As a woodworker and avid ‘upcycler’, I am always loathed to see wood go to waste. So, when a friend said they had some wormy maple they couldn’t use I knew I just had to have it. Instantly I knew I wanted to make something with it that would show off the worm holes to create a beautifully organic effect in the piece.
Hank Gilpin has been designing and building fine art furniture for almost 30 years. A native of Connecticut, Gilpin graduated from Boston University with a degree in photojournalism. He served in Vietnam as an army photographer, and returned to the States with the intention to study photography at the Rhode Island School of Design. A random choice of electives led Gilpin to woodworking, and his first teacher (and future mentor) was Tage Frid.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge said it best –
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
The use of dovetails can be traced back millennia to the Egyptians and the ancient Chinese, who used dovetails in their furniture. It is one of the strongest methods of joining two boards together at right angles. If the appearance of dovetails in a piece is not important, then the through dovetail can be employed, which is the simplest method to master.
Several years ago a friend of mine approached me saying that he wanted my help to make a shaker rocking chair. After looking through several reference books, it was clear that in order to get the shape needed for the back legs and the splats we were going to have to bend the wood, a technique I wasn’t terribly familiar with.
Logging and Sawmill Operations in California – 1940s Forest Documentary – A glimpse into the Redwood timber process.