This 2016 limited anniversary edition of my shaving horse was produced in our shop, commemorating shared anniversaries with Lie-Nielsen and Fine Woodworking. This one is coming with me to Handworks.
I designed it in the late 1980s and then Fine Woodworking featured in 1999. I developed it because I needed to be able to keep doing demanding handwork without sacrificing my body. That led me to rethink the ergonomics of the traditional shaving horse, develop the ratcheting clamping system, and design an adjustable seat and work support that could be positioned for the person and the work at hand.
Fine Woodworking featured the horse in 1999 as “A New Breed of Shaving Horse,” documenting the ergonomic thinking, adjustable seat, and ratcheting head Brian had developed to make demanding chairmaking work more efficient and easier on the body.
From the archive, November 28, 2016: my adjustable seat and ratcheting clamping system in motion. Like much of my tool designs, it began with a simple question: how can I make the work easier on the body without compromising efficiency or control?
I’ll also have my Cio chair, pronounced CHEE-OH. Its name comes from the Latin idea of renewal or revival, which is exactly what the chair represents to me: a contemporary revival of the ladderback tradition I began working in more than four decades ago. The Cio carries that history forward rather than reproducing it.
Cio, pronounced CHEE-OH, my Good Design Award winning contemporary revival of the ladderback tradition.
I’ll be demonstrating spokeshaves and talking about furniture design, tool design, chairmaking, and some of what I’ve learned through 44 years of building, teaching, experimenting, making mistakes, finding better ways to work, and sharing lessons from the bench.
Some of the spokeshaves I’ll have with me at Handworks.
I’ve spent a lot of the last several years buried in the shop, so I’m especially looking forward to being back among this community, seeing old friends, meeting new ones, and talking about the craft we’ve all helped grow.
If you’re at Handworks, come find me in the Furniture Shop Building.
No essay this Thursday
There won’t be a new essay this Thursday. Brian is heading to Handworks, and we decided it made more sense to give this week to the trip rather than rush something out.
We’ll be back with a new essay next week.
From the bench,
Brian
