Synopsis: At age 13, Tom DeAngelis inherited a wood “e book” from his grandfather, an Italian immigrant and grasp cabinetmaker, whose hidden sliding mechanism revealed each craftsmanship and creativity. Years later, utilizing his grandfather’s instruments and methods, DeAngelis re-created the e book, mixing conventional joinery along with his personal design refinements. The challenge turned a tribute to his grandfather and a logo of how handmade work can join generations by talent, reminiscence, and craft.
I used to be 13 when my 80-year-old grandfather, Americo DeAngelis, referred to as me into the kitchen one afternoon. On the desk sat a big wood e book. He picked it up, positioned it in my fingers and stated, “I made this a very long time in the past. In case you can open it, you may have it.”
I turned it over in my fingers, trying to find a hinge or seam, however the covers wouldn’t budge. Lastly, he revealed the key: With a four-step sequence of actions, the highest slid open easily to disclose a hole chamber. Regardless that I hadn’t figured it out myself, he handed it again to me and stated, “It’s yours now.”
My grandfather, born in Buenos Aires however reared in Benevento, Italy, turned an apprentice cabinetmaker at 16, and two years later traveled again to Buenos Aires to additional his cabinetmaking expertise along with his uncle. He later immigrated to the US seeking a greater life, settling in Waterbury, Conn. There he labored as a cabinetmaker for the Scigliano Lumber Firm, making moldings, home windows, cupboards, and staircases till retiring at age 75 in 1967.
His actual pleasure got here from his residence workshop, a four-car storage he constructed by hand regardless of by no means proudly owning a automobile. His workshop—and his wood e book—sparked my very own love of woodworking and formed my early profession as a carpenter and builder.
The instruments from that store—his bench, desk noticed, bandsaw, jointer, mortise press, chisels, and planes—handed from him to my dad and ultimately to me. After I’m not at my day job, I’m in my very own store constructing furnishings, serving to associates with tasks, or instructing household, associates, and neighbors make hand-cut dovetails.
Watching somebody proudly maintain up their first tight-fitting dovetail is among the most rewarding moments I do know. Every time I enter my workshop, the scent of walnut, oak, and poplar brings again an emotional rush of emotions and reminiscences from once I was a toddler with my dad and brother in my grandfather’s store.
Two years in the past I noticed that the e book, nonetheless sitting on my shelf, had quietly turned 105 years outdated. For on a regular basis I’d admired it, I’d by no means tried to recreate it. With the abilities, instruments, and reminiscences of my grandfather’s fingers guiding me, I centered on making a model that preserved his secret opening system whereas incorporating my very own design concepts.
The ultimate piece consists of six exactly minimize elements that match collectively with out screws, nails, magnets, or {hardware}, similar to my grandfather’s. I used quartersawn mushy maple for the “pages,” wrapping the grain constantly across the corners to reinforce the phantasm of paper.
The joinery accommodates seasonal wooden motion whereas sustaining the clear geometry required for the sliding movement. It offered an awesome alternative to experiment with completely different species of wooden, since, like books, every wooden has its personal tone and texture. The mechanism is straightforward however exact: (1) slide the entrance cowl upward, (2) increase the heel of the quilt barely, (3) slide the quilt again down, and (4) take away the quilt. The completed wood e book sits naturally on a shelf with actual books, but it opens easily to disclose a hidden compartment for keepsakes or mementos.
This challenge turned a lesson in refinement. I upgraded my setup with a thickness planer, a router desk, and a set of aluminum setup blocks, and rediscovered the quiet precision of hand instruments. I practiced zero-tolerance dimensioning, high quality chisel work, and the self-discipline of sequencing each step. I even fell again in love with wooden information—instruments I’d as soon as missed—for refining refined transitions.
Re-creating my grandfather’s wood e book allowed me to honor his craftsmanship whereas leaving a bit of my very own for the following era. It isn’t only a souvenir field—it’s a bridge linking his world to mine and, I hope, to the world of anybody who finds that means within the easy however enduring fantastic thing about a handcrafted creation.
Tom DeAngelis works with wooden in Clinton, Conn.
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