hello everyone — happy tuesday. I am typing this sitting next to the fireplace sipping coffee waiting for my shop to warm up so I can go tinker. I figure it’s a good time to blog out some of the woodworking i’ve done from years ago, that I have pictures of.
Since I went to university in the late 1990’s, and digital cameras weren’t commonplace, I don’t have any pictures of any of my work from that time period. There is a chance that I have some slides of some work from that period, which A: I would have to find, if they do exist and B: somehow convert to digital form. THAt’s a problem for another day…
At UMass, I studied sculpture/3-d design. There was a TRADITIONAL CURRICULUM with a strong basis in drawing and clay modeling, both from live models. In JUNIOR and senior years, we covered fabrication in steel and wood, as well as mixed media.
Since I grew up with both a father and grandfather whom worked with wood, I naturally gravitated towards it. After graduation from Umass, I attended the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Maine. I was there for the 3 month program in which we covered design, lumber selection, joinery, hand skills, machine techniques, surface prep/finishing, and shop/machine MAINTeNance.
Once I FINISHED school, I came home and we began with our family with the birth of one (2005), then another (2008) daughters. I also at this time quit working to stay home and take care of the kids full time. I also built a gargae/workshop and got into woodturning…
I enjoyed experimenting in woodturning because of the simplicity of it. Since wood is turned wet, I have acres of forest that I can harvest right from my back door. Also, One only needs a lathe, bandsaw and a few hand tools. Also, pieces can be CREATED in hours, or days, not months.
As one would imagine, taking care of two kids full time left me little time to get into the workshop. As my daughters grew older and more INDEPENDENT, it was apparent that my dads once seemingly common FORGET-FULLNESS was actually something much more. He slid further and further into Alzheimer’s disease…
I was still trying to get into the workshop/studio and keep my hands busy, but all that was actually being accomplished was I was getting frustrated with having to walk away from projects only a few minutes after just begining. I decided to sell off most of my woodworking equipment and not have it as a source of DISTRACTION/frustration. I did keep my table-saw, 4×8 custom made MFT workbench, and some festool tools. THis allows me to still make basic ‘flat’ work while also having space to work on other projects with electronics and MECHANICS like MOTORCYCLES.
Thanks for being here…
Tim Guertin 