What makes a chair a chair??

Kat and I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC a few days ago and wound up in a trance-like state wandering through the "Decorative Arts" section of the museum. There we began encountering chairs of every race, color and creed.

Chairs made from carpet pad, plastic, metal and, of course wood. Chairs exhibited next to Dyson vacuum cleaners and beside royal desks.

Chairs you could never fall asleep in and chairs that make you never want to get up.

Chairs that are one-of-a-kind and chairs that are mass-produced by the millions. 

Statistics maintain the average person spends 423 minutes per day (slightly over 7 hours) sitting (this does NOT include sleeping). Comfort hasn't always been a priority; in fact in "Home: A Short History of an Idea" Witold Rybczynski points out that, not just the word "comfort" but,  the very concept of comfort didn't evolve until the 18th century.  

So the question might be posed not as "what's in your wallet" but rather, "what's under your wallet." What do you spend your 7 hours a day perched upon? 

An Off-Beat, Off-Center Sort of Turner

Six times a year I write the "Great American Woodworker" profile for American Woodworker magazine  American Woodworker —which means six times a year I get to interview some outrageously gifted and unique woodworker.

Mark Sfirri's "Rejects from the Bat Factory"

 The Feb/March issue of AW features the work of Mark Sfirri; a woodturner who has perfected multi-axis turning. Here's the man and his work (and play).

Mark Sfirri

Here's an excerpt from the article.

While some of Mark's pieces are meticulously planned, others are simply inspired. After turning a baseball bat for his son, for example, Mark began thinking about its elegant form and perfect engineering; about how every part—from the knob on the end through the slender handle to the meat of the barrel—was built for pure function. "I began thinking about what a perfect blank canvas this would be for multi-axis turning," he says. Rejects From the Bat Factory has become one of Mark's signature works. His rejected bats are tied in knots, double handled, curved, cut in half and comically indented.

Mark's brightly painted, cartoon-like food cans and containers combine the best of Andy Warhol and Popeye. His inspiration for them came during a teaching jaunt to France, where he became intrigued with container shapes and how to animate them while trying to decipher the labels. You gotta love a guy who creates a can of Fromage Wiz.

 Humor is a serious part of Mark's work. "But, it's not like I'm laughing the whole time I'm making things," he says. "Creating the illusion is a very measured process."

A hall table of an unusual bent

      

From Sfirri's lathe (and wild imagination)

Madonna and Child (Sfirri)

FIREWOOD STACKING for creative people (or those with too much time on their hands)

A friend of mine sent me some photos that the 10-degree below zero temperatures inspired me to share. 

Sort of a HOOT!

Timbered timber

Why not?

Doing it inside makes so much more sense

Stay warm everyone!

Holiday gIfts for all ye procrastinators

Social media—man, that can suck up a guy's time FAST! The thing that's been occupying my time lately is creating a new FaceBook "book" site. Please visit it. And "LIKE" it as long as you're there. It has a couple of dozen simple projects, tons of tips, lots of amazing wood photos and a section labeled "Times of the Signs" that will let you print out things ranging from an inspirational quote to a WET PAINT sign. Click here to get there:   Spike's new FaceBook page

Below are  beauty shots of some of the projects you'll find there—just in time for the holiday season. Even if you've procrastinated. Let the sawdust fly!

Crescent Moon Wine Bottle Rack
from "Ridiculously Simple Furniture Projects."
(Photography by Bill Zuehlke)

Wine for Two
from "Ridiculously Simple Furniture Projects"
(Photography by Bill Zuehlke)

And for the woodworker in your life—a sandbox!!
From  "Woodworking FAQ: The Workshop Companion"

MAYA ANGELOU, WOODWORKING AND LIFE

What do woodworking and Maya Angelou have in common? Not much. But after seeing her speak a few days ago in Minneapolis, I have to jot down an impression or two.

Maya at her 82nd birthday party

         The curtain opens and there sits 84-year-old Maya Angelou. Her 6-foot frame rests comfortably in the chair. She has no notes or prompts; just a head full of stories and a keenness of mind that makes one think old age must start at 85 or beyond. She begins by belting out a few lines from an old blues standard. The packed house is enthralled. People laugh, cry, clap, whistle and shout "amen." And it only gets better.

Maya receiving the Presidential Award of Freedom

         One of the lines from the song exclaims, "When it looked like the sun wasn't going to shine any more, God made a rainbow in the clouds." And that was her theme for the night: A look at these rainbows that helped make her—and all of us—who we are; people who love, support, teach and guide us in, sometimes, unexpected ways even in the darkest, cloudiest of times. 

         Maya's rainbows didn't come easy. She was shuttled between parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles while growing up. At the age of 8 she was raped. She told her brother about it and her abuser was found dead a few days later. Convinced her voice had killed him, she went mute for 5 years. It was during those five years Maya developed her keen sense of observation and a love of writing and literature.

         She had a child at 17 and made ends meet working as a streetcar conductor, cook and prostitute. But the rainbows in her life—and an indomitable spirit—drove her upward. She became a dancer, singer, actress, author, playwright, teacher, poet and speaker. She challenged those in the audience to think about the rainbows in their lives and how they could become rainbows in the lives of others.

         Her other theme was the need for courage—a trait Maya does not lack. Without courage, all other traits, strengths and aspirations lay dormant or, at best, underutilized.

         The takeaway from the evening was clear: Think about and thank those who have been rainbows in your clouds. And use your courage and strengths—whether it's woodworking, wisdom or time—to become a rainbow for others.

WINDSOR CHAIRS AND BACKWOODS BODGERS

I spent part of last weekend at a delightfully old house (Arcola Mills), watching a pair of delightful young-at-heart men (Jim and Mike) build the parts to a delightfully old piece of furniture (a Windsor chair) using delightfully old tools and techniques (riving tools, draw knives and shaving horses.)

         The morning was full of one-line zingers that stuck in my brain. One was, "If you want to be a woodworker, you first have to be a metalworker," referring to the notion that you need to have sharp plane blades, chisels and other tools to get any woodworking done.

         Another great line came after Jim and Mike used a riving tool and shaving horse to rough out a chair spindle. "Yep, after a day of doing that, people didn't head to the gym."

         Another interesting notion was proposed: When folks moved from the old country to the new country they were usually allowed one chest to bring on the boat. GIven the sparseness of space, and the necessity of tools most people just brought the metal parts of their tools with them. The handles, plane bodies and other wooden parts were crafted upon arrival.

         The main thrust of the day was cranking out parts for a WIndsor Chair. Spindles were crafted, legs were turned and hoop for chair backs bent.

         While turning legs Mike began musing about "bodgers." There were a unique breed of men that turned chair legs for chair builders. Rather than hauling wood into a shop, then over to the chair makers, they found it more efficient to simply set up shop in the woods. They had their pole lathes, riving tools and planes in the great outdoors. It wasn't unusual for a bodger to crank out a gross (144) parts in a day. No need for the gym indeed.

THE BENDING JOG-MOST LIKELY NOT OSHA-APPROVED

  Bending the hoop back was another highlight. Jim had a steamer concocted of PVC pipe, tubing, an old gas can and a propane burner. 

After steaming the wood for 15 to 20 minutes, Mike and Jim bent the back over a form. I won't way their motions were like those of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, but—given the 30 seconds they had to get the hoop out of the steamer and into the mold—moved in exact harmony to get the job done.

 It was a thing of beauty—both in the making and in the final product.

For more information about Mike's woodworking school, visit schoolofwood.com

For more information about Arcola Mill, visit arcolamills.org

ROAMING THE ROMAN & ANCIENT WORLDS

Kat and I are back from a four week-long vacation: We spent one week in London, one week in Rome, one week sailing the Isles of the Aegean Sea and one week recovering from jet lag and reverse culture shock. I'm just emerging.

A confessional from a church in Rome: Extraordinary craftsmanship using hand tools

         Travelling is one of those activities where there's a lot of Yin and Yang (which, by the way, translates from the Chinese words "shadow" and "light.") It's both invigorating and exhausting. It's relaxing and tension-filled —like when you think you're stranded in Istanbul. It's good to get a break from the day-to-day routine, yet you realize you sort of like that routine. Sometimes being immersed in other cultures make you think the American Dream isn't all the dreamy, while other times you feel there is truly no place like home.

Salvaged from an ancient shipwreck, these clay amphoras were designed to cleverly stack in the curved hull of a boat

         When I travel, I usually keep one eye open for amazing things crafted from wood; jewelry boxes, cathedrals, chairs—everything is fair game. I found lots of amazing wood things—more on that in later posts— but the thing that struck me on a more general level was the incredible craftsmanship and artistic eye our ancient relatives brought to things both great and small.

         I've included a few outstanding examples.

The design and proportions of the Celsus Library in Ephesus blew me away. Built in 117 AD, it once contained 12,000 scrolls (making it the third largest library in the world at the time). The city is surely a testament to our changing world; once a seaport, it's now 6 miles from the sea.