So here's a few photos of the completed walking stick. I'm happy with how it turned out. And it justified purchasing a drawknife, so that's a win-win!
Monday, July 27, 2015
Walking stick complete
Progress on Four-legged Three-legged Stool
After much more time and energy than I care to admit, I'm making good progress on the two cherry stools. These are my four-legged version of the Tage Frid three-legged stool design. I'm working on milling wood for all the parts (which is challenging because the humidity is making them move all over the place), but the biggest achievement so far is the progress I've made with the seat connector piece. This little 4" by 5" chunk does the work of keeping the whole stool together. (By the way, when does a stool become a chair? This is going to have four legs, so maybe it deserves chair status.)
This piece joins the front part of the seat to the seat back but also connects to the back legs. That's more action per square inch than any other part of the chair. So here's the rundown on what I've done to the connector so far:
Made a blank out of plywood (3/16" thick pieces of cherry laminated in perpendicular layers)
Straightened it up and cut it down to size
Cut a 4" wide tenon to fit the mortise in the front of the seat
Cut a 75 degree angle on the back
Next up:
Cutting angled dovetails to join the seat back
Cutting an angle on the underside to join the seat
Cutting 13 degree bevels on both sides
Cutting slots to fit dovetails on the two back legs
This is a lot of stuff, especially since two of the upcoming tasks require making jigs that work just fine in my head but haven't been attempted in the real world. And after all this, I have to make the rest of the stools (I mean chairs).
Friday, July 10, 2015
Walking Stick
A client approached me recently about making a walking stick from a piece of wood she and her husband picked up on a hike. I thought, how difficult could it be to take a large piece of wood and make it into a smaller piece of wood?
When I saw the wood at first, I didn’t recognize the species. I thought it could be anything from ash to oak to cherry to walnut. I got out my new hatchet and started removing the bark. When I got down to the heartwood, I realized the species was hickory. It felt like I was trying to cut marble.
I fretted about how I was going to remove enough wood to make this stick functional and attractive, considering using a chainsaw or a grinder. But I realized it was kind of fun hacking away at it with the hatchet, so I kept going. I’m new to using a hatchet, so this was the perfect way for me to learn about its capabilities and how to use it. I found that the hatchet was great for doing a kind of hewing. I would chop perpendicular to the grain in a long row, then go back through with glancing chops to remove the wood. It worked really well and removed material much faster than I imagined.
Monday, June 8, 2015
Engineering solution?
I’m satisfied now that this plywood method will hold. Not only does it provide end grain for the dovetail but each layer bolsters the other layers against movement. I’m considering adding another ply of cherry going side to side on the underside just between the two leg joints and adding a small stretcher a few inches down from the seat, which will serve two purposes -- fortifying the two legs and serving as a handle to move the stool. Also, I feel like the tenon can be a touch wider, so i’ll incorporate that as well. All in all, I’m happy enough to go forward.
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Engineering Problem
Friday, November 21, 2014
Tage Frid Three-legged Stool
Making the seat: http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2014/07/how-to-make-a-stool/
Drilling holes for the legs: http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2014/07/woodworking-stool/
Shape the seat: http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2014/08/tage-frid-stool/
Wedged tenon joints for legs: http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2014/09/wedged-tenon-joint/
Tapering the legs: http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2014/10/making-tapered-legs/
Making the stretchers: http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2014/10/how-to-make-wood-stretchers/
Gluing up the stool: http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2014/10/wood-glue-up-tutorial/
Finishing: http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2014/11/how-to-build-a-wood-stool/
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Robotic Furniture
This article introduces the Roombot, a robot that assembles itself into different pieces of furniture -- Transformers-style. The inventors describe it as the "future of furniture." Why am I not worried?