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Inspirations
Wood Movement
Drawer parts were cut some time ago allowing them time to settle before planing them to final dimension. The pieces must be as close to flat and square as possible before assembly or it will be difficult to get the drawer to slip perfectly into the opening. Perfection, to be honest, is unattainable. After all, we're dealing with wood here not metal. Wood moves. It expands when humidity rises and it shrinks as the air around it dries out. As I'm building in the dry season this drawer will be fit a little loose so that it won't be seized shut when it expands in the height of summer. The best you can do is try to reduce wood movement's effect on the piece. I learned the hard way that ignoring wood movement or worse trying to restrict it, is a bad idea. I built a table once that broke the rules and it began to self destruct within weeks of completion. Now I engineer each piece utterly submissive to wood movement.
When I hear a cracking noise in the middle of the night I rest assured that one of my pieces hasn't started to come apart. "Must be the boogie man" I think to myself as I drift back to sleep.
Making Plywood
I am using plywood for the drawer bottom of my little table. While there are cabinet quality plywoods available commercially, I prefer to make my own for a piece this size. Plywood offers better stability than solid wood and is easily made to your own specifications. I chose top and bottom veneers of pear wood and a center cross band of oak. It'll be plenty strong for a small drawer and the pear wood has an elegant, subtle character.
Veneers are cut on the bandsaw, run through the planer to a thickness of 3/32" then glued up as a 3 layer sandwich between a couple of MDF cauls.
Blue painter's tape and waxed paper keep the whole mess under control. A printer's ink roller is used to spread the glue evenly between the plies.
I use every clamp I can get my hands on.
Once the glue has cured I trim to size and hand plane a combined 32nd of an inch off both faces to complete this 1/4" thick plywood drawer bottom.
You might ask "doesn't this take a lot of extra time?" To this I would reply "yes".
Negative Space
The Apron of a table is made up of the 4 horizontal frame pieces located directly under the top. It serves a couple of important functions. First, it provides a means of attaching the top to the base. Second, it helps the base resist sideways racking forces. If you have a wobbly table, a possible cause is either a loose or poorly designed/assembled apron. Function aside, the apron can be embellished with decorative elements.
Have a look at my earlier post entitled Evolution. I wasn't happy with the apron. While the table's frame had evolved into a satisfying shape, the apron felt oddly chunky and square. While playing with some scrap wood on the bandsaw (don't let your kids do this) I came up with a solution shaping curves into the top side of each piece. The table top now seems to float, poised atop the frame while light openings in the apron give more visual impact. This is more in keeping with the design aesthetically and yet the mechanical function of the apron remains uncompromised.
Sculptor Henry Moore pioneered the use of negative space in his work.
Island Homes
I enjoy walking the streets of Charlottetown or Summerside PEI, ogling the houses. Prince Edward Island has a wealth of architecture dating from the early 1800s onward. Sprawling country homes, like our own, dot the landscape and entire blocks in the city seem untouched by modernity. Local authors James MacNutt and Robert Tuck have compiled a lovely book: Heritage Houses of Prince Edward Island, which I highly recommend. Examples of the architectural styles represented on the island are discussed and pictured in the book and a followup focusing on interiors is also well worth a look.
Here are just a few of the gems I've pictured in downtown Charlottetown.
Hand Planes
You won't find me reaching for a sander when a hand plane can be used instead. This isn't some romantic notion of using hand tools vs. power tools but rather a practical consideration. Sanding abrades while hand planing shears. Abrasion dulls a surface. Yes, progressively finer grits of sandpaper will make a surface silky smooth to the touch but the pores of the wood are closed by sanding. This has the effect of reducing the surface's ability to reflect light. Contrast this with the shearing action of a hand plane and one can see the difference. By shearing the wood fibers light reflects off the surface giving it the appearance of depth.
After finishing with a fine set (and very sharp) Veritas low angle plane I held this oak panel up to the light and could see reflections bouncing off the glass like surface. Hand planing takes about the same amount of time as sanding and the added bonus - no dust and a lot less noise.
Evolution
The leg shape has been settled upon and executed in oak. See how the table flairs from the ground up like a tree? It wasn't conceived in the original sketch pictured below, but evolved by playing around with the mockup. Although the base is not glued together yet, friction fit tenons hold everything in place. Now I'm on to the drawer assembly. Opted for a frame and panel style utilizing the "mystery wood" from my earlier post as the side and back panels and drawer front. I'm going for a drawer that floats in the middle. Who says the drawer has to be located directly under the top? That's the beauty of custom made furniture, you can have it your way!
Curves
I want the legs to flow into the top. I'd also like a little flair in the bottom of the leg. These are some of the curves that have been shaped into a mock up. Refining shapes and sizes using inexpensive wood takes a little time but allows a design to evolve. Once settled on the overall shaping in the mock up I'll create a template and execute it in the oak for the final product. Then the mockup will end up as next week's kindling!
What's he building in there?
I had gone to the supplier in Halifax to get some Cherry and Walnut (and maybe some Macassar Ebony?) when this plank of Red Oak yelled out at me. Not wanting to seem unfriendly, I obliged, taking it home. How could it have known that it would meet with such an end?
The Oak is now a lovely bunch of parts for a small end table. I've had this idea running around in my head for some time and that plank was just what I needed to kick the plan into action.
Mystery Wood
Late last night I hand planed a couple pieces of Mystery Wood. I rescued them from the firewood pile back when we moved into this house. My radar told me they weren't from around here. Possibly remnants from a palette that originated in the tropics or Asia. They were scuffed up and a couple nail holes will need to be worked around. Too light to be Jatoba, more dense than the Mahogany I've used but fine grained like that and easy to plane.
I confess, I worked in my pyjamas last night. I know, I promised. But who can resist a good mystery?
Quiet Time
My day in the shop typically starts at around 10 or 11 am. I work until 5 pm taking few, if any, breaks. Then its off to the kitchen to make dinner before Marguerite gets home from work. After dinner I go back into the workshop and continue until 9 or 10 pm. The evening shift is my favorite. I work mostly at my bench with handtools having done the heavy machine work earlier in the day without the worry of making too much racket.
One of my night jobs is sharpening tools. Pictured below is a low speed grinder setup. A reduced speed motor, step down pulley and belt system and a Norton cool wheel makes this less risky than a typical bench grinder. The wheel is spinning at about 300 RPM. This coarse grinding is followed by hand sharpening on progressively finer water stones until the tool reaches a razor edge and a mirror finish.
Ending my day quietly with a sharp chisel or plane blade in hand gives me a satisfying feeling of completion, even if little else seems to have been accomplished that day.
Workbench
Several months in the making, my workbench is finally complete. I built it utilizing the Roubo design from the book Workbenches from Design & Theory to Construction & Use by Christopher Schwarz. I've learned that good work is simply impossible without a good bench. This bench measures 24" wide and 66" long. Its mass combined with its work holding capacity make it a highly functional tool. I am very pleased with the result and am convinced that I could not have done better.
The top is laminated strips of 3 1/2" thick x 1" wide Yellow Birch which I hand picked from a local mill. The base is inexpensive softwood from the Home Depot. Hardware is limited to a vise screw for the leg vise (top right photo) and a veneer press screw for the wagon vise (bottom left photo) plus some various nuts and bolts. I am left-handed so my vise positions are setup accordingly. I added a couple of brass bench dogs and a Veritas surface clamp is used on the sliding bench jack (bottom right photo).
Most of the hardware was sourced from Lee Valley Tools. I credit the company Bench Crafted with the slick gliding innovation on the leg vise. Parts and instructions required to build a similar vise are available on their website.
Tree Hugging
I'm in love with wood. It all started for me while chopping firewood. I'd split a log with the axe and stop and ponder the possibilities. I have imagined a whole house full of furniture in a single cord of spalted alder. That wood is unreal. Its like a bowl of mixed neopolitan ice cream, all swirls of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. Alder is a sadly under appreciated wood.
The smell of wood is possibly its most universal appeal. If I said Cedar you could probably recall the smell. I'm reminded of the bad smelling wood too! "Monkey's ass" is how Orange Doussie was described to me. While I'm not familiar with the real thing I can bet it smells no worse than this wood. "Lemon Pledge" is another apt description for a wood that I like in small doses - Port Orford Cedar. African Blackwood smells of Earth - like mushrooms. I dusted the room with it once while cutting it on the bandsaw and didn't care that it was filling my lungs. I liked that musky smell.
For a veritable feast of wood check out the gallery at A&M Wood Speciality - one of Canada's top suppliers.
JK
The words and work of James Krenov have influenced me greatly. Diminutive, painstakingly detailed cabinets were his trademark. I was fortunate to have heard him speak on multiple occasions while attending school. He presented us with a case for taking a more thoughtful approach to our work. He spoke less of technique but more of the intimate relationship that craftsmen have with wood and with the process of shaping it if we can only slow down. This is a very difficult road to take. Mass production has pervaded every aspect of our lives and the expectation for "more, cheaper, faster" is the norm. It is sometimes tempting to speed through the process just to get the job done, but at what price? For those unfamiliar with him I hope you'll look at his books and website. Sadly, he passed away in September of 2009 leaving a legacy of craftsmen and collectors whose lives are enriched by his teachings, his writings and his works.
One of Krenov's last cabinets. This is what an art lover must look like when in the presence of the "Mona Lisa".