Kale Vogt
Feb. 25, 2024
“I find it hard to articulate…”
A phrase I used often yesterday amongst the madness of the Lie-Nielsen tool show when asked how my time at LAP has been. As a complete newbie to this community, the Lie-Nielsen event resembled a fever dream.
Two days of chatter-filled rooms where countless strangers seemingly know who you are. You’re handed things, many things. A box of vintage tools, a “you got this” handwritten card, two wooden planks whose purpose you can’t recall. And more.
Editor’s note: The “planks” are winding sticks – making a mental note to show Kale how to use them.
“Congrats!” They say. “You’re going to do great.”
“If you need anything, ANYTHING, don’t hesitate to reach out.” Said as I’m handed a card with contact information.
As shocking as the experience was, I soon warmed up to it. I connected with several people in the woodworking community and found a grain of confidence from the welcoming support. The warmth of this community is something I’ve never experienced before. Allowing myself to accept all the love and support I’ve been shown has been a challenge for me. I love the unexpected ways in which this new chapter is forcing me to grow.
My first two weeks of employment have been action-packed, physically and mentally. I’m sensing that all of us, Chris and Megan included, are navigating this new dynamic in real time. As the sudden new employee, I’ve gained a variety of tasks and responsibilities.
Within my first two weeks, I’ve kerfed an ungodly amount of hammer handles (nearly 300), then cut the wedges to match. I broke ground on my first Dutch tool chest with Megan and have been assigned my first video research project. Oh, and I’ve assembled 13 IKEA cabinets… Long story.
I’m really enjoying the video editing, which I understand will be my main content responsibility. I’m looking forward to immersing myself in the world of woodworking.
As for chairmaking, it’s understood that I won’t be moving forward with a second chair until my tool chest is complete. Focusing my attention on one project at a time is better for my brain and allows me space to daydream about future projects.
Editor’s note: Oops. See Chris’s post below…and welcome to the world of unfinished projects, Kale!
Next week I’ll be assisting Chris again for his third chairmaking class of the year. Having one class under my belt now, I’m mildly more confident going into this one. Having never held a block plane before 3 months ago, it feels foolish to call myself an “assistant.” Reminding myself of my growth in these past few months keeps me moving forward. Next week’s class will be as much as a lesson for me as it will for the students.
Ed note: Yep – IKEA. We’d be more ashamed if we weren’t so happy with the scads of additional storage and little cost.
Christopher Schwarz
Feb. 27, 2024
Kale started her second chair today, and it was almost on a lark. I’m teaching a comb-back class, but the students are all competent woodworkers, so I don’t need much assistance from Kale. While she helps here and there, she’s also been at her desk drawing new chair designs (I asked her to do three for us to discuss).
At some point in the late afternoon, I sat down next to her in the office and said: “You’ve got plenty of wood for a chair. Why don’t you make one?”
So we pulled a bunch of cherry shorts that have been sitting around. Kale still has a wide seat board left from her last chair. I had some cherry long sticks left over from a class. We found some straight stock for legs. And then I left her in the machine room to get it sorted.
For the last 20 years I have always had a chair or two on the go. Sometimes I’d get stalled on it for a while. But I always like having one in the works to think about and tinker with. These last seven years or so, I’ve kept about three chairs in the works at one time.
Kale says this second chair is going to be similar to her first chair in order to address the shortcomings of the first.
And that’s how you step onto the treadmill.
Fractions for the New
I learned the following trick when I started woodworking, and I was startled when two of the professional cabinetmakers I worked with didn’t know it. So there is probably someone reading this who will be happy to learn it.
When you want to to divide a measurement in half, you just double the denominator.
Half of 7/16” is 7/32”. Half of 7/32” is 7/64”.
When you want to double a fractional measurement, you divide the denominator by two.
So 5/16” times two is 5/8”. And 5/8” times two is 5/4” (which reduces to to 1-1/4”).
I use this trick every day.
Kale's post makes me very happy. There's a lot of really nice people in the world.
The horse barn looks decidedly more organized than in the past.
A corollary to the fraction trick - when dividing a larger dimension in half (say, finding the center of the board) I mentally break the computation into parts. Half of 9-1/4 is half of 9 plus half of 1/4, so 4-1/2 plus 1/8. I don't usually do the final addition to get to 4-5/8 - I find 4-1/2 on the rule and then add the 1/8 on the rule. (Checks math three times before hitting "post" ...)