Fine Furniture with an Asian Touch>

After taking classes from several noteworthy woodworkers, a bicycle salesman turned craftsman has developed his own furniture style.>

By Ann Gurly Rogers

 

Rick Stein incorporates Asian elements into many of his pieces. The cherry bedside cabinet on the right features shoji-style doors with handmade paper.>

In 1994, Rick Stein decided that it was time to end 20-plus years of running a small retail business, so he sold his bicycle shop in Lawrence, KS. At the same time, he traded a treadmill for a table saw. Then, as the saying goes, one thing lead to another.

He started taking classes at the Center For Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockland, ME. In 1995 he took a basic woodworking class taught by the executive director, Peter Korn, who has exhibited nationally in galleries and museums and has written two books on woodworking. Subsequently, he has taken classes from James Krenov, John Reed Fox and Michael Puryear. These notable woodworkers along with local custom furniture maker, Will Orvedall, (see CWB February 2004) have had a strong influence on Stein's design preferences and the way he approaches custom woodworking.

Stein observed that the process of building a piece of furniture requires his full attention from the design process to the final finishing process. "Each stage requires me to work at my fullest potential. I work quietly and methodically. Furniture making demands my best effort, my most skilled and practiced work, and all of my concentration. I can't rush or work casually," he says. "It is a completely different mind set from running a busy retail bicycle store with 11 employees."

Stein likes to reference historical furniture styles, particularly the Arts and Crafts movement. He has had the opportunity to make several Morris Chairs for customers, which has become a collaborative effort with a local upholsterer. Additionally, Stein takes pleasure in designing pieces that showcase interesting, highly-figured or spalted woods; and he likes to include subtle details that reveal themselves over time through close examination.

Stein collaborates with a local upholsterer to create these Arts and Crafts-styled Morris Chairs.>

He also has found eBay to be a remarkable source for wood. "I have purchased some beautiful redwood on eBay that is coming from the stumps of trees that were felled in the 1880s and early 1900s. These trees were originally cut off between 6 to 8 feet from the ground at the point where the growth was straight," he says.

Stein designed this cabinet to highlight the doors, which are made from Goncalo Alves, a Brazilian wood. "I rarely work in non-native (North American) hardwoods, but this wood was impossible for me to ignore," he says.>

In addition to using Asian elements in his work, Stein has learned to appreciate the advantages of Japanese hand saws. "I have two different dozuki saws. They vary in length but are essentially the same. They are used to cut dovetails or other precise joinery," he explains. "I use these handsaws because I feel I both can cut more precisely to a line and because the kerf which a Japanese saw leaves is cleaner and much smaller than one left by a Western saw." Additionally, he reports that there is a bit of a learning curve when getting started with a Japanese saw, because with a Japanese saw the cut is made on the pull while with a Western saw, the cut is made on the push.

The biggest change in the near future for Stein is an anticipated move to the country about 15 miles outside of Lawrence. There he anticipates building both his home and workshop.

The workshop will be between 1,000 and 1,200 square feet, a bit larger than his current workshop of 700 square feet, which is attached to his home in Lawrence. The extra space will be used for finishing and assembly areas.