Rude Mechanicals Press Blog

I am dead tired…from building coffins (so at least I’m prepared). This weekend, I had six students in a coffin-making class at Lost Art Press. The project itself was a Halloween conceit; really, it was a class in sawing. Lots of sawing – both crosscuts and long rips.

Typically for two-day classes, I’ll prep the wood to finished size (or darn close to it); the class is on the joinery that holds the pieces together, and smoothing the work for a finish.

The bottom panel, after crosscutting to length and ripping to shape (here, Matt is planing down to his line). The breastline (the widest point) should match your shoulder width plus an inch. The height is your own plus 2″.

For the coffin class, that wasn’t possible – each is fitted to its maker. Had I gotten everyone’s measurements beforehand and cut the pieces to shape and size, it would have been a three-hour class: one hour for planing, one hour to kerf then bend (with a hot-water assist) the sides and one hour of nailing (we used a lot of nails).

We planed 6° angles on the top and bottom edges of the bottom, then nailed the headboard and footboards in place. Here, you can see the kerf cuts that allow the sides to bend. After cutting those (typically five – one where the sides meet the breastline, then two to either side), the long edges are nailed to the footboard and bottom, up to just below the bend.

Instead, on every student’s bench was an oversized bottom, sides and top panel (with headboard and footboards cut to size). They crosscut and ripped those to fit, then cleaned up down to their cut lines with handplanes. The two sides were match-planed (sandwiched together and planed) to taper top to bottom.

Then, we cut kerfs at the bends in the sides, nailed the long edges, and put the kettle on. Out back in the “biergarten” (also the spray booth), we poured steaming water down the kerfs, let that sit for a minute or three, then worked with a buddy to bend the side down to meet the headboard, while the maker nailed it in place to secure the bend. (Flip and repeat).

After the bends.

The last task on the boxes was to flush the overlong sides to the footboards and headboards. Then, flip the box upside down on the interior of the lid, trace the shape…then saw some more – whee!

It was demanding work – but lots of fun. And the looks from passersby? Priceless.

Everyone did a great job – and I hope they had a great time; I know I did!

For step-by-step instructions on how to build your own coffin in this, the “Southern Counties” style, see “The Anarchist’s Design Book,”  by Christopher Schwarz (or look for this class next year…sometime just prior to Halloween); for more on building a variety of coffins, see “Coffin-Making and Undertaking,” edited by Paul Hasluck. (My favorite lines from that book: “The polishing (finishing) of a coffin is often left alone by undertakers, under the impression that it cannot be done properly except by an experienced polisher. This is perfectly true as regards polishing in general, but in a coffin the lasting quality of the polish is immaterial. If a good polish to last a few days is obtained, it is enough….” (He then goes on the tell the reader how to fill the wood pores and apply a French polish. Good enough indeed!)

This weekend, I’m teaching a coffin-making class – and those who choose to will re-purpose their pine boxes as bookcases until they’re needed for their intended purpose. (Mine is going on my front porch until Nov. 1; then I’ll add shelves.)

I thought it would be fun to do these just in time for Halloween, but I made a grave mistake by putting off prep until today.  I was thinking of prep in terms of my measurements. Assuming I don’t gain a lot of weight between now and my end, I can fit inside a 2-board bottom and top, and single-board sides (1x12s). But I am 5’6″ (or at least I was at age 30) and not terribly muscular (or on the particularly heavy side); all of the students in this class are men, and thus likely larger in all dimensions.

So I’m basing the rough lengths off Christopher Schwarz’s height (he is (was?) 6’3-5/8″) and the rough widths of someone slightly less than William Howard Taft’s approximate girth (in 1928…not now; he’s probably lost a lot of weight in the last 90 years). That should account for a range of shapes and sizes. But that means 28 panel glue-ups, some of them three boards wide. Turns out, one can get blisters from clamps – but that won’t kill me. And if it does, well, mine are the shorter and narrower pieces – just build it around me.

Just in case there’s anyone who follows me who doesn’t also follow the Lost Art Press blog (which seems unlikely…).

On October 8, we’ll be releasing the list of January through June 2019 woodworking classes at Lost Art Press, for which registration will be live at 10 a.m. EDT on October 12. But I’m waiting on a few class descriptions from visiting instructors, so it’s possible there will be a few more first half of 2019 classes announced a bit later this year. I don’t want mine to be among those stragglers, so I’m finishing up my descriptions today.

I do this coming off a hard-working weekend of Dutch tool chest building…in which we got soveryclosetodone, but to get there, we had to work late on Saturday, and on Sunday, Christopher Schwarz and I sped things along by using the machinery for some of the operations. That way,  everyone could leave with an almost-finished chest (they’ll be attaching the lifts and lids at home). And the same thing happened earlier this year. Two days is just not enough time.

So for 2019, I’m changing the Dutch tool chest class to a three-day event ($450 plus materials). That will provide ample time for all the intended operations to be performed by hand, I won’t have to get out the whip, and we’ll get the lids attached. And because I am a glutton for lots of wood prep, I’ll be teaching it three* times: February 22-24; June 14-16; November 15-17.

I’ll also be teaching: Shaker Hanging Cabinet, Boarded Bookcase, 6-board Chest, and two week-long classes in a full-size English tool chest – a.k.a. “the Anarchist’s Tool Chest.”

Check the Lost Art Press blog (and here) on October 8 for details on my classes, plus classes from Brendan Gaffney, Christopher Schwarz and a handful of visiting woodworking luminaries.

* I’ll also be teaching a week-long class in the Dutch tool chest June 24-28 at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking; that fancier version will have a lid with breadboard ends, plus we’ll have time to properly outfit and customize the interiors (the description will soon be up on the school’s site).