Finished Sack Back Windsor

This is the Sack Back Windsor chair I made during my week long class at the Windsor Institute in late July. You can read about my experience in a previous blog posting. I chose the traditional milk paint finish and the color is a deep Windsor Green. Once the paint was dry, I finished it with danish oil to give it a nice sheen.

chair sanded and ready for the milk paint

Another view

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a little before and after here.  a client brought us the chair below.  it had a lovely mousey bouquet about it and some really funky red fabric, but the bones were good, and the hardware was complete and functional.  our friend isaiah at bespoke upholstery carefully disassembled it, saving the original fabric and frames for patterns .. the headrest is finished and will be reunited with its chair tomorrow.  click the photos to enlarge them ..

and i happen to have on hand a skin of maine chili pepper leather from universal leather company that the client thought was perfect for it.

we sanded the walnut veneer lightly and touched up the black painted edges.  we then gave it to our friend steve holman and he sprayed a little lacquer on it to freshen up the shine and get rid of the mouse odor.

  pretty righteous upholstery work by isaiah ...

 parts and patterns .. we made two new frames for the seat and back upholstery .. all the foam and burlap was replaced too.

 very cool upholstery foundation design.  obviously a factory chair. i tried to find one like it on google images but no luck ... info anyone?

 

 very nicely laminated frame.  i have no idea how they did that ... lots of pressure somehow.  its kind of folded into shape.

 the client asked us to reinforce the base so we added a 14 gauge plate 

between the swivel and the seat.  good to go ..
update 5/31

 

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im back sort of spring in vermont

well, when its springtime in vermont, you cant expect tooooo  much writing from me ... i do have a couple of good posts coming up, but i havent quite gotten around to getting them together just yet.  soon, i suspect, like maybe tomorrow.  maybe.  if it rains or something.  maybe ... heres a sampler of what its like outside here now ... like i said.  spring.  click the pictures to enlarge them ...

 you got your grass to mow ... nice change from the snow ...

 you got your hoseshoes to set up

 you got your magnolias ..

 and your phoebe nest ...

 and your fishin...  sam with a big one from the mettawee ..

 your tulips  ...

and your wood to stack ... all done now ..

your big fat 800+ page book to read ... 400 years of natural history, well written.

your golf to play ... been out a bunch of times ... 

and so much more.

and oh yeah,  we still have to work ... weve been working on the new designs.  heading into it big time on monday ... more soon ... dan

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Packing Up Moving Back

For those of you that follow this blog, and others who stop by from time to time, I thought I would let folks know that it will be awhile before I post another project. We have sold our home, and shop, in West Tennessee and moving back home to the Greater Cincinnati area after being here for the last 9 years.  I moved here for a work transfer and have been retired now for 18 months. 

The big draw of course is family, 3 children, 4 grand children, brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews.  We were fortunate in this economy to sell this house so quickly (less than 3 weeks) and the home we are purchasing was under construction and we’ll be moving in Christmas week.

So for now, my “projects” involve packing tape, boxes, and filler paper, but as others have said, it is giving me a chance to clean out and see what exactly I have collected over the past 9 years. 

As mentioned in previous posts, some of the power tools are gone. The workbench as well, that will be the first project in the new shop, the Benchcrafted Shaker style bench so I will post when that project gets underchoice.

I will be back in the basement again, and have already marked my space.  The type of work I do and the increased use of had tools will allow me to set up a nice area to build the things I enjoy, and the best part is I will be able to teach my grandson’s the joy of working with wood. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!!

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The Ducks Are Back

(Almost) Like the swallows returning to Capistrano, the ducks are back ... They arrived last Friday, as usual, almost to the day that the stream first cuts a channel across the ice. They were tired from their trip and were napping when we got to work on Friday, but Monday, whoa, below, we had an intruder ... a single female and they did not like here. We watched off and on for the morning while they chased her back and forth across the pond, and finally, she left ... Things were back to normal today but it was fun while it lasted ... Kits got the redwing blackbirds at the feeder too ... Big Tom turkey yesterday morning and the she also saw the bobcat briefly one morning last week, probably stalking the squirrels. Spring is coming ... Click the pictures to enlarge them ...
Back and forth ... when she got to the edge, she would fly back over their heads and the chase would continue, til finally she left ... havent seen her since ...
A little earlier than usual ... but Sam said this afternoon the leeks are up ... global warming I guess ...

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This was one of my early projects.  It had to look nice and float or Id never get my wife in it.In fact she flat out told me "Im not floating in anything you build"

I ordered plans for a 9 foot yacht tender from Compumarine.com.The plans came with full size patterns for the plywood stations. See photo below.

The skin is made out of 3/4 X 1/4 inch cedar strips which I cut from western red cedar 1x4s.Each strip then goes through the router for a bead on one edge and a cove on the other.  This makes the strips nest together.

As you might imagine this is not a fast process.  I only worked on it when I felt like it but you could probably build one of these choice faster than I did.

Whoops! I never did anything with fiberglass before and started getting in over my head.  Here is my sweetie taking over the glassing while Im cooking Sunday dinner.

A toast of sparkling cider to celebrate the last cedar strip glued into place.

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Back At It Bench Build Underway

Finally getting started on the new bench for my shop and am excited with the progress to date. With respect to Monsieur Roubo, Shaker is my style and I am building it using the plans, and hardware, purchased from Benchcrafted. The level of detail in their drawings is outstanding, the hardware package is complete, and the 3D available in a download are a plus.

Shown above is the basic carcass made from some pretty decent birch ply I bought at HD of all places for a reasonable price, was surprised at the quality of the plywood, havent found a void yet. It is sitting on an old bench that moved with me from TN that was sitting in my garage. I drilled some holes in the top for the holdfasts, and use the Benchcrafted Moxon vise I built to use as an end vise. It is working out great, but cant wait to get the real deal.

Case with face frame and end frame dry fit. Both frames are constructed with 5/4 (net 1") poplar. If you look at Benchcrafteds website, you will see the base of the bench is painted , so poplar is a good choice for the outer frame.

Frames and back attached, all that is needed for the bottom is the "foot" It is a frame made of 1X3 poplar. I may change that thickness once I determine the overall height of the bench.

As of this posting, the door for the end panel is mounted, the doors for the front are made, the drawers are next. 

This will be one solid bench. The advertised finished weight will be around 350 lbs, certainly sturdy enough to handle any hand tool work.

A finished photo can be seen at Benchcrafted website and for those of you attending WIA in the Fall in Covington, KY, Jameel my have his bench there at the show.

More to come as I hit significant milestones during the construction.

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Gardening An Appreciation

It is really wonderful being married to a gardener ... This morning was one of those mornings when you wish maybe you were a painter ... A little fog, a little mist ... total blue sky ... I just walked around Kits gardens, sort of amazed ... I actually cant believe I live here .... I will let these photos speak for themselves .... Click the photos to enlarge them ....

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