New Toolbox!

I've definitely noticed that I have had trouble transporting and organizing my tools when teaching. My bench is always jammed with tools as students return them and I usually spend a great deal of my time stowing and retrieving them from an array of boxes and bins that travel with me. In a moment of frustration, I decided to have my friend Eli Cleveland build a traveling toolbox for me.

Here's the end result. There are three components that stack and the top one fits in front of the middle one when rolling it around on the wheels. There is room for all the tools I need for a class, including multiples of reamers, travishers, drawknives, drill bits, carving tools, spokeshaves, layout tools, mirror jigs, bevel squares, sharpening gear, glues, saws etc...
It changed my teaching experience more than I expected. Not only was my bench clear for the entire class, but every tool was accessible for both me and my students. Dan, who was in his third class taught by me, mentioned repeatedly that it was making a difference in not only the organization, but the tone of the class. I have to agree. Every time a student just walked up the the box and grabbed the tool they needed, or returned a tool to the box, instead of on my bench, it felt like a little victory.

I know that tool storage and use has been a topic of discussion for a long time, one of my favorite books is Tolpins toolbox book, not to mention the Anarchists Toolchest, but I must admit that I never thought that it would make such a profound difference in the way I worked. When I got the box home, I rearranged my shop and organized it so that I could work out of the box myself. I have even taken the time to paint it!

Only the saw drawer has been oiled. I recall that sad feeling that came over me when I realized that I didn't need any more tools and that the types of tools that I wanted to work with were very much settled. But on the bright side, it made investing in a tailored toolbox and tricking it out with dividers a lot of fun. Of course, I still dream of taking the time to build a lovingly crafted unit like Greg Penningtons, but, for now, I'm still an itinerant teacher and utility is the name of the game.

One funny realization came after posting the pic of the chest on Instagram, it got 1785 "likes", which is about 4 times as many as I've ever gotten showing my chair work...hmmmm

The Shavehorse

I realized recently that while I had published my book with shavehorse plans in "Chairmaker's Notebook", that I'd never "shown" the advantages of it. There are as many plans and ideas about shavehorses out there as there are users and I've had a lot of fun thinking about the tool, especially as I've traveled and seen so many in action. When I sat down to put a design in my book, I felt that I should revisit the idea with the priority of making an easy to build, bullet proof and simple to use shavehorse.

 I thought long and hard and got some design influence for the body of the horse and the materials from Tim Manney and Brian Boggs. I had realized a while back that the narrow body of the two rail style is comfortable and that it also resists vibration in the direction that I pull the drawknife, which gives smoother cuts. There's nothing terribly new in the body design, but I think the adjuster that I made has proven to be a worthwhile addition.



 Of course, pulling the pin to raise and lower the head is not a huge deal, but as you'll see in the video, the toothed adjuster is very simple to use and fast as can be to adjust.

I chose this over my earlier design for the ratcheting head that I made because it's easier to make, and it can be retrofit to any dumbhead shavehorse just by cutting the mortise, drilling a few holes and filing the wood (or on my horse, aluminum) pins to ride smoothly around the pivot pin.  I have 9 of these that I use when teaching at North Bennet Street, and to me the true sign of success is that there is never any conversation about them, they just hold the work solidly and let the users focus on the real job, which is shaving the wood.

First you build the chair, then you build the finish

Recently a client asked me to take process shots of his chair being finished, so here they are.
Painting chairs has long been a sore spot as a maker and teacher. Yes, I agree wood is pretty on it's own, but in the service of furniture, sometimes there can be more done with it than swooning at the "figure". Part of what forms the aversion to painting chairs among new makers is the fear that the extra process will lead into unknown territory and problems, which is a legitimate concern, especially because the process is yet another that requires real effort to master.

Here you can see the stained chair in all of it's dull glory.

This chair needs paint!

 I covered this in my book, but it is worth restating, you can't expect a finish to look right until it's done. Just like a single spindle doesn't look like a finished chair. But you can learn to recognize when each step is complete and looks "right" even when "right" is truly homely.

yes, the pine stains terribly

Here are the steps to completing the finish, first the stain, a mix of alcohol soluble dyes from Lockwoods. I change the mix depending on the topcoat of color. For more bluish colors I shift the stain to a complimentary orange and for black over red I keep it relatively brownish.

first coat of red

The first coat of red is knocked back with burlap, steel wool and sandpaper, each used where called for. I want to keep the paint layer thin and smooth but still fully covering, so if the smoothing process makes it too translucent, I paint and smooth it again, usually just using burlap or mirka mirlon gold pads.

The red burnished

Then the black coats, smoothing inbetween again and then finally multiple coats of oil. I start with a penetrating thin oil and then subsequent coats of thicker oil to build the finish.

First coat of black paint

Smoothing the first coat of black with burlap

Oil on the seat after the second coat of paint and burnishing

The warmth of the red helps draw attention to the lower parts that are usually in shadow

Now here's where I might go too far for some gentle readers. Lately, I've been making chairs with butternut seats intended for paint. Now hear me out. I know it is beautiful, somewhat rare and certainly expensive, but it has some qualities that I want in some chairs for strength and scratch resistance. The seats below are destined for continuous armchairs that will live in the Lie-Nielsen showroom and, as public seating they will take a beating from the every joker who carries their keys in their back pockets, you know who you are....

That's right, a butternut c arm

I've used poplar in the past for this role, but it is a dull homely wood even under the paint. I really like  the lovely grain pattern visible when using the white pine, and was concerned that the subtle grain of the butternut as well as the rich color wouldn't shine through. But after making some samples I can see that it does! So no, I have no problem painting butternut and if I wasn't allergic to working with walnut, I'd paint it too.
Maybe paint could even make me want to use some of that horrendous curly maple that I've been meaning to get rid of.

Humble Home

I'm back from a great trip to the Port Townsend School of Woodworking and I'm finally settling in to my new shop space here in Boston. This is going to be my first shop in 12 years that hasn't had to do double duty as a teaching shop and tool factory. Speaking of teaching, there are only two slots still open for my August 17th chair class at North Bennet Street School, so if you're interested please check it out soon.
Here are some shot of the space, lots of air and light.

 It's the same size as my other shop, but with a storeroom in the back and higher ceilings.

Working by the front door gives a great natural raking light.

Being a lefty, the lathe is strategically placed to gather the shavings into the corner to contain the mess.

 The sharpening station  has lots of real estate and light.

 Here is the view from the storeroom and workbench area.

 I've been really enjoying making spindles in this space, as you can see.

 Here is a shot of the majestic Rhodesian Ridgeback Kobe, who I am teaching to be a shop dog, but he seems to think it's a bit beneath him.

He needs to take lessons from Lil, she's a pro.

I will not be intimidated...much

My toolbox build is progressing in tiny bits between other work and chipping ice off my roof. I've decided to focus on putting the chairmaking essentials in this box and then to make another for jigs and common tools. I want to be so comfortable working out of these boxes that I can stop the tedious packing and unpacking cycle that constantly invades my world.

 I'm following much of Jim Tolpin's advice and creating organization of the tools first and then designing to fit them. I mocked up a few boards and loaded it with weight and found that at 25" tall X 26" wide and 12" deep that it was just a bit unwieldy. I plan on moving this thing around a lot, so while cramming in 80lbs of tools sounds great, I know that one wrong move will be enough to ruin my day (week).

Now the box is 9-3/4" deep X 22-3/4" tall and 24-3/4" wide. It's a similar dimension to a box that I used for years, just a bit taller.
The hardest part so far is not actually cutting dovetails for the first time in 15 years. It's the two North Bennet Street toolboxes in the shop mocking me while I cut my joints.

This is Charlie Ryland's box. So you can imagine that when I reached for my trusty dovetail saw, I felt a pang of self consciousness.

Yes, this is my weapon, Stanley's finest $7 saw. I filed the teeth off and cut new teeth with zero set. The handle is no joy, but it tracks beautifully and cuts a laser thin kerf, which is helpful when you are as rusty as I am at this. Of course, unlike Charlie and his white oak, I am cutting my joints in pine... lovely forgiving pine.

My mock up box gave me some practice, and after making some rookie mistakes, I got back in the groove. No, I will not be showing the mistakes, those toolboxes are still staring at me.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

The past decade has seen me running all over the map. I've taken lots of trips to teach and it's always a challenge to get all the tools packed and figure out how to transport them and work with them once I've arrived. Now that the book is off my plate, I am turning my attention to the next few months of traveling and teaching. I will be in South Carolina, Iowa and Ohio, followed very closely by Washington state.
 
When I fly, I pack up a bag and check it as luggage, but for lots of these classes, I will be driving, so I've decided to finally put in the time to design and build my ultimate chairmakers toolbox. I've worked out the list of tools that need to fit in it for years and have jumped back and forth with design ideas. With the help of Jim Tolpin's wonderful 'The Toolbox Book', I am ready to take the plunge. I'll post the process and design as I go. For me, building a box takes a bit of a shift in mindset, but after the hiatus caused by the book, any shop time is welcome and exciting!

On the personal note, I've gotten lots of questions about my plans and destination in the coming year. I was headed south to Asheville, but a couple of events have change my thinking and I plan on sticking in New England to see them out.
One, is that I have developed a close relationship that I am thoroughly enjoying and wish to continue and the other is that I am partnering with the North Bennet Street School to host chairmaking classes at their wonderful new facility in the Boston's historic North End. I've taught at the school for years and have secretly wished to deepen my connection there. I will post more on the dates and details as they become solid.
Boy does it feel good to post here again. Writing the book was an incredible process, but this is home.

Another thought on the Shavehorse

I was in need of another shavehorse recently for a class, so I grabbed a dumbhead swing arm that I had laying around and cobbled together a horse. This part was an experiment that I had tried when looking into making an adjustable shavehorse. I rejected it because it had some short grain issues that I thought wouldn't stand up. But after using it in the class, I realized that the shortgrain issues that came with sawing the parts from a board could be sidestepped by using hickory dowels for the "teeth". It took me all of 15 minutes to retrofit with dowels and I have been using it with great results. The video is clearly a quick shot, but I think it gets the idea across.



The one drawback to this design that the "smarthead" solves is that the foot treadle rises when you adjust it, but so far, that hasn't been annoying enough to overcome the simplicity and the strength of the concept. Ideas aren't always linear, this one sat for a couple of years, but I thought it worth sharing for those looking for simple solutions. The dowels are set at a 23 degree angle (probably variable) and are 5/8".

Bench Top Bargain

As I've traveled around and used many different benches, I've become acutely aware of the differences between a good cabinet makers bench and one intended for chairmaking. Honestly, I usually loathe having to work on a cabinet makers bench. Sure, I love the vises, but the narrow width and tool tray usually mean that I can't set the assembled base on the bench and the shavings from the seat carving fill the tray in quick time. My benchtop is about 27" by 47", which has never let me down, but I don't think I'll be finding more like this on the street like I did this one.

As I set out to make the infrastructure for the classes here in Sterling over the summer, I started to look around for good benchtop material. I quickly dismissed the idea of making them myself, not only because I'd have to go outside my shop to use a properly equipped shop, but also I thought that the material and labor cost would be more than buying a top. And I was right.

Here is the top that I settled on, and I am happy to be able to share it as an option. It's made by John Boos and sold through Amazon. No I don't relish being part of the Amazon sales team, but this top is sweet, and at $166 with free shipping, it's a great deal.

It's just under 1 3/4" thick, and 30" X 48", great for chair work. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was made of full length maple strips and as far as flat goes, it's pretty darned close.

I appreciate all the encouragement I've been getting about my upcoming book. I'm as excited to have it available as I am to have it done! I checked this morning, and there are 342 illustrations and counting. Chris Schwarz is making his way through it doing final edits and I will soon be doing nothing but finishing the images. It's a cathartic experience for me to lay out so much information. Who knows what I'll do with all the cleared head space and time I'll get when it's all done. Perhaps I'll take up  something besides thinking about chairmaking, then again, I can't wait to get away from the computer and back into the shop...

New Year, Old Project

It's been so quiet here at Chairnotes that you can hear the snowfalling. But it's not that I'm not writing, it's what I'm writing. I am in a push to get the drawings for my book done and am happy to say that I'm making good progress. As to the actual release date, it can't be pinned down just yet, but I will hopefully be handing everything to the book designer, and Chris Schwarz for the next phase. I thought that I'd share a couple of images to give a little preview of what I'm compiling.

 There are literally hundreds of illustrations and it's taken me a while to establish a style that is clear and fast to create.

I like communicating by drawing (as any former student will tell) because you can go straight to the concept without any confusion and you can show views and relationships that would be tough to show any other way.

The Why?

Perhaps you've seen my video showing how the Drawsharp works, and, as with most advertisements, your natural reaction was to think that this was just another gizmo that attempts to replace a valuable skill with money. I'd usually be right there with you, so I hope you'll bear with me, because I want to go beyond how the tool works, and to "the Why?", which regardless of whether you are interested in the Drawsharp, will hopefully offer you some useful information about the drawknives and how to deal with them.

The top knife was polished on the back while the bottom was a rusty pitted mess

Here are a couple of drawknives that my current students brought to the shop. The polished blade on top was a breeze because there was no chipping or pitting to deal with, but the bottom blade, which showed signs that someone had started and given up, was definitely in need of serious attention.

The bevel wasn't much better

I have tuned hundreds of drawknives and I always started with flattening back and grinding the bevel. I am happy, and a little embarrassed to say that this is wrong, plain old wrong. The reason that I used to flatten the back and grind the bevel was to create a proper bevel angle and stable surfaces to register on the waterstones. Hollowing the bevel and back made it easier to consistently reach the edge, which let's face it, is the only part that cuts the wood. And that would be the end of the story if we were talking about chisels, which always keep the flat geometry off of the stones. But a drawknife requires a slight rounding just behind the edge on the side that rides on the surface of the wood. This is so that the tool can enter and exit a cut, otherwise, when sharpened flat like a chisel, it will dig, like a chisel.

So after honing, I would strop the edge, which gives a subtle rounding and allows the drawknife to follow the fibers and come out of the cut on command.  Just the right amount of rounding has always been tough to accurately reproduce. The problem is that once the edge is rounded, resharpening means either reflattening the bevel and back on the stones to reach the edge and then stropping it again to re-establish the correct shape or simply stropping the edge until the rounding becomes too much for a good cutting angle, at which point it's back to the grinder. Does this sound at all familiar?

The back is still largely a rusty mess, but after 10 minutes of work, the edge is sharp

As much as this process would give me pause before taking on a drawknife in sad shape or sharpening one that was good but not great, it would also keep me from really addressing and understanding what what going on on the real business edge of the tool.

I suppose my understanding started to change when a student, Steve Kinnane, came up with the idea of grinding the drawknife using the back (spine) of the tool as a reference. I adopted this wholeheartedly for it's ingenious simplicity. You can grind a curved or straight knife with control and ease after smoothing the spine of the tool, which is almost always soft enough to be done quickly (and only once) with a file and some abrasive.

Then one day, I thought, why not use that same unchanging reference to hone the edge? And the wheels started turning, leading to the Drawsharp. I suppose my reluctance to spend time tuning my collection of drawknives should have highlighted the problem sooner. Flattening the back of a drawknife is really just labor, not skill. Yes, honing a ground edge freehand is a valuable skill for some tools, but doesn't offer an advantage to drawknife geometry or sharpness.

I use the drawknife from the time that I split a piece from the log to the last cuts on a finished chair, so it must be as sharp as any tool that I own. Using the spine as the correct reference has made sharpening knife easier and I can honestly say that I no longer have a "favorite" drawknife. I used to coddle certain knives, never letting them touch green wood. No, these were my finish knives and unlike the other lugs, they were kept in top shape, mainly because of their seldom and restricted use. Now that I know the exact geometry of my edges and have a way to quickly and repeatedly tune them, I can get all of my blades singing. The only difference between my knives is the quality of the steel and the comfort of the handles. As far as top performance and geometry for cutting wood, the mystery is gone.

I appreciate that you've stuck with me through this and hope that you understand my intention in enlisting the help of Benchcrafted to make the Drawsharp available. I want folks to work with sharp tools instead of fussing about and eventually giving up thinking that a razor sharp drawknife is limited to those experts who possess skills that they cannot muster. After much practice, I can freehand grind a drawknife and hone it beautifully on my waterstones, but honestly, it's no longer a skill that I value. Sharpening a drawknife to work at it's peak is no more complex than using the correct references, the real skill building belongs to using the tool to make great furniture, and having fun doing it.

Soon, I will be posting a video of fully rehabilitating a drawknife in hopes of getting more folks using the most versatile tool in my shop.

Nice to Meet You

Since I moved to Sterling, Massachusetts, I've been swamped with projects and traveling and had little time to get to know my community or let them know me. That changed when I talked to Dave Gibbs at the Sterling Historical Society about combining our efforts and interests. The Society has a lovely collection of Windsors that were made here in town as well as a barn full of the old tools from its workshops. The first floor of the barn is relatively empty, and I thought it would be a great location to host some 6 person classes. So, next summer, I hope to schedule three classes there, but I'll post more on that once we work out the details.
To help introduce me to the community, the Sterling Historical Society hosted a demonstration at the local American Legion post and Ross Jones of Harvard Video Productions filmed it for us. Here is the video of the demonstration.
If it doesn't appear on your screen, click here to go to the original site.



As you can see, I am elated to be starting this project. I think 6 is a great number of students for a class. Plenty enough for a group energy and atmosphere but few enough for lots of personal attention.

And if I got you interested in my talk with Dudley Hershbach, here is a great interview with him that I found every bit as engaging as sitting next to him on the plane.



and once again, the link if you don't see the video here.

Bullet Proof Finish

I don't think that I have to go very far explaining the troubles that can plague finishing. We all love woodworking and hate finishing. Milk paint has an especially bad reputation for drawing us into some bizarre quantum world where paint mixed and applied the same way can have very different results.

New Milk Paint Results

I've used one brand of milk paint almost exclusively, which I've covered in other posts. It can create a lovely translucent finish, but is plagued by many problems such as a short pot life, lots of filler that needs to be strained out, strange hazy white specks that show up when least expected, trouble retouching and I'm afraid the list goes on. I've stuck with it because of the softness of the paint that allows it to be easily burnished to a high sheen. But after suffering my own traumas and fielding many calls and emails from others with the same trouble, I thought it was time to direct some attention to finding a solution.

The search for a solution pointed me to another brand of paint from The Real Milk Paint company. I've always loved the paint for its rich colors, ease of mixing (no straining), incredibly consistent results, long pot life (two weeks) and rock solid results. I suppose that I should mention that there's no connection between myself and the company.
What I didn't like was the matte finish and density that made it hard to get that translucent glow that I like. Lucky for me, I had a strange job recently reproducing a 200 year old chair that pushed me to play with some new techniques that seem to have surmounted those issues.

I will spell out the basic process here, and then give the blow by blow in the next post or two. I also hope to make a video soon. There have simply been to many folks in the shop lately for me to attempt a video, which would give far too much teasing fodder to my so called friends.

The key to the process is to mix the paint thin and use a very thin coat of shellac to seal between the different colors, and at the end of the process before varnishing.

Ugly Stain and Shellac Seal Coat

 First, I seal the chair by brushing on thinned shellac (one cup of shellac flakes to 3 cups alcohol). The shellac mix should be so thin that you suspect it of just being alcohol. I put some stain in the shellac to stain the chair and let me see where the application is going. Later, I use clean blonde shellac.

Then I paint the chair with red paint twice. The mix is 1 part paint to 2.5 parts water. I gently rub the chair with mirlon pads to remove any rough areas. I also sand any scraped areas to eliminate the raised grain between the first and the second coats. I have found that the shellac seals the first paint coat from raising the grain excessively, bonus. In between each coat of paint, I use the mirlon to rub off any caked up areas of paint, which makes getting a smooth result later easier.

Red Milk Paint

Then I shellac over the red paint. You could use the stained shellac or the blonde here. The next step can and should be applied while the shellac is still soft.

Shellac Coat

Then I paint the chair black, with a similar ratio of paint as the red. You'll notice that paint is a bit slippery on the surface and doesn't melt into the red. The second coat of black should be applied once the first is dried for at least 3 hours.

First Thin Coat of Black Paint

Once the black is dry, I burnish the chair with the mirlon again until it is somewhat smooth.

Mirka Mirlon Pads

It will be tough to get it shiny like the other brand, but that is what the next step is for.

Once the final coat of black paint is burnished, paint one more coat of shellac and then burnish it to even it out.

Burnished Shellac

Finally, apply your favorite oil or varnish. If I want a quick build up, just one coat of Minwax antique oil can do the job.



I know that it sounds like a lot of steps, but it really isn't because the shellac goes on thin and fast. The benefits of control, consistency and ease make this a great finish. And if you like a more matte finish, just skip the last shellac and go straight to the oil.
I did the finish you see here in less than 24 hours and I've done samples this way and run them under the tap after a few hours to see the water bead off.

There is still lots of experimenting to do with the other colors and layering possibilities, but for my most popular black on red finish, I'm sold. 

Big Man, Big Chair

Before, I get going, I want to mention again that there are spaces in the class that I am teaching starting on the 20th at Kelly Mehlers. Usually during a class where we make a chair, everyone has a topic that they want to cover, but time doesn't allow. This class is for all those topics and more, it's not just about making a chair, it's about Chair making. Besides building shavehorses, we will go in depth into chair design (recreating the chair below), we'll grind drill bits, get our tools sharper and better tuned than every, make some tools (adzes and sloyd knives), go over various techniques for constructing chairs that folks always ask about such as the duckbill joint and we'll be building the rocker jig that I recently built and going over the fine points of rocker making. We decided to do this class based on the constant requests of students in the chair making classes and I hope you'll join us.

There are some simple landmarks that guide most chair design. The shoulders are wider than the hips etc... Following this logic leads to most chairs having the shape of a section of a cone. But there is more to it than that. The body can be viewed as a  series of conical sections that lie at angles to each other.
I decided to take my recent cardboard chair mock up one step further and use my friend and fellow chair maker Dan as a subject. Dan is 6 foot and forever tall, so I thought it would be an interesting case study. I doubt Dan has ever sat in a chair that was truly sized for him, so we dug back into the lawn mower box and got to it.

We started by making a stable stand in for the stool part of the chair, and a cut out that I use for my largest chair seat back.

 Then we bent a strip of cardboard to fit the inside of the cut out and screwed them together.

Next, we cut tabs on the top of the cardboard at a good height for Dan.

And matched the curve at the top of the lower piece to define the next section.

This section tilts back and acts as the support for the rib cage.
The plank at the back gives support for the upper rib cage, which is enough to make the chair stable and "sitable".

We followed the same tab making process and fit the next section which is the zone where the shoulder blades are located. This area tilts back more than the rib cage zone to give clearance.

 Then we fit the top piece that acts as the headrest. We used a couple of curves cut into plywood to open up the shape where needed and add a little support.

Dan declared it comfortable, although he is so used to sitting in "tiny" chairs, that I think it is a wholly new feeling for him. I sat in it as well and found it actually quite good for me as well, except that the relief for the shoulderblades hit me somewhere around my the middle of my shoulders!

Rocket was especially interested in the process.

Here, Dan is using the laser to help guide where to map out the spindles, which is the next step.

When we first started, Dan mentioned how nice a permanent, adjustable version of this would be, but at the end of the hour that it took us, he said that the cardboard was so easily manipulated that he didn't think it necessary.

I can't wait to see the finished chair.