In 2002 I acquired the jigs, patterns and mentoring from the Smith Brothers to build their version of the San Franciso Pelican and the small El Toro sailing dinghy.  Up here in the Pacific Northwest, a Smith built boat is the defacto standard for Pelican and El Toro construction.  A testament to their building technique is that those boats that were built in the early sixties by the Smith Brothers are still being actively sailed and used today.   My motto is if something works, why mess with it so I have used these techniques and incorporated them into the boats that I produce. 

 

Last year I purchased the plans to build rocking chairs.  The chair that was most pleasing to my eye was a Sam Maloof style sculputred rocking chair designed by Hal Taylor.  They are a pleasure to build and there is no rocking chair that is more comfortable than a Hal Taylor rocking chair.  Now  a rocking chairs is not a one size fits all affair.  The ability to rock correctly is a physical property of the chair like a pendulum on a clock.  These come in five different sizes depending on how tall you are.  They range from  a child's chair to a chair for someone over 6' 5"; you simply need the right size chair for your height.