Evolution

 Here are two clocks that I built twelve years apart.  Can you guess which one was the first?  Right, the top one.  While nice, it is easy to see the evolution of form and the improvement in skill level.  Also, a better eye and sense of proportion give the bottom clock, well, quite frankly, it's just a while lot better.  The pieces are in scale with each other, the golden ratio is at play, I could go on.  The point is not to point out how nice my current work is.  The point is that everything evolves, skills, joint cutting, everything.  If you do anything enough, and long enough, you get better and faster, be it turning a leg or playing clarinet.  Think of when you get a new remote for the T.V.. You look at the directions, press a button, stare, read, press--and after two months you can change the channel, Tivo, and check the weather without the lights on.  So don't be afraid to tackle a project that you think is over your head, it is the only way your skills will evolve.   You will get there, just always do your best and the results will improve.

One pitfall that should be avoided is to overbuy tools, and especially jigs.  And I'm as guilty as anyone, maybe more.  Beware the siren song of the magic jig, because every jig you buy or build has a learning curve (remember the remote?) and if one jig doesn't work as effortlessly as advertised, it usually gets relegated to the shelf, or replaced with a newer, even easier jig, but this one isn't any better.  Like I said, everything has a learning curve, and if you are constantly changing the tooling, then you really can't learn the skill.  I think, and it's only my opinion, the best way is to pick a method or a jig, and stick with it, learn it, and even if it's not the best way, eventually it will become your best way.  I must have four different jigs for dovetails, and I have tried every conceivable way to cut them, but after a while I realized I was only learning different ways to cut dovetail, not coming up with an efficient way to cut them.  So I picked one way to cut them, and I do it that way every time, every time.  It may not be the best way, but it's my best way.

Prometheus

 For me this is the best part.  The chair is done, everything worked  out (hopefully), and I've carefully applied five layers of milk paint, black on red in this case, and the only thing that remains is to rub out  and apply the top coat.  I rub out with a gray scuff pad ( I get mine by the box from an auto parts store) and then rub out again with 0000 steel wool, rubbing until my hands cramp up.  The shot below the luster is from just rubbing out the milk paint, no top coat.  That's how shiny Old Fashioned milk paint can get, love it.

The top coat is three to four coats of a wiping varnish.  The first coat is 1 part thinner, 1 part spar varnish, and 2 parts linseed.  Subsequent coats are 1-1-1.  Just wipe it on, wipe it off with an old t-shirt.  Looks great and super easy.

Silk purse

 This is where it all starts, for the turnings anyway.  This is hard (sugar) maple, and lots of it!  The guy said they had 2,000,000 bdft. of logs here, and somewhat less birch.  I always buy hard maple, it's perfect for turning, and with a selection like this why not.  What I look for is 20-24 inches on the butt, clear, straight with a small heart.  I went to another yard today and found a hard maple that was 16' long, 26" on the butt, and the heart was about 2", wow.  And a good price to boot.   I hear that some chair makers in other parts have a hard time finding hard maple, but way up here in Northern Maine, it's not a problem. Lately I've been buying my maple from a firewood supplier, he's right in town and he has more than enough hard maple. 

 

For the steam bent parts and spindles, I use mostly white ash, although red oak will also work.  It works reasonably well with hand tools, and it bends like a dream.  I'm gonna see just how far I can go with bending someday, should be a fun post.  The ash logs are fewer and farther in between, but they can be found. I always look for veneer quality logs--straight, centered pith,  no bumps or visible defects.  One defect can be twist.  I'll get a log and it will look great, and when I split it one half will be say 9 and 3 (imagine a clock face) and by the time it gets to the other end, the half is at 11 and 5, no kidding.  I used to try to use it, but these days it's firewood.  I go thru a lot more logs this way, but I only want to work with quality wood;  you can't make a silk purse from a sows ear.

Breakfront

Cherry Breakfront

Crown Molding

Corner detail

Dovetail drawer

Picking out the nodes

 Here's a shot of the technique I use for painting the small rod back Conifer Green.  Like all things I know how to do, I learned by making mistakes.  I like to pick out the nodes on the bamboo legs and such (these are made by a quick V-groove cut with a skew at the lathe, the deeper, the easier to paint) and the first time I did it, it picked them out with a small paint brush after painting, never again.  Now I paint the chair Mustard or Marigold milk paint, then I paint it barn red.  The Conifer (or peacock or whatever) just doesn't seem to cover the yellow.  So a coat or two of barn red over the mustard, and if the conifer doesn't cover, the barn red actually looks good coming thru the top color.

 Here's a good look at the yellow nodes on the legs and stumps.  Another trick is to mix the milk paint fairly thick, say 2 parts powder to 3 parts water, and when I paint, hold the brush at a fairly flat angle relative to the leg, in other words, so the handle is almost parallel to the leg as opposed to perpendicular.  This keeps the paint out of the groove.  Also, run the brush fairly dry.  I keep some newspaper handy to dab the brush on when I think there's too much paint in the brush.  The gutter usually has to be touched up a little, the groove is too wide to keep the paint out.

Here's the last hint, a round, densely packed brush from Lee Valley.  It's the mixed bristle 21mm size.  I cut the handle at about 5 inches so it doesn't get hung up on the undercarriage.  The shape and densely packed bristles makes it a lot easier to paint round stuff like the spindles and legs etc..  the bristle don't split apart like a regular flat brush will.
Another thing is to resist the temptation to touch up the paint as you go.  If you miss a spot or if something doesn't look right, it's usually better to leave it, and fix it on the next coat.  If you fix it right off, you end up with an extra coat which stick out like a sore thumb.  Believe me on this one.