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JUST ANOTHER (BUBINGA) BOX

4/23/2021

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My journey into bringing my own unique concepts to the field of woodwork/wood art and sculpture took motion in 1999. While attending Temple University for jazz performance I was hired at Ibanez guitars to perform quality control on guitars eventually turning into specializing in repair and custom work over an 11 year period.

My first day I was immediately drawn to a shop full of woodworking machinery that was no longer much in use. I was always customizing my guitars growing up and always dreamed of making my own. One of the benefits of working at Ibanez was the ability to create/purchase "Frankenstein" guitars made from random parts. I began to use the machinery to make wood parts for my custom guitars.
Through reading books and much trial and error I taught myself the process of creating a guitar (sorry kids no youtube back then) After creating three guitars from scratch I thought it would benefit me to learn more general knowledge of woodwork.

I was lucky that there was an incredible woodworking program led by Mark Sfirri, a pioneer in contemporary woodwork close by at  Bucks County Community College.  I enrolled in classes in 2001. Mark's passion and teaching ability in the field of woodwork/sculpture and art  exposed me to a new universe that I immediately knew was my calling. 


STUDIES AT BUCKS COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE 
2001 FALL SEMESTER

Our first project was to create a box that was hand dovetailed. Growing up around antiques and having the love for finely crafted works I was excited to learn the process of dovetail joinery!

I went to a local lumber retailer and was drawn to a really cool piece of Bubinga.  I chose it because it had a landscape effect, almost sand to red hot sunset sky  that I thought would look great wrapping around the box. 

At the time I didn't know much about exotic woods and found out the next class from Mark that I selected a more difficult species of wood to try my first attempt at dovetails due to how dense and unforgiving it was. 

My works have created a timeline of my life. In this case reflecting back on this piece and time period instantly takes me back to a Tuesday as I was looking forward to going to school and working on dovetailing the box.  I still remember the bright blue sky and  crisp morning as fall approached.

Then news started to break. Unsettled feelings. Disbelief. Shock as the 9/11 attacks were unfolding.  Anybody who is old enough to remember that day will remember that it took a long time to get back to "the norm" and in many ways it will never be back. 

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Reflecting back on my first project :

Yes Mark was correct that Bubinga was a little more challenging than the mahogany that I hand dovetailed on the following project.

Hand made dovetails are very time consuming and generally never seen in production  woodwork even in higher level craft. I really loved everything about creating the box from laying out and marking the dovetails. Hand sawing the lines as accurately as possible and using a chisel to clean up and create as tight of a fit as possible. 

I love opportunities like this to participate in traditions that rely on simple tooling but challenge the skills of the craftsperson.

 I used walnut pieces for the lid with a piece of Zirocote extending upwards to act as a place to grasp and  open the box as well as add detail to the piece 

19 years later the box still remains a very significant object to me. The beauty of natural woods and  interlocking dovetails create a timeless box that became the true genesis on my journey in the field of woodwork.
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