Questionnaire on design

easy to answer

Bill Tindall, E. TN

>Impractical Cabinet Maker, page 137 right picture

Hope to eventually get good enough to do this piece some day.

There is also a table in one of the other books with an asymmetric top that I think is nice, but I don't have that book to provide a page reference.

I'm not fond of the other people's designs, though I can appreciate that they are well designed and executed.

Re: Questionnaire on design

Wiley Horne--Glendora CA

>Hello Matti,

I'll speak to Krenov also. Like Bill Tindall, I like his showcase cabinets. I don't have a theory about it, just find them pleasing. Do they look Scandinavian to you? Krenov studied in Stockholm. The cabinet shown below is illustrated much better on p. 150 of The Impractical Cabinetmaker, if you have the book. What I find inspiring about Krenov is his ability to use simple details to create a striking design. For example, in this display cabinet, he uses the verticals: The outer stiles are given a shadow line; the doors are given an 'astragal' appearance; the angling of each door (and the muntin bars) create a vertical.

All he has done is create some vertical lines, but I like what happened. This is a heavy cabinet (I am making one similar to it and can vouch for it)--but the use of vertical line makes it look light. The stiles look light, but they are heavy. He adds to the light effect by giving the glass a shallow setback, then chamferring the lip of the surround.

I have a brief story on Sam Maloof. It happens he lives near me. Several years ago, he gave a seminar at his home, and my wife bought me a place for my birthday. Sam was 78 or 79 at the time, and did not appear to have slowed down at all. Now Krenov comes across as a philosopher of sorts--at least in his writing--but Sam Maloof struck me as the opposite. Both fine craftsmen, but Maloof was the most down to earth famous guy I ever saw. He showed us how he makes his famous rocking chair. So he's talking a mile a minute, and he picked up a big 4"x4" block of walnut to make the arm--I mean, he's making the chair right in front of us and telling us what he's doing, plus telling about how he got this huge bandsaw from Europe--and all the while his arms were flying around on both sides of this bandsaw's 1" or 1-1/2" blade. He was using this machine to sculpt the arms; it was so fast it was like he was dancing with the bandsaw. He did tell us not to do this at home, while he was doing it. He was even taking off little curved strips with this huge saw. After 30-40 passes through the blade, that walnut blank was looking like the arm of a chair. Then he picked up a 3.5-HP Porter Cable Speedmatic router with a D-handle on it, and a roundover bit. This old man was strong: he didn't seem old, his forearms were like braided cables. So he took that router in one hand, and the roughed-out blank in the other. And he resumed telling his story--but by now I I was transfixed and couldn't remember any of it. He took that router and freehand 'carved' every edge of that arm--he was yelling to us over the router whine while he shaped the arm. After what seemed like a long time, he released the router trigger, and put it down and said, "There, that's how you do it."

Anyway, here's the Krenov cabinet.

Wiley

Re: Questionnaire on design

Bob Hackett

>Sam sounds alot like like Cecil Pierce.Cecil was a learn by doing kind of mentor.

He once told my son,who had been told no to touch things in other people`s shops,"Come on over here and pick that up.You`ll never learn anything worth knowin` if you keep you hands in your pockets".

Mainely,Bob

Re: Questionnaire on design

Matti Kuikka

>Hello Wiley,

Krenovs work reminds me somewhat of Danish woodwork from the -50:ies though I remember that he was thaught in Sweden where hardwoods are not quite as usual as in Danemark, I think. I must confess that I find his work sometimes just a little anemic despite admiring it's quietness Also I find it somehow forcing the wood. Sorry that I can't explain my feelings better.

I printed your post and will store it inside my copy of Maloofs book, thanks for telling.

Matti