About the Artist
Claire started out with a furniture background, graduating from the North Bennett Street School’s cabinet and furniture program in 2010, picking up work at a cabinet shop for a few years after that. Over the past nine years, she has grown a small business making travishers, which are specialized woodworking tools used for carving, shaping, and finishing chairs and stool seats. She has demonstrated how they work and how they are made at domestic and international fairs and, occasionally, has sprinkled in a travisher making class. She continues to make travishers and explores different ways to build solid cabinets and community.
Website: CMinihanWoodworks.Blogspot.com
Social Media: @CMinihanTravishers
Artist Statement
A wood blank for the body is roughed out and faired, or smoothed. All blades are bent using a cold press technique, where I work the pre-hardened steel at room temperature, clamping it in a vise between a negative and positive jaw shaped to the desired curve. Once the blade is bent, it then gets hardened, tempered, and sharpened. The brass for the sole is then custom bent to each unique blade. Both pieces of hardware get attached to the body. The sole gets beveled and filed down to achieve the desired blade exposure and throat clearance. Once assembled, the travisher then gets its final shape by hand using various shaves, files, and rasps.