May 8, 2002
Windsor chair workshop teaches tools of the trade
Participants turn out furniture piece from ash log using antique hand tools
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Starting from an ash log and crafting by hand with antique tools, three novice furniture makers each turned out a finished Windsor-style loop brace-back side chair last week.
Led by Jim Rantala of Cedar, owner of Windsor Wood Works, the three students learned the tricks of the trade from a self-taught master craftsman. And going from logs to finished, stained chairs in four days was quite a ride.
"This is very unique in that we use hand tools and truly authentic methods to make the furniture," said Matt Joppich of Traverse City.
The one-on-one attention and chance to complete each step themselves impressed Ron Broughman, who attended the class with his son, Mike. Broughman owns an antique restoration business in Metamora, north of Detroit, and has begun collecting antique tools for his work. He came to the seminar to increase his proficiency with these tools.
"I've gone to classes at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia and the classes are big," Broughman said. "You don't have a good hands-on experience. Here, it's the knowledge you get from watching a master at work."
Rantala has been building Windsor furniture for 13 years, using an extensive collection of antique tools he has built up over the years. His home-based workshop includes adzes, draw knives, splitters, axes and an antique shaving horse to make the chairs spindles. Ironically, his collection of antique tools began while on vacation in Traverse City many years ago. An electrical-powered lathe is his only concession to modern equipment.
"It is pretty obscure what I do, I make a living with a drawknife, a spike shave and an ax - I call it the Ax Age," said Rantala, a professional photographer who became increasingly drawn to woodworking. "I got hooked on furniture and when I decided to move up here, I was making a transition into woodworking from photography."
Since relocating from Texas, Rantala has steadily built his furniture business until it became a full-time venture in 1997. He has also offered a variety of seminars on furniture making since 1995, eager to share the techniques he has painstakingly learned over the years.
"It is real satisfying that there are people who want to learn this and that it can be passed on," he added. "I can see that thirst for the unique knowledge."
Joppich, a local builder and carpenter, came to the week-long workshop because of his own growing interest in furniture making. He is especially drawn to using human-powered tools instead of more modern electric-powered tools. He had previously worked with Rantala and wanted to know more about these methods.
"My style is different than Jim's," said Joppich, who owns Timer Designs in Traverse City. "But I felt that going and learning about Windsor furniture was very important to the history of furniture making, to learn about hand tools and how to use them properly."
The five-day seminar imparted more than just the steps of chair making.
Along the way, Rantala doled out a dose of philosophy about the creative process. Taking a cue from cherished antiques whose individual characteristics endear themselves to collectors, Rantala said that hand-made furniture does not have flaws, it has character.
"I went to Jim's class to learn how to build a chair but came away with more than that," said Joppich, who is in the process of setting up a furniture-making shop. "One of those is that good is good enough and perfect is an accident. These chairs really are a great example of that because they are beautiful chairs but they are not perfect."