Creative things to build with the Neander method....

[Chris Hachet]

So what types of things does the Neander method method lend itself to building, and what should be the path to good design?

Especially in relation to hand tool wood working...

I think that mid century modern furniture (the stuff you see in the magazine Atomic Ranch for example) of a uniquely American and not Scandinavian design could really be an area of interest. Some of the stuff from the 50's-60's with this design ethos was a little bit heavy on the plywood end, but most of it I think would be well adapted to hand tool usage.

Tom Fidgen with the Unplugged Workshop has won my respect with what I think excellent designs from a pure neanderthal workshop.

I think it would be interesting to work with Greene and Green designs and build them in a hand tool friendly wood like Cherry, and work with hand tools to make hand made pulls and also make the designs more flowing and contemporary.

But enough of my thoughts, I came here for yours.

Chris

[george wilson]

Violins are necessarily made by hand,unless you have advanced carving machinery. But then,the judgement of the maker is lessened. And judgement is what it is all about. Guitars too,make good hand projects,as do many stringed instruments. And,what I have just mentioned is a big understatement,about the judgement part. Great instruments are always hand made.

[Dave Anderson NH]

This answer is perhaps a bit simplistic, but any type of furniture you like. Unless you have to make multiples such as in chairmaking, doing "one off" pieces of furniture can be readily done by hand. Even woods like hard maple and oak work well with hand tools as long as they are sharp. The biggest time differential between all hand work, blended work, and machine work is in the preparation of the stock. Hand cut joinery can often take less time that that required for the setups and test pieces required when using machinery.

[Chris Hachet]

Violins are necessarily made by hand,unless you have advanced carving machinery. But then,the judgement of the maker is lessened. And judgement is what it is all about. Guitars too,make good hand projects,as do many stringed instruments. And,what I have just mentioned is a big understatement,about the judgement part. Great instruments are always hand made.

Which is why my son and I are looking at building some guitars as a future woodworking project.

[Chris Hachet]

This answer is perhaps a bit simplistic, but any type of furniture you like. Unless you have to make multiples such as in chairmaking, doing "one off" pieces of furniture can be readily done by hand. Even woods like hard maple and oak work well with hand tools as long as they are sharp. The biggest time differential between all hand work, blended work, and machine work is in the preparation of the stock. Hand cut joinery can often take less time that that required for the setups and test pieces required when using machinery.

Agreed.. my wife wants me to build a few Stickley style spindle chairs with about 90 mortice and tenon joints in them. Methinks I may be using the hollow chisel mortice machine for that project...


At the same time, hand work is very important to me as I really want to build some Windsor chairs from scratch.

[Curt Putnam]

I have no eye for design, I merely know what pleases it. Your question got me going on the subject. I think I might be pleased with a merger of the the "furniture of necessity" with the Sam Maloof ethic. Southwestern images flit through my mind.

[Prashun Patel]

For me, size can be a determinant. Big things are harder to mill and dimension with hand tools than machines for me.

[Jim Koepke]

A recent project was a Tea Cabinet for my wife. Another is in the works at this moment.

It came about due to my making a Fibonacci Divider:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?223546-What-s-in-a-Name

I decided to make the Tea Cabinet using the new gauge to find the proportions.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?224747-Tea-Cabinet-Latest-Project

The shelves were resawn on a bandsaw. so it isn't completely Neander/hand tool. I do not recall if the 1X12 was hand ripped to its final size or not. Sometimes it is hand ripped, sometimes the bandsaw is set up and the floor is already cleared so the bandsaw gets the job.

The molding and ploughing was done with a Stanley #45 and other planes. The dados were cut by hand with chisels.

jtk

[Brian Holcombe]

Japanese interior architecture lends itself well to hand-methods. They usually involve finishing techniques which are also often by hand. The grooved sections which rely upon smoothness and straightness to properly function are best created by hand.

I think often, just the opposite, where much of the machines available to a hobbyist are often geared toward mid size work, and once you move into either fine detail or large work it's better accomplished by hand in my opinion.

I will be doing some door building in the next coming months, I plan to start with two sets of sliding doors for one area of my house. I'm happy to use a hand method to create these doors as I believe that will lend itself to remaining stable in the future. Now that I am also able to resaw with ease I will be resawing the major planks of these doors to bookmatch them. I've noticed a lot less stress in the boards of my projects dimensioned by hand as opposed to those from years prior which were machined to size.

It's not always practical to dimension a project 100% by hand, but in the event that it is, the result is often a better one in my experience.

[Patrick Harper]

Surprisingly, I feel that a lot of modern design elements lend themselves to hand tools. Simple, clean-lines, few moldings, etc. However, pretty much anything can be done with a hand tool only approach so long as your creative and patient.

[Judson Green]

Maybe its just me or my comfort level but I don't feel that curvy stuff lends well to a neanderthal. And I'm talking about cabinets/furniture not instruments.

[Maurice Ungaro]

Basically anything made prior to electric powered machinery. That includes curvy Louis IVth veneered stuff down to turned items made on a spring pole lathe. How deep is your imagination, will, and determination?

Roy Underhill's Woodwrights Studio is totally Neanderthal, save for the fluorescent lights... Check out his listing of classes for an idea of where you can go with it.

[Sean Hughto]

Maybe its just me or my comfort level but I don't feel that curvy stuff lends well to a neanderthal. And I'm talking about cabinets/furniture not instruments.

Huh? My 113, drawkives, spokeshaves, carving tools, bow saws, coping saws, etc. disagree strongly. Not to mention, that I don't think any of my work in the last five years has lacked a curve or ten. Here's a small trestle I'm presently inthe middle of - a few curves:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7297/15815039633_3b969c64d6_c.jpg

[Judson Green]

Huh? My 113, drawkives, spokeshaves, carving tools, bow saws, coping saws, etc. disagree strongly. Not to mention, that I don't think any of my work in the last five years has lacked a curve or ten. Here's a small trestle I'm presently inthe middle of - a few curves:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7297/15815039633_3b969c64d6_c.jpg

Are those burn marks? Surly didn't come from your spokeshave did they?

But like I said maybe its just me, the level I'm at with neanderthal woodworking. When using machines and sanders curvy stuff seemed easier.

AND Sean that looks incredible!

[Sean Hughto]

Sorry, Judson. I'm not a purist. While my bow saw was available for the task, I used a bandsaw for the rough cuts. For me, hand tools are the key to the sculptural and carved forms that interest me and that I enjoy shaping.

That table still has a ways to go. I handcut all six joints you see there. And of four all the carving and shaping is by hand. Glad you like it so far.

[Daniel Rode]

I'm really interested in discussing design and I very much value the thoughts of the regulars in the neanderthal forum. Not so much because they are interested in hand tool work but because this group seems to place a high value on craftsmanship and design. While I use hand tools more and more, it's a mean to and end. That end is to explore and create fine furniture. The design aspects -- the visual language -- is the more challenging half of the journey for me.

[Brian Holcombe]

I agree, I think there is a lot of thoughtfully considered designs that come out of the regulars of this part of the forum.

I suppose for my own specifics I think I've distilled what I like down to that which evolved out of timber framing but does not divorce the structure from the facade. So, while I greatly admire 18th century peices and they do build on a structure very rationally, I like that which reveals the structure and maintains some rustic elements.

[Mike Allen1010]

373688]Huh? My 113, drawkives, spokeshaves, carving tools, bow saws, coping saws, etc. disagree strongly. Not to mention, that I don't think any of my work in the last five years has lacked a curve or ten. Here's a small trestle I'm presently inthe middle of - a few curves:[/I]

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7297/15815039633_3b969c64d6_c.jpg

Sean don't make us beg- we NEEd more build picks! I love the curves and the "non-rectilinear" (not sure that's a real word) shaping of the posts! No one will confuse this for store bought-very nice!

Best, Mike

[Chris Hachet]

Wonderful work Sean, and well above my current skill level.

[Chris Hachet]

I agree, I think there is a lot of thoughtfully considered designs that come out of the regulars of this part of the forum.

I suppose for my own specifics I think I've distilled what I like down to that which evolved out of timber framing but does not divorce the structure from the facade. So, while I greatly admire 18th century peices and they do build on a structure very rationally, I like that which reveals the structure and maintains some rustic elements.

I like 18th century desings done simply and in a casual, as you say perhaps even rustic framework. I think Queen Anne stuff often looks better without all of the carvings and ornate design elements.

[Bryan Schwerer]

I just wanted thank you for this post. I've wondered the same thing but never really tried to put it in words. I like the look of Stickley furniture, but it sure seems to be designed to be cranked out in a factory. I'd love to get some idea of light embellishments I could do by hand that would give it a unique look. I'm talking about things like this that could be done with a rasp or gouge. https://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/store/blog/379/Using%20Rasps%20in%20the%20Woodshop%20Can%20Add%20 Flourishes%20to%20Basic%20Work.

I'm not very good with design, so it is hard to see the end effect in my mind and I get to do so little, a piece or two a year, I don't feel comfortable experimenting.

[Sean Hughto]

Mike, you are kind and I appreciate your interest. Most of what I make is sort of eccentric in its way meaning it's not to a lot of folk's taste. My parents used to take me to alot of auctions and antique sellers when I was a kid in the 70's. I was always drawn to the slightly more folk art or slightly more primitive or naive stuff. So I think that influences what interests me and what I like to make. I have no interest in mimicking stuff one might find at Ethan Allen. And I often don't make a plan in advance. I design as I go. On this, I got a couple really wide and pretty burl oak planks that I decided needed to be a table top. I then decided that I would make the support a trestle design. The oak top is oval. This is where the trestle is at - btw, the posts are octagons. I only have a couple other pics to give some other angles and details:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7334/16388461475_5e4f849f13_c.jpg
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7479/16116170130_653a863d3d_c.jpg

[Brian Holcombe]

Nice work Sean!


I just wanted thank you for this post. I've wondered the same thing but never really tried to put it in words. I like the look of Stickley furniture, but it sure seems to be designed to be cranked out in a factory. I'd love to get some idea of light embellishments I could do by hand that would give it a unique look. I'm talking about things like this that could be done with a rasp or gouge. https://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/store/blog/379/Using%20Rasps%20in%20the%20Woodshop%20Can%20Add%20 Flourishes%20to%20Basic%20Work.

I'm not very good with design, so it is hard to see the end effect in my mind and I get to do so little, a piece or two a year, I don't feel comfortable experimenting.

There is some irony there as the original intention of Arts and Crafts furniture was a return to what was hand made and thoughtfully designed. William Morris disliked the thoughtless design and schlock of the early industrial revolution which was very poorly mimicking period work. He designed with an inspiration in the medieval period. He thought that creative occupation was incredibly important to the human experience.

The last 175 years ~ of design have been a tug of war between hand and machine. The industrial revolution removed creativity from the process and with regard to wooden furniture it created a lot of poorly designed furniture, so then the arts and crafts movement pops up and the the value of quality and handmade is again revived, this is fallowed by early modernism which attempts to merge the two values with modern material. You see the extreme end of that in Danish modernism where the craftsman is very highly considered, works are thought out (sometimes for years) and they nicely incorporate machinery. Fallow by American Modernism where 'seating the most for the least' was the mantra, relying heavily on machine made, then it's pulled back to some handwork with the American Craft movement which shows a heavy Danish influence (Maloof) and heavy shaker influence (Nakashima). Nakashima originally working with mostly handtools and later moving toward machinery.

Contemporary work seems to be heavily focused on specific niche's, the standouts are not afraid to show period inspiration directly influencing their work, in my opinion.

[Jim Matthews]

I think three things are really important to consider in any design, beyond the utility of the piece.

Do you have a particular favorite wood to work with?
Not all materials are appropriate for all applications.

How will you keep it clean?
Perforated, dowelled and ornate carvings will require dusting.

Who will use it?
Things built for kids need to be tough, builds for SWMBO should work every time - without fault.

The last thing I would say is that originality, even if it's a failure is to be encouraged.
The reason we admire Nakashima is that he did something novel.

Homage or nods to a great design are one thing entirely different than outright copies.


Most of my furniture has curved elements because that's the way the boards came to me.
Anyone that's buying lumber has the same opportunity.

Use the curves the tree gave you.

[Sean Hughto]

work with hand tools to make hand made pulls
Chris

I like making my own pulls too, but I mostly just use a knife to whittle them. I guess that is kinda Neander.

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3611/3618602198_65132317c1_b.jpg
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3363/3594440358_c1407b3692_b.jpg
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3658/3605370921_8544903059_o.jpg
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3646/3598946807_c5e68fd1cf_o.jpg
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7359/10194980805_e9934e862b_b.jpg
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5499/11311476475_e51054ebcd_b.jpg

[Brian Holcombe]

Hah, that is great and practical advice, anything you build for SWMBO that doesn't function perfectly every time, she will remind you of it as often as possible (at least mine will).

I agree that outright copies should be avoided, I have a few pieces guilty of heavy inspiration but have used them as learning tool. They have become a leap off point for more independent work.

Even the greats found inspiration in their early work, some damn near copying. Mira's book points to some of George's early chairs as borrowing very heavily on a design by Charlotte Perriand. That doesn't shock me all together as his early influences in architecture are the work of Le Corbusier. Corbusier teamed up with Perriand for a great deal of his work with regard to furniture.

Compare early Maloof with Finn Juhl, compare Finn Juhl with ancient Egyptian...Wegner with Ming....ect

[Judson Green]

One must add to that your personal ability both as a designer and as a builder.

Also the time you want to commit to the design/build. And time is probably a much bigger factor than most will admit. After all most of us here do this for fun/hobby. Even if you have the ability you may not be able to commit a year or two of weekends to some very involved piece.

[John Petsche]

Love the hand carved pulls, great work.