by Elia Bizzarri | Jun 18, 2017 | How-To | 0 Comments
You've got your hands on some green wood. How do you store it? If your winter stays below 40 or 50 degrees, take your time, it will probably keep fresh till spring. However, with several recent warm winters, rot seems to be becoming a year round event here in...
by Elia Bizzarri | Jun 8, 2017 | Craft Films | 0 Comments
This video has nothing to do with woodworking and it is in German, yet it is one of the most memorable craft videos I have ever watched. Casting giant church bells. It starts with hand building 8' tall molds made of brick and layers of mortar, fiber and metal. ...
by Elia Bizzarri | May 23, 2017 | Classes, How-To | 0 Comments
A couple months ago I filmed an Octagonal Side Table DVD and a Milk Painting DVD with Popular Woodworking. They should be out sometime this summer. Here's a photo of the table: To film a DVD you need lots of parts at various stages, so I made a pile of bent...
by Elia Bizzarri | May 10, 2017 | Craft Films, Finishing | 0 Comments
This video was made by the fellow I buy my shellac flakes from. Who knew it took so much effort by insect and man to make a pound of shellac? Or that different trees make different kinds of shellac? Now I feel bad for spilling the stuff.
by Elia Bizzarri | Apr 23, 2017 | Classes, How-To | 0 Comments
Curtis Buchanan and I spent some time carving spoons last January. I photographed his process, which he describes as "the way a chairmaker with bad elbows carves a spoon." Or something like that. He carves the bowl first. This is steam bent cherry....
by Elia Bizzarri | Apr 2, 2017 | Chair Stories, Chairmaking Tools and Supplies, Craft Films | 0 Comments
I first met Curtis Buchanan 15 years ago this month. My father drove the five hours to Jonesborough, TN and dropped me, a 17-year-old homesick boy, off for a week. Curtis had a student that week. I split logs and listened in on the class. I couldn't imagine I would...
by Elia Bizzarri | Mar 18, 2017 | How-To, Kiln | 0 Comments
We have talked about kiln temperatures and kiln heaters, now onto kiln construction. Size The primary use of a chairmaking kiln is to super-dry tenons. It's nice to be able to set bends in a kiln too. This requires the kiln to be large enough to fit the bend while...
by Elia Bizzarri | Feb 25, 2017 | Craft Films | 0 Comments
"Not a lot of money in that is there?" "No, not a lot of money.... Still we've always done it... Money's not everything." Bodgers were wood turners who worked in the beech woods around the furniture-making town of High Wycombe in England. They would cut, split...
by Elia Bizzarri | Feb 9, 2017 | Chairmaking Tools and Supplies, Classes, Craft Films, How-To | 0 Comments
Over a decade ago, a customer told me he used a dowel plate to cut the tenons on his spindles. "That won't work," I...
by Elia Bizzarri | Jan 29, 2017 | How-To | 0 Comments
I've made a few pitchforks for historical museums over the years, though I can hardly say I'm an expert. Curtis Buchanan called me a few months ago and said he wanted to make a pitchfork. Here's some photos from my weekend in Jonesborough, eating the Buchanan's...
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