The Colonial Style

I have been working on a Design project for a customer that involves some intense details. Lots of Wainscoting, Pilasters, entablatures, as well as built up casings. This project has been post poned till November. But I thought I would share my SU designs as well as mention this book from Brent Hull: Traditional American Rooms
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This book is probably the BEST design source out of many books that I have for ideas,  especially when dealing with Traditional Details. Something cool that I learned recently  is "Traditional" from an architectural stand point in this country means "Colonial Revival"
I have always had customers tell me they want to stay traditional...But I honestly never really knew what that meant until I started reading these books for myself as well as asking Gary Katz lots of questions ;)

This Book from Brent Hull is LOADED with pictures. The details are simply incredible and I really learned A LOT of new patterns and designs from this book alone. I would really recommend it if your into details like me. As a finish carpenter we NEED books like this if we are going to improve and stay progressive.

Here are some of my Designs I drew for my customer using Traditional American Rooms for a main reference.

Check out the rest of my original SU Design work created for this project in the Colonial Revival Style HERE

If this project continues on to the building stage. It will be amazing! Stay tuned...

The Duncan Irwin House, Up for sale!

This is my favorite Greene & Greene House. Its rare to see the interiors of any of the G&G houses especially the privately owned ones like this house is. Check out these Pictures from the realestate listing! (could be an old listing)
http://photorealestate.net/DuncanIrwinHouse/index.html

For 3.5m This seems to be about half of what this house could be going for. At least IMO. However the owners will have to enjoy the expensive up keep as well as keeping the G&G enthusiasts off their lawn (Me included) JK. I can only imagine what it would take to furnish a place like this because of its historical elements and class. It would be like living in a museum.

Also there is a G&G that is UNDER 1m in LA. Check out this article.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/home_blog/2010/06/a-greene-greene-for-under-1-million-and-why-its-not-selling.html

It is enlightening and does explain what its like to own a property of this caliber.

I think I agree with Indiana Jones on this "IT BELONGS IN A MUSEUM!!"

SawGear Demo

Well today Brandon Vaughn from SawGear came over to the shop to show me the SawGear system. I have to say that this could very well be Breakthrough technology for us Finish Guys. I have had some doubts as to the use with moldings...but Brandon was able to answer my questions and show me how to work through some of the potential problems. He also told me about some future tech that will be in the new version of SawGear. However I cannot disclose what it is. But I may be apart of the release and review of this new system! That is exciting, but for now I will be using this system for a month then compiling my thoughts and put a review up. I will be trying to get my story into FHB, JLC or TiC and if not it will end up here. For now I have to say that I believe that Gear will work. I just have to test it out every way I can. So stay tuned...

More Articles and News

JLC has 2 more of my articles that will come out soon. One on iphone apps that I use for my work. I just read the final draft and it turned out great. This article will come out in next months issue.
I have another tool review of the NEW Senco Fusion 15g nailer. This one is coming out in a few months. sept/oct

Gary Katz also asked me to write a few more and shoot some video for www.thisiscarpentry.com. I have a neat idea for a story on cutting crown molding on the flat. We use a technique that is not often used by many, and I have yet to find someone put out a video on using this technique. So I'll be working on that next week probably.

This Friday 7/23/10 will be really cool! Brandon Vaughn from www.sawgear.com is coming down to visit with me for the day. He will be bringing me a demo unit to test for a month. I will be writing a review and testing the sawgear system, to see if it will adapt to finish carpentry. I'm also working with Gary Katz on this peice as he has been demoing the saw gear and has found some interesting new things about mitersaws. Look for his review soon on TiC.

So some cool stuff to keep me busy while work is kinda up and down right now. Should be fun though. Stay tuned....