When you design a piece of furniture to build, there are three well-worn paths (some might call them ruts) to follow.

The first path is to design a piece in a wholly original style. This actually happens about once or twice a century, and its rarity is why we don?t have furniture styles such as ?Early Bill,? ?Middle Chuck? or the ?Late Butch Period.? Few people alive can claim they have successfully launched a style, but don?t let that stop you from trying.

The second approach is to build replicas, either spot-on or with mild alterations, such as an additional drawer, or substituting a square ovolo moulding for a bead. This is a good way to learn the vocabulary of different styles, though it is time-consuming to learn everything by the doing. Some woodworkers (even professionals) might build only six pieces in a year.

The third approach is to design a new piece with vintage parts, like rebuilding an old car. With this approach, you expose yourself to hundreds of images of the form. You could look at tables, cabriole legs or Arts & Crafts desks, for example. Then you select your piece?s dominant element from the library ? say a leg, a door or a bonnet ? and design your piece around that. (However, you can?t easily mix parts from different genres. It might seem like a good idea to put a Honda push rod in a Chevy, until you hit that metric barrier.)

When asked the secret to good design, Steve Hamilton, a builder at Mack S. Headley & Sons (headleyandsons.com), boiled it down to two words: ?Picture books,? he said. ?Get a bunch. Look them over.?

Design on the Run
Designing a suitable early American wall cupboard for Woodworking Magazine began with a day in our collection of books and images. You don?t need to spend a lot of money to build a book collection, most of the resources you need are at the public library and on the Internet.

My first stop was Wallace Nutting?s ?A Furniture Treasury.? This book is available in many different forms, and it?s common to find copies for about $25. The book is as-advertised. It?s hundreds of pages of images of early American stuff that has been organized into categories such as ?chests? and ?Windsor chairs.?

The second source was auction catalogs from Christie?s (christies.com) and Sotheby?s (sothebys.com) auction houses. The catalogs these houses publish for their Americana auctions are outstanding. Good images. Good overall dimensions. And good history lessons as well. These catalogs can be pricey at $50 or more, but you can usually browse the catalogs on the Internet for free, though sometimes you have to register with the auction house (registration is free).

The third source was an old favorite of mine from my grandparents? library: ?Fine Points of Furniture: Early American? (Crown) by Albert Sack. This common book can be had for about $10 ? the new revised edition is much more expensive and rare. Sack?s book compares different kinds of pieces and ranks them as ?good,? ?better? or ?best.? This book helps hone your tastes in mouldings, proportion and turnings.

After a day of reading, I chose a fetching tombstone door from Nutting?s book and found many tall and skinny shapes for wall cupboards that looked like pieces I had seen at Winterthur, the DuPont?s Delaware estate and museum.

My design firmed up when my doctor got too busy for me one Wednesday. After showing up for my appointment, I was told there would be an hour delay. So I sat in my car and sketched about 10 wall cabinets. I didn?t worry about dimensions or joinery, just the overall look and feel of the piece. Each sketch took about five minutes and tried out variations on the door (one or two?), the drawer (one, two or none?) and the width of the stiles and rails (chunky or light?).

After those sketches, I chose the best two designs, sketched them again and showed them around to woodworkers and friends. It sounds like a lot of work, but I have found that good design is like making stir fry: You first chop vegetables and mix sauces for a long time. The active cooking time is real short ? if you?ve done your prep work.

? Christopher Schwarz

One of the most important early books on woodworking has been indecipherable to everyone who cannot read 18th-century French. Andre Roubo?s landmark five-volume ?L?Art Du Menuisier? is difficult to find ? reprints are available mostly in Europe and at Tools for Working Wood ? and even harder to actually use.

To my knowledge, no one has attempted a systematic translation of these books, which cover furniture-making, carpentry, marquetry, carriage-building and garden structures.

Ever since I first got a glimpse of Roubo?s books, with their exquisite oversized engravings of woodworking tools, benches and practices, I was hooked and really wanted to engage in a full translation. But rather than learn 18th-century French, I?ve enlisted the help of Bjenk Ellefsen, a woodworker, post doctorate fellow in cross-national comparative socio-economical studies and native French speaker.

Bjenk has been reading and translating volume one on carpentry and construction for us, and we are going to publish it here in installments on the Lost Art Press blog as they are completed. These installments will be free for all, but Bjenk and I have a request: If you spot errors, typos, inconsistencies, or things that just don?t make sense, please drop us a line or leave a comment below that entry. We?ll look into it. We want this translation to work for working woodworkers. (And if you want to help translate, let us know that as well. There is plenty to do.)

This section is best read with plate 11 handy. By clicking on the link below, you can download a larger version that is easier to read.

Plate11_full.jpg (848.54 KB)

This is an exciting personal project for Bjenk and me. And while I don?t know when we?ll be done or what we?ll learn, I know it?s going to be a great trip. As you?ll see as you read the first entry ? about Roubo?s famous workbench from Plate 11 ? the information is golden. During the next installment you?ll learn about preparing stock, and you?ll learn a little more about Bjenk.

? Christopher Schwarz

A note on dimensions: The French system of measurement in the 18th century is a little different than the modern imperial system. A French inch (pouce) is the equivalent to 1.066? in modern imperial. Each French inch is further divided into 12 ?lines.? Each line is equivalent to .088? today. The French foot is 12.44?.

We chose to leave the French measurements intact in the text, but we?ve provided modern equivalents in brackets when Roubo discusses ?lines? ? which is a bit foreign to modern eyes. The other measurements in feet and inches have been left intact from the original manuscript. If you need to convert a certain measurement to a modern equivalent, you can use the paragraph above to make the conversion.

Menuisier, I. Part. Chap. V
Third Section
On tools for cutting and preparing wood

The workbench is the first and most necessary of all tools for ?woodworking? (see translator?s note No. 1 below). It is made up of a top, four legs, four rails and a bottom. The top is made from a sturdy plank or table of 5? to 6? thick by 20? to 25? wide; its length varies from 6? to 12?, but the most common length is 9?. This table is made out of elm or beech wood but most commonly from the latter, which is very stout and of a tighter grain than the other.

It must be pierced with many holes into which a holdfast can be placed. These holes must have 14 to 16 lines of diameter [1-1/4? to 1-13/32?] and must be pierced through the top of the bench perpendicularly. Their number is not fixed, but in general we must avoid making too many unnecessarily. Eight to nine is appropriate; that is, four placed 8? to 10? in from the front edge of the workbench, one of which will be 14? to 16? inches from the hook, and the others of equal distance starting from the right front leg of the bench until the first hole, like those that are a, a, a, a in Figure 1. The others b, b, b, b are pierced on the other side of the workbench and laid out so that they will be placed in the middle of the spaces between the holes at front, to about 1? from each end of the workbench.

At 3? from the front edge of the top, we cut a mortise through the top that is 3? square, which must be very perpendicular and precisely straight inside so that the stop, which we insert into it with some resistance and that we raise or lower with a mallet, does not split the sides (of the mortise), which would happen if the inside was concave.

The stop must be 1? long at least and made with very stiff and dry oak so that it can resist the mallet blows we have to administer to move it. At the top of this stop we place an iron hook, which has teeth similar to those of a saw, to hold the wood in place that we work on. We must observe that the hook is tight in the top of the stop and that the teeth are raised slightly so that when working with very thin pieces, we do not strike the hook and its teeth with the iron of the tools, which would happen if the back of the hook was more elevated than the front. The shank of the hook which enters the stop must be square in form and pointed at the tip. The shank and the top must not be welded but made of one piece that we bend with fire. The teeth of the hook must extend out the front of the stop by six to eight lines [1/2? to 11/16?]; extending the teeth more would be useless and problematic because the teeth could break. See figures 5 and 6, which represent a stop with its hook and a hook by itself.

The legs of the workbench are made from hard oak, very stiff, 6? wide by 3? or 4? in thickness; they are assembled through the top with through-tenons and through-dovetails. The custom is to make the tenon flush with the back of the leg, see figure 2. However, I believe that it would be best to leave a shoulder on the back of this same leg so that the top can rest on the shoulder on the back of the legs like on the front. This is so when workbenches get older, they don?t risk sinking in on their legs like it happens sometimes. The assembly of the legs (to the top) must be extremely tight especially along their width. And to make them even sturdier, we widen the mortises on top to make room for wood shims that we insert by force into the tenons, so that they spread in such a way ?that they are as a tail? (maintained in a spread) in the mortises and consequently can?t slip back out.

The legs at the front of the workbench must be pierced by three holes each into which ?leg holdfasts? are to be inserted. Around the workbench and 4? to 5? from the bottom of the legs, are assembled four rails of 4? wide or less by 2? thick. The bottom of the bench is filled with planks that are held with supports, figure 4, attached on the rails. Place the length of these planks perpendicular to the width of the workbench in order to give them more strength, like we can see in figure 1.

We must also place a drawer at the end of the workbench so the workmen can store their small tools like gouges, compasses, etc. There are even shops where workbenches are closed with planks all around, which is very convenient because it keeps shavings and dust out and the tools that we place inside are less likely to be lost.

The height of the workbench is ordinarily 30? but because workmen are not all of the same height, suffice it to say that the workbench must not be higher than the top of the thighs of the person working at the bench. If it were higher, it would deprive him of his strength and it would expose him to bad posture in a short time. We must also observe to place the heartwood side of the slab on top because it is harder than the other side. And if it is to move, it will only bulge on top instead of sagging.

Holdfasts are tools made of iron and are used to hold the work on the bench firmly and stably. They are ordinarily 18? to 20? and even 24? long in the shank; their thickness must be between 12 to 15 (1-1/16? to 1-5/16?) lines, and the curve of their paws is 9? to 10? long by around 10? high. They must be of very soft iron, forged in one piece so they don?t break. All their strength is in their head. That is why we will observe that from the head g to the paw k, they get thinner so that their extremity only has two lines (3/16?) of thickness at the most, which will make them more flexible and increase their pressure.

We must curve them so that when they are tightened they will only grip by the tip of the paw, because if they would carry more pressure in the middle they would ruin the work and hold less firmly (figure 4).

Moreover, it is easy to see that after long use, the shank of the holdfast will widen the holes of the workbench; and if it didn?t grip well by the tip, before long, it would soon carry all the pressure on the back of the paw and cause the problem I have mentioned above.

Engage the holdfast by hitting it on the head g with a mallet and release the holdfast by hitting the head in the other way, that is on its side and upward or on the side of the shank i. Holdfasts must never be polished because then they will not hold well. They should only be roughed up with a file or stone (see translator?s note No. 2). Only the paw must be clean and polished so it does not mar the work.

The ?leg holdfasts? are not different, other than they are smaller. They hold the wood on its edge along the length of the workbench with the help of the wooden hook m, figure 1. This hook is fastened with screws or strong nails on the front edge of the workbench's top and is sometimes arrayed with iron points. But because the points often ruin the work, it is best to remove them or to make them like in figure 5 (see the illustration of the hook).

?Ebonists? (Ébénistes) (see translator?s note No. 3) have a vise at the front of their workbenches, which is made of one piece of wood n n, figure 3 and 4, which is 4? to 5? wide by at least 2? thick. This piece is pierced in the middle of its width by a round hole through which passes the screw o p, to which the workbench leg q serves as its nut. This screw is usually wood and through its head passes an iron bolt r, with which tightens and loosens the screw. We adorn the head of the screw with an iron ring to prevent it from splitting.

The use of these vises is very convenient because not only do the vises hold the work very solidly, but they do not mar the work in any way. No matter how delicate the pieces are, we do not fear to ruin them. This is something we can?t do with a leg holdfast, which is holding the work only in one place and will sometimes break it if it is delicate.

I do not know why the ?menuisiers en bâtiments? (see translator?s note No. 4) have not adopted this method, which not only is very convenient but is also not a hindrance or embarrassing in any way because the vise can be removed from the bench when it is not needed. When it is used, a wedge of the same thickness as the work must be placed at the bottom so that the screw can apply force everywhere equally. The piece for the vise n should be made slightly concave along its length so that when it is tightened, it grips at its tip. At the rear of the workbench s s, which is opposite the hook, we place a plank of about 18? long by 6? to 8? wide that is attached to wood supports that separate it from the workbench. This plank is named ratelier [rack] and is used to store tools with handles such as chisels, fermoirs, [a big chisel solid enough to receive mallet blows. It could have been for sculpting or mortising or anything that required rough work] etc. That is why we make the plank as wide as possible so that tools that are stored in it are not placed in a way that they can hurt somebody.

Next to this rack and along the length of the workbench we attach a bracket that is lower than the top by about 2? and is pierced at the end by a mortise of 3? long through which passes the blade of a try square [which looks like a triangle] t, which we place there when it is not needed.

Under the top of the workbench, we fasten a hollow piece of wood like a box with a screw into which we put grease to be used on tools to make them slide smoothly (Figure 7).

Translator?s notes:
1 Roubo explains at the start of volume one that "Menuiserie" includes all works made of wood. In truth, all trades had its ?Menuisiers? but the term came to refer precisely to woodwork and its workers.  A ?Menuisier? in Roubo?s terms can be a joiner, a carpenter, an ?ebonist,? a cabinetmaker, etc. When we have the foreword translated, all these terms will be made clearer as Roubo does make sure to explain them all in detail and he even go through its history. Note 4 goes into this in greater detail however.

2 Roubo?s exact words are ?mais seulement reparés avec le carreau.? There are no mentions of such a tool other than the tailors iron to remove wrinkles in the ancient dictionaries of the French Academy versions of 1740, 1762 and after. After researching many old and ancient French dictionaries, the closest approximation I arrived at was that ?carreau? is either a file or a stone. In Émile Littré?s "Dictionnaire de la langue Française," under ?carreau?; entry 15 refers to a big file used by locksmiths and entry 20 refers to a big stone of granite. The word ?carreau? appeared as quarrel in the 11th century and it is easy to see its familiarity with quarry. As for the word ?reparé? it is not meant as ?réparé? (repaired) but in the sense of ?pare,? prepared. So I am guessing Roubo is saying the holdfast is roughed out, or prepared, with something that is either a rough file or a rough stone.

3 The Ébénistes were organized as a guild of specialized menuisiers (woodworkers) in veneering and inlays in Roubo?s time.

4 The terms ?menuisiers en bâtiments? are not easily translated. Menuisier en bâtiment can only be understood in the context of how trades and crafts were defined in relation to each other in 18th -century France. Take note of the difference: menuisier refers to the worker while menuiserie refers to the craft. Crafts were grouped under guilds and had their secrets to protect. They went through extensive changes when the French Revolution abolished the guilds and later with Napoleon?s reforms. These changes are also part of the explanation why 18th century French tools are mostly no longer around but I digress. Let it be said for now that the Menuisier en Bâtiment was a highly skilled woodworker that was adept at a bit of everything.  Bâtiments, in the old French dictionaries of the 18th century referred to all constructions more particularly destined to house humans, animals or things as well as ships (Littré, 1872-1877). Note: a popular expression was also used in Paris at the time: ?être du bâtiment?; to be of the trade, of the craft. Roubo associates Menuiserie en bâtiments to assemblies of all kinds and their vast applications, all the way up to detailed work like ornamentations. The techniques and methods are described as the foundation for all other kinds of woodworking. So, Roubo refers to the Menuiserie en bâtiments as the founding craft from which branches off all the others. This could be why he focuses most of the techniques and tools under the category of ?Menuiserie en bâtiments?. Volume 1 is, after all, the biggest of all five. It is interesting to note that Roubo describes the furniture makers as the lower skilled woodworkers for reasons we will explore at a later time.

It?s no secret that I?m a fan of the work of Greene & Greene. A big fan. Anyone with cursory knowledge of the brothers has heard of the Ultimate Bungalows. These homes, designed by Charles and Henry at the height of their popularity and creative energy, are grand residences built with uncompromising attention to detail. Everyone agrees the the Gamble, Blacker, Pratt and Thorsen houses are in this category. Many include the Freeman Ford house as well. Were I the ultimate authority, the Robinson house would also join the list.

While the Gamble house remained in the Gamble family until it was donated to USC and the city of Pasadena, the other Ultimates have more colorful histories. Most endured some period of neglect or abuse. The rape of the Blacker house resulted in ordinances that protect historic homes in Pasadena. I think the Thorsen house trumps them all, however. Since 1942 the Thorsen house has been home to a fraternity.

I suspect that many of you have seen the movie ?Animal House.? It?s hilarious. It?s a classic. It?s completely unlike the California (Berkeley) chapter of Sigma Phi. The brothers of Sigma Phi take their stewardship of the Thorsen house, which the fraternity purchased from the Thorsen estate, very seriously. Every Saturday morning they work as a group on maintaining the house. They learn its history. They take pride in it.

But keeping up with the demands of a 100 year old mansion (and a work of art at that) is difficult. And expensive. About 9 million dollars. If you find yourself in Berkeley, stop by the house. The brothers will happily give you a tour and accept a donation to the fund. But don?t let an inability to visit stop you from contributing. Send a few dollars and help save an historic landmark, one of the Ultimates. It?s a lot easier to keep such houses around than to wait for another genius to come along and design more.

The Thorsen House Restoration Campaign
c/o Mr. Dan McNear
Route 1
Box 264-E
San Rafael, CA 94901

 

 Ah, the hard work was done...  Or was it?  I got the roof framed, and it was time now to get it shingled.   Before I get to that, the last little bit of framing needed to happen - the cupola.  Here you can see the base I had constructed while framing up the roof:

You can also see the roofing materials nowhere near I wanted them to be - I wanted them on the roof, but there they are on the ground...  Of course, they are the heavy ones - architectural layered shingles, which basically means each bundle weighs twice as much as a regular bundle...  but I digress... 

Here's a rear view of the building, showing the cupola framing and the rear overhang I neglected to include in the last installment of this unending adventure:

It was much easier to frame up the cupola on the ground, as there were several angled cuts to make and it's easier to make any adjustments where the saw is closer than a run down the ladder...  besides, that 8/12 pitch is hard enough to stand on.  That - and I wanted to make sure I got the weather vane installed properly.  I purchased it from The Weathervane Factory located in Bar Harbor Maine.  I had considered something more whimsical, but in the end I am happy with this purchase - it fits the finished design of the building quite well.  Here is the framed cupola, complete with vane, on the floor of the shop:

And - of course - in it's final resting place on the top center of the shop:

The cupola is a functioning roof vent, along with gable vents at each end - there should be plenty of air traveling through the attic space with this setup.   I used pre-made louvers just to save on time and keep them a bit more maintenance free...   In retrospect, I think if I were to build it now, I would use a larger roof on it - something with a little Asian influence - but, I'm not going to tear the thing down for it!

Anyhow - I had the roof sheathed now, the cupola framed and in place, and all that was left was to heft all the shingles up onto the roof.  By my calculations, it was going to take about 18-1/2 square or so, or 56 bundles.  That's 56 trips up the ladder carrying some god-awful heavy material.  Of course - it was mid August, the hottest part of the year... You can't shingle a roof unless it either the hottest or coldest part of the year, you know.

I have mentioned that one of the reasons I was able to build my own shop was because I had become my dad's caregiver after mom passed away.   Dad had come to live with us right at  New Year's, and did quite well at first.  But it was about at this time that his condition (Alzheimer's) became quite severe.  It made working on the shop during the day difficult at best...  Dad had taken to wandering off on me, wouldn't come out to the shop to "help" me any longer, and I couldn't leave him by himself for more than about 10 to 15 minutes, even if he was sleeping.  Usually I would have to wait for my wife to get home from her work to "take over" for me so I could work on the roofing in the evening.  The nights were long, and the weather cooler in the evening, so it wasn't all bad, I guess...  

We took him in to see a doctor and she suggested we contact Hospice of North Idaho - that they might be able to help us out.  What a godsend those people were...  They came out three times a week, giving dad care and me some time to run errands and get some work done.  I cannot thank them enough for their exemplary service, they were truly wonderful.

As a result, I don't have any photos of progress on the roof so here it is magically complete, about a week after Labor Day:

It took me about a month to get it from the picture before to that one.  First to go up was the class A chimney for the wood stove, the mast for the electrical service, then the fascia board followed by the shingle underlayment   Here you can see the mast for the electrical service, and my temporary scaffolding re-erected after being torn down when the roof framing was completed:

It was no fun doing this side of the roof - an 8:12 pitch gets hard to stand on after a while, and I'm no fan of heights...  It took all of my courage at some points.  I did use roof jacks for this side, which made it easier. 

It ended up taking about 19 squares of shingles to complete, I used the heaviest kind (of course!), an architectural "layered" shingle that has a 35 year warranty.  What I really remember is how exhausted I was by this time...  When I did work on the shop, it was at a frantic pace.  The shingles were heavy, of course - and I can still feel the pain in my shoulder from lifting them into place.  I had to wear tape over my fingertips, as rubbing the stone on the shingles had worn my fingernails down to where they were bloody.  Worst of all was that Dad was a 24 hour a day job, as he had no sense of day or night anymore. 

Dad was rapidly getting worse, and I stopped work on the shop to spend time with him.  He passed away on the 21st of September.

The next month was spent bringing him back to his home to be buried next to mom, and to get together with family to decide what to do with their estate. 

Getting back, it was well into October.  Life was about to change for me - no longer tied to the house, I needed to get back out into the workforce.  My focus now was on updating my resume and on storing what I had received as an inheritance from the estate.  When I started the shop, we had no idea how long dad was going to be with us, and there was a finite amount of money to work with.  We had it worked out where once the shop was complete, dad and I could start working out of it, making money out of it, hopefully enough to allow me to remain as his caregiver.  It turned out that wasn't to be, the time with him was too short, and the shop was incomplete.  I wasn't far enough along with it for it to work for its income, so it would have to take the back burner while I once again joined the 9 to 5'ers.

When everything was settled, I did spend some time on the shop buttoning it up for the coming winter.  First was to put some siding on the cupola so the flashing would keep out the rains:

Next was to get the windows and doors installed so the building would be enclosed:

It was finally starting to look like a building!  The overhead door is a 10' x 10' "residential" door from Overhead Door... I'm quite disappointed in it, it's not a very tough door and the panel with the windows is too high to look out of - the only other option would have been to have them be too low... 

I also got the electrical panel hooked up so there was power, but that was about it for the winter.  The next thing I knew, I was reporting daily to a new job and my time for working on the shop was drastically cut back to a few hours a week.  With the cold weather and darkness of winter approaching, not much would happen until spring could shake off the icy grip of what seemed to be the longest, coldest winter...  But there were a few things I could do...

Coming up next - knee braces and some other miscellaneous structural work, and hooking up the electrical...

 

Well, it seems my brother had been keeping great great granddad's old spinning wheel - I had forgotten the box that it was in when I left the homestead, and he had been storing it for me. After reading the last piece I did on spinning wheels, he must have read it and remembered he had it -and got it out in the mail to me - because it arrived a week or so afterwards:

It's missing some pieces, but there's a good majority of it still there. The legs and pedal are gone, and it's missing the two pieces that hold the bobbin/axle.

It's an interesting piece to me on several counts... First, it was made by great great grandad... Second, it's a study in wooden machinery - everything has a purpose and yet it's still elegantly constructed. Third, it's an example of true frontier craftsmanship. I'm not sure of the exact date, my best guess would have been somewhere near the 1870 to 1890 range, in the Dakotas. This would have been made with the most meager set of tools, and quite far out in the country... I think I remember reading the nearest flour mill at the time was a full day away.

Parts of a Spinning Wheel

To have a discussion about the construction of the old wheel above, it would probably help to review just what the parts are called... I got much of this information off of various web sites, including The Joy of Handspinning, which is a wonderful resource for the enthusiast - I'm more interested in the construction, but that doesn't do you much good if you don't know how the thing works!... I'm using dad's wheel, which is a replica of the old one I'm looking at:

Tension Knob: A threaded knob, turned to raise or lower the bobbin and flyer assembly thusly reducing or increasing tension on the drive bands. Maidens: The upright posts that hold one end of the bobbin and flyer assembly Flyer Whorl: The pulley that drives the flyer - it has several different diameters so different speeds can be achieved Flyer: The U-shaped piece with hooks - the hooks are there just so the fiber can be spooled evenly onto the bobbin. This is what spins the fiber. Bobbin: A spool that collects the spun fiber Orifice: Where fiber is fed into the wheel as it is spun Drive Bands: Twine or string that drives the flyer whorl from the fly wheel Mother of All: The upright piece that holds up the tension knob, bobbin, and flyer Fly Wheel: The main drive wheel - the large wheel that is powered by the treadle Footman: Hard to see in the photo above, it's behind everything- it's the wooden piece that connects the treadle to the fly wheel Treadle: the foot pedal at the bottom

 

It's made from at least three, but more likely four distinctively different woods, from what I can see - and I think you can tell somewhat in the top photo. I'm not positive of the exact species, but from my experience with wood and my knowledge of the trees native to the area in which it was made, my best guesses would be birch or elm, maple, and basswood or poplar. I will get into where each was used as I deconstruct the thing.

Metal pieces would have been difficult to fabricate and expensive to purchase, so their use was kept to an absolute minumum. Could he have bought the metal pieces, or had a machinist make them for him? It's a possiblity. The pieces could have been ordered via mail order and shipped to the closest dry-goods store... yet they do all show at least some amount of fabrication. That eveidence could just be the technology of the time showing through, however - I'm just not qualified enough to say.

The only metal pieces are the axle/treadle drive on the fly wheel, the metal hooks on the spinner/flyer, and the axle for the flyer/flyer whorl assembly. The metal reinforcement on the flyer (the U-shaped piece in the photo below) shows signs of hammering to shape, and is riveted in place with metal pins and is surely of his own making.

The part that would have probably been the most difficult to make would have been the axle for the bobbin/flyer assembly... It appears it was made from something else, and made to work. I'm not exactly sure what it would have originally been had he fabricated it - it might even be two pieces, I can't really tell. The center was drilled out from the end and from the side to create the orifice that allows the fiber to be fed through it.... Both holes are off center, and show some evidence of being drilled and filed by hand.

You can see the orifice on the axle of the flyer on the right in the above photo, where the fiber is fed into the wheel. The far end of the axle in the photo above has a small taper to it - and is also threaded to hold the bobbin and flyer whorl on. It looks to me like the tapering was done by mounting the bolt in a wood lathe and tapering it using a file while turning. Fine metal work would have been difficult on the prairie in those days... and this is one of the things that lead me to believe this piece was at least partially fabricated by old great great granddad.

The bobbin (on the left in the above photo), the flyer, and the flyer whorl are all made from a very dense, close-grained wood - my guess is maple, though it could be just about anything of a similar nature. It needed to be, as the walls of the pulleys on them as well as the U-shape of the flyer makes using a strong wood imperative. The bobbinis made from a single piece... You can see by the breaks that it was made from a straight piece of about 3" round wood. The hole the axle slides through goes all the way through the bobbin, obviously - my best guess as to how this was made would be to first drill the hole through the rough blank - then mount the blank in the lathe and turn the bobbin to its final dimension. This would assure the axle hole would be centered on the bobbin. The far end of the bobbin is actually the first pulley you would use as part of the flyer whorl assembly - you see it in the next photo and the one two down that shows the whorl in it's place.

Here you can see the far end of the bobbin and the leather "bearing" that the axle is pushed into (the flyer whorl is not in this photo - it would take up the space between the bobbin and the adjuster piece the leather bearing is pressed into):

Both ends of the axle were mounted in leather bearings... but unfortunately the maiden that holds the closer end was missing on the original. Using another wheel made by granddad's brother, he fashioned the maiden with a leather bearing similarly to how that wheel was constructed:

You can see that it was simply a thick chunk of leather, glued into the maiden. This allows for the bobbin assembly to be easily removed from the wheel, simply by turning the maiden. There's not a lot of pressure on these bearings so they function quite well (as evidenced by dad's copy), and the leather would simply have been replaced as it wore out. Lubrication, if any, would have been tallow or beeswax.

The flyer whorl is made with two different sized pulleys so you can adjust the speed of the flyer - faster for more twists per inch in your yarn, and slower for fewer. More twists made for a stronger thread - but took more raw fiber. Fewer produced more "fluffy" yarns, good for sweaters and the like.... at least that's what I think - I have no experience spinning my own yarn. I still have the flyer whorl for the original, though unfortunately only half of it - but it does show how it is constructed pretty well:

You can see the differing diameters of the pulley to allow the flyer to spin at different speeds depending on where you placed the drive bands. The bobbin spins freely on the axle so is independent of the flyer whorl.  It is driven by its own pulley on the end next to the whorl that is a slightly different diameter - this is so the bobbin would spin at a different speed than the flyer.  Otherwise the yarn would only spin in place - with the different speed it slowly spools onto the bobbin as you feed more fiber into the orifice.

This is known as a "Scotch Brake"...  it basically means the yarn spools quite slowly onto the bobbin, while being twisted (for strength) many, many times for each single time it spools on the bobbin - which is the major function of the wheel.  It is this twisting that gives the yarn it's strength - without it, it would simply pull apart.

A good spinner feeds fiber into the orifice at a steady rate, thusly avoiding thinned out or lumpy yarn that is strong enough to knit.  More twists per inch results in a thinner, stronger thread - fewer provide fluffier, more insulating yarn.

The drive bands would have been simple twine or leather strips, or possibly even yarn - it didn't need a great deal of force to twist the fiber, so grip wasn't terribly crucial - speed was.

You can also see the tensioner knob assembly in the photo above at the top of the aptly named "Mother of All". It's broken as well, but it shows how it was made... A threadbox would have been pretty standard fair in most shops of the time, so that's not too surprising to find. It still works quite well, even after being exposed to the elements for many years.... The Mother of All is broken here as you can see in the photo above and below, but again at least we can see what it looks like:

The Mother of All is so aptly named as it is the main structural element of the wheel - everything pretty much hangs off of it. It, along with the maidens and most of the spindle work (with the exception of the spokes in the wheel) are made from a hardwood I would say is either elm or birch - it's hard to tell exactly as the wood is aged so. But those were common woods used in local furniture of the time - especially turned furniture. Oak was available and used extensively for standard casework, but wasn't preferred for turning because of it's open grain and it's tendency to tear out. I would imagine the elm or birch was riven and turned green, much in the fashion of windsor style chairs, and wedges were used to fasten the tenons to the half-moon shaped base (which I think was made of either poplar - but could be basswood)... There would not have been any kilns in the area, any dried lumber would have been air-dried.

Which brings me to the fly wheel, the most prominent piece of the spinning wheel, has some interesting construction methods. The outer wheel was constructed from four separate pieces. The wheel is made what I think is basswood, though it could be poplar, I suppose... both are plentiful in the area. There are a couple ofreasons that basswood would appropriate here. First, a lighter weight wheel would be easier to spin. Women using these wheels would often spin for many hours on end, for many days in a row... ease of use was paramount in their design. Second, basswood is a very easy wood to work... Mounting a wheel this size and turning it in a treadle lathe would have been quite a task... the easier one could make the task, the better. Third - since these wheels didn't carry a load, like say maybe a wagon wheel would, there would be little or no structural stresses on them, so basswood met the bill.

The pieces for the outer rim were first assembled before they were turned using splines and wooden pegs to hold them in place. You can see here where one of the pegs was placed too far out and was turned into:

The outer wheel itself was not constructed in the same manner as a wagon wheel - where the spokes have tenons that mount into the outer wheel - for the reasons mentioned above. It was first assembled and then turned without the spokes - they were added afterwards. Here you can see one I've pulled out:

After the main hub was turned, the spokes were made to fit inside the outer rim, then holes were drilled through the rim into the spokes - and a wooden dowel was driven in to hold the spokes in place. There just one problem with that - how do you make sure the hub is centered in the outer rim? Well - my best guess is that the hub and spokes were made first. The hub first, then the spokes, which could then be glued into the hub. The hub could then be mounted on a temporary axle and turned, allowing you to mark the end of the spokes in the same location as you turned the hub. The outer rim could then be turned to match this dimension... It's just an educated guess, mind you - but the best I can come up with given the circumstances.

As for the hub, it's one piece, with an axle that mounts into the adjacent spindles thusly:

The far side of the axle has an offset that attaches to the footman, which then is attached to the treadle. And yes - at the lower left of the hub in the photo above, that is a knot... As a matter of fact, it continues through to the other side:

Why would he have used a piece with a knot like that in it, you might ask? I would put forth that it was a matter of convenience... As I mentioned above, a lot of the wood used for the contruction of this wheel would probably have been worked green. The wheel would have had to be dried wood though. Most likely that meant that it was was harvested from already dead wood - possibly even seasoned firewood. There wasn't storage space available for storing wood while it dried... The house they lived in would probably have been the size of your living room and housed 5-7 people... The barn would have been similarly small was soley for livestock. The shed that served as a shop would have been more like a lean-to, perhaps with a pot-belly stove if the owner was well-off. So dried wood was a luxury most couldn't afford, but for the wheel it would have been necessary as green wood would have shrunk and rendered the wheel useless. So it's my guess it came from whatever was available - and since it didn't need to be all that strong, it wasn't a problem structurally. Also, I should mention that the knot would not have been this pronounced when it was made - this particular wheel was exposed to the elements for many years, so has weathered quite a lot. Originally, it would have been a very tight knot.

About all that's left is the base, legs, footman, and treadle - and all I have of those is the base... The base is made of poplar, it appears. I remember hearing the half-moon shape was a sort of trademark of his, but I'm not sure of this... compared to the other his brother did later, its a unique feature and was supposedly preferred by the people who used them as they were stronger. I do recall hearing that this makers' work was highly prized by those who received it, at least within the area he lived.

I may restore this old wheel someday - no, it will never be in working order again, but I may try to get it just so it is all in one piece and has all of the parts, just for display. I doubt it's worth much to anyone but me - but it sure is fun to have around to look at and to study, to give one appreciation for the original maker and the methods and material he used in creating it.

The maker, my great-great granddad, was a very adept turner, furniture maker, and woodoworker. He used green wood quite a bit, as I think can be seen in another of his works which I will show just for reference - a crib made of elm:

It appears he also used steam to bend wood, as you can see - obviously a very industrious fellow for someone truly out in the sticks... This crib was used all the way into the 1960's as I recall... It's been retired for obvious reasons since then, but still remains in the family, well over a century after it was made.

 

Though it does show a little of the environment I grew up in - these were the first thing I thought they were singing about the first time I heard that song...

No, I'm talking about the real thing, which are used for making yarn from raw materials such as wool or cotton:

This one is an antique, made sometime in the later half of the 1800's, and was built by the brother of this man - my great great grandfather:

Jon Vium (my great great grandfather) was well known for his handmade spinning wheels, and he made dozens - if not hundreds - of them that he sold to neighbors and at market.  He was an avid turner, and used a treadle lathe.  He lost his leg when using an adze to flatten some birch - he missed and hit his foot.  This was far out in the sticks, so doctors were several days away at least.  A member of the family was sent to retrieve the nearest doctor, but by the time he was able to get there gangrene had set in.  The amputation took place on the kitchen table, and the sterilizing agent and anesthetic used was whiskey...  There's more, but suffice to say not many can say they have it so tough today.

Even after losing his leg, he continued turning - with the treadle lathe - until his death.  I used the above picture of a whell his brother made because while there may be some of his spinning wheels remaining, I don't know where they are...  There was one that had sat outside for many years, and though it was heavily weathered and missing pieces, dad was able to create a reproduction of the wheels that granddad made using it as a reference along with the wheel pictured above - here's  his version, made in maple:

 

Dad was very proud of his recreated spinning wheel.  It's as close a copy as he could come up with given what he had to start with.  Here's a different view:

Spinning wheels are literally spin fibers such as wool (and other materials) into yarn for use in knitting.  I don't think I can remember my grandmother when she wasn't halfway through another knitted quilt - she was prolific.  She made hundreds of them... I still have several myself that she hand knitted - but she usually bought her yarn at the store in the later half of her life... though I remember telling her showing my mother how she would use the spinning wheel when she was younger - it was on a wheel much like these.

 Fibers first need to be "carded", where a pair of "carders (wooden handled planks with a series of metal combs are used to literally comb the fibers straight - here's grandmother's pair, with a "rolag" of wool started next to it:

 

I won't go too much into the process of spinning yarn, but if you are interested there are other sites more with more experienced information than my own...  including http://www.joyofhandspinning.com/ and some videos on YouTube.   Basically, the fiber is combed straight and rolled up into a "rolag" like above, then one end is mounted in the wheel.  Once you start spinning the wheel, it pulls on the fibers as you feed it, and it twists them at the same time, like a rope at the same time spooling them onto a bobbin.   Twisting makes the thread stronger by intertwining the individual fibers into one continuous thread that you can't pull apart without a good amount of effort. 

My uncle was so impressed, that he took dad's wheel and made his own version - his in walnut: 

These are built as closely as we know to the originals great granddad made, and both of them work - as they have been used.  But - not much, I think... just enough to prove they work.   Most people these days don't knit, much less spin their own yarn anymore - but as with anything, there are still a few out there who are continuing the craft.

Most of the parts for each are turned on the lathe...  These wheels were made using a jig and a router, though originally it would also have been turned on the lathe using a face plate and jig.  The string you see around the wheel is the drive belt...  it rides in one of a series of grooves directly above the wheel - each sized differently so different speeds can be used.  The higher the speed, the more twists per inch are produced on the yarn.

 This particular style of wheel is known as a "castle" wheel, which was popular for those who want to travel with the wheel, or have just a small amount of room for it - the latter of which would have been the case for most of my ancestors.  The houses were not large, so if something could be made to take up less space, the better.

These wheels are an exersize in functionality and design - they are beautifully designed wooden machines that are truly an art form.  I've always been drawn to them, as they are the most aproachable tool - they look like some sort of fancy furniture, but were one of the basics of life not so many years ago, when people used them to make their own fabrics, sheets, blankets, and clothing.  There wasn't a Walmart on the corner, and if there was they couldn't have afforded it anyway.  Their only choice was to literelly make their own - well, everything, almost...  One simply has to respect that sort of independence.   There are modern makers who have updated the design to work better and use modern technology (ball bearings!) - but most of the modern incarnations seem soulless to me, lacking that part of them that I see as art.

When I was younger, I always wondered how such a cool song could have been about a spinning wheel...

Blood Sweat, and Tears - Spinning Wheel

What goes up must come down spinning wheel got to go round Talking about your troubles it's a crying sin Ride a painted pony Let the spinning wheel spin You got no money, and you, you got no home Spinning wheel all alone Talking about your troubles and you, you never learn Ride a painted pony let the spinning wheel turn Did you find a directing sign on the straight and narrow highway? Would you mind a reflecting sign Just let it shine within your mind And show you the colors that are real Someone is waiting just for you spinning wheel is spinning true Drop all your troubles, by the river side Catch a painted pony On the spinning wheel ride Someone is waiting just for you spinning wheel is spinning true Drop all your troubles, by the river side Ride a painted pony Let the spinning wheel fly

 

Of course - when I read the lyrics, I realize that the song is really about a homeless guy in a Mustang...

 

Kudus is a city in the Central Java, Indonesia, located among Jepara, Demak, Pati, and Purwodadi districts and in the route of Semarang the capital city of Central Java to Surabaya (please see location map). Based on story, Kudus name was from Al-Quds, which mean holy.

The history of Kudus cannot be separate from the name of Sunan Kudus as the founder and one of the Wali sanga (nine Wali) spreader of Islam in Java at that moment. As his inheritance, Kudus has a famous artefact called Menara of Kudus which form like a temple, placed in one complex with mosque of Menara Kudus that build by Sunan Kudus around 1685 M.

Except famous as a Wali city, since in Kudus area there is wellknown also Sunan Muria, Kudus also known for a long time as a kretek city (city of clove cigarette) as there are many entrepreneurs in the cigarette field. Beside that, Kudus can also called as city of industry because of the long development of industry in the area such as industries in cigarettes, papers, printings, handycrafts, embroideries, foods, etc.

Kali Gelis (Gelis river) which lying in the midlle of the city separates Kudus into two areas, one is Kudus Kulon (west Kudus), the other is Kudus Wetan (east Kudus). Long time ago, according to history, citizen of Kudus Kulon area were entrepreneurs, traders, farmers and moslem theologians, while occupant of the Kudus Wetan area were government officers, intellectuals, teachers, nobles and noble relatives.

Within the growth and development of Kudus, physically Kudus Kulon area, where the majority of the citizens were entrepreneurs and traders, were a steph forward in wealthy compare with the other area Kudus Wetan. With their financial increasing, they build the traditional wooden houses of Kudus full with carved that make it different with the previous traditional houses. That is why, the amazing traditional house, which lately called as the traditional house of Kudus used to only placed in the Kudus Kulon area. At the beginning, the traditional house of Kudus only belong to the Islamic Chinese traders, but furthermore were copied and developed by the native wealthy traders.

The traditional house of Kudus that mostly build before year 1810 M, ever reach the glorious time and become a symbol of prosperity for the owners. The Kudus Kulon area environment was formed with the particular existency of the traditional house of Kudus.

The developing history of Kudus has many influences from foreign cultures like Hindu, Chinese, Persia (Islam) and Europe, which also influence the architectural field in made the traditional house in Kudus. From the research, it can be concluded that there are several motifs colouring the carving style of the traditional house. One is Chinese motif, which form as the dragon carved, Persia or Islam motif that form as jasmine flowers or the particular motif of Kudus that form as lotus flower and colonial motif that form as ropes, crown, and animals. All motifs have correlation with the incoming cultures to Kudus.

The carving art of Kudus dominate by lotus flower as the meaning of Hindu religion. Sunan Kudus introduced a carving dominated by jasmine flowers that described united one to another. The meaning of jasmine was to describe that Islam religion at that time was a small community but it like jasmine, even small, could give fragrance to the sorrounding area. Jasmine made united in one to another to describe that everybody in neighborhood were live in peace even there were differences in the religion.

Within development in making the traditional house of Kudus, influence of the elements of cultures were very viscous gave the meaning of form and function of every part, hence could be separate as follows:

1. Traditional house as the tools to spread religion (dakwah) *)

In the daily life, Kudus citizen are majority obedient muslem. Life of religious service is the social relations that have formed in the many aspects, such as in the house to live which full with the describing of the rukun Islam (Islamic obligation).

In the room inside, there is a place or room called gedongan which formed as mihrab, a place where imam (leader of praying) lead the pray that connected with the symbolic meaning as a holy place and sacral. Gedongan also has significance meaning used as the place of heirloom treasury and the wealth of the owners. Gedongan used also as the main honorables bedroom and at the particular time used as special bedroom for the wedding couple of the childrens of the owners.

Also in the room inside there are four main pillars, which called saka guru that desribe four essence of ideal life. At the top of the fourth pillars, putted tumpang sari where the roof was lying on. The sum of tumpang sari are always odd and always have a meaning, sum of five describe the amount of praying five times a day. The sum of three describe life in soul world, transitory (this world) and the world hereafter.

Front room that called Jaga Satru is provided for parish and separates into two part, left side for women jamaah (followers of imam) and right side for men jamaah (followers). Still in the Jaga Satru room at the incoming front door, there is one wood pillar in the midlle of the room which called balance pillar or soko geder, which has meaning except as the symbol of ownership of the house, it also has a symbol for reminding the resident about the One God, the only One who have to be homaged.

House as the tools to spread religion is represent through Islamic value that formed in the carved style at the partition between front room and inside room called gebyok. The strengthen element of gebyok are two stalk pillars where at its top made a carved that formed as palm of the hand of muslem when doing praying at the position of takbiratulihram (when start to pray) that always at the same time say the words Allahu Akbar which mean Allah The Mighty.

Carving in the gebyok, even it is accumulation from many culture influences, but the visualitation adopted from Arabic calligraphy with Al Quran and Hadist theme. There are many other dakwah messages that formed in the building decoration and it always about aspects of way of life and life attitude of human in do their obligation in the earth for their salvage in heaven.

2. Traditional house as a masterpiece art*)

Traditional house of Kudus if notice deeply is more and more fabulous since its uniqueness and attractiveness in exterior and interior which full with ornamen that made by highest skill woodcarving artist. Foundation of the existancy of the traditional house of Kudus was full with taste and creation that fashioned in the beautiful forms without broken any religion values. Through the activity of art, there is possibility of adding the atmosphere of the deepest metaphysic reality.

Traditional house of Kudus, if seen from Bernard Rudofsky theory, is include in the communal architect that priorities in the art element which done continuosly and spontaneously balanced by whole community with the same tradition from time to time following the ritual habit inside the communal. Art is not just copy and physical implementation of the external form, it also as the spiritual elements that achieve esthetic form. The creation becomes what it called architectural without architect.

The construction of the wooden house made completely knock down that make it easir to release and assemble hence there is possibility also to make part by part of the ornamen fully detail and accurate. The decoration was inspired by the success of temple relief and the development process was instructed by Chinese woodcarver from Sun Ging area. The owners were the wealthy entrepreneurs and traders. The carved decoration were build on the whole component intentionally without gave any empty space left and the results was very optimum, full of meaning, symbolic and the style were correlation among Java, Gujarat, Persia, China and colonial (Europe) style.

Wali Songo influence in the formed of decoration was very dominant even in Islam religion there is a forbidden in the formed of living thing, but they gave the chance of a huge tolerate formed as acculturation and assimilation on the evolutif way thus create a wonderful figurative consequence of imagination from the living thing forms. Art appreciation from the Wali Songo that full with tolerate also accomplished by khalifah in the Arab since Abbasiyah era. Palace of Harun Al Rasyid in Baghdad, palace of Al Mutasin in Samara, Cordoba mosque in Spain, also decorated by fresco formed lion, eagle, horses, and the other creatures. Drawing arts applicated in carpets, ceramics, wall and doors achieved the highest level to become the world admire.

Art ornamentation looks unite with the main building, since the creators were very concern with details, function, structure, ritual, symbol and esthetic that decoratively increase the attractiveness for whoever want to see it. The particular local habitual in the way of life through the architectural behaviour is the description of personification of the Kudus traditional house that make it different in form and style with the other joglo building in Java commonly, except in the form of the roof and soko guru as the support of the tumpang sari.

3. Traditional house as the Class symbol *)

The beautiful traditional houses of Kudus have average age for more than 100 (hundred) through 200 (two hundred). Due to the age of the building, if someone wants to analyze it, they have to use the examination within that era.

According to Prof. Berger, the structure of the Java community at the 19th and 20th century can be divided into several class such as; nobles, government officers, traders and farmers. Colonial politics at that time placed politic emancipation that have aim to liberate individual from old social band which consider shackles the freedom and law enforcement that hold mostly in the feodalism band. Development of individual in the community was appointed to the forming of personality, spirit effort in order to developing the prosperity soon.

In the other words, Kudus citizen that categories as pesisiran (near the beaches) citizen, their wealthy level mostly higher compare with the nobles and the officers at that moment. But in the daily life they did not get any self-respect and honor by the community. They way of living as a trader was qualified as second class and dishonor, hence as the compensation citizen of Kudus Kulon, that the majority were traders, formed the appearance of their house very glorious with the expectation that their too have the rights to get honor same with the nobles. The level of their house made in high five stairs to suit with the social strata like what it done by noble community. Guess from the farmers were accepted in the front room, for the officers community accept in the midlle room while for Bupati (distric chief) and Netherlands people were accepted in gedongan room. Surrounding the house was made high wall same as the form of palace.

Traditional houses that at the beginning owned by traders of Chinese moslem were copied and developed with the Javanese and Islamic values. All over the house were full of carved with ornament from many styles like in the palace of kings in Java, done by high skilled woodcarvers with very fascinating result. Accordingly, it worth to gets the confession of honor like government officers and nobles. For them, house were a symbol of status or stage that worth to get honor and equality.

(Source :* J Pamudji Suptandar, Great Lecture of Rupa art and Design Faculty of Trisakti University/Adopted in English by Deva's father)

The fascinating wooden carved at the traditional house of Kudus must be come from the very skilled woodcarvers. Then, from where the woodcarvers came from?

The carving style of the wooden traditional house of Kudus was quite distinct from the other famous carving centre in Java, Jepara. Historically, Kudus was a carving centre long before it developed as a skill in Jepara. Carving was introduced to Kudus when an emigrant from the famous carving city of Yunan - China, The Ling Sing, arrived in the 15th century. He came to Kudus not only to spread Islamic teachings but also to devote his skills to the art of woodcarving, and his style, Sung Ging, was famous for its smooth and wonderful woodcarving masterpieces.

The Ling Sing was wellknown as mubaligh (spreader of Islam) called Kiai telingsing. The name of Kiai Telingsing until now use as a name of a street in Kudus city. There is a kampong or village surrounding the street called Sunggingan that predicted came from the Sun Ging name. The area, at the past, was belief as the resident of the woodcarvers and carpenters from the devotion of Kiai Telingsing skills.

From the 16th to the 18th century, woodcarvers in Kudus received many orders to construct wooden houses. The main material - highest quality teak - was supplied from Blora's, Tuban's and Bojonegoro's forest. From the 19th century, however, high quality teak became scarcer and scarcer and this, in turn, discouraged the woodcarvers of Kudus to develop their skills.

The carving skills also belong to Jepara's people and has been very famous until now. There is an opinion, which said that wooden carved art in Kudus also done by woodcarvers from Jepara, eventhough in the reality it different in the carving models, especially in the mission and filosophy.

According the history, Mantingan mosque in Jepara has wall that made from carved white stone with the flower motifs that was masterwork of a Chinese called Tji Wie Gwan who brought by Raden toyib to Jepara after come back from his Islamic study in Campa for five years. Raden Toyib then married with Ratu (queen) Kalinyamat, the very famous Jepara's queen at that time.

For his achievement in build Mantingan mosque at the year of 1559, Queen Kalinyamat and her husband gave a new name for Tji Wie Gwan to become Sungging Badar Duwung, Sungging means carving expert, Badar same with stone and Duwung means tatah (tool for carv).

This Sungging Badar Duwung who then recognized as the root source of the Jepara's carving art which consecutively knowing in all over Indonesia and the world. According to history, he was too takes a part in the erection of mosque in Loram (a name of area in Kudus) and mosque of Menara Kudus.

Sungging Badar Duwung then devoted his skill to the surrounding community in Jepara as well as in Kudus and presented high skilled carvers that from time to time growth in numbers. This skill direct and indirect was useful in the process of developing the traditional house of Kudus.

The certainty of mentioned things were still need to be investigated furthermore. But for sure, the traditional house of Kudus has build and become one of the Kudus markers with its fabulous woodcarving.

In talking with some of my woodworking friends on this subject, I learned that most were not comfortable with kids being in their shops because of safety concerns. Granted, there are extra precautions that must be taken when kids are present, but don't let this keep you from introducing woodworking to your kids, grandchildren, or even the kids up the street. And if you're a parent or grandparent who doesn't have a lot of knowledge around woodworking, but your kids have an interest, don't let fear of them getting hurt keep you from teaching them.

It is up to us as adult woodworkers to pass our knowledge down to those that show interest. If we don't, who will? Our schools? Doubtful. Find a child to nurture and teach what you know. Don't be afraid to let them in because they "might" get hurt. How did you learn?

Here are somethings to keep in mind when working with kids in your shop:

• Make sure all your power tools are unplugged. That way you don't have to worry about it.
• Make sure that all the blades on your power tools are covered or lowered so they're not exposed to little fingers.
• Stick to hand tools in the beginning no matter how old the kids are. They need this foundation anyway.
• Don't leave your kids unsupervised in the shop no matter how comfortable you are with their knowledge, maturity level, or skill. Accidents can and will happen.
• Using hand tools like hand saws can wear kids out quickly. Watch for this, step-in and help out during these times. When kids (and adults) get tired, mistakes are more likely to occur.
• With that last point being said, however; don't do all the work for kids just because YOU CAN! Let them do the work they can, and be willing to let them make mistakes on their own. This one is tough for us parents, trust me, I know.
• First and foremost, make it fun for them! Let them have some say into what they build. There are only so many bird houses a kid can make.

The video that we shot on shop safety for kids is not all encompassing, not even close. But, it will give you some good points to help you get started. My hope for this video is take it will make you more comfortable with having kids in your shop and for your kids to have a good and safe time with you.

If you have any questions or comments about the video after you've viewed it, just send us an email at:

contactus@woodworkersresource.com

And for more information on woodworking whether you're 7 or 70, go to our website at:

www.WoodworkersResource.com

Enjoy!

Craig Stevens

First of all - Happy New Year to all you Folks out there reading this! Its amazing how quickly time flies by, so.....

First up - Operation Norris. Remember the rusty old Norris I was going to restore? Well, to kickstart the year I have made some progress. Sadly, the rosewood I put aside for the infills was half an inch too short for the tote. After much head scratching I had to use something else - so Bubinga it is. I have made the replacement tote and two side sections and I'm shaping the front bun at the moment. Once the woodwork is done I can concentrate on the metalwork side of things. The adjuster mechanism will be a challenge, but hey, its a new year!

I am finally going to start building the new porch for the house, too. I had a new path and step built to the front of the house and the bad weather has put me behind with construction. I have loads of gorgeous European Oak sat in the workshop ready to be broken down. Stay tuned.

I've also had some great plane ideas over the holidays and shall be turning them into reality in the coming weeks. Can't beat Xmas t.v. to get the old brain daydreaming....... ;)

Cheers
Philly