Olebiker wrote:

I know I may be really stepping into it, but what is it that impresses
folks about Krenov? I mean, how many variations on those trinket
cabinets can a guy make? What is it that people like about them
anyway. The legs are out of scale with the box and the
clunky-looking-thicker-at-the-bottom design of the legs reminds me too
much of my old bell bottoms I wore back in the 70s. (What were we
thinking?)

Somebody 'splain it to me.

Dick Durbin


Probably spittin' in the wind but here goes

First, when I discover anyone who gets to do what
they have a passion for and love to do AND do it
exceptionally well - all of their adult life - I
get a buzz - Gary Knox Bennett (sp?) being an
exception.

Mr. Krenov does a few, relatively speaking, things
as perfect as is humanly possible. The results may,
at first glance, appear to be very simple and straight
foreward - until you look a little closer AND have a
good idea of the skills and sensitivity required to make
the piece from that particular wood, using that
particular joinery done just so, choose those edge
treatments, nobs, pulls and latches so they all go together
and work just the way they're supposed to - without
drawing attention to anyone thing, picking the finish that
goes with the whole . . .

Because his pieces are so "simple" there's no place
to hide errors. If the parts don't fit perfectly it's
obvious - no trim or molding to cover up gaps,
no way to hide a slip of the chisel or plane. No
way to disguise the fact that a door or drawer is
off - even just a little. Even his edge treatments
flow together flawlessly. His stuff is "just so" -
not absolutely perfect, but close enough to be
well beyond "close enough".

There's a quality to the sound of a wood on wood latch
clicking shut that a metal bullet catch doesn't have.
While Blumm/Euro hinges are easier to install and
work fine - for kitchen cabinets, knife hinges, though
more difficult to install properly are less distracting
while still very functional. A glued stopped dado is
functional, but a stopped sliding dovetail stronger
and more easily removed should that be necessary
sometime down the road.

I guess it gets back to which is more valuable, the
finished piece or the part of the journey it reminds
us of or lets us share.

I'm a tool freak and have lots of tools. But my most
valued tool is an old mallet I picked up at an estate
sale of a neighbor. He'd made that mallet himself
a long time ago and used it often. It does it's job
well and every time I use it I get the feeling the
old guy is smiling as he hears it tap a part in place
or whacks a part hard to drive it home. The Old
Guy made a nice tool and the more ways I use it
the more I appreciate this thing he made.

It's an intangible thing I guess.

I see a fine bonsai tree and I see both the full sized
tree, with evidence of its life's experiences, and I
appreciate the bonsai artist who was able to work
with the little tree to help it do what it does.

Krenov's stuff is like that - for me. For others .. .

charlie b