The energy that comes from the making of things

The late night scope out- how does the piece look late at night, after a nice long day cutting dovetails? Pretty good, yeah, not bad. Strong yet delicate, good proportions, not too much fussy, nice over hang, good flare, the wood will look very balanced, very rich. The design, the skill, it may be OK- we'll see.

Shop chat: knick knack vs well made crafts

So I'm maybe three quarters into this piece, it's time to reflect. I will be at the Tucson art fair December 10-12 and will take this piece with me. I've had some people tell me to consider making smaller, knick knack things to sell, money is tight, people want cheaper stuff. Where does that leave craftsmanship? Will our economy squash things that are made well? Can consumers shift the idea of bargain versus investment? Will longer lasting, better made objects survive the consumer washout? I have customers who have owned a piece of mine for ten years and they understand that the piece just gets better with age, the patina wood develops takes time, the strength of the joints is evident in its durable stance. The design is a friendly reminder every day of the good decisions the woodworker made and the reasons we are drawn to the design, we are finally ready to have something made that we can be proud to own.This is an investment not only for our own living room today, but in an American way of life, craftsmanship is part of our history, part of why we are proud, and part of what we will be proud to pass on to our kids, not only the fabulous piece itself but the decision to purchase it and be part of the revolution.

Cutting pins

Dovetails cut by hand follow a process that pairs pins to tails, these parts fit together and lock the corner of the drawer. Cut with a hand saw, and chopped with chisels, this is the finest and most difficult way to assemble a drawer and add beauty to the piece.

Marking tools

I use a handful of marking devices so I don't have to change them as I work, some cut across the grain some mark with the grain, all are being used to mark side thickness on the front and backs before pin layout.

Dovetail layout

Keeping the parts organized is important- each side will join to each face and so on, a simple method is to create a marking system using a triangle, drawn with a pencil located on top of each part, showing the corresponding section of the triangle, left side top has a left corner of the triangle, front has a top edge marked with the tip of the triangle, you get it.

Dovetails

A lot has been written about cutting dovetails, so I'll just touch on it here. This piece is being built as a spec piece for my Tucson art fair. I want to show off a little here, so I will make these drawers with hand cut dovetails. I have built many drawers using other joints and pins, they are much faster. This method is very old as there are some Egyptian tomb furniture pieces with dovetails and even a model of a wood shop showing craftsman at work, pretty cool.

Chilly nights, warm shop

Drawer fronts

The flow of the front of the piece is in question here- if you look at antiques you will see a use of the wood grain patterns to balance the front of a chest of drawers, over and down, over and down and so on. I like the flow of the curved grain, ying~yang a bit with the top curving right and around and the bottom curving up, these patterns will be very dominant when the finish is applied, and the grain is of course part of the flitch of curly walnut used for the rest of the piece, all the elements will flow and look harmonious if done right.

Drawer work

I am using a stick to layout the drawer parts- it easier than paper and the marks on the stick are absolute.

Take a break

Read this news paper, its from a few thousand years ago.

Plywood boxes and picture frames

Since this walnut piece is a spec piece for my art fair booth in Tucson next month, I'm not getting paid for it yet so I better go make some money.

I can see it now

With the top on I can see the piece pretty well. How do the proportions look? Maybe I need to stretch it out left to right so I'll leave the top long? Maybe I should rip the top a little to bring the base to the front of the top edge? Well we'll see, for now I like it.

Get the clamps

I can make a box out of square or perfectly in square by slightly moving my clamps. I've pulled the top and bottom parts onto the leg and side units so the base is pretty well assembled. Checking square with a plastic drafting square, it looks pretty good. Clean the glue and I'm ready to sand the top while the glue dries, and yes I do occasionally use a power tool.

Prep glue

I flushed my side glue ups- nice and flat and clean. I've got a frame system to attach the top- I'm leaving the underside cross parts dry of glue so I can line up the leg joints to panels side cross pieces perfectly. A little glue in the mortises of the foot- get the clamps....

Parts is parts

Here the side pieces are ready to glue, the panel, stretchers and drawer runners all go in now- I use a little glue in the mortise, bang them together and clamp it. I'm using strips of wood to protect sanded surfaces from clamp marks.

Takin a break

Well I'm takin a break- anyone want to chime in on woodworking or life in general have at it- I'm going for a ride-

Microscopic walnut

Down to the smallest degree and wood still looks really cool- this is walnut at magnification.

Seeing the real thing

I've just about got the front and back of the base ready for assembly, after gluing these parts I'll prep the side panels and drawer guides that will fit in the moritses you can see here in the legs and top parts.
I can see the shape of the base coming together here, I can begin to judge if the shapes I'm making are working well together, I can adjust some things but not everything, I'm seeing if my initial intuition is correct, considering the scale of the piece, the desired style of detail and the wood grains. It looks pretty good to me actually.

Tools on wood

All you need is a chunk of wood, an idea, some files, carving chisels, sand paper and a good eye.

The devil is in the details

To emphasize the curved tip toe foot and define its shape within the block of wood that is the foot part, I am going to add shaping and relief cuts. I need a detail to blend the legs coming down and transition into the foot so I cut a rounded step into the side of the foot. This curved groove is a risky slice at this point, I'll carefully use a router template to add my detail before I sand and fare it in. The fade down on the side lets me add a curve of the toe.

Take a break

Time for a little hike to stretch the legs and open the mind.

Compass plane

I sharpened this beauty the other day- it has a bending sole so I can adjust the curvature to match the shape of the wood. This plane is really nice and has an inscription on the side: pat'd June17, 1879 Thats my birthday Mo and D not year of course, but this makes it my lucky plane and it really is a reall workhorse and thing of beauty. I bought it at a flea market in Norton MA, 1985.

Shapes

I get to use my newly sharpened chisels to clean up the shapes of the under sdie of the foot- the round detail is really only noticed at the edge but I'll clean up the whole under side. This is a prefect spot for my compass plane, it makes the curves fare but wont quite reach into the corners without being turned a little so I dont damage the curve.

Mortises

I've mortised the joints into the legs and foot parts, there are alignments for pieces that will guide the drawers and slots for side panels, stretchers to attach the top and keep it flat and connector parts to assemble the base. I'll often put pieces together dry fit so I can measure off them and cut related parts to size. I cut some shapes on the band saw, relief carvings to follow.

Jump around to stay steady

I try to stay ahead of myself so I'll glue the top up and then work on the joints, when I glue some parts I have a top thats ready to sand. Here I'm scraping off the glue while its wet, thats easier and safer that when its hard and full of chips that can damage planes and machines.

Stickers

I always sticker my wood so there is equal air exposure- this keeps it balanced and flat.

Garry's box

My pal Garry made my water stone box, 15 years ago, still hanging in there- its made of white oak and holds water like a boat keeps it out. I have three phases of sharpening, coarse medium fine. All my stones are natural sediment stones.

Sharpening

Gotta keep them tools nice and sharp! I have a water grinder that makes a nice concave grind on top of the chisel and blade edge, then I'll lap it on several stones until nice and sharp! I have a few planes that I like, the #4 stanley is my most used, I also use chisels for shaping.

Parts and joints

I've got most of the parts for the table base ready for cutting and laying out the joinery. I have to anticipate the strength of the wood receiving the joints, walnut is a fairly strong wood but I need as much wood left around the joints for strength and still get the proportions I want. My design has a fairly lean detailing for the legs and stretchers, yet the foot cross piece will have some shaping and mass reduction later. These parts have shaping and curves that I'll cut after I get the joints cut and fit tight.

Milling

Since I like wide boards for their matching grain, I'll mill the parts as wide as possible- here I'm using my 8 inch joiner to mill a 12" wide board- of course the rabbit edge of the joiner will leave a rough strip- I'll deal with that using a step plate in the planer- this allows the rough strip to ride off the table and gets me a smooth top I can flip and mill the entire width of the board.

Parts

I'll cut the parts out of the rough lumber on the bandsaw- this allows for some of the internal stress to come out prior to milling, this stuff is plenty dry and stable, also the grain is mostly rift sawn so its naturally stable.