turnings, chairs and a box

April 30, 2023 pfollansbee Uncategorized chairmaking, Essex County cupboard project, Follansbee, green woodworking, pole lathe, seventeenth-century reproductions, turning

I haven’t shot many photos lately, thus no blog posts. Shot some today of a few odds and ends. Above – one of the pillars for the lower case of the cubboard I’m making. Cherry in this instance. That stuff they say about sharp tools is really true. I was pretty happy with the finish cuts on this pillar. I roughed it out of green wood in the early winter and did the final turning in a couple sessions recently. Today was some final trimming to size. (if you are new here, this link is to a series of posts from last year – I’m making a 2nd version now https://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/?s=Essex+County+cupboard+project+2021 )

One more on that subject – I just started the upper case pillars a week or two ago – they are sopping wet – so much so that you can see the moisture weeping out of the ends – in this case black birch. At this stage it’s about 5″ in diameter, finished will be 4 1/2″.

Some chairmaking underway. I began work on a continuous arm Windsor. I dug out the patterns I have from the early 1990s. Traced the seat, marking the positions for spindle and leg mortises.

I still bore them before hollowing the seat- I like having a flat surface to set that adjustable bevel on – I’ve tried them this way & that – but this is the easiest for me. Old dog, new tricks situation.

The result looks perfectly crazy with all those lines all over it. I didn’t shoot the hollowing, but that made these all disappear.

After I hollowed the seat, I cut out the shape with a bowsaw. I made this saw a year or two ago – wasn’t quite happy with it – but it works, so I haven’t taken the time to make it better. Sort of “no time to do it right, but time to do it over.” Except so far, it’s still working. That I even picked up this saw today was something. Yesterday was one of those days when everything I touched went sour – today was thankfully not like that.

I almost never saw curves right on the line like that. Some days you wake up & live right…

I used to think the turnings had to be maple, but that’s stuff & nonsense. I had a good supply of great ash – here’s some of the turnings. Now I have to dry the tenons on all that stuff – so I’ll pick this chair back up in a few days.

And an old favorite – had some time yesterday to finish the lid to this box that’s been kicking around a month or so.

old drawings from V&A Museum

April 24, 2023 pfollansbee Uncategorized

There’s a story behind this story – it comes at the end. I was cleaning the house the other day & ran across these drawings. So I scanned them last night intending to post them here.

One day I was visiting a friend and he said “here – take these.” So I did. Some lovely old drawings, done at the Victoria & Albert Museum – either all or most are from that collection.

I’ll never make this sort of furniture, but I find these drawings very enjoyable. So nicely done. The one above (and most of the others) is about 5″ x 7″ – and torn from a perforated notebook. See the punched holes in the one below:

Next is an overmantel – one of two in the set.

Here’s the other:

I should have chopped these apart after scanning – the one on the left says “Exeter Guildhall panelling”

They go on – there’s maybe 8 or more of them. Here’s a favorite, this one’s done in 2 versions, this being the more complete:

That’s the only one that’s signed. Where did they come from? Well, I wrote to David Berman to ask him what he remembered. Here’s what he had:

“They were given to me roughly 40 years ago by the daughter of a Scottish cabinetmaker. I retained the material that made sense for me but I thought the 17th century material would be better in your hands. Much of the material was fascinating and was being parted out so I never had the full collected papers or books. I attach the brief bit of history I have of the man by way of the title page of his Wells and Hooper.”

Now, that brings me to the part that left me defeated yesterday. When I began searching the web for info about the Exeter Guildhall paneling at the V&A – lo & behold – I got my own blog. With a post about these drawings! Seems that 6 years ago I was cleaning the house & ran across them & scanned them to post them on the blog. Just like last night. Only more contrast to the scans…

https://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/2016/11/18/a-few-more-old-drawings/

https://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/2016/11/16/old-drawings-i-just-found-again/

So – there we are. Reruns.

New video – carved panel

April 18, 2023 pfollansbee Uncategorized carved oak, Follansbee, green woodworking, oak furniture, seventeenth-century reproductions

During the past couple of years I have worked with Jeff Lefkowitz in developing two sets of carving drawings/patterns. Both sets feature patterns derived from oak furniture made in Devon, England and Ipswich, Massachusetts. At first I was keeping up with making companion videos to go along with the patterns. Most of the first set got done, but maybe only half of the 2nd set. It turned out that the further I went into making videos, the longer the process became.

For several months I’ve had a white oak panel hanging around that was an orphan – just a leftover from other projects. But so perfect I had to carve it – so over the past week I spent a day carving the panel & shooting the process. Then tied to the desk here editing the result.

approx 12 1/2″ x 16 1/2″ of perfect white oak

This panel is one of two shown in the 2nd set of carving drawings. It’s a 2-hour video, which is practically carved in real-time. The panel is a bit larger than what I drew in the series – but these designs can easily be stretched (or squished). Layout, drawing and carving – I tried to anticipate whatever you might need to tackle this pattern.

Here’s the video, you can watch it here or on youtube. I went into the youtube channel & tried to collect all the carving videos into a playlist called “17th century style carving” – might have missed one or two shorter ones of little consequence.

These youtube videos are all free – but from here on I’m going to start charging something for these. I’ll aim to keep the price within reason. I just can’t justify the time spent on them otherwise. But the free ones won’t disappear – so would-be carvers won’t be left out in the cold..

The carving drawings & chest plans are available here – https://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/carving-drawings-plans/

Catching up

April 14, 2023 pfollansbee Uncategorized carved box, carved oak, chairmaking, cupboard, Follansbee, green woodworking, oak furniture, seventeenth-century reproductions, Windsor chairs

For various reasons I’ve not been in the shop much lately. I’ve managed a couple of half-days here & there now and am starting to see some things coming together.

I had the carvings for a box done, so cut the rabbets and till parts, then assembled the body of the box. Attached the bottom. I don’t have anything on hand for the lid, so might rive some oak boards and dry them, then joint & glue-up two boards to make the lid. Unless some wide clear pine comes around. Here’s the carving from the sides, or ends, of the box.

Quite literally the biggest news is that I took the pile of sticks that is the cupboard and re-assembled the lower case. Now I can make the soffit that hugs under the top drawer opening then I’ll be able to assemble 80% of this section. Then I can work on making the drawers. The turned pillars are in limbo – I broke the spring pole to the lathe (lasted 14 years, which ain’t bad. It wasn’t much of a pole to begin with) A friend cut a new one for me, we just have to get up in the loft & install it.

Similarly, I had all the shaved bits for this version of Curtis Buchanan’s democratic arm chair – so made the seat this week then assembled a bunch of it today. Still to come are arms and arm posts.

I still have some commitments to tend to, then early May is time for birding. But I’ll keep picking away at this stuff. More of all of it to come. There’s still two ladderbacks (with a 3rd right behind them) available if anyone’s interested. See previous post.