We've Moved (virtually, not physically)!

Greetings avid woodworking readers,

Obviously, as a blog author, I fell off the map over the past few months and that is bad news. Bad job, Larissa, the internet needs you. What can I say? We've had furniture commissions and full woodworking classes and I can't be sorry about that! I can be sorry for letting the Chronicles of a Woodworking Apprentice blog lapse, however.

Never fear, I will never come to you without good news! We have started a new blog that is integrated into our website so it's easier for me (and Rob) to update regularly. It's all the same great, informative, picture-infused, witty, and awesome woodworking content. And, bonus, we have already been on top of it. We have vowed to update at least once a week at www.jdlohrschoolofwoodworking.com/blog and are already three weeks into keeping that promise.

I have adored my time here on Blogger updating as a woodworking apprentice for the past 3 years but, now I have graduated from apprenticehood and am hard at work making furniture, teaching classes, and just generally being busy being a real life woodworker! So, I had to call in reinforcements to reconstruct the blog to making it easier to update and to add in a second woodworker and author in Rob Spiece so we can keep things fresh and new.

So, moral of the story: I'm not gone, just relocated.
READ ALL FUTURE BLOG ENTRIES ☞ HERE ☜

See ya over there,

Larissa 

"Griffin" the Live Edge Brown Oak Burl Table: Delivery Day!

"Griffin", the recently finished live edge English oak burl dining table, has been signed, sealed, and delivered to the Pirro family. We have photo-guru, Chris, to thank for the documentation of the day- including all the photos you see in this blog entry!

Because we make most things with a knock-down construction, it was quick and easy to break apart the base into it's five basic pieces, wrap 'em up in moving blankets and load them into our big red truck. The table top is, of course, one continuous slab, so it was wrapped up as one big piece. We loaded up the rest of the necessary toolage and several layers of extra clothing to keep frostbite at bay in the subzero temperatures that have been kind enough to grace our region with their presence. And, early Friday morning, Rob & I took to the road and spent some quality time with I-95 as we made our way from PA to CT.

Upon arrival, the first task was to get the base together. This walnut and white oak trestle base is a a quick assembly job; The trestle is pinned with two wedges at either end and the two stretchers drop into their (pre-fit and labeled) notches and are held in place with a single screw at each joint. As you can see, there is a dowel coming up from the top of either end of the base. The table top has holes drilled into the under side that fit the dowels to automatically center the top on the base.

After there was an assembled base to hold it, we unloaded the table top slab. Before we arrived, Mr. Pirro had been so kind as to shovel and salt us a clear path to make the big haul around the house much less precarious. For those of you that live in the north east, you'll know I'm not exaggerating when I say that this winter has been no joke. There was a good foot of snow on the ground to accompany the -12 degree windchill for this move-in so we were especially grateful for a slip-less path. With Rob, Mr. Pirro, and myself, we were able to tote the table top from the truck, around the house, up the stairs, and into the dining area with relative ease.

When the top was lowered and found it's place onto the dowels (therefore centered) on the base, I broke out the 3/8" bolts to pull the tabletop tightly to the base ends. Each end of the base has two elongated clearance slots drilled through it to allow the bolt to move back and forth with the tabletop and prevent any splitting of the slab as the temperature and humidity changes throughout the year. To keep the table top snug against the top of the stretches, we used six large hold downs. There were six slots cut into the inside face of the stretchers longer than the width of the hold downs themselves, again to allow movement. The hold downs were hooked into the slots and bolted into the table top with 5/16" bolts.

And, with that, the Pirro's are ready to wine and dine on the live edge English brown oak dining room table made just for them! Rob & I were honored to be invited to be the first to christen the table as we feasted on some delicious "grinders" (which in PA we know as "hoagies" and in FL we know as "subs").

A huge thank you to the Pirros again for giving us the opportunity to make "Griffin" and for making the delivery day warm, easy, and happy! An additional thank you to Chris for snapping so many great moments throughout the afternoon and letting me steal a few to include in this post.

Cheers to "Griffin", the Pirro family, and another successfully completed Lohr Woodworking Studio live edge piece!

The 2014 Woodworking Course Schedules are Here!

While the government is shut down to sort out their differences, we are focusing on what all Americans (and people of the world) have in common- a love of woodworking, of course!

In honor of new bills, new healthcare, and the new year we have posted the new 2014 Course Schedules! Practical Woodworking courses galore! What better year than 2014 to spend a week in Schwenksville, PA with us learning about the practical, safe, and beautiful approach to woodworking and furniture-making, right? Better yet, if you hurry, we have just a couple of benches left open before the end of the year!

If you don't know about the courses we offer here at the JD Lohr School of Woodworking, let's discuss our Practical Woodworking course. If you read my past entries, you'll see several thorough recaps of our 6-day, intensive woodworking course. In summary, during the 48 hour class, 11 students (provides an unbeatable 3:1 student to instructor ratio) learn wood theory and behavior, how to select and mill wood from the rough, how to plan and design a furniture piece, using machinery (table saw, jointer, planer, router, etc), mortise and tenon joinery, jig development, finishing, and more. At the end of the course, students go home with a completed hall table that is styled with their own personal details. If the course sounds appealing, feel free peruse the updated schedule to see when you can join us!

Speaking of Practical Woodworking, I want to thank yet another group of fantastic woodworking students for gracing the shop with their presence last week. Each student came with their eager, motivated minds and hands and it made for a wonderful week! To Tom, Brandon, Candace, Seth, Rob, Chuck, Lex, Joel, and Kim, we want to say congratulations and we hope you enjoyed your time here! We hope to see some pictures of those awesome red oak hall tables when they are finished!

Check back next week for progress on the live edge maple coffee table destined for Chile!

My First Trip to Hearne Hardwoods

Since day one of working at the shop, I have heard nothing but praise, excited description, and anecdotes from my fellow Lohr Woodworking staff members about Hearne Hardwoods. After 8 months of building positive, high expectations, I finally got the chance to take my first trip out to Oxford, PA to see it for myself.

Spoiler Alert: I was not disappointed

It all began as a live edge, burl slab shopping mission for a recently commissioned project. Because they are credited as being "one of the largest specialty lumberyards in the world," Hearne Hardwood was the destination for such a purchase. Beyond that, Jeff and Rick Hearne have a friendship dating back to years when I was learning my multiplication tables so, it was just as much a trip to visit an old friend.

The part of the mission to find the perfect material for the project was successfully completed. A selection of incredible slabs that matched the guidelines for our project awaited us in one of the massive hangars that are loaded with collections of stacked and dried material. I can't even begin to tell you how extensive their selection is. The project we were shopping for had specific requirements and, the very patient, Ed let us move all the slabs around, inspect their twists/curves, and photograph every possible book match pair. We settled on the beauties you see pictured. By lunchtime, we loaded up the truck with two beautiful live edge, Big Leaf Maple burl slabs! But, alas, our trip did not end here! The rest of the day was composed of a continuation of the most magical woodworking-related adventures I've had to date.

First, I saw the most massive band saw mill that man has ever created. Although the previous statement may be slightly apprentice-naivety induced exaggeration, it is a 67" vertical band saw mill and, as you can see, it's huge.

The gentleman running the mill sits in a booth and controls the machine as it moves the log around, rolling it this way and that way until it's positioned perfectly. Then, the log is wheeled through the band saw blade like butter through a warm knife. It was incredible.

Next, we were given a tour of the house. Although we were warned of it's status as a "construction zone", it was still more beautiful than I can put into words. So kindly escorted by Brian Hearne and Ric Allison, we were led upstairs to meet this beauty; A Ric Allison sofa nearly complete and as stunning as they come. Behind it, stands a banister with Allison-crafted spindles. I can't even wrap my brain around how objects so breathtaking are made yet but, like Jeff's work, they serve as one hell of an inspiration.

Above the living room hovers a catwalk that sits gracefully atop the ceiling beams. An equally-as-beautiful staircase led the way to the catwalk that curved it's way toward a bedroom. The lighting, the ceilings, the walls, the floors; everything about this house was just astounding.

As I had the chance to sit and chat with the man-in-charge, Rick Hearne, as well as Ric Allison and, of course, Jeff Lohr over lunch, I felt surrounded by sheer woodworking genius. As I ingested my chicken ceasar wrap, I listened to these inspirational men just chat over lunch. What was so humbling though, was that they are so kind, personable, and dare I say 'normal'. The idea that such beautiful art and master knowledge of the craft can come from the hands and minds of these gentlemen makes the intimidating woodworking world in front of me seem so comfortable and accessible. Needless to say, my motivation is on an exponential incline.

Then, it was onto the offices. Naturally, every desk in the place has a gorgeous live edge top and a flawless base to match. Every corner as something wooden to admire. Upstairs, we found a George Nakashima table surrounded by seven matching chairs. I had to be reminded that although this a piece of sought-after art, it is also a piece of furniture and furniture is meant to be sat on, eaten off of, and used in a functional way. Let me tell you, that chair is the most comfortable sitting apparatus I have had the pleasure of sitting in (and I have crashed a few quality beanbag chairs in my day). Full disclosure: Even with my huge stature and whopping 113 lbs, I still sat and stood very slowly and carefully as I was self-convinced I would ruin something.

It seemed as though everything I saw throughout my visit was more incredible than the last. It was truly an honor to meet the Rick, Brian, Ric, and all the Hearne Hardwoods staff. I am happy to have snagged this photo with Rick in the office beneath the head of a deer that his son took down with his bare hands in self defense. That statement alone should be some insight into the level of awesome my day reached on Monday. I had built up some high expectations from the flattering words of my co-workers but, my expectations of Hearne Hardwoods were met and exceeded.

I want to thank everyone that took part in my first trip and was so kind to me. My interest, passion, excitement, and inspiration for woodworking continues to grow daily because of people and places like this. I can only hope that in the near future I will get the chance to take a another trip out to this woodworking paradise tucked into the hills of some Pennsylvania Amish country.

The Zelli Bar Finds It's Way Home

Greeting again from Lohr Woodworking!

'Enough is enough, woodworking apprentice, we are constantly reading about this Zelli Bar and all the progress being done but, when will it really be done?' Don't worry, folks, it's finished!

As readers, you have seen this project from the beginning stages (when I first learned to draw to scale) all the way through the finishing processes and the day has finally arrived that it has been assembled, photographed, packed up, and delivered to it's home.

Because this was my first time being part of a commissioned furniture project from start to finish here at the shop, it was also the first time I've taken part in a pieces' formal documentation. New pieces get photographed and added to the Lohr Woodworking portfolio. I was more than excited to be a part of this process as much as I was about every process along the way. Set up in the back/lumber room, we hung up a slew of flood lighting and all the tripods we had laying around to created a photo shoot.

The men put on their cleanest and most proper apparel while I did my best to capture their prideful faces. Complete with a bottle of J. Lohr wine, they stuck with me while I took what seemed like a hundreds of photos. Thanks in large part to a DSLR tutoring session from Eoin, the end result was what you see here.

The bar can be, and was, broken up into five main pieces for move-ability. The long portions of the base separate into two parts and are joined together from the inside via a couple of custom board connector pieces (full disclosure: the last portion of that sentence is apprentice-invented terminology) as well as some additional spax screws. The top is broken up into three pieces and held together with custom splines and tite joint fasteners. All in all, for such a massive, heavy piece, it is relatively easy to break apart and move around when necessary.

As I've mentioned, the top of the bar is live edge, locally grown, black walnut. Jeff can tell you where his live edge pieces come from (usually in PA), right down to the lot number where it grew. The base is primarily cherry with resawn live edge walnut along the faces. Inside, you see a sink, adjustable shelving, a towel rack, sliding doors beneath the sink, and space for a trashcan. It was treated with boiled linseed oil and finished with Waterlox Gym Finish and lacquer. The gym finish is a strong, clear gloss finish that will withstand the frosty beverages that will grace the bar's surface.

The piece was completely custom made for the Zelli family home and, after much planning, we were happy to see it find it's perfect place there.

After a full morning of assembly and delicious breakfast treats, we were even happier to celebrate the newest addition's successful installation. The bartender at this bar is a lucky guy or gal for more reasons than one. We're happy to have designed, constructed, and delivered such a great anniversary gift. Cheers to your new bar and many more years of happiness for you and your family, Zelli's!