If you've never heard of Frank Klausz, or didn't know he even had a website - here's the url
charlie b
Mr. Klausz's video on handcutting dovetails should probably be something to put on your birthday / anniversary / christmas wish list
I've been reading his stuff for some time now, and never even thought of looking for him on the web. Thanks charlie.
I can gobble up just about anything about him or by him.
Tanus
Charlie,
Thanks for posting. I read the article in the workbench book re: his view on benches and am basing my bench on that, but I'd never seen his site.
thanks,
joe
I looked at his gallery. I don't know whether to be inspired or dejected.
Bill
I expect that with a little practice most of us could make a kitchen table almost as nice as his.
Thank goodness he included THAT picture!
I was surprised to learn that he did biscuit joinery, then I remembered that he makes furniture for a living.
It's the old Shoe Maker's Kids Go Barefoot thing. Either he never lets his wife see the pieces he makes to earn a living or she's a very practical woman. I suspect the latter.
As for biscuits - "old world craftsman" were faced with the same economic pressures as we have today. If it did the job - and didn't show - then more time to spend on what will show, or is critical to the structural integrity of the piece. More money in carved medallions, cabriolet legs and carved claw and ball feet than in doweled or T&G joined tops.
Watching this man handcut dovetails is to watch a process refined to the n'th degree for efficiency without sacrificing quality - over centuries. Seeing him do it with only a scribe line for the bottom of the sockets, no lay out for the pins makes it look so easy. Cut a half pin on this end, half pin on that end, split the difference - move over a bit - parallel saw cuts here - and here, now parallel saw cuts here - and here - you're done sawing. Stack them, fan them, wack down the hold down - chop - snap the chip out - chop - snap the chip out - onto the next piece.
I bet, when he was learning to do them as an apprentice he dreamed about making them. Now he can probably do them in his sleep.
charlie b
Inspired for sure. He's very much for "Just Do It!" - or at least try two, three, four or ten times before thinking you can't. You'd be surprised at what you can do. Surely you've finished a piece and couldn't quite believe you were the one who made it.
charlie b
I remember reading an article he did in Pop. Woodworking,I think on the subject.
His explanations are pretty easy to follow, but harder to put into practice than he lets on. As with anything,practice sure helps, but with Frank I always get the impression there's more innate than meets the eye.
I"m not sure that I'd want him watching me do them, but I'd love to see him do his stuff in person.
I don't know how many old style craftsmen like that there are around. Klausz seems to have done a very good job at marketing Klausz, so I suspect there are more than we know of. Guys who quietly do an almost perfect job at what they do, and the work lasts nearly forever.
Tanus
Precisely.
The above comments apply here also. His dovetails look perfect, they fit tight where they show but may (almost certainly do) have gaps inside the joint where they are never seen. He says as much too.
Well of course. We all have. That's what the fire pit is for. ;-)
Bill ROFLOLOLOLOL!
Yes he does. Makes mention of it in Landis' Workbench Book where he states that he always undercuts them a little bit (except in his bench). No shame there. I'd undercut all of mine to be able to produce stuff the quality of his.
jc
If you ever get the chance, certainly make it a point to go see him live. I had the pleasure of seeing him at a local woodworking club meeting, and it's both incredibly inspiring _and_ intimidating to see him work.
I'm so used to the idea of TV and movie making "magic", where there are a bunch or takes and lots of editing, that I'd assumed that his dovetail tape was such a work. Eh eh. The guy is _fast_. I mean seriously fast. I imagine the camera people were pleading with him to slow down so they could get it all.
The results of his live dovetail demonstration were passed around the room. I did not want to pass the sample piece on to the next guy. You could see the drool on the people waiting for their turn to examine it. If you had a dovetail jig and router dialed in to perfection, and had lots of experience using it, you might be able to equal the tightness of that joint. You'd never exceed it, but you might equal it.
His sliding dovetail example would take me longer to write about than it took him to do it. Simply a super tight joint with no flex at all.
The thing that surprised me the most is how normal the guy is. He was witty, had glowing things to say about his life and wife, and was just simply a pleasure to listen to and watch. He had some very well- grounded views on how to respond to a potential customer's reaction to the pricing of quality work. Come to think of it, that's not so normal!
There was something there for everyone. I would suggest cloning the guy, but the beauty of many things is in their rarity.
R
It's the details that get you. I watched his dovetail video twice and thought I had the procedure down - 'til I got to the shop. Discovered BIG holes in what I thought I knew. So I watched the tape again, pausing often, taking notes and doing diagrams. Went through it again following the notes and found more overlooked steps. Revised my notes and diagrams and tried them in the shop. Three or four more iterations and I had a set of See It, Do What You See, Start On The Next Page.
You can download each page, their GIF files, print at you leisure and try them. Take a pencil for notes, I'm sure I've got something which either isn't clear enough - or missing. When you find it/them, please e-mail them to me and I'll revise the instructions.
charlie b
I will give them a try. I've downloaded each one, and I may get to it this weekend. I've done dovetails before, both by hand and with my router, but it's mostly been by hook or by crook. The last set I did I was ok with, but they weren't by any means perfect. There's always room for improvement.
Thanks for the link. I'll let you know how it goes. I can give you some feedback now on the main page of the dovetails. The text says there's a link to a PDF that has all of the gifs, but I couldn't find the link.
Tanus
Had a web site space limitation when I had my site on Comcast. To add anything new I had to remove something first. Since the PDF file duplicated the web pages and was 400K or more, I dropped it. Because the instructions get updated based on feedback, doing the revised illustrations, and updating the web pages - creating a new PDF file was just more work. If I can find my copy of Acrobat which lets you create, not just open and look at, PDF files I'll put it back upon my site.
Feedback will be appreciated,
charlie b
That makes sense. I have Acrobat 5.0 and can make PDFs. I can do that from the gifs I have if you like.
I'll certainly let you know if there is anything on that set of diagrams I have problems with, but at first blush I doubt there will be much I can offer. That is a tremendous effort and is greatly appreciated.
A comprehensive set of instructions like that may very well spur me on to something I've been thinking about for a while: doing a dovetail a day until they get to the point that I'd be happy enough to show them anywhere. Because your gifs go into so much detail, I should be able to diagnose any problems I have and correct them on the next set.
Both SWMBO and I have come down with a late winter cold so it may not start this weekend, but the more I think about it, the more I like this dovetail a day idea.
Tanus
Charlie,
Have visited your site a few times, but had not stepped thru this page/pages. Have saved it and it may indeed be the inspiration for me to play a little today - was looking for ideas - not too heavy - not too light for some destressing wooddorking.
Just would like to say a big thank you for what must have been a LOT of work to create.
Regards Mike R Bribane Aus
Caveat:I've not read the whole thread, so might be missing the real problem.
If you want to generate PDFs, you can use the freely downloadable Openoffice.org package. I have used the draw program extensively to make diagrams and draft drawings. good luck!
Microsoft Office will also generate PDFs directly now. There's a plugin you have to download from Microsoft, doesn't come in the box.
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