The January meeting featured Chris Hall renowned builder of classical Asian influenced Chinese structures and furniture:

From his blog at http://azumadesignbuild.blogspot.com I design and build - specifically, wooden structures connected with all-wood joinery methods. I do not use veneers, particle board, plastic, toxic finishes, or factory production techniques. I do not rely upon glue to hold things together - solid wood joinery has proven the test of time. Everything I do is one-off custom or of very limited run, and is built for the express needs of each client. My technical core is that of Japanese traditional carpentry practice, though of late I have made considerable study of French 19th century carpentry as well to expand my repertoire. Ming Dynasty Classical Chinese furniture is also a strong influence upon my work.

Chris has taught Japanese carpentry in venues from Vancouver to Maine and is currently writing an illustrated technical essay series on Japanese carpentry drawing and joinery. Volume I, II and III are completed to this date, and comprise more than 600 pages. The volumes are currently for sale on his website. Envisioned is a 15 volume series on this topic. Volume IV will be released early 2012.

See also his blog at http://thecarpentryway.blogspot.com.

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art will open the exhibit "Duncan Phyfe: Master Cabinetmaker," Dec. 20 in New York. It is the first retrospective on Phyfe in 90 years.

On view will be furniture produced in Phyfe's Fulton Street workshops that once stood on the site of the former World Trade Center. The full chronological sweep of his long and distinguished career will be featured, including examples of his best-known furniture from the period 1805-1820, which was influenced heavily by early English Regency design; his more opulent, monumental, and archaeologically correct Grecian style of the late 1810s and 1820s, sometimes referred to as American Empire; and his sleek, minimalist late work of the 1830s and 1840s known as the Grecian Plain style, based largely on French Restoration furniture design.

The exhibition brings together nearly 100 works from private and public collections throughout the United States. Highlights of the exhibition include some never-before-seen documented masterpieces and furniture that has descended directly in the Phyfe family, as well as the master cabinetmaker's own chest of woodworking tools.

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We invite you to hop on over to WOOD's Top Shop Tip forum. The shop tips forum is for you to share your shop tips that might be of benefit to other woodworkers. Our tips editor, periodically reviews all of the tips posted here for publication, and all tips are eligible to win our Top Shop Tip tool prize worth at least $300, as-well-as $100 per published tip. Go to WOOD magazine's Top Shop Tips forum at woodmagazine.com/tipsforum.

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The Eliot School has been teaching since 1676. In 1889 the school focused on manual arts and has been teaching classes in woodworking and other crafts since. The Guild is proud to have formed an alliance with The Eliot School to help continue and support our mutual goal of educating and promoting excellence in woodworking.

The Guild has agreed to co-sponsor several woodworking classes and workshops offered through The Eliot School starting this fall. The fall classes that we are co-sponsoring are: Basic Furniture Design, Furniture Finishing, Gilding & Frame Restoration, and Inlay & Veneer. The workshops are Wood Carving, Wood Turning, and Surface Decoration on Wood. These classes and workshops are taught by professional woodworking instructors. For a full description of the fall classes, instructor, time, and tuition check out The Eliot School's web site. The Eliot School, located in a beautiful residential neighborhood in a building built in 1831 near Jamaica Pond, has a complete and extensive wood shop. Plenty of on-street parking is available.

Also watch for a mini-course on SketchUp for Furniture taught by the Guild's own expert, Jim Russell. This is scheduled for winter term at The Eliot School.

Guild Members will receive at 10% discount on tuition on co-sponsored classes. When registering, please say you are a member of the Eastern Massachusetts Guild of Woodworkers.

The project to build boxes of blocks was completed in October. The Clinton Early Childhood Resource Center provides services for children from Clinton and surrounding towns. Many of these families participate in the Parent Child Home Program,and will use these blocks to support their children's early language and social/emotional development. The guild is bringing great joy to a few very young (3 to 4) children by providing them with a very important toy and learning tool.

(Click here for Clinton Email and Pictures)
(Click here for project pictures)

The Guild has designed, fabricated, and delivered a credenza for the conference room at the Molly Bish Institute at the Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner. Click on an image to enlarge