of the plywood base of the jig at just the right angle and speed for a 2" splinter/shard/wooden needle to slip into my palm and break off inside.

Off to Urgent Care we went, because tweezers and sewing pins were not going to cut it this time. As you can tell from the picture, there was one tiny entrance point but the actual length of the wood was buried so deep under my skin that it was really difficult to see where it stopped and started. The kind doctors at Urgent Care gave me an x-ray (which turned up nothing because it was wood and not metal or dense bone tissue). Then, they numbed me up, sliced me open, and did their best to hunt the wood piece(s) down and take it out. After looking for it for an hour or so with no luck, they decided it best to send me to a specialist. I am incredibly thankful to The Philadelphia Hand Center staff for staying late on their Friday afternoon to take me immediately. Dr. Sweet did an amazing job with the impromptu mini-surgery she did to finally separate me and the plywood. Scalpels, surgical binocular loupes, more numbing agent, stitches- the whole nine yards were required for this splinter removal.

Watching her pull a 2" shard of plywood from my hand was both relieving and nauseating. Five stitches and five hours later, I was wrapped up and on my way home. With a little TLC, limited right hand use for the week, and stitch-removal on Friday morning, I will be good as new. Jeff is mad at me for not saving the extracted wooden shard but, equally as grateful that the worker's comp/insurance is getting some exercise. A huge thanks to you, Jeff, for driving me all over creation to get my hand repaired and ensuring that everything was in order all the while.

Because safety is always the first priority at our shop, Rob has already eliminated any possible safety/splinter risks posed by the existing jig by making a new one (even though this accident was 110% my own doing and really not that fault of the jig). This Lohr-original jig is something that is used in the shop more-than-regularly. The swinging door stops can be adjusted or removed to create mortises with ease. The base alone can hold similar sized pieces together for any quick-and-easy routering. It is a work of genius that has been featured in Wood Magazine and has been a crucial shop aid for well over 10 years, so although the older edition is now retired, students can look forward to learning to work with the latest model.

Moral of the story, folks: Use a dust brush. It's not like we have a lack of them around the shop so it was my own thoughtlessness (paired with some seriously perfect circumstances) that lead to my own disaster. I can take solace in the fact that all the safety measures and precautions that we take at the shop every day continue to protect me from any major harm.

With my very first set of stitches, and a much more intimate relationship with plywood, I think it's safe to start to consider myself a real woodworker.

Happy Pi Day to all!

In honor of Pi Day, I am here to share my most recent circle-based project with you!

On March 13th, it is only proper to take some time to recognize the beauty of circles. I got this apprenticeship with a lesson-based interview that had Jeff & Rob "discover" Pi using some yarn and several circular objects. The fact that no matter the size of the circle, the ratio between it's circumference and diameter will always be the same (3.14, of course) is such an amazing mathematical concept.

So, recently I have been at work to construct a live edge clock with a face whose hours are marked with the different phases of the moon. Starting by cutting walnut plugs and gluing them into a maple piece, I then used the plug cutter to cut off-center thus leaving different slivers of the white wrapped around the darker walnut. Then, I did the same thing in the inverse; maple plugs into a solid walnut piece. I placed one 1/16" thick piece of wood between the fence and the edge of the piece (and added another 1/16" thick piece for the next moon and so on) as I was cutting the moons from so that each phase was increasing in size by the same amount.

After I had all the phases cut, I drew out the placement of the hours using a 30-60-90 triangle and circle stencil. I was sure to consider the length of the clock hands while doing so. Next, came the jig making.

I constructed a jig that was nothing more than a piece of MDF (to ensure flatness below the piece on the drill press table) with a short piece of a dowel stuck into it at 90 degrees. I then drilled a hole through the center of the face of the clock and used the dowel as a pivot point. I clamped the jig down to the drill press so that the forstner bit was set up to cut perfectly into one of my marked hour-moon layouts. From there, I could just spin the entire piece around to each marked 30 degree increment and be sure that each circle would be exactly the same distance from the center of the clock.  I love circles!

Finally, I glued my moon phase plugs into their new holes and sanded them down. Naturally, as this was my first attempt, some of my phases aren't the ideal size or perfectly placed during glue up but, overall, I'm pleased with the result. Now that I have the process down and have ironed out many of the snags, I am eager to start work on the next (and better) moon phases clock face!

Happy Pi Day to all and have a glorious, woodworking-filled weekend!