The art of dollhouse miniatures

As you peer into the well-appointed bedroom, feast your eyes on the handsome suite of bedroom furniture. The design of the mahogany headboard mirrored in the ornate washstand. The flowing lines of the frame and panel doors of the armoire…

Now, imagine this furniture is unbelievably tiny, and fits in to a doll’s house. What would you say now?

For a segment of woodworkers who love to work in miniature for a doll’s house, this type of ornate design is a challenge, and today’s website is a great place to visit for design ideas, step by step plans and technique articles on how to build your own set of miniature furniture.

The best thing about building in such small scale? You don’t have to call a mover to rearrange the room when you get tired of the layout.

Instructables scroll sawn wooden bowls

You can build a bowl with a lathe. You can build one with a special router bit. Heck, you can use wood carving tools to hollow out a blank.

But, did you realize you could cut one with a scroll saw?

Oh, yes, and you can do it and make it look pretty darned sweet, too.  This page on the Instructables website shows the process form stock preparation to blade selection to cutting process.

While these basic instructions show you how to build a bowl of a certain dimension, they  guide you on how to calculate the cutting angles if you want to create a bowl of your own design.

San Francisco Fire Department

Now, why would I feature the city of San Francisco’s Fire Department on a woodworking blog? Beside the fact that these brave men and women work to help keep the city safe and rescue those in peril, they also hold on to a great old tradition – their ladders are made out of wood.

And, not only wooden ladders – the SFFD is the only department in the country that uses custom-made, hand crafted ladders. Yes, folks, in 2012, city employees custom build and repair more than 350 of these beauties. Built of ash, Douglas fir and hickory, wooden ladders are preferred due to the large number of overhead power lines in the city. Their weight also helps keep them stable as crews climb in the frequently-windy weather of the city by the bay.

That weight – 350 pounds for a 50 foot long model – requires a great deal of coordination.. and brute strength.  In fact, it takes a crew of six firefighters to raise the ladder into place, with a fire lieutenant helping to orchestrate the lift.

A link to a fascinating video can be found from the SFFD’s wooden ladder page. Take some time to check this out – it’s amazing.

Many thanks to the San Francisco Fire Department for the images and the background info!

John’s Woodworking

Sure, this is a day early, but today we are going south of the border to visit Juan Garcia, a woodworker who plies his trade in sunny  Torreon, Mexico.

Juan learned woodworking up in Canada, and returned to his homeland where he builds custom furniture… from the 3D computer design to the finished project.  And, what projects he builds! From furniture to doors, ceilings to other oddball things, nothing is too challenging for this fearless cabinetmaker.

His site is written in Spanish, but, don’t worry, Google and other online translation services are available to help you enjoy his site.

While his site is just getting off the ground, he does have a great collection of photos of his work for you to check out. Not a bad operation.

Woodworking for Mere Mortals

There’s woodworking. There’s humor. Then, there’s the combination of woodworking AND humor that you’ll find at Steve Ramsey’s website Woodworking for Mere Mortals.

If you haven’t checked Steve’s site out, what the heck are you waiting for?  This guy is the mastermind behind videos such as Man vs. Wood, the iWood and the Woodworker’s Rap. He’s put woodworking to Iambic Pentameter (eat thy heart out, Shakespeare!). He has dressed as other woodworkers for Halloween. He’s off the leash!

But, the videos are just part of what he does. His site offers a rich selection of project plans, reader project and other musings on the craft. His approach is very encouraging, and I’m willing to bet many woodworkers have started by checking out his posts.  I have been following Steve for years now, and I think he’s one of the few folks out there who can beat me for post frequency!

Dartmouth’s Roman Woodworking Tools page

The days of swords and sandals have long since passed, but he influence of the Roman Empire can still be felt today in our language, cuisine and in our workshops.

Written by noted woodworking author Roger Ulrich, this site offers a primer on the types of tools used during the days of the Roman Empire. Even though these tools were used nearly 2000 years ago, many of their forms are easily recognizable in today’s shop.

The site is worth a look, and, if you want more information, you might want to check out Ulrich’s book about Roman Woodworking tools.

Bonus fortuna, lignarius.

Beyond the Veneer: Thomas Day

You like woodworking, right? If that’s the case, book a trip to Raleigh, North Carolina. Visit the North Carolina Museum of History. Go to the third floor, and get yourself to the Beyond the veneer: Thomas Day exhibit.  Trust me, you will love it.

Day, a free person of color in North Carolina in the years before the American Civil War,  created furniture in popular 19th-century styles — from the very “neat” and “plain” to the ornate Rococo Revival — and infused many of the styles with his exuberant motifs. There are more than 70 pieces in the nearly 6,000 square foot exhibit, including some of the pieces he built for the newly-formed University of North Carolina.

The exhibit also includes a mock up of Day’s workshop, complete with a full-sized Roubo you can caress lovingly… At least until the security folks shoo you away.

Oh, and admission to the exhibit – and the rest of the museum –  is free, but, you might want to book that trip soon. The exhibit is slated to close in January of 2013.