Woodworking with Garrett Hack

Bill Satko

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As most of you already know if you have seen some of my recent posts, last week I traveled to Port Townsend to Jim Tolpin's woodworking school there (Port Townsend School of Woodworking). << School Link >>

Garrett Hack was a guest instructor for two classes that I signed up for. << Bio Link >> One was Decorative Details (two days) and the other was Precision with Handtools (three days). Both of these classes were short versions of what are normally full week classes of each. Garrett does not have a woodworking school of his own, as he prefers to travel with his wife and be a guest instructor all over the U.S. and beyond. He is traveling to Japan later this year to teach. He squeezes his teaching in between making fine furniture and working his farm in Vermont. More on Garrett and the classes later in further posts, but first a little background on Port Townsend and the school there.
 
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As most of you already know if you have seen some of my recent posts, last week I traveled to Port Townsend to Jim Tolpin's woodworking school there (Port Townsend School of Woodworking). << School Link >>

Garrett Hack was a guest instructor for two classes that I signed up for. << Bio Link >> One was Decorative Details (two days) and the other was Precision with Handtools (three days). Both of these classes were short versions of what are normally full week classes of each. Garrett does not have a woodworking school of his own, as he prefers to travel with his wife and be a guest instructor all over the U.S. and beyond. He is traveling to Japan later this year to teach. He squeezes his teaching in between making fine furniture and working his farm in Vermont. More on Garrett and the classes later in further posts, but first a little background on Port Townsend and the school there.

OK, you got my attention Bill :D

I wonder where I can find out more?

Cheers!
 
Port Townsend

Port Townsend is a Victorian seaport North and on the other side of Puget Sound from Seattle. It is at the convergence of the Strait of Juan De Fuca and Puget Sound. During the turn of the last century they built a fort there (Fort Warden) and placed large guns there to protect the entrance to Puget Sound. That fort is now a beautiful state park with all the original buildings still there. The school leases space in what was the old Boiler building.

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The hillside above the town has many old Victorian houses that draw a lot of tourists to visit during the summer and fall. Port Townsend is basically a tourist designation for much of the year, but many artist and craftsmen live there. There are many furniture makers and wooden boat builders around the town. It is a very laid back place. For you rednecks out there, it is the granola, latte drinking, freeze-dried hippy capital of the world.

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Here is where we stay when we are over there. It is a mother-in-law apt that we rent. I am unable to disclose the location, or my wife will kill me. It is hard to get a vacancy. The view is what we see out the large picture window. No wonder my wife supports these classes in Port Townsend.

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I will leave you with a true flavor of Port Townsend. Larry Merlau, he is looking for an addition to his band and I told him you were a great drummer.

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and some of us grow fur for the winter:) and its just easir to leave it on rather than change it out in the spring:) as for the new job not needing one yet bill but dont tell hi i am not intrested i may be next week:) wish i were in your shoes those classes and so close to home is a great thing to have..
 
I always loved to visit that part of the contry. Very quant little town. I couldn't take all the wet weather though. They say people in the Northwest don't get sun tans... They just rust..:D:rofl:

Not true....but they do grow webs between their toes!:rofl:

Yes, the weather is terrible here as you never see the sun and we still are not fully settled out here, as grizzly bears and cougars will snatch your dogs and/or children from your yard. So don't pay any attention to those newspaper and magazine articles claiming it is one of the best places to live. Please, don't move here. As for the rest of us who are already here, it is too late. We are now addicted to the drizzle and the latte stands on every corner and a move elsewhere would probably kill us.
 
Decorative Details

The first class with Garrett Hack was called Decorative Details. I think the course description on the school’s website explains it very well:

“Over three millennia ago Egyptian craftsmen were decorating their work with inlays of small intricate patterns of ebony, ivory, and other exotic materials. We will learn the same technique, after first making some of the necessary tools — micro chisels and scratch stocks.
This class will cover delicate string or line inlays, larger surface inlays such as panels, making and inlaying patterned bandings, and using non-wood materials such as silver and shell. We will also focus on complementary decorative edges, side beads and proud cockbeads used to highlight the edge of a table apron or drawer.
We will work almost entirely by hand, so naturally sharpening, tuning, and using hand tools will be an important emphasis. Students will work on sample boards to practice designing and using these decorative techniques.”
That is what we did, but we could have spent all week just doing this class. Here are some pictures of that class.

A shot of some fellow students and a glimpse of the benches in the school. They are very solid and do not move. The school is very well equipped with Lee Valley tools, but Garrett had suggested that we bring our own tools. We had access to a tool list that he suggested for the class.

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Garrett working away at his bench demonstrating different techniques before we head to our benches to try.

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Here he is demonstrating the different ways to make a fan.

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The next two photos show his scratch stock (we all made our own) and his sample boards. He makes all of his own banding. The class collectively made some banding.

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A shot of something he was working on using some of the band the class made plus some shell. He was making it in honor of being in the Pacific Northwest and it does have that kind of look.

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It is really hard to capture everything we went over, but I was really surprised how easy it was to lay a strip of inlay. That is not to say there are not difficult aspects to all of it, but the class took the mystery out of it. As I will explain in a later post, Garrett was constantly discussing the design aspects of everything and I do mean everything. At the end of the day, I thought my head was going to explode. He was constantly explaining the ramification of design decisions, how they affect construction details and vice versa. In this class he emphasized how a small detail, like cock beading or a simple inlayed line can dramatically alter the look of your piece.
 
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I am posting the link to Port Townsend Woodworking School's web page where they have Garrett Hack's recommendation of handtools for the class. It is very informative in that he describes his preferences. << Link >>
 
Hi Bill, thanks for that. I had an e-mail the other day from Tim. He said the classes with Garrett Hack went well. Hopefully I'll be out there teaching next year some time. Out of curiosity, when you go, what route do you take?
 
Hi Bill, thanks for that. I had an e-mail the other day from Tim. He said the classes with Garrett Hack went well. Hopefully I'll be out there teaching next year some time. Out of curiosity, when you go, what route do you take?

Dave, I live to the north of Seattle in Bellingham, so I drive over to Widbey Island via Deception Pass and take the Keystone Ferry over to Port Townsend. That is not a very practical route for someone coming from Seattle. They either take the Seattle to Bainbridge ferry from downtown Seattle or travel a little north to Edmonds and take the Edmonds to Kingston ferry.

I do hope you manage to work something out with Tim for next year. It would be good to see you there. Tim is great guy, my wife and I spent an evening sitting with Tim, his wife, Garrett and his wife during a class get together.

Looks like a great class!

I sent an e-mail to Garrett, about the classes in Japan, I hope to hear back from him.

Cheers!

Please let us know what you find out Stu.
 
Bill I am green with envy:D Looks like a great course and reviewing the tool list makes me think it would be worth it just to have a chance to go through use and tune up of those tools with a master.:):thumb:

Oh by the way did I see PLANES in that list and pictures :rofl:.......ooops better stop :poke: that issue or i will get cut off here.:rofl:

Thanks for the pics and the info. Those benches look solid.
 
Bill I am green with envy:D Looks like a great course and reviewing the tool list makes me think it would be worth it just to have a chance to go through use and tune up of those tools with a master.:):thumb:

Oh by the way did I see PLANES in that list and pictures :rofl:.......ooops better stop :poke: that issue or i will get cut off here.:rofl:

Thanks for the pics and the info. Those benches look solid.

Rob, there is a very good reason Garrett has planes on the list. Almost everyone I know has his book (including myself) about the subject! See the << Link >> . Of course everyone was smarter than me in the class and they brought their copy from home for him to sign! Next time.
 
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Looks like a great class!

I sent an e-mail to Garrett, about the classes in Japan, I hope to hear back from him.

Cheers!

Stu, I communicated with Tim Lawson of the Port Townsend School and he indicated that Garrett was traveling to Japan to promote the New Hampshire Furniture Masters Association which he was a past chairman of.

I don't know the date he is traveling or what he is exactly doing. I still look forward to hear what he communicates directly to you. Maybe there will be a demonstration by him or something.
 
Decorative Details Continued

I just want to follow up on my posting about the Decorative Details class before moving on to the Precision with Handtools. In the October 2009 Issue (No. 207) of Fine Woodworking magazine, Garrett Hack has an article titled "Give Legs a Kick With Dazzling Inlay" (page 70 to 73). This article details very well, a portion of what he presented to us.
 
Precision with Hand Tools

The class that we had the last three days of last week, was a version of a class that he normally teaches in 5 days, so the pace was a little frantic and we did not get to everything. Again, the class description from the school's website explains it very well.

"In this course, Garrett leads participants through a series of exercises, based on typical furniture making techniques, which expand and refine their hand tool skills. These include flattening boards to polished smoothness, fairing curves, fitting drawer faces, making moldings, chamfering edges, and cutting joinery, among other skills.

Garrett covers tuning and use of a wide variety of planes, marking tools, chisels and saws. Participants are encouraged to work with several different kinds of wood to feel the way each responds to the tools. More experienced students may choose more complex challenges such as shaping a bowed drawer face, joining and smoothing a coopered panel, or tapering a leg and then fitting an angled joint to it"

I had background in all of the basics of this from the class I took from Jim Tolpin earlier this spring, but I really liked how Garrett's exercises were based how he made furniture and there was the continual discussion of design considerations. One of exercises was taking air-dried cherry (from his farm in Vermont) and apply a curve to the front and side edges, then apply different edges to both affect the visual and tactile aspects of the sample board. A more experience furniture maker would derive even more from this basic course because they might be able to keep up with everything he had to offer. No matter what your skill level, I believe he could challenge you and more importantly inspire you. If you have a chance, I would highly recommend taking a class from him. Here are some photo's of the class. I must apologize but I was too busy trying to keep up with him to take many photo's.

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My bench
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