Popular Woodworking 2007-08 № 163, страница 62

Popular Woodworking 2007-08 № 163, страница 62

same way that serving in the Marine Corps will change a person forever, someone attending this school will leave a different person. And, like the Marines, graduates share a fellowship and camaraderie that is long lasting and powerful.

A Step Back in Time

My first experience with graduates of the program came while I was doing art and craft shows in the mid-1980s. The scenario was always the same. A new woodworker would appear with a booth containing only a few objects. Exquisitely crafted and unbelievably priced, there would be small cabinets on delicate stands with doors that swung effortlessly and closed with a satisfying thunk. Closing one drawer with impossibly small and perfect dovetails would force air into a cabinet opening, causing an adj acent drawer to push open.

Beautifully grained surfaces had a distinctive texture from being handplaned and scraped, and carved handles and pulls fit in the hand just so. The question, "How's it going?" would be met with a conversation about design aesthetics or the personality of

the wood in a piece. The pieces I saw on my recent visit, and the people I met had these same characteristics.

For Love, Not Money

Nearly everyone who sees work like this admires and appreciates it, but those willing to buy it are few. Any handcrafted furniture is difficult to sell, but Krenov-style pieces require so much time to render, that the odds of the maker earning a living wage are slim. But earning a living isn't really the point of this type of work, and the training at the College of the Redwoods isn't vocational training. It's more like a school of philosophy or a seminary than a trade school.

This isn't to say that there isn't a real and lasting value to the training. Students come to the school from all walks of life, and at different points in their lives. Some are young and seeking direction, and some are at the end of other careers and want to spend time digging into what they enjoy. All agree that experiencing a lengthy and intense period of time devoted to woodworking is an opportunity to take advantage of, regardless of the outcome.

Even though Krenov retired from teaching in June 2002, his influence is still felt and is profound. All of the current faculty members are graduates of the program, and that is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. Graduates can no longer include the line "trained under James Krenov" in their resumes, but the faculty members and former students assured me that the program has changed little.

Students begin by learning to get tools' edges really, really sharp, make some wooden planes and create "the perfect board." Start

ing with a piece of wood about 1' wide and 1' long, edges and faces are planed until they can pass the closest scrutiny for being flat, straight and square.

Perhaps the biggest change since Krenov's departure is in the area of design freedom that students enj oy. A dominant and powerful personality, Krenov tended to view "good" and "bad" designs in terms of how they compared to his own work. Several people commented to me about non-Krenovian designs that were being made. "You wouldn't have seen that five or 10 years ago," was a common remark.

Design is as much a part of the course as building. Students learn to prepare sketches, drawings and full-size mockups as they learn basic hand-tool skills during their first semester. By the end of the term, they are completing work on a small project using the techniques learned. The second half of the course brings the building of more complicated and larger projects. A few students are invited to return for a second year of advanced work. Summer

continues in this claro walnut cabinet-on-stand Details and hand-worked surfaces. Greg Klassen of Lynden, by Plessi. Krenov's signature forms are often Wash., designed and made this bench with a coopered

revisited by students. madrone seat.

Updated classic. This cabinet by Kathleen Anderson of Portland, Ore., is reminiscent of a Roycroft design from the early 20th century, but it is lavished with details never attempted by the Roycrofters.

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