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Thread: Peter Galbert's book "Chairmaker's Notebook"

  1. #16
    Yeah. Sounds like he is probably the most important spokesman in the anti sawhorse movement. I think he could be working for the table people.

  2. I too ordered the printed and PDF version as I usually do from Lost Art. But I like to read the paper version first so I haven't even opened the PDF yet. PDF versions I think are nice for quick look up on a laptop but I really hate reading a book on a screen.

  3. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Brady View Post
    Isn't Bench-Crafted in Iowa?
    You are correct sir. Bench Crafted is located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. At least that is where my Draw Sharp was shipped from when I ordered it from Bench Crafted.
    Life's too short to use old sandpaper.

  4. #19
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    I have seen Peter both at Working Wood in Eighteenth Century in Williamsburg and at WWIA two years ago. I am amazed at his enthusiasm for making chairs after all the years he has been at it. An excitement pervades his presentations. Book on order! Bob
    Life's too short to use old sandpaper.

  5. #20
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    Sounds like he is probably the most important spokesman in the anti sawhorse movement.
    My sawhorses are handy shop helpers. Why would someone be so upset about sawhorses?

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  6. #21
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    MY BAD! dumb mistake. I said sawhorse when I meant shavehorse. I just finished a course in which we made sawhorses using "windsor chair" techniques, tapered round mortises and tenons. I also just finished a class on building an Irish Stick (Windsor) chair. Both courses offered shavehorses to clamp the legs & spindles for working them with drawknives, spokeshaves....Dunbar, I understand, does not use shavehorses where most of the other chair makers do use them. Galbert has lots of info on designs for sawhorses and modifications of the various plans. Boggs designed a shave horse that LN sells. Country Workshops sells a modified version of the LN shavehorse that is much less expensive. Drew Langsner has plans for building a shavehorse in his excellent Chair Making book too. Drew Langsner's book is also excellent for anyone interested in green wood or making chairs. Drew's book covers more styles of chairs than the Windsor Chair books. Drew actually had John Brown at Country Workshops over the years. John Brown "wrote the book" on Irish Stick chairs.
    Last edited by Mike Holbrook; 03-18-2015 at 6:51 PM.

  7. #22
    I think this blog post in particular turned a lot of people off of Mr. Dunbar..

    http://thewindsorinstitute.com/blog/?p=136

    The "chairmaker sitting at his shavehorse" that Dunbar is referring to happens to be Pete Galbert, who was featured in FWW magazine.

  8. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by Matt ONeill View Post
    I think this blog post in particular turned a lot of people off of Mr. Dunbar..

    http://thewindsorinstitute.com/blog/?p=136

    The "chairmaker sitting at his shavehorse" that Dunbar is referring to happens to be Pete Galbert, who was featured in FWW magazine.
    Yeah. Here is a blog post Pete wrote in response…it's kind of funny to read the comments.

    I agree that stuff like this doesn't make Mr. Dunbar look too good. Reminds me of Sellers. On the other hand, both are reputed, as James indicated, to be very affable in person. A lot of us come off significantly worse in print than in person, maybe that's the problem…
    "For me, chairs and chairmaking are a means to an end. My real goal is to spend my days in a quiet, dustless shop doing hand work on an object that is beautiful, useful and fun to make." --Peter Galbert

  9. #24
    Oh, and Welsh stick chairs, not Irish! Careful, we don't want to start another war!
    "For me, chairs and chairmaking are a means to an end. My real goal is to spend my days in a quiet, dustless shop doing hand work on an object that is beautiful, useful and fun to make." --Peter Galbert

  10. #25
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    I think this blog post in particular turned a lot of people off of Mr. Dunbar..
    It kind of turns me off to the guy.

    It is easy to find tools, benches, methods or styles of work that are not optimum for me or my shop. That doesn't mean anyone wants to hear me opining about my perceived ineptitude of others who favor these other tools, benches, methods or styles to produce their work. On the contrary, most of the time my suggestion is for people to find what works best for them.

    My experience with people who are fixated on how fast something can be done has often seen them end up with flaws in the finished product.

    jtk
    Last edited by Jim Koepke; 03-18-2015 at 3:33 PM. Reason: on the contrary...
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  11. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by Matt ONeill View Post
    I think this blog post in particular turned a lot of people off of Mr. Dunbar..

    http://thewindsorinstitute.com/blog/?p=136

    The "chairmaker sitting at his shavehorse" that Dunbar is referring to happens to be Pete Galbert, who was featured in FWW magazine.
    Thats the one. the fact that it felt like a shot at Galbert (to me) didn't help. That being said, Dunbar's book is very good, if stiffly opinionated. By the way, I don't think his stand on shavehorses is driven by a minimalist outlook. I just think he doesn't find them useful. -for him- I do appreciate the way he changed his opinions on several things between editions of his book, and actually points them out. His writing on single piece seats vs glued up ones for example.

    I find Galberts book more accessible, and better organized. I read it cover to cover (so to speak!) practically in one setting. Dunbar's felt more indigestible, so I read it in chunks. Still really good, I just enjoyed Galberts more. Considerably more.

    All this verbiage aside, they are both books I'll read again and again. Galberts is so well written, I would put it on a desert island list.
    Paul

  12. #27
    Writers understand that when we are reading their unerring wisdom we give the lines gentle voicing ,even though they may have written it while grinding their teeth. If I remember right "affable" connotes a "especially toward subordinates"
    that "amiable" does not.

  13. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mel Fulks View Post
    Writers understand that when we are reading their unerring wisdom we give the lines gentle voicing ,even though they may have written it while grinding their teeth. If I remember right "affable" connotes a "especially toward subordinates"
    that "amiable" does not.
    Even though my grades in English classes were dismal, at least until college, for me it is interesting to learn about the meaning of words.

    As far as my computer thesaurus is concerned it sort of puts the words together:

    affable
    adjective
    he would have us believe that his sexual advances were merely the charming excesses of an affable rogue friendly, amiable,

    amiable
    adjective
    you'll find that the folks in this department are genuinely amiable friendly, affable,
    When it comes to definitions there is little difference:

    amiable |ˈāmēəbəl|
    adjective
    having or displaying a friendly and pleasant manner : an amiable, unassuming fellow.

    affable |ˈafəbəl|
    adjective
    friendly, good-natured, or easy to talk to : an affable and agreeable companion.
    Affable does include "companion" which does lean towards "subordinates."

    Amiable seems to have a wider focus than just companions.

    Of course the English language can be very ambiguous at times and it can be a bit sloppy even in moments of precision.

    But thanks Mel, it gave me a reason to look into some etymology which brought me to amicable. Amicable does seem to imply a relationship between people.

    Life is confusing, but never as confusing as the English language.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  14. #29
    Jim,I just happen to have remembered that from looking it up in the OED many years ago. What a great resource! Long
    time ago I was reading the early North American journal of French Jesuit Charlevoir and came across an exotic name of
    some wild cat ....don't remember now what the word was. But when I looked it up in OED the research was so complete that
    it included "....used incorrectly by Charlrvoir in describing ....." .

  15. #30
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    Jim,I just happen to have remembered that from looking it up in the OED many years ago.
    Reminds me of my youth. My folks had a Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. Sometime it was fun just to fan through pages and see what new word was on the pages.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

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