Carving the Arms

Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Oscar Wilde

Here is a great shot of the arm on my newest chair.  This is the trickiest part, by far.  The trick, or skill, is to get the arris, the edge where the flat falls off,  the same on both arms.   I like it to form a gentle curve, just like this one.  Below you can see how I leave the tool marks on the end and also on the underneath. 

People are amazed to find out that I use a drawknife and spokeshave to shape the arms, that's it.  I draw reference lines on both arms, just guessing on what will look good.  I do both arms at the same time,  so hopefully they will be the same. 

Then, holding the arm in my shavehorse, I carve to the lines, and then blend the high points to get it smooth.  I want the top part flat, so I finish up with a spokeshave and a bit of sandpaper.

Here is the tenon that goes thru the back post.  It is a stepped tenon, 7/8" for about 1/4" and then 3/8" all the way thru.  This tenon is turned on the lathe, which is pretty exciting as it is an offset turning.

Below you can see the tools I use.  The big thing is to keep the arms the same, constantly checking one against the other.  They really are hard to do  but they add so much visual impact to the chairs that they are well worth it.

Crest Rail Tenons

Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."
- William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 5.5

I'm gonna touch briefly on the crest for the rockers I make, specifically on forming the tenon that goes into the post.  I cut the mortise on a hollow mortiser,  which does a great job quickly.

Here's a look at the finished tenon where it goes into the post, nice and neat.  The crest is rough cut on the bandsaw and then steam bent and dried.  The tenon is formed after the drying, otherwise the size would be off.

I find the shavehorse is the best way to hold the crest, but you could use a vise.  The layout is done and the tenon is lined out at 3/8".  The back side remains flat.  I cut the cove with a drawknife, just proceed carefully and leave the tenon a little thick, then shave or scrape it to size when you assemble the chair.  You want a good fit, but believe me you don't want to have to beat it in with a hammer, a tight slip fit is best.

On another note, please check out a great blog by Wilson Burnham, an luthier from Allen Park, CO.  He had a great blog here, check it out.  I got the idea for the literary quotes from him, by the way.  

Cutting Coves, sort of

I'm bad and I'm going to hell, and I don't care. I'd rather be in hell than anywhere where you are. ”
― William Faulkner

Here are two chairs I just finished up and took to the Gallery at Frenchman's Bay.  I have nothing but the highest respect for Curtis Buchanan and Pete Galbert, and their methods, but I am always trying to find faster ways to get stuff done without sacrificing the strength or aesthetic of the piece.  I use only hand tools on the seat, and the spindles, but I have found a different way to cut the cove that is located on the back posts on some of my rockers. 

Below you can see the cove I'm talking about.  I can and have done this with a drawknife, and if I am not in a hurry, I enjoy that method.  But sometimes the clock is ticking.

So I use my jointer to cut the cove all the way down the post.  The vertical line on my fence to the left is used to change the knives, so ignore that one for now.  The line to the right represents the line where the cut ends, and this is the important one.

I should point out that is VERY DANGEROUS!  I do it and feel reasonably comfortable doing it, this post is more how I do it rather then a suggestion that you should do it this way.   It is a big cut,  about 3/8" in one shot, so I am very careful.  But it does work, the cove is perfect.  You can see the line on the piece that then lines up with the aforementioned line on the fence.

And here's what happens to the pieces that don't come out right, in this case I mis-marked the line on the piece.  Does a great job holding up the tomato cage though.  Great year for my tomatoes, and zucchini, more on that to come.

Steam Bending Kiln Dried Cherry, Second Try

“I was depressed, but that was a side issue. This was more like closing up shop, or, say, having a big garage sale, where you look at everything you've bought in your life, and you remember how much it meant to you, and now you just tag it for a quarter and watch 'em carry it off, and you don't care. That's more like how it was.”
― Jane Smiley, A Thousand Acres

 First off,  here's a pic of my two latest chairs.  They're the same save for the colors, one is brownish and the other is almost black with a hint of brown underneath.  They are going to a gallery,  The Gallery at Frenchmans's Bay, which is in Somesville, MDI.  I was excited to get in there as there are pieces by builders that I have seen in magazines and such.  In September Tyra, the owner, is having reception so hopefully I'll get to meet some as well.

 As you may remember from my last post, the posts cracked when I tried to steam bend them.   So, I soaked the new pieces for a few days in some water, hoping this would soften the fibers somewhat.

I also steamed them longer and closed the door on the steambox to raise the temperature a little.  I also tried to think of a way to use straps to support the bends.  Time for some honesty...I use straps.  There, I said it.  Wood bends, or rather compresses, a lot.  Wood expands very little, ie it can not be stretched.  What a strap does it turns the whole bend into compression by holding the ends.  But I could not think of a way to use straps.  And then it came to me, sandwich.  I would sandwich the pieces between forms, rather than stretch them around the form.  I do this on the crest rails all the time, more for a more consistent arc than to ward off breakage, but the theory is the same.

So I cut out some sandwich pieces and quickly sanded them and steamed the posts for an hour and a half, and then started the bending.  And it worked!  I had to frig with the clamps a little, but the bends look good.  Of course its a long way from being dried and done, but it's a good (read better) start.

  I also want to thank Ray Duffy, a chair maker from Central Mass, who graciously offered to get me some green cherry after my last bending debacle.  And another thanks to Wilson Burnham for his blog post on axe handles.  I asked Wilson a question about the general shape of axe handles and he took it and ran...great post and great blog. 

Steam Bending Kiln Dried Cherry

“I wanted so badly to lie down next to her on the couch, to wrap my arms around her and sleep. Not fuck, like in those movies. Not even have sex. Just sleep together in the most innocent sense of the phrase. But I lacked the courage and she had a boyfriend and I was gawky and she was gorgeous and I was hopelessly boring and she was endlessly fascinating. So I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was hurricane.”
― John Green, Looking for Alaska


 

 Well, as you can see, less than stellar results.  I kinda sorta thought this would happen, or maybe at least I wasn't totally surprised.  I think a few things made this happen.  One, and most obviously, using kiln dried wood.  Usually I use split green ash, and it bends beautifully.  Second, I think I placed the clamps in the wrong place, on the ends.  I should have started on one end and worked my way up.  And lastly, I left the door of my steam box open in an attempt to keep the tenons out of the steam.  I stuffed a towel around gaps, but there was a fair but of leakage, so I think the temp never really got high enough.  The piece seemed "dry" when I took it out, and not really all that hot.  If you can't hold it in your bare hands, it's about right.  

I should back up and say that I am building a cherry rocker and the only cherry I have is kiln dried.  If I can't get these posts bent, I may have to see if Matt can get me some green stock, or at least air dried.  When wood is kiln dried ( and a lot depends on how it is dried, the temps of the schedule etc.) sometimes the lignin can become set, meaning it can't be bent.  This is why kiln dried wood is stiff, whereas air dried is more flexible.  

Because there is no cherry growing around here, if I can't get these bent this chair is dead in the water, so I have to come up with something.  I remember reading an article years ago where Russ Philbeck, a chair maker in So. Cal. used k.d. wood but he soaks it in water with a little fabric softener in it ( it allows the water to soak in better by reducing the surface tension).    So I filled up a PVC pipe with some water and am soaking the new posts til maybe Sunday, then I'm gonna steam them for at least 1.5 hrs with the door closed, and be very careful, and quick, with the clamping....pretty much everything I didn't do the first time around.  We'll see, hope it works, cause if not this chair is done.

It amazes me how few parts it takes to build a chair.  These are all the parts, save for the the spindles and the rockers.  The spindles are already drying after steam bending.

The other problem of the day.  I had the second coat of a multi-layered paint job, and I noticed a timber break that I somehow missed in the assembly of this chair.  A timber break is when a tree is felled over another tree and breaks, but not in two, rather it creates internal breaks that rear their ugly heads later in the assembly.

As upset as I was, better to find it now than later, believe me.  So I flooded a little epoxy in the back break and some super glue on the front, a couple hours later and some sanding, good as new.  It does set the painting back but like I said, better now than years later in a clients house.  So, a good bad day, I guess.

Here are  the two chairs, before the painting.  One is gonna be a brownish, and the other, the one with the break, is gonna be more black.

This shows the importance of using green, riven wood to steam bend.  It makes everything else easier. 
Easy to the point where it's easy to get complacent about bending, and then you try to bend kiln dried, and, well, see above.