Carving in the Newport Style with Al Breed

Tool List

• #49 rasp, cabinet scrapers like Lie-Nielsen hand scraper set, dividers like Lee Valley 05N20.01, low angle block plane like Veritas 01, 05P22.51, a spokeshave like Woodjoy 2″ performance spokeshave
• Carving tools 1-3, *1-8, 1½″ paring chisel, ¼″ same
• *3-8, *3-12 fishtail, 3-16, 3-25, 3-30
• 5-5, *5-12, 5-20, 5-25, 5-35
• 7-8, 7-20
• *8-4, *8-10, 8-11, 8-13, 8-16
• 9-3, *9-10, 9-13, 9-5 fishtail
• 11-2, *11-3, 11-7, 11-10
• 12-3 bent (12A-3), *12-8
• backbent gouges 25-3, 25-6, 25-6, 25-10, 28-10

* indicates availability as an intermediate size. I recommend these as they are easier to use and cost less.

10% Off Lie-Nielsen Tools

Lie-Nielsen will give a 10% discount on any tools purchased by students for a class. This only applies to tools they make, not other brands that they carry.

 

A Note on TOOLS

Tool lists are posted with each class description. Carving tools are listed from the Swiss Made- Pfeil brand as listed in the Woodcraft Supply catalogue. Lists are the minimal number of tools needed to complete the class work. Given the fact that carving tools, especially, can add up fast, there are some tools on hand to fill in gaps on your list. Please contact us if you are short on tools to make sure we can accommodate your needs. Any tools may be shipped ahead of time to: Maine Coast Workshop, attn: Wm. Francis Brown, 27 High St., Camden, ME  04843

 

 

 

Al Breed Bio

The origins of my present career as a cabinetmaker and carver lie in my fascination with history, architecture and archaeology while growing up in New England. As I grew into my teens, my major interest became the early furniture of the area and culminated with a job in the restoration department at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston at the age of 19. I worked under Vincent Cerbone, an Italian trained cabinetmaker, and it was from Vinnie that I learned the rudiments of hide glue, carving theory and furniture construction while we took apart and reassembled pieces from the museum’s collection.

After leaving the museum I went on to get a degree in History and set up my own furniture restoration business doing work for museums and collectors. It was by working on period furniture that I learned cabinetmaking, and have gone on to reproduce many of the iconic pieces of American furniture, from the Nicholas Brown Newport secretary to a Reynolds Philadelphia Rococo mirror from the Metropolitan Museum in NY. In addition, I have made demonstration pieces and videos and given lectures in conjunction with several major museum exhibits, including the Phyfe and Townsend exhibits at the Met in NY, the “New England Begins” exhibit at the MFA in Boston and others. In 2012 I received the Cartouche Award from the Society of American Period Furniture Makers.

Throughout my career I have taught and lectured on early cabinetmaking practice, connoisseurship and hand tool cabinetmaking at my shop and at sites across the country including the education departments of both Sotheby’s and Christie’s in New York. I have presented many demonstrations and lectures at the Winterthur Furniture Forum as well as lectures on American furniture connoisseurship at Bayou Bend, The Dallas Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and others.