Doucette and Wolfe Furniture Makers
#11
The following as pointed out by Journeyman's Journal is commercial work predominantly completed by hand. Have fun!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_conti...kWizR_-LSs

and, Journeyman's:

https://journeymansjournel.wordpress.com...as-finest/
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#12
Thanks for linking to that site. Now I have more youtube stuff to take up my time.

Would you think that the highboy build is more of an artist at work or just darn good woodworking skills? Is it the artist or the tools? I noticed he was using LN planes and scrapers, do you think that makes a difference? Only asking because since Doucette does reproductions, the originators of the pieces, two hundred years ago, didn't have access to LN planes or electricity, so it must have been the artist side of woodworking that shined through.

It is amazing to me how somebody can take a piece of wood and carve a clamshell into it or a claw and ball. That takes artistic talent. With my hamfisted mitts it would look like a plate of shi* or a tattered baseball surrounded by barbed wire.
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#13
(09-10-2017, 07:10 AM)Dayle1960 Wrote: Thanks for linking to that site.  Now I have more youtube stuff to take up my time.

Would you think that the highboy build is more of an artist at work or just darn good woodworking skills?  Is it the artist or the tools?  I noticed he was using LN planes and scrapers, do you think that makes a difference?  Only asking because since Doucette does reproductions, the originators of the pieces, two hundred years ago, didn't have access to LN planes or electricity, so it must have been the artist side of woodworking that shined through.

It is amazing to me how somebody can take a piece of wood and carve a clamshell into it or a claw and ball.  That takes artistic talent.  With my hamfisted mitts it would look like a plate of shi* or a tattered baseball surrounded by barbed wire.

Its the craftsman, not the tools! I have LN tools and will buy no others, but any level of work can be done with any tools. Besides, the LN tools are all based on the old Stanleys just made with better materials and to a higher standard.
Joseph Connors

The new Golden Rule .....
Those with the Gold make the rules!
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#14
I had to instant replay the moldings cutting. I am pretty sure he shaped them with chisels. Incredible control!
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#15
My hat goes off to him. His build process is almost identical mine. Well, he cuts his dovetails backwards but I can give him a pass on that. I honestly don't know how he has the time to make and post videos as well as what they do with social media. I have tried to do tutorials and blog posts and I just couldn't make the time to do it. Of course I'm also juggling two young children but I'm sure he has a life too. Hopefully some of this makes him some income to offset the time invested and he is able to keep doing it. I'm sure all the videos and social medial post are not about the money for him. No one becomes a furniture maker for the money but being paid for your time is always a nice perk for doing something you love anyway.
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#16
Bruce,

I didn't have a chance to respond sooner, but that video and the online magazine were excellent.  It was so hand tool intense, that I was surprised to see him use a power mortiser.  But, I went back and saw him use other power tools to prep the stock.  Still incredible work. I can't imagine how anyone can make a living using hand tools.  I can't even imagine how many hours that must have taken.

Very cool to see him use the L-N #9 like that.  I always assumed it was just for shooting boards, but I guess not.

I was impressed.

The online magazine was also excellent.   I had never even heard of it, so thanks for posting.

Steve
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#17
Great craftsmanship and great journalistic talent putting together the media to document his builds.  It really adds a lot of confidence to prospective buyers that they are getting a quality product.  I too, was surprised to see him use a No. 9 when trimming pins flush to the carcase and in a couple of other places.  Really makes sense when you think about it.  My only complaint (armchair quarterbacking), is he seems to use his smoother way more than necessary on panels.  It's hard to discern from the videos if he actually needs more smoothing, or he's just liking to show thin, wispy shavings coming out of his No. 4.
Still Learning,

Allan Hill
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#18
(09-12-2017, 06:50 PM)Dave Diaman Wrote: My hat goes off to him. His build process is almost identical mine. Well, he cuts his dovetails backwards but I can give him a pass on that. I honestly don't know how he has the time to make and post videos as well as what they do with social media. I have tried to do tutorials and blog posts and I just couldn't make the time to do it. Of course I'm also juggling two young children but I'm sure he has a life too. Hopefully some of this makes him some income to offset the time invested and he is able to keep doing it. I'm sure all the videos and social medial post are not about the money for him. No one becomes a furniture maker for the money but being paid for your time is always a nice perk for doing something you love anyway.

Easiest way to make a living being a furniture maker is to marry a neurosurgeon.
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#19
(09-13-2017, 02:08 PM)Steve Friedman Wrote: Bruce,

I didn't have a chance to respond sooner, but that video and the online magazine were excellent.  It was so hand tool intense, that I was surprised to see him use a power mortiser.  But, I went back and saw him use other power tools to prep the stock.  Still incredible work. I can't imagine how anyone can make a living using hand tools.  I can't even imagine how many hours that must have taken.

Very cool to see him use the L-N #9 like that.  I always assumed it was just for shooting boards, but I guess not.

I was impressed.

The online magazine was also excellent.   I had never even heard of it, so thanks for posting.

Steve

Steve, I think the amount of hand tool work that goes into one of his pieces may be deceptive. The thing is all he is showing is hand tool work. He isn't showing you all the cross cuts and rips and tenons he cuts on the table saw or running material through the jointer and planer. It doesn't have the romantic appeal that hand tool work does. The fact is almost all good reproduction furniture makers are going to work very similarly to the way he does. If you come to my shop you will see the same exact thing. There are just a lot of details on period pieces that can only be faithfully reproduced using hand tools. After you do it enough you become very efficient working in a hybrid manor so to speak. in this day and age making a living using only hand tools is just about impossible unless of course your wife is in fact a neurosurgeon.
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#20
I think we underestimate the mechanical work done a couple centuries ago; likewise, currently. My high-nuts opinions:

Machinery is wonderful at repetition and single function process. However, the more investment there is in machinery, the more work a shop needs to reproduce. (That is "re-produce".) And, no matter how unique a piece is, it still looks like "Ethan Allen" machinery shop and spray room product when it is rolled out on the showroom floor. Nothing drives the image of mass production better than a dozen clones in different colors and wood species to choose from in a "handmade" furniture store. Even Wally-World has only one display model of the full pallet of sawdust board tables in the backroom.

Right now, smaller shop makers advertising handmade goods are riding the "made in America" logo and mass producing things more durable than those being spit out in "slave labor" Asian factories.  

To elevate one's self above mass production, the final surfaces must appear to be handmade. Hence, Wolfe, or Doucette, goes over everything with a hand tool to introduce human miss-perfection. I just hope he final hand-finishes atrocious spray booth spray paint.  And, because the furniture is one, or more, of a thousand copies made over at least 200 years, he needn't worry about the one-off bloopers fashion police of fabric body decoration love to display duplicates of in Look and True Lies (whatever pulp litters checkout stands and doctor offices).

Enough. Stop.
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