The more time I spend away from the urban grid, the more I fall under the spell of non-rectilinear geometries. Straight lines and right angles are on the wane in my imagination, replaced by radial, spiral and stellate forms wherever I roam. I have a new appreciation for domes and geodesic thinking, and increasingly want to reflect this way of experiencing nature in the things I make. I’m beginning to experiment with a structure that features a stellate geometry, using traditional materials and techniques associated with chair bodgering. Whenever I design a structure I begin by meditating on the system of joinery (both metaphorically and practically), and how to optimize the interplay of strength, economy and durability. I’d like to reduce this structure (a chair, hopefully) to just one repeated structural component, and comissioned the blacksmith Jason Takuchi-Krist to fabricate a batch of sixty degree angle irons (below) with which I can test some ideas.

Tagged: blacksmithing, bodgering, dome, geodesic, geometry, innovation, star, starfish, traditional craft

Aili took her Windsor Longboard  for a test spin and loved how it handled- it carves  with ease and feels rock steady going fast. The camber is just right, with just enough flex to ease road vibration and pump on a quick turn.

I’m now taking advance orders for the deck on my GOODS page while I tool up for production and procure materials. I’ll be making a limited run, collector’s edition longboard with my remaining material inventory, and am excited to offer it for sale to skaters who value true craftsmanship, old school performance and innovative eco-design.

Tagged: craftsmanship, deep craft, eco design, green product, longboard, skateboard deck, sustainable materials

My first Windsor Longboard experimental deck is a head-turner. My friends at Quinn Brothers Board Shop in Sebastopol, CA took to the ‘uber old school’ spirit and helped me rock the deck with super wide trucks and generic wheels; note the ‘rasta’ bolt heads, the board’s only fanfare. After some road testing I plan to make a limited production run to test market, beginning with local board shops and the GOODS pages of this site.

Aili will help road test the first deck

Tagged: california coast, green design, green products, longboard, skateboard, skateboard deck, slow design, windsor chair

My prototype Windsor Longboard is nearing completion.  I shaped the outer contours with my favorite Italian-made, mini spokeshaves. I have a set of three but use the one pictured above for almost everything- its rockered base allows for the most delicate control. Over the weekend I plan to mount trucks and wheels and test its performance.

Tagged: , longboard, skateboard, skateboard deck, slow design, windsor chair

clamping the deck’s laminates over a contoured armature for camber

I made good progress with my longboard skatedeck experiment. I built a clamping armature with a gradual contour to give the deck adequate camber, over-compensating slightly for the inevitable ’springback’. I reversed the camber at the tail of the deck to lift the rear of the board to clear the ground and for leverage to spin the skateboard or brake its motion if necessary. I call this a ‘rooster tail’, although it functions more like a ‘chicken tail’. I’ve always followed the adage from boatbuilding that every design feature should serve at least three functions; the third feature here is really yet to be determined, but should be revealed with some test riding.

deck camber/clamping armature; cured deck, ready for shaping (above)

I was surprised and delighted to see the glue oozing through the pours on the exposed surface of the upper deck, indicating deep penetration. While I worked on the Windsor Longboard in the shop, I boiled two chickens on the stove of my shop kitchen (every workshop needs one) in preparation for making tamales for our monthly ‘dinner club’ with four other nearby families. I love cooking this way, when it’s an extension of other tasks at hand.

The next day, I waited until all of the kids arrived for our group dinner before removing the cured deck from the armature, wanting them to help remove the clamps and see the process. The deck came off of the form beautifully, with very little ’springback’. The kids approved of the shape and agreed to help test it when complete.

Tagged: bent lamination, green design, longboard, skateboard, slow design, windsor chair

I’m making a longboard skateboard deck as my first experiment with forming elm into complex contours. I like thinking of the deck’s shape as continuing in the evolution of the morphology of weapons pictured above (not because they are weapons but because they have a common ancestor in the stick, or branch).

My plan is to cut two identical shapes from a rough cut board of quarter-sawn elm. I’ll press the laminates over a curved form while the glue sets to give the deck some camber for more strength and ‘bounce’, then I’ll hand shape the deck to its final form, mount trucks and wheels and give it a spin. I’d love to hear from anyone, especially skateboarders, for tips and comments.

Laying out the longboard deck laminates on quater-sawn elm (Ulmus hollandica)

Tagged: design, longboard, morphology, old school, skate deck, skateboard, woodworking

“Windsor”, wood burning on oak veneer by Joshua Miner III

I’ve always loved traditional Windsor chairs, as much for their structural invention as for their comfort, durability and elegance. The general form evolved regionally throughout the UK in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Many speculate that the chair originated as a byproduct of the charcoal-making industry, and were collectively manufactured by itinerant woodsmen who seasonally managed woodlots and copses. These woodsmen, or bodgers, would work with simple tools- axes, froes and pole lathes- to make a range of products directly from the forest including wagon wheels, rakes, pitchforks and woven ‘wattle’ for fencing and house construction.

Each tree would yield a product unique to its material attributes. Some woods were easily split, some bent when steamed and some, like elm or oak, were remarkably tough and were sawn into boards.

from “The Seasons and the Woodman” by D. H. Chapman

Each process of manufacture would require a distinct set of tools and skills. The early Windsor chairs synthesized many of these into one form, and were typically made by many hands, often geographically disparate. The ‘hub’ of the Windsor chair, its major structural component, is the seat itself, which supports the legs, backrest and armrests as well as the sitter.  Typically made of elm, the seat of a traditional  Windsor chair best demonstrates this wood’s structural attributes- it is exceedingly difficult to split, is dimensionally stable, and its cell structure binds fibers across the grain. Elm shapes well, and a board can be carved thin and still manage to support a load across a relatively wide span.

I’m beginning to experiment with a contemporary reinterpretation of the Windsor chair, starting with a series of tests press-forming thin laminations of elm into complex contours.

Tagged: bodger, chair-making, elm, green woodworking, joshua miner, traditional craft, windsor chair