more personal photos
I taught for Shopsmith  for a year and a half in the early 80's. Having never used a Mark V
before going to work for them, I had to learn all its virtues and limitations. I'm now a
devotee, and have adapted it for everything from cross cutting mosaic logs, with a thin kerf
slit saw, to bandsawing 1 inch, steel using their 7 to 1 speed reducer.
This is a traveling bandsaw I built, mostly from Baltic birch plywood. That's a California
walnut log in the picture. The wheels were 36" diameter, and the blade was 2½ inches
wide and 22½ feet long. It could cut logs up to 50 inches in diameter, and once did it, with
about a half inch to spare.
Before going to work for Shopsmith, I started a woodworking school, "Palo Alto
Woodworking", and invited other people to come and teach too. This is a class in steam
bending and laminating, being taught by Art "Espenét" carpenter, a well known furniture
maker from Bolinas, Calif.
From '91 to '93 I worked with Loy Martin
making custom furniture. His shop happened
to be located right in the middle of Gryphon
Stringed Instruments in Palo Alto. When
Frank and Richard decided to expand their
store, Loy moved to another location down
the street. I took the photo at the right,
standing right where Frank's workbench is
located now.
Loy and I collaborated on this little
table which we call "The Pompeian
Table", as the design was taken from
a tile floor in the excavated ruins of
Pompeii. It's the featured table in
Fine Woodworking's  Design Book 6.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.
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Our cat, the prototypical existentialist,
helps me to keep things in perspective.
Her name's Bitty, a.k.a., Tudie.
You will permit me one proud grandfather photo
won't you? This is Lauren, age 14, and she's not
standing on a box.
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