Lumber Search

My grinding wheel lay still. Quiet for what feels to be too long. I'm getting restless.
I've been on the search for lumber for my prototype chair, Ash was my original intention. It seems Ash is quite lacking in "the market" which is a bit of a surprise to me typically seeing it abundant. Walnut is low too. Really, there is just a general lull in wood it seems.

What little Ash I found at one commercial supplier was inadequate, even for their typical less than stellar stock. The other commercial supplier had none in 6/4 or 8/4. Small piles of Walnut at these locations riddled with knots and defects for $8-$9 per bd/ft.

Called the small sawyers I've worked with before to answering machines or poor news for my quest.
Today I went to another place I've been in contact with before. My hopes were high.
Turns out we speak a little of a different language.
I've never quite seen the kind of array before. There was Ash and there was Walnut, but it was either in the form of the flattest sawn pieces I've ever seen or perfectly quarter sawn. These must of come from sizable logs!
"There's no market for that kind [rift] of stuff."
This kind of statement gets to me a little. I realize that I am a bit of a small nook of a current market but the beauty of rift type lumber has been utilized by fine craftspeople for well more than a hundred years.
Particularly here, the chaotic flat sawn and heavily bias quarter material is used all over. Even so, I have yet to meet the furniture maker that once they see and understand the flow, grace, and cohesion of well cut material, want to go back to the current "standard".
This doesn't mean that rift is the only way to go. Not only would that be wasteful but there is a time and place for all cuts.
Maybe I'm overly sensitive, or just crazy, I don't know ha.

Yet I did not come home empty handed :)!
There just happened to be a small collection of 6/4 rift sawn "sticks" of Oak 3.5"-5" wide. All from the same tree I'm told though I have some doubts. I assume these were cut off in the quartering process. Not normally the kind of thing I'm looking for but for this application it works out quite well. I would normally be cutting these bits from the edges of "flat sawn" lumber.
In this way there is definitely less waste involved especially since in this project I can work in 6/4 lumber. So, my cost was a bit lower than normally anticipated for Oak.

Got some templates cut out ready to look over this Oak for components tomorrow!
Oak is not the friendliest species to work with but I'm looking forward to digging into some work again.
Looks like I will have to rethink the upholstery choices again heh.

Let's be honest.

Let's be honest. Fine craft isn't easy. Years working on cabinets, tables, and such I've grown somewhat accustom to a loose set of challenges and guidelines. Working towards a sofa/seating project, I sort of feel like I'm trying to tackle a new discipline. I may argue that statement is true. There are a number of variables and concerns that I either have not dealt with or not quite in the same way as other furnishings.
Concerns with upholstery, seating foam, seat webbings, critical human/bio-mechanic geometry... It's unfamiliar. Just like dovetails, drawer fitting, doors, and the like may be unfamiliar to a chair maker.

After much thought I feel that a prototype Easy Chair could help me out and that I would simply feel better about the whole project if I made a prototype. Probably out of Ash. I've been wanting to build something of Ash though haven't had a project that has called for it. Also Ash is relatively inexpensive. Went to the two commercial lumber yards around here and was surprised at the lack of inventory of 6/4 and 8/4 Ash. The search will continue, though I may have to choose something else.
Thing is, I'm very hard pressed for funds and I doubt I can afford to keep this chair.
Undecided at the moment but I may be looking to sell it basically for the cost of materials including cushions of course.
If anyone may be interested please let me know. Shoot me a message or email linked on my website www.nanelson.com.

Sofa/chair "Design"

OK, back like I suggested I would be with some cut-outs on a full scale drawing. I had established my seating heights and angles. I needed to get going on the rest.
This approach allows me to better see/guess visual weight and layering. Layering meaning how the seat frames play with the sides. I can also quickly make adjustments without much fuss.

Moved on to a bit of a Poplar mock-up. Arms are intimidating. The shaping isn't really represented here in the photo. These kinds of things never come out in photos. Well I'm fairly happy with it and think I have a good direction. I think I'm going to try to thin out everything a tad and see what happens.

I took another look at the stack of lumber I've been thinking of using. Air-dried Walnut. Doubts have stirred upon another look. I thought there was more flat grain in this pile but most of it is quatered. These are also pretty wide "slabs". I thought I would use this because it doesn't have what I would consider the "most ideal" grain for my interest in case-work.
I might feel bad about ripping up such wide planks though quater-sawn isn't typically the best for the kind of cabinets and such I tend to build. It would/could work for something like the nightstands I just finished or a sideboard etc in a similar/linear style.
I generally prefer rift and off rift grain orientation. For this project towards the flat side of rift is what I was picturing. Hmmm.
Also I just can't afford more material. Then there's the problem of finding decent air-dried Walnut.
What I can do is use the smaller flatter pieces for the legs and arms and try to use the "less-desirable" planks for the big frames. Save the rest for work to come.

In any case, I'll sleep on it at least a couple nights.

Oh, I've also come to a name for the last project/style with some input from Eva.
Svea side table.
I would like to build a bit of a sideboard in this style and can also picture a lowish console. Been wondering if I can adapt it to a higher form such as a hall table but haven't put real effort to it yet.

Continue Moving

After the last photography shoot and working over the weekend at the part-time, I actually took a day easy. Ha. Did some domestic cleaning which felt good, and started on some shop cleaning. I still haven't cleared out as much as I would like but I need some more nice nights for scrap wood fires heh.
I finally got around to quickly making an abrasive "storage unit". Certainly not fancy but it does the trick.
Also I'm attempting to re-purpose a "parts bin" I had from long ago, now for screws and such. Haven't been able to tidy my shop shelves O'stuff really cleanly hmmm.

Thought I might make some coasters for the desk and such. For the moment this is what my years of training and dedication culminate to ha.

And already getting into the next project it seems. I was wanting to start off at "the drawing board" but felt I was working with too many variables. That the brain power and time spent drawing would be a waste without some important basic information.
Information such as geometry. Heights, depths, angles and so forth. In dealing with seating the basics aren't as open as say a cabinet might be.
Threw together this "mock-up" able to change all that and started test sitting. Went to the foam supply store to get an idea what to expect with cushions and tried to work that into the mock-up.

Got the geometry approved and it's back to the drawing board, or bench.
Next is making a full scale drawing marking the critical dimensions and making some cut-outs of legs and such to fiddle around with over the main geometry.
In addition I'm needing to do some research for knock-down fasteners. I haven't started looking yet but if anyone has a/some decent sources it would be great to be pointed in a good direction!

Nightstands - Complete!

Nightstands - I haven't come up with an "official" name for these guys. I'm thinking I want to give the "style" a name because I think this general form could be adapted for other applications... say, a low bookcase/side board. Hmmm it is certainly tougher for me than building the pieces ha.
Any suggestions as to how to go about this?

22" H x 20.5" W x 16.75" D.
European Beech, Kwila, Brass (brackets).

Decided to skip the last process installment as it was pretty quick and simple/repetitious heh.

Oh boy, I'm a little tuckered.
Before seriously moving on I think I need try to clean and organize the shop and space before winter bares down on us. The next proposed project ("sofa") is going to take some decent R&D for me. I think a cleaner space will help me out. Perhaps I should get some R&R before that... doubtful heh.

Box Assembly, Stand Stuff

Here we are again, and as promised I'm back with the glue up.
With 14 dowels per joint and four joints per box that adds up to 112 dowels plus the two dowels per apron to side joint gives a grant total of 128 dowels!
The dowels I got this time around (same dowels I always get) are harder than they have been in the past. Hand rolling them with a file to compress them was becoming a pain in the neck, and arm.
I decided to take a piece of brass and drill a 15/64" hole in it (1/64" smaller than 1/4") then tap/hammer the dowels through. Turns out it's a sloppy fit.
Well today I happened to need to go to the tooling shop to pick up another end mill bit. I bought an alphabetic "C" and "D" sized twist bits that are both between 15/64" and 1/4"... see if one of those works out for me next time.

Whole lot of clamping going on.

While glue-ups were drying I thought I'd get going on some brackets for this project. These are what I needed a new sized end mill for. I'm attaching the box portion with #6 sized screws with brackets that need to allow for movement. The 1/8" bit I have is just too small and 3/16" too big. I got a 5/32" bit. Haven't gotten back to the brackets yet though.

Onward to stand stuff!
Cut the stubby little legs to height and the aprons to length including that 2 or 3 degree angle I'm using.

Spent a little time cleaning up the end grain cuts on the aprons fine tuning that angle and making the leg end grain smooth and square.

Hadn't decided how I was going to get the slight angle in the aprons to match the legs. Decided to plane it in and use square(er) joinery. My work horse 45 degree smoother wasn't giving me the best result with the temperamental Kwila. I grabbed a higher angle smoother I made in school that I haven't used since I've been back. Quickly trued the sole, ground and honed a new edge, and gave it a test run. Seemed to be what I needed. Opened the window to the cool air set my blade for some fine shavings and got to it.
As small as this step was, the different between top and bottom edge is only 1/32", it was probably the best moments with this project thus far.
Bringing another plane into use again, making some fine shavings, freedom of shaping, sight sound and smell of the kwila, the air; it all just came together.

In short order it was back to machining. Mortising. Though with the joinery so relatively simple and square it went without much fuss.

I had decided to keep the legs square for joinery, now it's time to give it some tapering. I made a little jig to help me out. These are the first "straight" legs I've made since my first year in MCTC!? I usually can't/don't use jigs with curved legs.
The jig just cradles the leg and I cut the taper I want into the side of the jig that hits the fence. Quick and low-tech!

Ok, calling it quits on this entry here!
Maybe I can get these done in another two weeks?? hmmmm

Doweling to Pre-finish

Alright. Once the components of the boxes were sized and all it was time for the major joinery of said boxes, doweling. As always I'm using doweling jigs. This makes an "exact" set of holes repeatable.

First I bored holes int he vertical pieces.

Then swap the jigs over to the corresponding sides for the top and bottom pieces... that is the bottom of the top and the top of the bottom ;).
Bore holes on the drill press setting the stop as to NOT bore all the way through!

Made a dry run to be sure things were working out and continued on making the aprons, doing some final reveal trimming and all the edge treatment.

Another check with it all together before pre-finishing. Box!

Then guess what? Yep, pre-finish!
Good old shellac and wax for these guys.

Be back with assembly and such, till then, later on out.