Weighing In

There are mysteries in the world, and then there are mysteries to me. I admit that I still have to think twice and speak slowly when I correlate temperature and humidity. I recall looking at the charts that show the relationship between the two and feeling a slight dizzying effect and vision blurring. Maybe I just didn't want to put in the effort. For general green woodworking I get it, wood loses or takes on moisture as it reaches equilibrium with it's environment. If you want wood to dry, put it in a drier environment.

The best way that I came to understand the concept was that when the wood stops losing or gaining weight, it is "air dry", or equal to the moisture in the environment. This got the concept through my skull, and I've even rigged a scale that didn't give me numbers, but let me know when the weight was stable.
But all that has changed thanks to my friend Nick Clayton, who has graciously loaned me a scientific scale. Now I can accurately track the way that my parts lose weight. Of course, my usual rules of thumb still work fine, but it is fun and fascinating to watch the wood adjust. I also plan to do some test with my steamer to see if the wood picks up more weight or loses it through the steaming process and whether my auxiliary water tank affects it. This will tell me if passing the steam through water is adding moisture to the process and aiding in softening the fibers and conducting the heat.

So with my nerd hat firmly in place, I will be looking at the same old processes through a more accurate lens.

I have an exciting announcement! Tim Manney, the fantastic chair and tool maker, has started a blog. Tim is one of the brightest and most talented woodworkers that I know. He has a remarkably broad experience with different types of woodworking and makers and I am very excited that he has started sharing his thoughts. Check him out and leave a message welcoming him, I know you will enjoy it.

Spring Report

From my lack of posting lately, you have probably surmised that it's been a busy couple of months. I have been working to wrap up projects, some new tools, some new techniques and of course some classes. I've been teaching weekends at the North Bennet Street school in Boston. After their initial taste of chairmaking from Dan Faia and Elia Bizzarri, some of the students decided to bring me in to teach some other designs. It's a fun place to teach with lots of talent and energy.

But as with all things in this world, choices must be made and consequences endured, so my maple syrup season has been whittled down to a couple of days of running out to the rig to check the fire, while tending to other business. It's the exact opposite of the way it is meant to be, which is an excuse to hang out outside for 8 hours tending a fire and watching the spring arrive. But, I needed to do it, even if it wasn't the ambling joy of burning wood and time together.

But that said, my efforts last season to improve my rig worked great and I was able to get more than a gallon each day that I boiled. Enough for me and my helpers.
Speaking of helpers, he are pics of Dan and Tim helping me split out parts for a class that I am teaching next week at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking in Washington state.

I am excited to go to the northwest, I haven't been there in 20 years. This is my first time teaching there and I am excited to be expanding to the west. There is one spot open if you are interested.

I forgot how much work it is to prep an entire classes worth of material. I've never missed Greg so much.

I did finally get a chance to paint the "glueless" chair. It hasn't fallen apart yet!

I have been experimenting with some new paint and new techniques and am excited to share the results. I have some more testing to do, but I think that I might be on track to the fool proof finishing that we all want (especially this fool).

I set out to paint the chair blue, and I did, but the layering, and shellac (hint) shifted the color to the green

In case you missed it, check out Jameel's blog over at Benchcrafted.
 
He made his "smarthead" shavehorse and made some updates and additions to the plans. It boggles my mind how pretty he makes everything. I wonder if his sock drawer is a mess.
I am getting very excited for the class at Kelly Mehler's where we will be building this project as well as forging blades, getting down and dirty with our tools and as always, having a ball.
Happy Spring!

The Connection

 

Moving from our New York homestead was a trying and painful process, but in the end, I can honestly say that I am content in the knowledge that it was the right move, and a move up. The one lingering pang has been the loss of my longtime connection to my sawyer. He was always helpful and reasonable when it came to getting me my logs. Since the move, I've floundered a bit on this count and scraped by with what I could find locally... until now.
Thanks to my friend Bill Doe, I've found a local logger who has the good sense to set aside the best logs for furniture making and while he generally ships them to Canada, he's graciously agreed to sell some to me. The hickory log in the picture above is a lovely example of his work.

Here is Tim Manney splitting up billets for reamers. He got 165 blanks out of 1/2 of the log!

I know that many folks out there are suffering the same problems finding green wood and my sympathy is with you. There are folks who sell splits of different species, such as Elia Bizzarri and Nick Cicchinelli and perhaps this new connection will help a local friend to start up another venue for getting the right material to the right folks. I'll keep you posted.

Yeah, But it's a Dry Heat

I am not a scientist. I think that the scientific method is one of the great achievements of mankind, but, I would never claim that I'd worked it thoroughly enough to deserve the designation. But I do want to know more about what I do, so the experiments march on.

Lately I've been thinking about bending. Perhaps it was having to bend some walnut after a recent bad experience that got the juices flowing. I read literature that remarked on the moisture content of steam as it related to wood bending and the concept that steam piped into a box might be lacking moisture. Of course, heat is the primary element in bending wood, but moisture is the conductor. As I understand the concept, the moisture can drop out of suspension in the steam en route to the box and what ends up making it into the box could be heat, but not as wet as it could be.

So to see if my steam needed wetting or if there was any difference in my bends, I attached a reservoir below my steamer that the hose from the steamer runs to so that the heat must pass through water as it enters the box, ensuring that the moisture content was at it's highest.

When I start up the steamer, the steam boils the water in the jar. So far, the results have been positive enough to warrant further testing.

Here are two bends. The same wood, air dried walnut, steamed for the same amount of time, 90 minutes. The piece that bent didn't raise a single fiber even though the fibers ran out the side more dramatically than the failed bend. And yes, the only difference was that one was steamed with the reservoir and one without. Of course, the successful bend was with the reservoir, and as far as free bending walnut, it's the tightest bend that I've done.

I've done other samples and gotten similar results. One factor that interests me is how this effects long steam times. Imagine that the steam isn't adding enough moisture, this may never be an issue with green wood or short steam times, but for working air dried or even kiln dried, this could make a difference.

Like I said, I'm no scientist, and I'd love to here from you about your ideas or experience. I am planning some tests with kiln dried white oak that I'll post soon.

New Wood and Travisher Update

Recently, my friend Dan Monsees and I went to his parents land and cut down a bunch of trees. Roz and Pete were incredibly generous and lined up all of the hauling and sawing apparatus. Having moved to a new area and losing my decade long sawyer connection, this was a great gift.

We used a Timber King bandsaw (which my friends in Australia import as well) to mill the walnut, maple and oak.

The walnut is one type of wood that I always have sawn, but coming across a supply that hasn't been run through the kiln is tough. Some of the boards are wide enough for one piece seats!!
The oak, I had sawn for rockers and the parts of my "Crested Rocker" that are more easily handled dry, such as the arms.

The real surprise was when we took down the maples. They were curly through and through. Which is not my choice for chairs (I know, it's a personal preference but I find curly chairs a bit too intense) but for tool making and flat work, it's great stuff.

But the maple trees had one more surprise, they were further colored by Ambrosia beetles. You can see the telltale color on the endgrain.

And what a sight when they were sawn!

I wouldn't use this wood in chairs, so I was a bit confused about how to saw it. I had a variety of boards made, mainly for table tops and legs. Some will definitely end up in travishers when it's dry.

On the travisher note. I have received many more orders than I anticipated and it pushed me to engage a machinist to mill the metal parts for better speed and consistency. I also bought a gas forge for more control over the heat treating process. But this has pushed my output back a bit. I hope to be fillng orders in the next couple of weeks and to have all the orders filled as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience.

Murray Kidman

I was fortunate to have my friends Carl and Glen in Australia introduce me to Murray Kidman. He is a rare breed of Aussie who goes out into the bush with a chainsaw and a boatload of skill and comes back with some beautiful woods. He specializes in tone woods for guitar makers. Watching him work is pure pleasure. I've never seen a chainsaw handled so expertly.

 Here is a snake having a particularly tough day. He was in the log and managed to get cut into thirds. We never did find the head!

Check out this video of Murray at work.


I watched him rip a board less than 3/8" off the side of the log like it was cut on a resaw bandsaw.
Here is the final product at the Maton Guitar showroom in Victoria.


























For another video of brilliant Aussie bushmen, check out this one that Robin Wood posted.

A Southern Perspective

Australia is a lovely landscape with marvels from desert to rainforest and I got to see plenty while I was there. This was one of the most surprising views that I came across early in my trip.

This wood seems almost more animal than plant!

It's a timber called "Black Box" and it highlights the incredible difference between the woods there and the ones back home.

This was a burl that another Pete (I had one class with 3 Peters in it!) cut out in the bush. He is one of a rare breed there that hunts spectacular wood for the musical instrument makers. I went out on an excursion with one of them, but more about that later. Isn't it wild that it looks so fleshy!

Here is the truck that Pete uses to go a'gathering.

I don't know about you, but to me, this is a real truck!! From the winch to the water and gas cans, you can tell that this is no vanity SUV. The snorkel looking thing is an air intake for when he crosses rivers.

Below is a class photo of the last class that I taught (I had 3 classes and a lecture). You can actually see chairs from the other two classes in the image, one is the continuous arm rocker and the other is the green birdcage in the back.

The Aussies don't have a tradition of painted furniture like we do, so I spent a lot of time brow beating them about the positive impact that paint has on the chairs. The solid silhouette, the taming of various wood, the richness of the paint...and so on. My intrepid host Glen Rundell took the bait and painted his birdcage with one of the most lovely finishes I've seen. You'll see more of it here (with recipes and process) or you can see it and more about his view of my trip on his blog.

I have lots to share, some new techniques, a jig or two and plenty of pictures of me relaxing in Tasmania ( from which I'll spare you). Even leaving a balmy summer for the New England slush, it's good to be home.

A Hardy Lot

I am in Melbourne teaching some classes and have lots of good stuff to share. New woods, new tools, new techniques and new friends!


One of the main obstacles here, is the different variety of timbers that are readily available.
The woods here are absolutely unknown to me, such as gidgee, red gum, kaori, myrtle, houn pine and countless others.
Glen Rundell and Alistair Boell have worked very hard and exercised a great deal of ingenuity to make the available woods suit the windsor form. It makes me realize just how lucky I am to live where there is such an abundance of suitable chair wood.


Because the available woods don't split well, the spindle and arm stock is sawn first while green, being careful to follow the fibers. Once in billet form, it's on to the shavehorses, where the wood, a form of ash, behaved reasonably well.


Since I've been here, I've learned a lot that I look forward to sharing, and in the tradition of classroom innovation, some of the differences here have spurred on new thoughts that I'll take home to advance my own work.

One especially interesting technique that Glen and Alistair have developed, is this strap for bending the continuous arm bow. Even the most well behaved local timber won't bend without some form of strap, and these straps that they've come up with are ingenious, and work great!

Given the limitations of the wood, this class has proven itself to be a hardy lot, and quick with laugh to boot.

Warn your Family!

Lately I've been using Old Brown Glue in the shop, It's great stuff and when the shop is cold, I'd basically end up making my own liquid hide glue to combat the chill, so why not just go with it already formulated?

One problem that I've heard of folks having with the stuff losing it's quality has to do with constant cooking.  The stuff is only liquid at 70 degrees and above, so folks tend to take the bottle and heat it in a hot water bath. But just like food, heating and reheating breaks it down. So my solution is to take the bottle when it arrives and pour the entire contents into an ice tray and set it in the fridge (not the freezer). When the stuff sets up, I empty them into a ziplock.

Each cube makes a normal sized chair. I simply melt one cube in a cup that I immerse in hot water. Reheating a few times won't affect the glue, but I do discard whatever is left after each chair.

Be sure to warn your family so that they don't mistake the glue for some tasty treat!

As usual, I have been discovering new uses for felt around the shop. This time, it's some soft felt that my friend Dana gave me. When working with shaved walnut, it's a bit too easy to ding it up, but the felt on the clamps works great with no loss of gripping power.

I am heading to Australia today to teach a few classes at the Melbourne Guild of Fine Woodworking.
I'm hoping that the longer days will give me a chance to catch up on my blogging!

Below is a gift from my hosts, a real Aboriginal boomerang. I've always been fascinated by these objects and have longed to make one. They fit my definition of a perfect wooden object. The wood is perfectly suited to this use for its strength, beauty, workability and durability. I nearly choked when they presented it. I'm looking forward to the new woods that I'll experience there.



And for my friends in Atlanta, here are the kids in their new home. I was going to leave them and my brothers house until I returned, but it just didn't feel like home here without them. This is the view from the kitchen window. They are loving the new surroundings.

See you on the other side!

A Ray of Hope

Yesterday, I just needed to whallup something. As I mentioned, we are in a crazy transition place and the tension has finally gotten to me, "Where's my sledge hammer!" So I went to JB Sawmill and got a white oak log for the rocker that I'll be making with Glen from Australia in a few weeks.

 

It's not the best log that I've gotten, but, white oak is a bit tougher to come by here and you know what they say about beggars and choosers. But when I split it open and stood over it, soaked with sweat and somewhat relieved of my anxiety, I saw this.

I've never seen a ray so large and perfect. To give more perspective than the wedge supplies, it's larger than an slice of rye bread. Very cool. So hopefully this is an omen, and will forever put to rest the question as to why the ray plane is easier to split and shave.

As promised, here are some detail shots of the Birdcage armchairs. I worked out a new scraping routine for the seats that yielded very nice results.

First I rough scraped the seat, trying of course to make it as even and fluid as possible. Then, I sanded with 180 grit sandpaper. Usually, this is coarser than I like, fearing that the sandpaper will eat through the compressed fibers from the scraping and make the grain "pop" look uneven or leave large scratches in the endgrain areas. But the 180 does a such a great job leveling the surface, so I simply scraped lightly afterwards. I know that this breaks the "no edge tools after sandpaper" rule, but I cleaned the surface with a microfiber cloth and a brush, besides, scrapers sharpen easily.

Then I sanded lightly with 220 grit and painted the first coat. As usual, I sanded the seat again very lightly after the paint hardened thoroughly. It seems like a lot of work, but the grain shining through looks great.

Besides the pine seat, I made all of the other parts out of oak. I really like the way that the texture of the grain shows through the paint.

On a sad note, my favorite chicken was killed by a neighbors dog the other day. Most of my chickens are, as you might expect, pretty dopey and lacking in personality, but Doris (the only chicken with a name) was a smart bird. Each day she would escape her enclosure (the only one with the Steve McQeen gene) and come over to the shop to be pet and lay an egg. At the end of the day, she'd just walk over and lay down so that I could put her back with the others. She had a great life.

Curtis has been Busy!

Here are a few more installments in the video series that Curtis has been making. Enjoy
You can watch it here or click on the title to go to Youtube to see the hd version.

Riving and Shaping the Comb




Carving the Volutes



Final Shaping the Comb

Ugly Jigs that Work Great: Part 3

This next jig is aided by the discovery (thanks to my student Bill Rainford) of a brand of pencil that can replace the fabled "No Blot Bottle of Ink in a Pencil". The "No Blot" is a pencil that writes on wet wood and like all things right and good, it's out of production. I saw someone the other day on a website selling them for $15 a piece!

Lee Valley has a version, but the lead is way too soft and is worn away or broken by rough wood.

It's the Sola KB24, and I bought mine from Kuker-Ranken in Seattle, for $1.50 a piece, plus they are huge and can be sharpened to a chisel point. They do have an odd shape, so I fussed with some drill bits and small files to make the hole in an old marking guage that you see below.

Now I have an easily adjustable marking guage for all my green woodworking.

It may sound like a small thing, but when I saw the fine consistent line that I could get, I knew that my work just got a lot easier and more accurate.

Just a few of these will be a lifetime supply.