Keeping with the Popular Woodworking connection on this topic, I have the bucket list selection of yet another editor for the magazine.
Once again I visit the bucket list. This time I’m going to leave you guessing for a bit. The bookcase pictured in this post is the “dream” project of one of the Popular Woodworking Magazine editors. The easiest thing to do would be to tell you who it is but I want to see if anyone is really out there reading this post. Post your guesses and later this week I’ll reveal the editor who dreams of building this bookcase. All I can say is this person has underplayed the complexity of this project. They actually thought I’d think the project was lame. What’s cooler than a bookcase from the Victoria and Albert Museum that was made in 1695 (it is my period after all…look at those ball feet!)?
I’m also going to reveal one of my bucket list pieces in this post. Most people think that cabinetmakers who build period furniture tend to dream of building Philadelphia Highboys or Newport blockfront chests/desks or even a Boston Bombe chest (see Glen Huey’s bucket list piece). While that is true in most cases, and for quite some time that was the case with me, my dream pieces have shifted a little of late. Not because those pieces aren’t a challenge for me still. I mean, if one climbs Everest it doesn’t get considerably easier the second or third time round, does it? Although I’ve built several Philadelphia highboys and a handful of Bombe chests, they would still present enough challenge to keep my interest but I’m looking for new thrills. Yep, I’ve said it. I’m a thrill seeker. Unfortunately, in a half nerdy kind of way I seek my thrills through woodworking instead of something seriously challenging…well, like climbing Everest. Let’s face it, the world at large would basically yawn at the thought of making a piece of furniture as being the zenith of a person’s life. But here I am, 30 plus years after beginning this journey and I’m going to say that one of my ultimate thrills would be to build a piece of furniture or sculpture in the style of Wharton Esherick. If you’re unsure who he is, google him or better yet go visit the museum. At some point in the near future I’ll do an extended post on him because he’s seriously under exposed. The man was out there. He was way ahead of his time and an inspiration to some of the modern woodworking gods. For now, this little picture will have to suffice as an example of some of his work.
