Huntboard or Sideboard?

My current project is this Huntboard. I call it a huntboard because it is made up of drawers suspended on legs and it  has a weightiness and elegance that brings to mind horse country and what goes with it. If you google "Huntboard", you may get varying definitions.

Below is a drawing of the piece and some shots of it going together.

stock is beaded before joints are cut since the bead becomes part of the joint.

I used to think that beading by hand would be too much work but it actually going quite fast and you have more control than using a router.  You are out of luck if a router decides to tear a chunk out of your piece of wood that you have spent so much time on making sure that it is straight and true.  Also, you can change blades to get many more bead sizes than you can with a router.  This Lie Nielson beading tool is great. Solid bronze and very smooth working.  Not cheap, but worth it.

this shows the bead continuing around the corners and also shows the pegged tenons.

seats for mortices are set into the legs the depth of the bead so that the bead can continue around the corners.

Below, are the legs and panels which are painted before assembly.  This piece will be painted with black milk paint which will be worn to create a warm look with the cherry highlights coming through.

I am now working on the drawers and top.  Gotta get back to work.  I need to deliver this piece before the end of the month.

Enjoy the rain. We really needed it.

Tim

Waltham Windsor Chairs; Laminating Rails

I am currently working on a set of 10 Waltham Chairs for a customer in Texas.  There are 8 of my regular Waltham Arm chairs and 2 of my Tall Waltham Arm chairs.
The rails of the chairs are laminated from cherry veneers. Below is a picture that shows a stack of veneers, a rough glued arm rail and the mold that it is glued on, as well as a rail that is all shaped and ready for sanding.

A freshly glued arm rail lamination still in the clamps.

Arm spindles are brought to zero moisture content under the heat of 100watt bulbs.  I leave them under the light for  about 1/2 at minimum.

5 of the order of 10 chairs that I am working on now.

Now that the chairs are all built, I am working with the client to finalize the color that they will be painted with milk paint.  I need to do more samples of different mixtures of colors to get just the right gray.  You can't take a Benjamin Moore color chip to the paint store to get a matching milk paint color. Some colors, like this one will take some trial and error. So far, just error.

I will keep you posted in the color progress.

Enjoy the crisp weather,

Tim

Below is a shot of Claire's and my latest sailing trip to a near by beach.  Usually we can sail up to the bottom edge of the photo. The boat is grounded in about 12" of water now. (not the green canoe) The level of Lake Champlain is very low. I do not think that I have seen it so low.

Cherry Side by Side Dresser #2, and Remembering #1

The last time that I made this dresser was 1999.  I received a deposit for the dresser and a wardrobe and purchased all of the needed lumber for the project in September, 1998.   I happened to also be closing up my rented shop at the time, put all into storage, and began to build my house on land that we had purchased.  The following March, I had completed the house enough to live in and to have my workshop in the downstairs.  During the building process, I had lived on the remaining portion of the deposit.  Once the shop was workable,  I built the dresser and wardrobe in the new space.  Everything worked out nicely and since then, I have built a separate shop and one day I will even finish trimming out the house.   

During the building of this second piece, things were not so dramatic.  Just driving kids to and from school, daycare, soccer and music lessons.

A piece of this size is always a big project. When I started this one, I was happy that I had already built the piece before.  The first time through, I had figured out how to build such a large case piece while making it strong enough to be rigid under it's own weight.  This piece is very stiff and strong. I can sleep at night when I think about how it is built.  When many months are invested in a piece, you need to be confident that it is done right or the worry will wear you down.

Lots of hand cut dovetails on this piece.

                                   

Even having made many case pieces over the years,  I am always trying to make things the best that I can.  Before finishing the inside of the piece and the drawers, I consulted my peers in the Guild of Vermont Furniture Makers via email.  I asked what others felt was the best way to treat the drawers so that they slide their best.  There were many responses, mostly including, paraffin, raw or shellac interiors.  I finally decided on a single wash coat of shellac on the inside of the drawer to make it easier to clean.  I did the same to the outside of the drawer to give it a dry slippery feeling and then rubbed on paraffin from a block onto all bearing surfaces on the drawer and inside the case which remains unfinished. The shellac has a bit of a sweet fresh smell and the paraffin has no smell.  I am very happy with the results.  I recommend that everyone have a block of paraffin around the house as it will make any wood on wood drawer slide easier without the smell of solvents that you get with most paste waxes.

drawers with poplar sides and back, pine bottoms

drawers are made from one piece of wood across the face of the chest

face frames are dovetailed 

The back is ship lapped poplar with hand holds cut into the back just under a drawer  frame.  You push the drawer out a bit and grab above the drawer in the front of the dresser with the other hand.  This piece can be scooted around with two strong people in this way. For actual moving, I recommend taking all of the drawers out. This takes a lot of weight out.

The outside of this piece is finished with a linseed oil based danish oil and given a coat of paste wax.  It is brand new in these photos and will darken down quite a bit after a few months.

Enjoy the cooler weather. Water the garden. Go sailing.
My 5 year old is learning to steer our daysailer and our 11 year old is off living in a Tee Pee for three weeks.  Yesterday from the breakfast table we watched a young bunny in the yard running in circles in the fresh dirt around a newly planted rhubarb plant.  It would circle 3 or 4 times, stop and then do it again.  Very entertaining.  And no, he did not appear to eating the leaves.

The trim on the house will have to wait.  Enjoy the summer.


Tim

Cherry Dresser- Dovetailed Drawers

This piece is almost completed now but here are a few shots from last week.

There is nothing like a hand cut dovetail joint for adding that something to a fine piece of furniture.

Trimming the drawer to fit.

Half-blind dovetail joint after gluing but before planing the joint smooth.

After planing the joint smooth with a hand plane

fitting drawers in the case. (the top is still missing.

a few of the finished drawers.

New Kitchen Work Stool

I was asked by Razan Brooker, owner of Interior Touches in Boston,  to make a larger version of  kitchen/work stool  that I usually make.  Pictured below is the new stool with the original in the foreground.  

The new seat is 16 1/2" by 10 1/4" and the original is 14 1/2" by 8 1/4".   The original is designed as a stool that I use at my work bench.  It is narrow enough to straddle and to put one foot on the floor for some leverage while hand planing or chiseling.   The original also works well as a kitchen bar stool but this new larger design is very nice.  The larger seat gives more support for longer sitting times.

In order to make the new design work, the legs were also made a bit larger.  

The seat of the new, larger design is still very light in color as it was just finished.  The cherry will darken down like the original design in the foreground.  The new stool is also 1" taller but that was only because the counter height where these are to be used.  

Above is the new design alone.  Without the original in the same picture, it is hard to tell which is which.

This is how most of my new designs come about. Someone makes a request and if I do it and I like the results and it fits with my other work, I add it to my lineup of products.  There are many ideas for pieces  that I have never had a chance to build since they have not yet been requested.  If you have ideas, feel free to ask.

You can see the original Kitchen/ Work Stool on my website.  Here.

Enjoy the warm weather,
Tim

Cherry Dresser Under Construction

I call this dresser the Side by Side Dresser for obvious reasons.  The case is almost done at this point. I only need to put the back and top on.   This last few days were spent putting the face on the case structure. Some of the pictures show the dovetail joints that are used to join the horizontal drawer dividers to the vertical face pieces.  These joints are very time consuming because the length of the piece has to be just right as you are fitting both ends at once.  A single end joint would be comparatively simple.  Note that the end panels are darker. This is because they have one coat of oil. This was done so that they would not be glued in place during the assembly of the outer frame.

I have developed a technique for building the case that makes it very stiff.  Before this, the piece would might rely on the face and back to keep from racking side to side.  This piece was completely rigid even for the face went on and the back will only give it more support.  I sleep well when I know that a piece like this is very strong.

I made this piece for the first time in 1999.  You can see that piece on my website. Here.

Enjoy the end of spring.

Tim

The case stands ready for a top, drawers and a back.  It was built on a level platform to ensure that it is true as can be. My floor is not very true, which is not so much of a problem with 4 legs, but with 6 legs, it must be true or the case may sit and rock on the center legs or stand unsupported in the middle.

The upper joint is ready to go in. The lower joint is finished.

Two chiseled mortices ready for the dovetailed cross pieces.

Fitting the small vertical drawer divider piece.

Cherry Shaker Inspired Wardrobe

A wardrobe is a very traditional piece of furniture from the days when houses did not have closets.  They can be built in countless combinations of hanging space, shelves and drawers.  This customer wanted a lot of drawer space with some sweater storage above and full length doors to cover it all up. On a piece this big, it can be a challenge to match all of the wood. The large drawers (11-12") called for glued up faces but each one is glued up from one board "folded over" on itself so that it matches nicely.  Also, the top drawers are made from the same piece so that the grain continues across both drawers. The panels of each door are continuous grain from bottom to top and the vertical door frames are matching.  (The two where the doors come together are from the same piece and the outers are from the same piece.)  When a cherry piece is done correctly, it will appear that all of the cherry matches nicely.  This is usually a trick of the eye.  It is really a matter of the builder putting pieces together so that the changing tones of the wood make sense to the eye.  The same pieces of cherry arranged in different order can have a very disjointed feel.

The feet of this piece add lightness and elegance.

Knobs with a black milk paint finish add contrast.

Lots and lots of hand cut dovetails. Half blind on the front of the drawers.

Through dovetails are used on the back of the drawers.

Even the bottom is of solid wood.

Have a great beginning of the summer.
Here is a shot from our start of the season. We took advantage of the good weather and made it to the New Hampshire coast this last weekend. My wife and kids below, enjoying the sun.

Time to get the garden started,

Tim