New Zealand woodworking blog launched by Aussie student

An Australian woodworking student who crossed the Tasman to study full time at New Zealand’s Centre for Fine Woodworking has created the first Kiwi woodworking blog – known as The Chamfer.

The blog is subtitled ‘Plane sounds, wood whispers and other related murmurings from The Centre For Fine Woodworking, Nelson, New Zealand.’ It has been created by Lachlan Park, an Australian woodworker from Melbourne, an arts and furniture design graduate of The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Upon graduating in 2008, Lachlan had considered furniture schools in the UK, the US and Australia, but finally plumped for New Zealand’s Centre For Fine Woodworking (CFW) in Nelson, opting to study under two of this country’s finest woodworkers, John Shaw and David Haig. Since its launch in 2006, CFW has attracted a constant stream of international students from the UK, the US, Australia as well as many New Zealand wannabe furniture makers.

“I decided to start the blog so that potential students hundreds or thousands of miles away can not only see the furniture being created but also get a sense of the school’s laidback atmosphere,” says Lachlan – known to everyone as ‘Lachie’.

“I’m also hoping the other students on the course will diary their projects on The Chamfer, so that readers of the blog can get a real feel for the atmosphere of the school.”

The blog currently features a report on the visit of 'Saw Doctor' Ron Karsten, a carpenter by trade and local second hand tool dealer, who has many years’ experience in what is a dying art - bringing rusty old saws back to life from the tools graveyard.

“It was amazing to see Ron turn a saw without teeth into one with shiny new ones in a matter of seconds,” says Lachie in the blog.

Another current blog entry is ‘The Incineration of The Mock-ups’. “Mock-ups are a very important part of the chair design/making process and so is burning them!” reports The Chamfer.

“The carefully crafted model chairs were just as carefully placed in a 44 gallon drum along with some 'fire enhancers' and set alight in the name of furniture craftsmanship.”

Lachlan’s three month, full-time CFW course began in January 2009 and he has now moved on to the second module which covers chairmaking and steam bending. He has also secured a commission from a local customer to make a sideboard – a project now finished and fully-documented on The Chamfer.

CFW has just finalised details of its 2010 programme and will be offering Beginning Cabinet Making three times, as this course is a prerequisite level to enrol on any of the other courses.

The main project is a small attractive side-table which can be packed flat for ease of transport. The course covers the basics of wood finishing so that students can try these out on their completed tables, and participants are also taken step-by-step through the safe, efficient and coherent use basic woodworking machinery, the table-saw, band-saw, jointer and thicknesser.

The Chamfer can be viewed at http://thechamfer.blogspot.com while CFW course details are at www.cfw.co.nz

BACKGROUND INFO

HI-RES PIX to accompany this media release are freely available to the media at http://www.centre-for-fine-woodworking.co.nz/media.html

A chamfer is a bevelled edge connecting two surfaces. If the surfaces are at right angles, the chamfer will typically be symmetrical at 45 degrees. (Wikipedia)

For more information about The Centre for Fine Woodworking please contact John Shaw on 03 545 2674 or email info@cfw.co.nz

The Centre for Fine Woodworking has been established as a charitable educational trust with the principal aim of offering high quality tuition in fine woodworking.

The Centre offers courses with small class sizes and a low student to instructor ratio. Fundamental to the centre’s philosophy is accessibility for all students.