The passing of Pat Warner, July 28, 2017, should not go without tribute. His contributions to the techniques of woodworking is among the finest of our time based on his unsurpassed knowledge of the use of one of our most versatile woodworking tools, the router. He was truly an expert’s expert.
Especially remarkable were his profound insights into the precision tolerances involved in tooling and work processes, as well as his ability to manage them in the shop. His hands-on inventiveness produced an impressive array of precision tools and jigs. His writings, full of intelligence and clarity, include four books, numerous articles, and the resources on his website.
I never met the man but his generosity and kindness were evident in the assistance he provided to me by phone. There was no doubt I was taking in the advice of a rare master craftsman. For countless woodworkers, our approach to not only the use of the router, but to small-shop machine woodworking in general, owes greatly to Pat Warner.
Thanks for informing us about his death, of which I was unaware. I corresponded with him a few times about using the drill press, actually, and benefited from a tutorial he put together. He certainly had a deep knowledge base.
Thank you for writing that, and “amen” to every word of it. I had several email interactions with Mr. Warner, and bought a few of his subbases. The products were perfect and his advice was on target.
I had the pleasure of visiting Pat at his home several years ago.He will be missed. Too bad someone could not publish his writings.
Thanks, all, for the comments.
With machine woodworking, Pat was playing chess when most were playing checkers – hands-on brilliance with humility and generosity.
Hi Rob,
I started talking & primarily emailing with Pat 5 or 6 years ago. He was always willing to help me with problems I was trying to overcome. Pat & I were the same age, we both served in the Navy at about the same time and we both graduated from Humboldt State University after the Navy. We had a lot of good stories shared together.
I knew he was ill for some time before he finally told me what was actually wrong. We both knew his time was going to be short but it turned out shorter than either of us initially anticipated.
The first of August I emailed offering to come to California to help him tidy up loose ends and do things around his shop that he didn’t want to leave to his wife and son. Turns out I was three or four days late. His son had come home the day before he passed to help him just as I had offered. They spent the day together and maybe even got some work done. Pat was gone by the next morning.
He was a talented, entrepreneurial, and kind man. I never met him face-to-face but we did just fine with emails and a couple phone calls – emails were his preferred method of communicating. He will be missed by me and many others for sure.
Cheers to all,
Bob
Thanks, Bob, for sharing this.
Life is short – build things.
Rob
May his soul keep with peace forever.