The Gridbeam Chronicles will now stand in the place of abortive The Woodworking Chronicles. When I wrote the goal of wanting to be at an "intermediate level" in woodworking, I really meant be able to build shelves, hutches, really anything useful. I really didn't mean anything about the aesthetic side. Also, I had heard someone describe gridbeam and its power to make nearly any piece of furniture out of a series of boxes, but I had forgotten the name, so I was left casting around until I found it.
As it stands, here is what I have done toward my mission to become a gridbeam master:
- I bought the book How to Build With Gridbeam
- I reached out to a former student and showed him the book.
That's really it so far. But the former student is great. He is good with woodworking and also I knew he would appreciate it as an extension of the open source philosophy, and its ability to serve to build resiliency and move beyond consumerism. To future that kind of mental revolution, I asked him to look up Ken Isaacs (in particular his public domain book). I am willing to pay him to build gridbeam sticks and to get me started in my own manufacture (I, for one, have virtually no shop skills at this moment).
Next up, I am going to try to source some pre-made gridbeam sticks. I don't mind paying the Jergenson brothers for a starter kit.
After that, I think I am going to try to stock up on steel gridbeam. It's something the Jergensons' admit they don't manufacture on their own, and it seems like the ultimate good for resiliency in a possible post-industrial world. In that scenario, it either wont be available any more, or will be absolutely prohibitively expensive, so I'll be glad to have some.
