Hand Tool Haven preparation
Take a look at what I've been doing to prepare for Plane Wellness' annual fundraiser. Plus, after the paywall, a quick marquetry tip to elevate your work.
Chest
For the past few weeks, my life has been completely consumed with getting ready for Plane Wellness’ upcoming annual fundraising event.
If you follow either me or Shea Alexander anywhere, you’ve probably already seen some of what I’ve been up to. A few months back, Shea was commissioned to build a Dutch tool chest that was intended to be filled with tools and raffled off to raise money for Plane Wellness. The benefactors also reached out to see if I would adorn it with a marquetry panel.
After a little back and forth planning with Shea, I landed on a design that plays with the carving he did on the front panel. I made the panel, inlaid it on the top that Shea shipped me, and sent it back down to his shop in Virginia.
You can read all about the details of the chest here.
I’m obviously thrilled with how the final product came out (how couldn’t I be?), but more importantly, I’m grateful that I was able to collaborate with Shea. He’s unironically one of my favorite living woodworkers and has done so much to help me get to where I am today. I’m honored to play second fiddle for him on this chest.
Of course, the entire point of making it was to raffle it off, so you’ll have a shot at owning it yourself. From Shea’s post:
The Raffle for the chest and all the tools is being hosted on the Can I Have It Vintage Tool Auction and Sales Group. The raffle (or waffle as they call them in the group) will run from May 17-21 and all proceeds go to Plane Wellness in their work to provide woodworking classes to those struggling with their mental health. If you are not on the group I encourage you to join and read the rules for “waffles” ahead of time so you understand how it works. I have participated in this group for years and though it can be overwhelming with all the group rules everything is done professionally.
The chest will be on display this weekend at Hand Tool Haven, so if you’re itching to see the world’s first true Shea-Albert collaboration in person, now’s your chance.
Presentation
Last year, I was one of three presenters at the inaugural Hand Tool Haven (Shea and Brian DeJong were the other two). This year, things are a bit different - there are a heck of a lot more people presenting and most of them are big names in the woodworking world.
That really is a testament to how much support the organization has been able to pick up over the past year, all due to the dedicated work of Plane Wellness founder Jamie Harpster. Jamie asked me to present again this year, and I was of course happy to say yes.
Normally at events, I do a general overview of double-bevel marquetry. The craft isn’t particularly well known, so sticking to the basics is more than enough to keep the attention of an audience. But to be honest, I’m getting a little sick of hearing myself go over the same stuff. To change things up, my talk at Hand Tool Haven is going to focus on what I call “applied marquetry.”
At some point in every class, at least one student approaches me to ask how they can incorporate their marquetry work into some larger project. Since my classes are generally focused on getting students up to speed on technique, we tend to only talk about creating a panel in isolation.
My talk will go over multiple examples of where l’ve incorporated marquetry into some other work. Sometimes that can be a very straightforward and simple task, and other times it requires quite a bit of planning. I’ll also demonstrate how I plan, prepare, and make a dovetailed box with marquetry work “inlaid” onto the sides.
I’m still working through the pacing and whatnot, but I’m confident it’ll be a useful talk with lots of examples to hopefully inspire you. If you can’t make it out to Hand Tool Haven but still want to see my talk, I have good news. I plan on filming the entire presentation and posting it here for paid subscribers following the event.
If you don’t want to miss out, either get your ass to Butler, PA or hit that subscribe button.
Door Prizes
I’ve been involved with Plane Wellness since it started, and being a key contributor is something I take very seriously: So when Hand Tool Haven comes around, my instinct is to provide as much help as I can.
Last year, I supplied the main door prize for the event - a Benchcrafted hi vise I made from Alexander Brothers’ premium black walnut stock. I did all the fancy carvings and of course a good amount of marquetry to make it something that people really wanted to win
I was in high spirits from folks saying nice things to me all day, so before the event was done I committed to providing the prize for next year. And instead of a hi-vise, I wanted it to be a matching hi-vise/moxon vise package for one lucky winner to take home.
That was quite a promise to make, but I’m intent on following through. And since I’m fast approaching my deadline, I figured I’d give ya’ll a little peek at where I’m at.
Just like last year, the hi-vise is heavily decorated. The front chop has an ogee at the top and a pair of stopped chamfers with lambs’ tongues on the sides. At each end of the batten, there is an ogee with fillets at the top and the middle.
The moxon vise follows suit with a heavily decorated front chop adorned with curves, lambs tongues, and a nice big chamfer for half-blind dovetail work. The ends of the batten are the same as the hi-vise.
The decoration isn’t finished, of course. For the front chops of each vise, l made matching marquetry panels. I also made small year plates to match what I did on last year’s vise - the large one will go on the hi-vise batten and the small one on the top edge of the rear moxon. chop. All the panels will get thin “string inlay” holly borders before getting inlaid into the vises.
I fully intend for this pair to be a show stopper, and I really hope it goes to someone who will really appreciate it. If you want to try to be that person, you have to already have pre-sale tickets (sales are closed) for Hand Tool Haven and be present at the drawing.
If you’re interested in seeing how I go about cutting lambs’ tongues, click here. If you want to see how I clean up the curves on the ends of my moxon vise chops, click here.
A subtle tip for marquetry work
While I’ve been working through everything listed above, I’ve also been building another hi-vise for a friend that will be at Hand Tool Haven.
Just like all the others, this vise will have a marquetry panel on the front — an interpretation of the now-famous “earthset” photo taken by the crew of the Artemis II mission.
