Popular Woodworking 2004-08 № 142, страница 81

Great Woodshops

Rosewood Studio

This Canadian school has its roots in the College of the Redwoods.

The photographic image of cabinetmaker and teacher James Krenov looks down from the door of Robert Van Norman's tool cabinet as he carefully pulls out the planes, spokeshaves and chisels he has fashioned to build chairs and cabinets of his own design.

Picking up the rear post of a chair from his bench, Van Norman matches the sole of a wooden compass plane to the inside radius of the dramatically curved piece of wood. What is immediately apparent by this simple act is that the plane has been made with as much care and skill as the post. Chip-carved into the stock of the plane are a series of small depressions on the sidewalls and on the top of the tool's toe. Though the carvings are indeed

decorative, they also allow the user to grip the plane with remarkable force. The tool feels like an extension of the woodworker's arm.

"Toolmaking is an important part of what we do here at Rosewood Studio," says Van Norman, an instructor at the Almonte, Ontario, school. "We get into metalworking a little bit here - it helps the woodworking."

There's little doubt that Krenov, the former head of the fine woodworking program at the College of the Redwoods in Fort Bragg, Calif., would be pleased with the direction

by Christopher Schwarz

Comments or questions? Contact Christopher at 513531-2690 ext. 1407 or chris.schwarz@fwpubs.com.

of this woodworking school outside Ottawa. Both Van Norman and the school's founder, Ted Brown, are graduates of the College of the Redwoods and have transplanted Krenov's approach to woodworking from the rugged landscape of Northern California to the windswept hills of eastern Ontario.

Machines Mix with Hand Tools

Rosewood is located in a cozy village at the back of a restored mill along the Mississippi River. The school caters to the woodworker who is looking for a weekend or week-long class, as well as to the more-serious individual who is considering making a living at the craft and is willing to devote 12 weeks to it.

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Wayne Duguay of Vancouver, British Columbia, works on his dovetailing skills at Rosewood Studio, a school that emphasizes both machine and hand skills.

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