SWISS ARMY KNIFE
The assignment in the advanced woodworking class back in 1981 was to take a small object and produce a larger version made completely out of wood. I considered a number of simple things but decided that my Swiss Army knife would be sufficiently challenging and artistically valid. I spent the entire semester carefully dissecting my knife, making drawings of the components, and producing each individual piece.
I chose lemon wood for the blades, Hawaiian Koa wood for the sides and maple for the dividers, tweezers, ring, and Swiss “plus” symbol inlay. Everything associated with the piece was carefully produced and then assembled — with the exception of the cork screw. My actual knife had a cork screw and I was convinced that I could fashion an exact replica of it from the a turned piece of lemon wood. And I tried. I tried and failed repeatedly. Ultimately, I opted to replace the cord screw with a phillips screwdriver. I was a compromise but is actually an option for a Swiss Army knife.
The city of Los Angeles held its bicentennial in 1981 and an art competition. At the urging of my professors at CSUN, I entered my knife and won recognition for its craftsmanship and design.