MWA Podcast Episode #53 - Tim Lawson

Show Notes:

What’s in the shop?

• Not a damn thing.

Blog post that piqued our interest

• Half-Inch Shy: My Own Marquetry Project with Paul Schurch
• The Renaissance Woodworker: Hand Tool Boot Camp is Worth the Effort
• We Create This

Goings on in the MWA

• Woodworkers Safety Day
• This Saturday, May 17th.
• Write a post, make a video. Anything to promote safety in the woodshop
• Email a link to you post or video to Tom and he’ll try to aggregate them all

Main topic

Tim's stunning Owl Father and the Flying Buttress
writing desk and chair

Tim Lawson of The Port Townsend School of Woodworking

• About the school

• opened in 2008
• The genesis for the school came on the third day after Tim moved to Port Townsend and moved 2 doors down from Jim Tolpin
• August through September 2007 they ran 7 test courses
• Now, about 320 students per year though the school
• 12 week woodworking foundation course in the fall & winter
• Focuses on the craftsmanship of the wood and the tool
• If you understand how wood works with the hand tool, it’s easier to understand power tools
• In spring and summer, week long and weekend classes covering the spectrum of woodworking.
• The 2014 Class Schedule at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking.

• The Furniture Society

• 2014 Conference
• June 19 - 21 at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking

• How did Tim get interested in woodworking? In teaching woodworking?
• in 2000 went to the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship

• 5 Questions
• How did you get into woodworking?
• Did some at school
• In the mid nineties when he was married and had a house with a basement Tim realized he had shop space and needed a shop.
• Quit his software job in 2000 and headed to the Center for Furniture Craftsman
• What’s your favorite tool?
• Spokeshave
• Most of Tim’s shaping is done with a spokeshave
• Auriou Rasps
• Crooked Knife
• Who has influenced you the most?
• Jere Osgood
• John Makepeace from England
• What was your biggest stumbling block & could it have been avoided?
• Absolutely! Came out of the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship believed the only way to cut accurately was to hold a curved component in a jig on the table saw. Tim now knows if he can draw the line, he can cut and plane to it with a hand saw and plane.
• How has the internet influenced your work?
• What the internet has allowed Tim to do is to gain the knowledge that has allowed him to refine his choices . . . allowed him to explore his possibilities and refine his choices.
• The community is not Tim’s strong suit.

• Tim would like to have an MWA event at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking.
• If you're interested let us know and we'll work to pull one together.

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