Work Life Tools

I purchased a book at the Weisman Art Museum some time ago titled Work, Life, Tools. by Milton Glasser. The book takes a look at the essential tools that a number of individuals use to accomplish daily tasks, and why they consider one special tool to be more important than any other in their daily lives and work.

Some of the tools that people identify with as most important to them are simple objects, and yet for some reason, that simple tool resonates with them in the way they use it to accomplish a particular task. The book caught my attention because there are things I build that stand out among the rest, and resonate beyond the simple tasks they were designed to accomplish. After some time, those projects are beginning to speak a common language, a philosophy that focuses on a list of well defined and essential aspects required of an object no matter what that object is used for, and then creatively interpreted through a specific design. Let me describe three very different projects in some detail that demonstrate this.


A BASIC KITCHEN CABINET

I built this cabinet during my early experience in woodworking to house kitchen plates and utensils during a time when I lived in a small studio apartment. The cabinet not only provides storage for kitchen items, but has casters so it can be positioned where needed while using the black Formica top as additional work space. The cabinet is sectioned into a space for larger plates and coffee cups. Utensils have their own drawer, and a separate space in front houses glassware and bowls. The unique design of the cabinet with its multiple compartments still makes it a favorite among friends. The cabinet has been in many places with me since I built it.

A ONE MANUAL CABINET PIPE ORGAN

Pipe organ building is still where I consider my best work is found. I built a total of three one-manual mechanical action pipe organs as an independent builder. One of them is pictured here. They each have no more than five voices, yet all provide exceptional function beyond any perceived limitation because those voices are vertically integrated in such a way that renders a surprising number of individual tonal possibilities. The organs of baroque southern Germany and France provide me with the conceptual basis for tonal design upon which tonal diversity is further generated in such small instruments. An organ built in this way does not have to dominate a musical setting, but rather contribute where most effective either alone or in combination with other instruments or voices.

A REAR DERAILLEUR EQUIPPED TRACK FRAME BUILT BICYCLE

When I bicycle ride in the city, I find that I almost never shift between the available front gears. So when I decided to build my own bike, I began with a light and agile single speed track frame, and added the necessary components to make it an urban commuter with a nine speed, rear derailleur only drivetrain. Using a mountain bike cassette rather than one intended for a road bike, I produced enough variability in gear ratio for almost any pedaling situation encountered with only one chainring and no derailleur up front. I built what a professional bike builder called my urban machine. The visceral experience of performance and simplicity are most important. Getting from one place to another is secondary.



SUMMARY

My design philosophy begins with some need expressed in the form of requirements that define an object in terms of its essential elements. I embrace disruptive change, and so my answer to a design problem is to often push beyond the expected. My work strives to maintain its focus on essential elements designed around an innovative solution which then produces an object that invites broader interaction between an individual using that object and the object itself. An individual who has his or her imagination further stimulated by the creative design of an object will further connect with that object as a result. That object becomes his or her favorite tool for work or life.

Storytelling

Good evening blog readers. Pipe organ building has been calling me back to it on and off for the past three years. I think that the time is right to seriously put some serious effort into exploring the possibility of building another instrument again.

To that end, I have produced a website for my workshop that focuses on the connection between my work as a studio woodworker and pipe organ builder. The website needs more work before it goes live, but one aspect that it will feature that is new to me is the concept of storytelling which puts my work in a sort of autobiographical context.

I can tell you this is not easy, but I think that I tell my story in a succinct way through a relatively new Microsoft app called Sway. This tool allows me to put my workshop photos together with text in a way that remarkably lets me tell the story of my work history online. I created three Sway stories that autobiographically tell the story of how I came full circle with regard to the possibility of pursuing cabinet organ building as a now part-time avocation.

Please take a look at the following, and let me know what you think. This is new for me. Posting photos is easy. Telling the stories behind them when it involves your thoughts and experiences is a bit more difficult.

- as a pipe organ builder with a music and engineering background.

- as a studio woodworker with a technology and organ building background.

- as a pipe organ builder with a studio woodworking background.

The Obsession with Metrics

This photo makes no sense to most people, although it stands as one of my favorites. I happened to have a camera with me one day that I inherited from my dad when I stopped by this local grocery store.

The camera was an older Nikon E5000. I had some work done to it before I could use it. I think it was one of the first sort of affordable Nikon digital cameras. It was only a 5 megapixel camera, yet the optics proved its value as this photo demonstrates. The camera was really on its last legs before I took possession, but some great photos still came out of it. I think this is one of them.

To me, this proves that numbers don't always count as 5 megapixels is small standards by even most newer cell phones today. I think I said something like that before. This camera because of its lens and sensor made the photos it took stand out with more expression, more human in the way it could photograph everyday images.

This photo says a lot. It says that simple numbers are not always most important.

Surrogates

I would use the term surrogate to describe some of what I design and build. These projects function as a surrogate or stand-in for concepts and methods I want to explore before applying them to projects that really matter.

The molding profiles I used to form up this cabinet top section are surrogates where the cabinet project itself was a surrogate design for an organ case architecture concept I wanted to develop. I have a number of profile cutters that are sold as colonial period molding router bits. A person will usually run a short length of profiled molding from scrap stock to see how that particular shape will look. I wanted to get a feel for how these period profiles could combine to form the more complex shape of a historically referenced cornice, so I created this cabinet top section to experiment with that some. The design profiles can also be applied to new design work now that they are modeled in computer solids, a none too trivial task in and of itself.

This particular top section design is fairly complex, and might not be realistically used in a real project, although organ case trim of a typical northern European Baroque pipe organ was similarly complex including the varied use of color to set off each different layer of trim.

This certainly gives a better impression of what is possible with respect to the use of combined profiles, and how I might attempt to successfully combine diverse profiles in a commissioned project to produce just the right effect.

Worth Revisiting

I came across an online article mostly by accident today that was written when the building I rent workshop space in was sold to a new owner a few years ago. The article is worth reading not only for its take on the history of the building, but also because it describes an artist space well. The article which originally appeared in the Minnesota Daily can be found at the link below.

"Former General Mills research and development complex becomes an arts haven on Hennepin",  by Sarah Harper

I bring this up because a space for artists is just as important as a space for makers. The Minnesota Daily article I reference here again reminds me that an artist, designer, or artisan needs the help and nurturing to succeed at his or her work that an artist space provides.

Java is More than Just Coffee

The image here is of Duke, the Java mascot. Duke is open source. I can use him for free as long as I use him respectfully. Java in this context is an object oriented computer programming language that I once used for design purposes, and previously wrote about in this blog.

I need to write some computer code that will help me program the CNC router in my workshop by producing g-code output from rather simple parametric user input. A sample of g-code can be found in a former post here. An industrial grade CNC machine will usually have a sophisticated user interface that allows the programming and modification of simple tool paths directly at the machine itself. Machine automation like that costs a lot of money, and my part-time workshop operating model cannot justify the inclusion of expensive and highly automated machine tools.

I can however, automate repetitive tasks by writing small applications to generate CNC router tool path g-code. I am currently working on an organ pipe design that will shortly benefit from this capability. But right now, I would like a way to cut accurate circles in the front plate of a speaker enclosure that match the flange of an audio loud speaker where diameters can vary by a few thousandths of an inch. The final result looks far more professional if the speaker fits just right in its opening without being too snug, and being able to productively edge up to that exact value will benefit the result. Writing a program that produces CNC router g-code to do just that would increase the efficiency and accuracy of this task.

My past Java code was far more procedural than object oriented in its approach mainly due to my former background in programming. I decided to take on a more educated approach to Java this summer, and finally learn object oriented programming methods. I recently purchased two books that appear to really discuss the topic well.

1. Big Java, by Cay Horstmann.
2. Objects First with Java, by David Barnes and Michael Kolling.

I bought both slightly used so as not to incur the typically higher cost of what are essentially computer science textbooks. No matter though, as both are excellent with regard to teaching an understanding of the Java language and moreover, the general concepts of object oriented programming.

So I have some work cut out for me this summer. Learning, programming, and building. I also plan to take more time for riding the bicycles I built a few years ago, and in general find time for other non-shop related activity.

A good summer at that.

The Artisans Versus the Academic

Dear Colleagues:

An academic with a degree in physics practically succeeded some time ago in defining my pipe organ building work as irrelevant because that work was not scientifically based on theory and mathematics. My decision to approach pipe organ building and design based on historical reference began when I traveled to distant places on a mission of discovery to hear for myself and judge the validity of the working methods of the old masters. I will tell a story then about why the methods I use to design a pipe organ are not scientifically derived, yet are perhaps more valid than a mathematical model based on the physics of a vibrating column of air contained within the body of an organ pipe.

That story began with a trip I took to distant places to experience baroque organ building by actually playing and studying existing examples of mostly unaltered instruments built throughout Europe predominantly during the eighteenth century. I came upon the Skt Mariae Kirke organ located in Helsinor, Denmark almost by accident where Diderich Buxtehude was organist from 1660 to 1668. Only the organ case and facade pipes of the Ruckpositiv division mounted on the gallery rail were original to the Lorentz organ of that time shown in the photo above. A modern organ was built in the old style within the case. The church organist happened to be practicing alone in the church when I arrived. He allowed me to play the organ myself for a time, the first of many such opportunities I would have in getting to know these old instruments. I paid particular attention to the sound of the original facade pipes that dated to the seventeenth century, finding a warm and gentle tone that contradicted the accepted understanding of harshness usually associated with the baroque pipe organ.

Not far from Skt Mariae Kirke in Helsinor where Buxtehude briefly served as organist was Skt Olai Kirke where his father served as organist from 1642 to 1671. This church had a newer organ built within a modern case, but in the old tonal style by Poul-Gerhard Andersen whose book "Organ Building and Design" first inspired me to build organs in the classical style. This organ is shown in the photo below. Andersen as thoroughly as he could, explains the ancient methods of organ pipe scaling in his book along with chapters devoted to the history of the early instrument and their construction details. His description of historical pipe scaling methods would provide the basis for my own methods of pipe scaling, not mathematical models derived from theoretical physics.

My purpose in writing this entry is to counter the argument against the validity of my original work as I move forward as an artisan. I hope to accomplish the following with my next organ project.

1. That pursuing an understanding of the methods used by the old masters creates an imperfect yet wholly human artistry produced by their ancient methods.
2. To make the organ more accessible to an eclectic audience rather than restrict the instrument to the exclusive domain of a biased elite.

My goal is to make the organ even more accessible by placing a historically referenced cabinet instrument in a visual arts setting where it can be experienced both visually and musically to communicate to a wider audience that artisan results still matter in an ever technologically dependent world.

On a technical note, I took the photos posted here before the advent of digital photography. They appear somewhat grainy as the result of having been scanned.