Gary, no I don't think that you mentioned it. I was asked to give a lecture up at the College of the Redwoods woodworking program, though it was many years ago. I think I know some of the people running the program currently. It is an excellent school, though a lot of the work tends to be clone like, much influenced by the guy that started the program, Jim Krenov. Not really a negative though, giving people the sense of what level of proficiency is required to do quality work is a good way to get their careers going. One to two years is pretty short really, for someone to start their own business as a craftsman, but the reality of the situation is that there aren't many opportunities to continue training someplace else. Daniel must be a very good student to get accepted for a second year. When in California I had a two year student from that program helping me in my shop during summers, a Japanese kid. The only drawback about a program like that is that it is difficult to get a grasp on speed, which is pretty essential for making a living. A beautiful cabinet is a thing to behold, but if it takes you six months and you need to get paid for all that time, the potential client base really thins out. That isn't anyone's fault at the program, faster production methods aren't within the scope of what they have going there, no time and space for it.
When I was asked to go up there by one of the assistant instructors, I didn't know Jim then, but I knew his reputation as a somewhat crusty individual, and also had heard that he could be very hard on guests, rather critical of what they had to say. He had rather elite status within the woodworking community after coming to the states from Sweden, I think it was. He had put out some good books and was much credited for starting what they call studio furniture making in the US, that evolved into a strong movement, quite an influential guy in that regard. He was one of the first people to say that a piece of wood has a voice to tell you what you should make out of it, and good to try and be sensitive to that. Anyway, when I started to speak in front of the students and instructors, after a few minutes I glanced over at Krenov, and he was looking at me hard and kind of forcefully shaking his head back and forth. WTF? I had enough confidence to not feel intimidated, aspects of my own training are beyond anything that he ever knew about, but it did strike me as being indeed odd, if not rather unwelcoming. When the lecture and slides of my stuff was over, I got the impression that it had gone well. Some girl student wanted to take me home!
Prior to my leaving, Jim came up to me and thanked me rather profusely. I guess it was a passing grade. I came to later see that his viewpoints on other people's work tended to start from the position of being skeptical. I think he was born in Siberia! We had some additional contact over the years. He passed away awhile back. No doubt that his former presence is still a strong factor at the program.
Good luck to your future son-in-law.
