1. Name (and nick names)
Mark Singer
2. Age/DOB
57
3. Location (present and previous):
Laguna Beach , California
4. Tell us about your family
Married for 35 years...son: Ryan is an Architect, Daughter: Jessica is a fashion designer...Java is a Labrador he is the senior member of the Family at 14 1/2, Dexter is a Chihuahua...7 years old and 7 pounds
5. How do you earn a living, woodworking or other, any interesting previous occupations.
I am an Architect....Mark Singer Architects, Inc,...A General Partner in a restaurant Group....All "Opah" locations ..."Agave"..."230 Forest Ave". When I finished my degree I became a general contractor building homes and commercial buildings and I did all my finish work, stair building, door hanging and other trades.
6. Equipment overview (hand tools and other)
PM 66 table saw, Aggazani 20" band saw, Delta DJ20 jointer, Jet 15" Planer, General 24" drum sander, Delta drill press, Jet mortiser, jet combination sander, Jet spindle sander, Oneida cyclone, Jet 14" band saw, older and newer hand tools, Deifenbach Ultimate workbench.
7. Describe your shop
800 sf 12 ft ceiling 2 large overhead doors, skylights, Concrete floor. My table saw outfeed table is a 4x 8 bench...this is where most of my glue ups, assembly, sanding and finishing take place. My large workbench is where most of the joinery, planning, and shaping are done
8. Tell us about the hand planes you own, and your favorite one(s) to use
I have several older and newer planes, some were my fathers old Stanleys...newer ECE Primus, Lie Nielsen, Clifton, Knight, Veritas low angle trio, Veritas, Clifton, and Lie Neilsen shoulder planes....the ECE, Veritas and Knight planes are all favorites
9. You favorite chisels
I have many older ones that I like ...the Lie Neilsens are very good as well...the Nootigoten have excellent balance
10. Your favorite handsaw(s)
I seem to prefer the older ones. Distons, Taylor and sons, Tyzack and Turner...newer ones include Lie Nielsen Dovetail and a Sephar
11. Do you use western tools or Japanese, why do you prefer the ones you use
I have both Japanese and Western saws...I have used western saws most of my life and have only started with Japanese saws in the last 10 years...I do like them both depending on the wood and the joinery required The Japanese saws are mostly Tashiro Zeta saws, which have fine blades and very easy to use.
12. Do you have a woodworking home page
Just my architectural one: http://marksingerarchitects.com/
13. Do you have any influences in your work? Certain styles or designers you follow/prefer
I am influenced by many designers, Arne Jacobsen, Hans Wegner, Finn Jhule, Krenov, Maloof, DiNovi, Charles Eames, Breuer, Corbusier, and Mies van der Rohe. Antonio Gaudi. I like clean modern designs but they must have soul...design is a subtlety and it should not be over done.
I started drawing at a very young age and when paired with woodworking I learned from my father...architecture and design were a natural course. I learned woodworking to be able to build what I designed ...I guess the same is true of my buildings ...I build to see my ideas become reality. I have won many awards for architecture, and several for furniture design including chairs, seating and tables
14. Do you have any ancestors who were woodworkers that served as inspiration?
My Father was a true craftsman and had a small custom repair business in New York, My Grandfather was a European Craftsman, came to America from Russia and fixed up residential buildings in Brooklyn and sold them...
15. What is your favorite neander project, or part of a project, you have ever done and why
I have really enjoyed building chairs, and other shaped organic feeling pieces... like my lamps and stacked lamination tables, they are challenging and require a high degree of thought and sensitivity. I have been designing chairs and seating for many years ... building prototypes for manufacturers has been a great lesson in ergonomics and the anatomy.
16. Do you believe there is any spiritual dimension to woodworking with hand tools
I believe our minds and hands should not be idle. We should use our abilities to create ...to design is to explore what is within each of us...given one, life it is a journey worth taking... From creating comes an inner peace....you feel satisfied to know you have taken the sum total of what you were given and used it in a creative way. You become lost in the work and yet so aware of this place and this moment. Hand tools create such a dialog between the craftsman and the wood....the tool, whether its a plane or a rasp, becomes an extension of the body...almost as if it were part of you...and you develop a true sense of the nature and character of wood
17. How much of your work is done by hand tools. Do you use whatever is best for the job or do you use hand tools even when they are less efficient
I always chose a direct course to make a piece and use the easiest means for each task...but I must say without compromise...it only takes a minute to hand plane an edge that comes off a jointer...to refine it and remove the machine scallops...make the pieces feel like they grew together...I learned with hand tools , but I really appreciate machines and power tools, they make work easier and often better
18. What is your single most favorite tool, and why
The shaping tools are the ones that most connect the woodworker to the piece....hand planes, spokeshaves, rasps, scrapers....from these you understand the wood...the wood speaks as it takes shape and tells you what to do....what to curve and what to leave straight, what is to be soft and what should be an edge to contrast.....which direction to chose to work the wood...
Mark Singer
MARK SINGER ARCHITECTS, INC.
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