Maloof: ?Then I just cut ________ on the bandsaw
I?ve been watching/studying and rewatching/studying the Fine Woodworking Video Workshop tape ?Sam Maloof - Woodworking Profile?. It?s like watching a slight of hand artist up close and in slow motion, as Mr. Maloof goes over the key steps in making one of his rocking chairs, noting important details and reasons for each operation from stock prep through joinery, shaping and finishing. The tape is 55 minutes long and better than half of that is on his chair making methods. If I had to describe the tape in one word it word be Revelations. He reveals the answers to so many of my ?How the hell does he do THAT?!? questions.
I?m watching, remote in hand - ready to pause and rewind, taking notes and doing sketches - 3 degrees like this on this piece, 3 degrees but like this on this piece and 3 degrees like this, but only on this edge. And when he sticks them all together he?s got a squashed down ?W? - the rough front profile of his chair seat. ?Ah - so that?s how he does it. NOW it?s obvious. Hell, I could do that.?
But it?s his ?Then I just cut (fill in the blank) - on the bandsaw.? where it starts getting questionable that ?I can do that?. With one of those 3 degree flat edges on the bandsaw table he cuts the side profile shape on the center board. Slicing through walnut like the blade?s following an unseen template, with his fingers dangerously close to all those fast moving, obviously sharp, TEETH. ?Flip it over and do it again on this side.? he says and it takes him about as long to do it as it took to say it.
Through most of the process he tells you and shows you what he does, why and how. With the exception of some special router bits he has custom made for his 3 degrees (sometimes 4,5 or 6 degrees) joints he uses machines found in even a hobbyists shop - joiner/jointer, planer, table saw, drill press (OK so he uses a horizontal boring machine - and a very old one at that), bandsaw and a hand held router. He?s got plywood patterns for the various components so almost everything is ?just cutting close to the line?.
UNTIL he gets to the arms.
If you?ve ever tried to bandsaw a piece of stock with a bow, twist or any other deformity that keeps the bottom face of the piece FLAT on the table you probably know what can happen - and sometimes that ain?t pretty. I?m talking 3 foot vertical, 5 foot horizontal jumping, arms waving, vocal cords straining, sphincter clenching, heart pounding, eye popping, pure adrenaline pumping terror. And that?s if you?re lucky. You could be bleeding profusely and/or looking for body parts to pick up BEFORE rushing to the emergency room. He?s freehanding some pretty complicated cuts - with just the far corner of the stock on the table - a single point of contact - and he makes it look so effortless.
Now he does warn the viewer that YOU should NEVER do what he?s about to do and repeats the warning as he makes repeated shaping cuts, revealing to you the shape he has in his mind. Damn - it?s such a pleasure to watch a master of the high wire perform -without a net. What?s really amazing is that he?s only smashed the tip of one finger between the stock and the bandsaw table top and that must?ve been fairly early on.
If you?ve admired Mr. Maloof?s rocking chairs or any of his other wood works you really should watch this tape. You?ll learn a lot -about how he does things and about the man. Though woodworking is what he?s best known for he?s got his priorities - family first, friends next and then woodworking.
The ISBN number for this tape is 0-942391-26-8 and it?s about $20 US, available from Taunton Books & Video or through Rockler, Lee Valley, WoodCraft or maybe (JOAT - you listening?) - your local library..
charliel b