Been pretty quiet around here lately, at least in terms of furniture production. We’ve undertaken a project to finish out our basement space to act as sort of a relief valve for all the kid stuff. As a bonus though, I’m carving out one room as a dedicated “bench room” which is also conveniently located next to the “machine room” in the garage. We had a separate a/c unit installed then I spent several months working on framing and minor plumbing. After that we were ready for electrical, insulation, and drywall which I all hired out to make sure there was a shot at this all being completed before the 3 year old goes to college. The last couple weeks have been focused on trim carpentry which I rather enjoy. Next I’ll start tackling some cabinetry which will be something more closely resembling furniture.
The bench room after drywall.
Just wrapping up this small box before a show next weekend. Amazing how the time it takes to finish a project is inversely proportional to it’s size.
My cherry occasional table made it into the readers gallery of the recent December 2014 issue of Fine Woodworking. I’m glad they added a little editorial technicolor to the incoherent babbling description I had originally provided them.
This past weekend I had the opportunity to take a chair design class with Jeff Miller who came to speak at our Cumberland Furniture Guild meeting.
This was a condensed version of Jeff’s normal class, but we had the opportunity to explore design ideas by sketching, small scale modeling, and full scale mock ups. I worked on a variation of my bent lounge chair.
Most of the concepts Jeff discussed were really not all that revolutionary to me, but perhaps the biggest takeaway was that design is a skill that can be cultivated like any other with practice. It’s tough to form new habits, but putting more effort into refining my designs before construction begins is something I hope to achieve.
Just a little carving project for fun!
In our family, my wife is the hoarder and I am the purger. So my wife came back from helping her mother clean out some stuff from her rental property with this huge plank that was all weathered and gray. I’m thinking…..great, what is this piece of firewood that I’m going to have to eventually do something with. Just out of curiosity I took a hand plane and knocked off the surface and to my delightful surprise…..quarter sawn walnut! This plank is about 49″ x 18″ x 3″. Unfortunately this was cut from the dead center of the tree and still has the pith in it. Even so, after I rip out the pith, I should net a 6 inch and an 8 inch by 3 inch thick plank of perfectly quarter sawn material. Oh the possibilities!
Time for some new words!
Still got a few wonky spots, but not bad for a first try!
Made this little bench top bench to raise my carving work. Eventually I’ll get a couple veneer press screws to add a twin screw vise for dovetailing also. The feet on the bottom can be flipped to raise or lower the height by a couple inches.
Aaron M. Wells 