Nice to see you here, Tony! I, too, have stayed out of this thread too long.
As with many of the Internet/Magazine personalities, there is a line of fan boys that develop and stand behind them. You are on a hiding to none if one attempts to debate any with a reasoned argument. It is not only Chris Schwarz but personalities like Paul Sellers - just venture onto their blogs and read the replies and feedback section ... it can turn a strong stomach.
All this makes it harder to state something positive, and there are many positives. I have a love-hate relationship with Paul Sellers. I love that he breaks the work down and brings it within reach of those starting out. This is being a good teacher. But the rest of his self-promoting leaves me dead. Still, he is in business, and he has a good business model.
I view Chris Schwarz in a similar light. He is a good teacher of basic techniques. He is also a responsible writer insofar as he provides the sources of his information. He never states a technique is his invention (unlike Paul whathisname) - it is the fanboys who attribute techniques to Chris, not Chris. As I understand, he is simply providing a more modern and easily readable/accessible vehicle for the old methods. And good for him - he is infinitely more readable than some of the old texts!
The furniture he builds is clean and tidy. I consider Chris to be a good woodworker. The pieces he builds may be divided into three areas: benches and tool chests (which developed out his research at Pop Wood magazine), campaign furniture (he must have read my adventure here and decided this was a good time to pursue this line
) and, thirdly, Welsh Stick chairs. The last area, which appears more dominantly of late, may be misunderstood by many since he has simplified/minimised the construction details. This comes across as dumbed down. It is to some extent, however there is nothing beginner like about curved chair parts and leg joinery. The campaign furniture is equally basic in looks because it does not contain mouldings are carvings. The fact is that he does all these very well. They may not be ornate, and this may appear less than the work of one who specialises in the styles of, say, the 18th century (and I could not say whether Chris could do so), but it does not make his teachings less relevant for many.
Would I want him as a teacher? No, I really doubt he has much to teach anyone with moderately advanced skills. As someone who likes the contemporary style, one modern, contemporary maker/teacher I would like to rather share time with (in the USA) is Garrett Hack. There are many others, all of whom have demonstrated much more advanced work than Chris has demonstrated.
Can I learn from his use of tools? Is his book any help beyond a beginner-intermediate level? I really cannot say much as I have not read it. I very much doubt that it is aimed at the likes of you, David, Charles, or anyone beyond the intermediate level. I also do not expect that the content will be new, but will rather present old information in a fresh way. I know that he came to the chipbreaker late, but that is not the only focus in handplane use, and hand planes are just one of a wide range of tools used in building furniture.
Personally, I would like to see books on blended woodworking. This is more realistic for today. That is, where power- and hand tools may be interchanged or used alongside one another. I believe that the rounded furniture maker needs to learn to use all methods. The extremists (who push extreme methods - all hand tools) bother me since either they are doing this for glory, or they are telling porkies. Chris has not hidden his use of power tools, however he does not state where he uses it and where he uses hand tools. I wish he would since I can imagine those attempting to follow in his footsteps obtaining a skewed version of how woodworking is done.
Regards from Perth
Derek
