Everything In Its Place

Organization has not always been one of my strengths. If you don't believe me then come check out my pole barn full of un-graded lumber or check out my garage shop after building a case piece. It didn't take me long (after sweeping expensive tools into the burn pile) to come up with the tool cabinet you see below. Modeled after Andy Rae's tool cabinet in "The Toolbox Book" from the Tauntan Press, it holds most of what I use while making chairs.

A quick glance and I know if a tool is missing. Forcing myself into these good habits has been very helpful. It keeps the bench clear as well as my mind. Now that I am getting more established in the new shop I am beginning to hang tools on the walls.

I have also brought my woodworking library and magazines out to the shop and designated a small area for writing, reading, or just deep thought (or a blank stare). This is the first time I have ever had all my magazines in order which can be so nice trying to find a particular article. Hey Pete, I have room for one more book!

Recently I had Sam Hughes from South Carolina come for a two day milk paint class to paint the chair he made in Pete Galbert's class last year. He chose the black over red technique which seems very popular among most. He stayed on the rest of the week and built a shave horse. This is the third class I have taught building the shave horse. Sam did a great job and will return to Kelly Mehler's this spring for another chair class with Pete. I'll be assisting Pete again this year at Kelly's. His school is always a blast.

Seen below is the finished sugar chest that I taught Ron Underwood to make. He was very happy how it turned out and wants to do more pieces in the future. I'm going to miss all those powdered donuts he brought to class everyday. Great job Ron!

Building Horses

Lately I have had a couple students building shave horses for a class they will take here in March. Pete and Bob live here in town so I'm helping them along to get things ready for the class. I have always been a big fan of the horse which Brian Boggs designed with the ratcheting head. It's a good size to haul around and seems to fit just about anyone with the adjustable seat. The plans for this horse is in Fine Woodworking issue #139. It is made from 8/4 stock and the widest board is 8'' but could be glued up of coarse. I prefer hard wood to pine for durability, especially the ratcheting part and clamping areas. We used cherry and maple since I had so much dry stock lying around. If you have built chairs without the use of this tool then you are missing one of the best ways to clamp and re-clamp wood quickly and securely. While pulling back on the draw knife through the wood you naturally push with your feet so it's a natural effect.

On this horse the only change I made was adding a place to rest the draw knife on top of the post. It just seemed like a natural place and the edges of the blade are not exposed while not in use. I guess it's sort of a tool tray. I still don't like tool trays on benches.

This past week I have had Ron Underwood taking a class on fine furniture. He wanted to do a sugar chest based on one he sold to the Tennessee State Museum about 30 years ago. Made from walnut the case features half blind dovetails. The base is mortised and tenoned with a nice crotch drawer front. These were the first dovetails that Ron has cut and I must say that half blind case and chopping the crotched drawer front is quite a challenge for a first timer but he did great. I always teach cutting the pins first which has always seemed more natural to me, sorry Kelly.

Ron will return next week to finish the sugar chest. Just so you know, the sugar chest was used to store sugar in the late 18th and early 19th century primarily in the southern states. It was stored under lock and key. The top will have breadboard ends with applied mouldings around the top and waist.

Physical Therapy

I am sorry for the lack of post lately. I have been out of commision for a while due to tendon surgery on my left hand. I want to thank everyone who has been patient during this time and also those who have helped along the way. There are so many good people in this town.
I hope to get back to full use of my hands in 2-3 weeks. I believe making a chair should be good physical therapy. I have one student in January and 3 in late Febuary so I must follow all the doctors orders. If I damage the same tendon before it heals can mean much longer recovery or possible loss of movement in that finger. Anyway, lesson learned. Never hold the piece of wood in one hand while aiming the chisel with the other. I guess I didn't take my own blog entry serious enough about taking my hands for granted.
I do now.

Wood Mizer

Back in the spring of 2006 we had a tornado devistate our area. I watched in fear the funnel going across my front yard within a 100 yards of my front porch. The storm left many trees along the creeks down. These were good size trees with really straight trunks. The city was going to bulldoze them into piles to burn. This was the time I reallized maybe a sawmill might be a good investment. A few months after the storm I drove to Wood Mizer in Indiana to pick up an LT-40 sawmill. This is the biggest tool I have ever bought. I quickly cleaned up and cut lots of walnut and oak from along the creek banks. Since that time I have cut many logs and air dried lumber in my pole barn. My plan was to use the pole barn as my wood shop but it filled so fast with drying lumber that this was not an option. Later it dawned on me to build a timber frame using the mill which turned out much better than I ever thought. Another benefit having the mill is re-sawing wide boards for bookmatching panels for doors and matched panels for table tops.

This past week I cut some very nice , clear cherry and walnut. You can see the cherry below how straight the log was which around here can be rare.

Bill found this tree near his place. The tree lost its top and he was afraid it might start taking on water and rot prematurely. The walnut he found was very straight and had very little sap. These logs were fun to cut. It was good to get out of the shop a while and cut lumber next to the woods.

After cutting about 500 ft or so to fill my trailor I had to get it home to stack for drying. I use blocks leveled as a base. The stickers are spaced about every 2 feet and lined up in the pile. I still need to add weight (more blocks) on top to keep everything flat. This stack will air dry for about a year for the 4/4 stock and longer for the 5/4. I have a small fan in the wall to draw out moisture and keep the door open on the other end. I have found this pole barn to dry wood at a good rate with very little checking. If you dry too slow you can have mold and too fast could cause unwanted stress in the boards or surface checks. I was able to cut some 17''-19'' wide 5/4 cherry for table tops. I also like to quarter saw smaller logs. These two trees will provide some really nice material for next season.

I also cut out the crotch material where the tree forks. You can get some interesting grain patterns here where the tree tries to hold itself together. I'll use these for drawer fronts or even live edge benches. The bottom line is I can cut logs the way I want and not have to try to match boards from a large lumber yard or pay those high prices for boards full of sap wood. The mill has already paid for itself many times. Now if I can just convince my wife.

This weekend I'll be at the TACA craft fair in Nashville again showing chairs and dodging rain showers. Back to work!

Epoxy?

I wanted to show the bird cage arm chair before painting. Curtis Buchanan said he uses epoxy on the false miter joint seen below. I decided to try this even though I had reservations of using the stuff. Once glued this way there is no turning back. It worked wonderful and closed any gap I may of had. The joint is a 3/8'' turned tenon into a blind mortise on the top rail. I have run the post through the rail with a wedge in the past but I like the clean look of this method much better.
I haven't coompletey decided on a color scheme yet for this chair. With all the gutters carved in the seat and v-grooves on the turnings I know I will accent these in some way. Stay tuned.

A Bird in the Hand

One of the best tools we have is our hands. Sometimes I take them for granted and forget that they cannot be replaced. Recently I learned that one of my friends working on a timber frame structure had pinched off the end of his finger while a dovetail joint fell together unexpected. Even the wood itself can be dangerous, not just the tools. Sometimes you can do everything right and stuff just goes wrong. I know my friend will be ok and keep on working wood but I sure hate to hear such stories.
This is my hand below. Nothing fancy, just a hand. To make this tool as efficient as I can it needs to have strength, a strong heart and lungs for support as well as good nutrition. To do this I try to excercise and eat right. Not always easy but letting myself fall apart would be as bad or worse as never sharpening my tools.

Today I glued up the Bird Cage chair I started at Curtis' shop. We never went over the details for completing this chair before I left. It was an adventure to say the least but over all was succesful. I still need to glue the top rail and carve the false miter. I have done this before so maybe tommorrow I'll be ready for paint. This has to be one of the more complicated chairs to make but the challenge has been great fun. I learned so much with this chair and look forward to evolving designs based on this style. And oh is it comfortable!

Recently I completed the loft which allowed me to move lots of stuff off the main floor. Then I finished the sharpening station cabinet with the recycled granite top. You can see it behind the Bird Cage chair. I have built lots of cabinets based on shaker style. I love the simple lines which shows off the cherry really well. I had fun making boxes for a change but have really enjoyed getting back to chairs. The shop is now starting to get that familiar, comfortable feeling which allows me to work more organized and focused on the task.

Soon I will show the Bird Cage chair complete. Now if I can just figure out where to put the birds.

The Loft

Recently I was able to put the beams I cut from the old dead red oak to good use. I hewed the 3 x 6 joists down to 3 x 4 at the ends and mortised them into the cross-beams of the timber frame. I spaced them on 24'' centers and ran them 3'' into the crossbeam. I added blocking down the center and the floor seamed really sturdy.

I framed in an attic pull down ladder to access the loft. This kept a staircase from eating up shop space.

After all the joist were in place I nailed down tongue and groove bead board and then plywood flooring on top of that to make a strong floor for storage. The bead board is mainly for looks and it was cheap. I found the stuff at the Habitat for Humanity store in Nashville and bought all thay had.

I now have plenty of space to store all the clutter out of the way. There is room to add another loft on the other end of the shop but that can wait til winter.

Here is the comb bending form for the fan back chair I had left off of the previous blog entry. Please send me some pictures if anyone makes one of these chairs. Best of luck!