Piano Leg Repair for the Vergennes Opera House
February 8, 2026
I was tasked with repairing the damaged feet of the legs of a baby grand piano owned by the Vergennes Opera House. The problem arose when the original small casters had been replaced by large easy rolling mobile casters. With that change, the decorative outer part of the leg was holding the weight of the piano. Over time, the decorative, bead detail at the base of the leg was crushed to bits. After much thought, I cut the leg back to the smaller healthy bead detail and cleaned up the surface with a handplane to exactly where it needed to be. Then on to the lathe to create a prosthesis for the missing foot. The new foot is designed to bear the weight of the very heavy piano. Getting a close match on the finish was another challenge all together. I opted for a custom mix of milk paint to match the unique and varied surface of the existing leg.
Projects like these are fun engineering challenges and it seems that there is always a way with wood. Wood is the way.
High Work Stool Class from this Last Weekend
February 2, 2026
I had a very busy and satifying weekend building High Work Stools in my shop with a pleasant group of three.
This class is a bit of a whirlwind. We get a lot done in two days. I throw out a lot of information for each process and then I break it down, piece by piece, as we get into it. Once we are toward the end, students are seeing the whole. One of my students refered to this as a "whole, part, whole" method of teaching. I hadn't heard or thought about it before but that made a lot of sense to me.
Below are some shots from the weekend.
It was a very cold but a clear and sunny weekend. Perfect for working in a cozy shop. We even saw a small group of White Tail deer, in their winter coats, outside of the shop.
Take a look at my classes page to see what is coming up on my schdule and feel free to contact me to set up a custom class with your friends or work mates.
Enjoy the cold weather!
Tim
Teaching Woodworking to the Public
January 25, 2026
If you follow my work, you may have noticed that I have begun teaching again. I taught out of my shop from 1992-1998 and then moved to my present workshop where I have focused on commission work. While I am still doing commission work, I have also begun to offer a limited number of classes that are also limited in number as dictated by the size of my shop. Right now I can have up to three students at a time and with a little effort (bench building), I may bring it to four. If things go well with this, there is the possibility of adding on to the shop and bringing the number to 8 or 10 students. Time and demand for classes will make that decision for me.
Take a look at my Current Class Listings here.
My latest ad for classes is below.
