The table is completed! I really enjoyed working with the planks cut from the client’s own backyard river birch tree. Please be sure to check out the gallery for additional images of this piece.

Hej då!

Craig

Working on the last major items for the console table. Next up, brackets to mount the tabletop to the stand. I selected 3/16” x 1/2” brass bar stock and rough cut them to length.

After disc sanding each bracket to it’s final length, I bored and countersunk all of the fastener holes. This was followed by mounting each outboard bracket and cutting of the slot that will accommodate seasonal movement of the top.

After countersinking the slotted holes in the brackets, I marked and cut mortises in the base for the brackets and predrilled the screw holes.

The show faces of the screw heads were sanded by mounting each screw in a hand drill and spinning them on sandpaper.

This is how they look from the top.

The center two brackets hold the top in a rigid state and the four outer brackets have slots that allow the tabletop to move with the seasons.

Here is a close-up of the top fastened in place.

With the stand position on the top finalized, I could now disassemble the top and begin shaping the edges. This started by cutting a 65° bevel on the underside of the top using the panel saw, followed by hand planing to the desired size and shape.

I then laid out the wing bevels for the tabletop ends.

A sharp blade set to a hefty cut depth made quick work of it. This was then cleaned up with a freshly sharpened iron on my wooden smoothing plane.

I also added a smaller 45° bevel to the top edge of the tabletop.

I like to hand plane surfaces whenever I can, but I have to confess that with the seemingly random chatoyance of this river birch wood, to avoid tear-out, I moved to sandpaper to finalize many of the finished surfaces.

It was now time to clean up the stand and top and prepare them for finishing. For the final finish I’ve applied Odie’s Oil to all surfaces.

Now we’ll wait a few days for initial curing of the finish before I take some pictures for next week’s edition. We’re almost there!

Hej då!

Craig

Next on the list is to shape the legs. Beginning with rectangular parts, I began to taper the legs using a combination of bandsawing, machine jointing and hand planing. The rear of the leg was my reference surface. Each leg has five sides at the top and four sides at the foot, resulting in two four-sided facets and five three-sided facets, or seven facets in total.

I first planed smooth the reference surface. Then I tapered the outside of the leg, later to be faceted into an outside corner. This was followed by the side tapers, resulting in what you see below.

And now for the obligatory plane shaving photo!

After completing the four main tapers, I laid out the four triangular tapers that result in the square foot.

Two down, two to go.

A dry fitting of all the stand parts.

After the dry fit, I did a bit of surface preparation on the stretcher parts and assembled them with glue.

Once out of the clamps, I could prepare the bottom of the stretcher assembly by flattening it with a hand plane and softening the sharp edges.

Surface preparation of the legs came next, with some edge softening, etc., followed by glue-up to the stretchers.

It’s taking shape.

To ensure I have a good surface on which the tabletop can rest, I referenced the cast iron panel saw table.

Below you can see some gaposis at the top of the leg that needs to be addressed. I intentionally set the top of the legs below the top of the stretchers so that it minimized the need to plane down the endgrain of the legs.

I set up a narrow workbench extension that accommodated the size of the table and used a hand plane to flatten the whole assembly.

Next time, I’ll be working on the tabletop and the tabletop mounting brackets. Stay tuned!

Hej då!

Craig

The river birch console table is beginning to take shape. Above, the tabletop is out of the clamps and is showing a bit of the tree’s character in the form of a few knots. I searched for the straightest and clearest parts of the tree for the legs and the top, but nonetheless, a few knots made their way to the show surfaces.

Now it’s time for the joinery. I’ll be using floating tenons throughout the piece. Here I’m cutting staggered mortises for the stretchers.

After all the mortises were cut, I milled some floating tenons and began fitting them to the mortises.

With the main stretcher in the bench vise…

… I fit the floating tenons.

After dry-fitting the joints here, I moved on to the other end.

The stretcher assembly is fully dry-fitted.

Next, I went through the same process to fit tenons between the stretchers and the legs. Below, the complete table support structure is dry-fitted.

Now for a sneak peak at the complete table. This is what the table is like before I begin applying edge treatments to the tabletop and before I shape and taper the legs.

Next time, leg shaping.

Hej då!

Craig

I’m beginning work on a new piece for a client who had a river birch tree in their backyard that needed to come down. They planted this tree years ago and now would like to have a piece of furniture made from it. Above is a rendering presented to the client as we finalized the design of their new console table.

There were seven, 8’ logs cut from the cluster of tree trunks. The four logs pictured below seemed suitable for the table. There are a lot of curves, cracks and knots to work around, but there is a table in there somewhere!

Knots are okay, per the client (they add character), but it still took a bit of study to find the best use of the material for this design.

Below are the rough parts pulled from the planks.

Next, I set out to look for grain alignment, knot location, etc. as I rough milled the parts.

Following a couple stages of rough milling, where I let the wood relax and acclimate to my studio, I could now begin measuring moisture content. I don’t like to begin work on a piece until the wood to be used has fully acclimated to the conditions of my studio and the moisture content of the wood has leveled off.

I let the wood settle for about a month before moving on to the next step. Below, you can see the tabletop plank arrangement. With the woodgrain not being exceptionally straight, and the presence of numerous knots of various sizes, I was impressed by how stable the tabletop boards remained throughout the previous month of acclimating in the studio.

After straightening the edges on the jointer, I bored the tabletop boards for dowel pins, followed by hand-jointing the edges for a tight fitting glue joint.

Glue-ups of the top happened in stages.

The fourth tabletop glue-up is in the clamps.

While the tabletop glue-ups were happening, I milled the rest of the stand parts in stages over several days; always stacking them in a way that lets the air circulate around all sides.

Next time I’ll focus on the mortise and tenon joinery for all the stand parts.

Hej då!

Craig

The final task to complete this cabinet is making the two drawers. Honduran mahogany for the drawer fronts, and deodar cedar for the sides, backs and bottoms.

I laid out the half blind pins and began sawing and chopping on the drawer fronts. First one end…

… and then the other.

The chopping block set-up.

Cleaned up and ready for the tails.

But first the rear pins on the drawer backs.

The front tails on the drawer side below are ready for a final chop with a freshly honed chisel.

Fitted by hand using a paring chisel.

All the front tails now fitted. The chisel on the right in the photo below is the shop made tool that I use for paring and fitting the tails into the pin sockets.

And, at last, all the corners are dry fitted.

I chose to carve a relief on the interior side of the drawer fronts for the cutout pulls.

I applied two light coats of shellac to the interior surfaces.

Glue-up time.

Out of the clamps.

The block plane is used to make the drawer front flush with the drawer side.

I don’t have any photos of the making of the drawer bottoms, but you can see more of them in the photos of the final piece found in my Shop.

Also, please check out the Woodworking Gallery for even more color images of the completed Cedar Spirits cabinet.

Hej då!

Craig

Work on the Cedar Spirits liquor cabinet continues with glue-up of the top and bottom panels.

After removing the clamps and cleaning up the exterior finish, I fastened the stand to the bottom of the cabinet.

Meanwhile… back in Carol’s weaving studio… work progresses on the textile runners that she designed specifically for this piece.

After taking the woven fabric off the loom, Carol “wet finishes” it by hand washing and then drying before hand-stitching the hems.

I selected a plank of deodar cedar for the drawer boxes. This will work well for the sides, backs and bottoms, along with another piece of Honduran mahogany for the drawer fronts.

A fresh honing of the plane iron, and it’s time to begin the final surface preparation and fitting of the cabinet doors.

A full height door pull is made from a piece of Honduran mahogany..

The door edge to receive the door pull is given a small reveal and prepped for glue-up.

Here’s the right door and pull being glued together.

Now it’s time for fitting of the door, mortising for the knife hinges, and final surface preparation.

Shellac finish on the interior and oil and resin blend on the exterior.

I’ve ordered up three glass shelves for the top and interior of the cabinet. Below I’ve cut parts for adjustable height shelf support pegs of Honduran mahogany with brass pins.

I finished the wood with shellac, set the brass pins and topped them all off with a neatly trimmed square of leather to serve as a pad for the glass.

I also added a narrow strip of leather onto the cabinet top to support the top glass.

Door stops are next. Honduran mahogany, once again, with a hole bored for rare earth magnets. Similar magnets will be installed in the door panels.

The completed cabinet.

Next time I’ll show you how I make the hand cut dovetail drawers.

Hej då!

Craig

16/4 plank of Honduran mahogany. Material source for the cabinet stand.

Four legs. Four stretchers. Rift sawn.

Cutting slot mortises.

Sixteen stepped floating tenons.

Below is a short video showing how I configured the stepped mortises at the top of the legs.

All of the tenons are fitted by hand.

I used the tools shown below for the fitting.

Two stage glue-up and the assembly is complete.

All of the outside surfaces of the stand were then hand planed to fit the stand flush with the bottom panel of the cabinet.

Next I set out to tackle a couple of brass brackets to mount the cabinet to the stand.

Surfaces of the brackets and the top of the screws were hand finished with sandpaper.

Feels like progress is being made. The yarns ordered for Carol’s runners that will accompany the piece finally arrived!

Time to cut mortises into the stand for the mounting brackets.

Dry fitting the stand to the cabinet bottom.

I created a small shadow line/reveal using the router and flush-cut bit with a guide bearing and template.

After some edge softening and final surface preparation the stand was ready for a two-coat oil and resin finish.

In Part 4, I’ll wrap up the cabinet assembly.

Hej då!

Craig

It’s been a while… so I’d like to pick up where I left off and bring you up to date with what’s been happening around here. The Cedar Spirits Cabinet is long since completed, but I haven’t shown you how it came together.

Let’s begin by applying some shellac to the interior of the back panel.

Below, hand planing the fit of the interior partitions to the back panel.

Followed by a glue-up.

I ordered brass knife hinges from Sanderson Hardware.

Beautifully made and a pleasure to install.

Next, I prepared the back assembly to receive the side panels.

Checking carefully for a good fit.

A series of two glue-ups and the side panels are in.

This was a fairly involved glue-up. Risk level was high, as I had no additional yellow cedar material to cover for me if I made any mistakes!!! A good solid gluing set-up makes for a successful result… whew!

Out of the clamps.

My attention then turned to the top and bottom panels as I prepared them with edgebands.

The larger edgebands at the front and rear of the top will be to support a glass top.

I think (?) I mentioned in an earlier post that this piece is a collaboration with Carol, our resident handweaver. It’s time to select and order colors for the runners that will adorn the cabinet.

Preparing for the top and bottom assemblies.

Mortising the hinges into the top and bottom panels prior to glue-up.

Final surface preparation of the main body of the cabinet.

And softening of the edges…

Same goes for the top and bottom panels.

Shellac on the interior surfaces.

And oil on the exterior.

Next time we’ll take a look at the Honduran mahogany stand.

Hej då!

Craig

A generous gift from a friend and fellow woodworker, and it’s time to make a new piece. The gift was a small plank of yellow cedar from British Columbia, Canada. It came from a log that had drifted away from a raft headed to market, and washed up on the beach in Vancouver.

Except in very large dimension, this is not a structural wood, so I’ve decided to cut the plank mostly into thin veneers leaving a few larger pieces for solid edgebands, etc. A small cabinet, perhaps a liquor cabinet. Clean, simple, modern lines. Quiet, calm, reserved.

Upon cutting the veneers on the bandsaw, a few [6] deer show up on the scene to check things out in the studio.

I began with the construction of cores, or substrates, for the veneers. I’ll be using Baltic birch plywood, in multiple layers to improve stability and flatness. Three layers of 3 mm for the doors, sides, partitions and back, and three layers of 6 mm for the top and bottom panels.

I enjoy breaking out this vacuum pump that I assembled from a kit of parts I got from Joe Woodworker. It’s been extremely reliable over the years.

Here it is in action pressing three 3 mm sheets of Baltic birch plywood for one of the side panel substrates.

Next, I cut the Baltic birch cores to final size and band the edges with cedar for an exposed baked-in edge or poplar for a hidden baked-in edge. I make these edgebands extra thick so I can trim the panels down to exact size after applying the finished veneers. Of course, the main reason for these edgebands is for final fitting of the parts. It’s pretty hard to hand joint a plywood edge for a nice fit!

Edgebands in the clamps.

The yellow cedar veneers will be book matched on the doors and back panel. The sides will be book matched with the panels around the corners. Below, I’m laying out the left side panel exterior veneer. Note, the left edge of the left door will be veneered with the off-cut from the side panel veneer. Cross your fingers for a good grain match!

Some of the veneers will be secondary woods, poplar in this case. Below I’m jointing the edges of the poplar veneers before gluing them into a larger sheet to be used for the drawer pockets.

Gotta have at least one sweet shavings photo.

Once the substrates were assembled and the yellow cedar veneers applied, it was time to tune up the “planer/thicknesser” as they say at Felder.

The carbide cutters need to all be rotated at the same time. This time, to the #2 position. Fresh blades allow me to run the glued-up panels through for some final flattening and thicknessing. So much more fun than 1/40” thick commercial veneering. The final finish will be hand planed with some minor sanding, as needed.

Oops! Slipped in another shavings photo. The yellow cedar planes so beautifully. Reversing grain can be a challenge though, as this is a relatively soft wood. Have to keep those plane irons sharp!

A close-up view shows how the cedar veneers cover the Baltic birch as well as the poplar edgebands.

Before I can glue-up the interior partitions for the drawer pockets, I need to make provision for door stops. This time around, I’ll use rare earth magnets embedded in hand carved dowels placed in these two holes on the horizontal drawer partition. The dowel lengths will be adjusted in the final fitting of the doors before being secured in place.

Dowel joinery for the drawer pocket partitions.

And the glue-up.

Another close-up showing how the veneers and edgebands come together.

Side and back panels ready for joinery.

The front edges of the side panels, below, are edgebanded with cedar that is baked-in between the face veneers.

Time to lay out the dowel joinery.

Here I use the slot mortiser as a boring machine to bore the horizontal holes in the panel edges.

The poplar and cedar plane so nicely. Here I prepare the back edge of the side panel for yellow cedar veneer that is off-cut from the back panel veneer.

Well, I’m just getting started on this piece and there is still a long way to go. Stay tuned for more.

Hej då!

Craig

One last retrospective before getting back to real-time blogging! This is the second piece I’ve made since moving into the new studio. I still had no workbench at this point and relied on my father’s old Black & Decker Workmate.

This piece was made in preparation for the American Craft Council Saint Paul Show in April of this year; a small end table made of red elm harvested in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. The piece was designed around a small plank of wood I’ve had in my shop for several years.

Just 13 parts.

The grain lines appear very “ash-like”, but the reddish color quickly gives it away as red elm. (you’ll have to check out the finished piece photos in the gallery to see some color!)

Below, a quick dry-fit of the mortise and tenon joinery prior to final shaping.

Ah, that’s better. Lighter, with subtle curves.

Elm can be a bit nasty when it comes to changing grain direction and getting fiber tear-out, but this red elm was fairly tame in that regard.

A bit of edge softening and we’ll be ready for glue-up.

Glue-up.

Final surface prep on the top.

This piece was finished with two coats of the usual Krenovian 1:1:1 blend of Waterlox Original, pure tung oil and mineral spirits.

Now to mount the top.

I cut some short lengths of brass bar stock…

… and followed that with some rabbets cut with an end mill on the mortiser.

The rabbets fit together to hold the top down onto the upper stretchers, while at the same time allow for seasonal movement of the top.

Following a trip to the ACC show, this piece made it down to Northern Woods, an exhibition sponsored by the Minnesota Woodworkers Guild.

Well, you’re all caught up for now. Next time, I’ll show you progress I’ve been making on the liquor cabinet made of yellow cedar and Honduran mahogany.

Hej då!

Craig

In the spirit of getting all caught up with projects for 2018, here is a quick overview of the making of the Upprätt armchair in black walnut. This was the first of two pieces I’ve made since we moved into our new home and studios, but… it was before I had the new workbench. Therefore, this project features the old Black & Decker Workmate passed down to me from my father. Thanks Dad!

The following video [3:34] is a slideshow of pictures that I took along the way.

For photos of the completed piece, please head on over to the Woodworking Gallery. I hope you enjoy it.

Hej då!

Craig

Oh how time flies! We’ve been so busy being busy that I’ve neglected the blog. In 2016, we spent most of the year fixing up our house and studios in preparation to sell. In 2017, we build a new home and studios.

At the beginning of this year, we had just moved into our new home. Our in-home studios were bare. We had hoped to get them set up to the point where we could begin our work, but alas, our spring and summer focus tended to be on erosion control of the landscape instead!

I auctioned off many of my old woodworking machines, with the intention of upgrading those following the move. The first new piece of equipment to be installed was an Oneida Dust Gorilla Pro.

The installation was pretty straightforward, but with this many parts, it did take a few days to get it up and running. The ducts were from the Nordfab Quick-Fit system.

Since installing the new system, I haven’t needed to vacuum out my three large machines. Always as clean as a whistle!

I already had the Felder FB 510 bandsaw in the old basement shop. It’s worked great for me, so when I replaced my old Grizzly jointer and planer, I ended up with a Felder AD 741 jointer/planer combo unit. Then, to replace the old Sears Flexdrive table saw, I landed a Felder K 500 P panel saw. I’m very happy with all three machines.

Next on the list was a new workbench. My previous bench was a built-in at the old house and the new buyer wanted to keep it. After much thought, I settled on a Lie-Nielsen Standard Bench, top only, so I could build my own adjustable height base. Also, instead of having the bench against a wall, this time it will be freestanding… and mobile!

I picked up a set of plans for making an adjustable height bench from Jack-Bench. The plans were great; well worth the investment! However, my new bench is fairly narrow at 24 1/4”, so I needed to make a few adjustments to fit my situation. Okay, I admit it was more than a few, but having the plans from Jack-Bench got me on the right track! Also, I wanted to make my bench with a greater range of height adjustment, so I added another jack.

Here is the design I came up with. Total weight, with the bench top included is around five or six hundred pounds; about half the lifting capacity of the motorcycle jacks I chose.

Making my customized version of the Jack-Bench got to be fairly involved, so I’ll just summarize some of the work. Below, I’m using an MDF template to cut the plywood shape for the upper legs.

Three layers of 3/4” plywood make up each set of u-shaped legs.

Side panels were built up from a birch core covered with 1/2” plywood on both sides.

The inside is made up of three “shelves”, including a rolling cart that makes it very easy to move the whole bench around the shop.

Each shelf is covered with a layer of 3/4” plywood.

The lower legs are laminations of 3/4” plywood, just like the upper legs. Below, is one of four bearing plates per leg that are recessed into the plywood and are used when clamping the entire base together, keeping it safe and solid during use.

The center shelf rests in this mortise cut into the lower legs.

To help guide the upper legs as they slide up and down on the lower legs, I Iined a dado in the lower leg plywood with solid birch, and added a corresponding birch runner to the upper legs.

Then, I overlaid a solid wood bearing surface for clamping.

After cutting the dado, it looked something like this, below.

The upper leg assembly was glued and clamped.

Dado and runner, just about ready for final fitting and assembly.

The side panels got an aluminum “flipper-flopper” that will hold the lower side panels up, providing access to the lower motorcycle jack for installation and maintenance.

The first jack is installed on the cart, under the center shelf.

Two tandem upper motorcycle jacks were then mounted to the center shelf and the whole assembly was rolled into position to pick up the upper leg assembly.

With the upper leg assembly attached, I raised it up on blocks as I installed the lower legs, jack operators and the clamping rods.

Ahh… finally ready for the bench top.

Here’s the whole bench, ready for work. Below, it is shown in its nominal working height, which for me is 36” above the floor.

Loosen the clamping rods and with a quick turn of the socket on a drill, the bench can be lowered to its minimum height of 32”.

Or raised to its maximum height. Below it is shown at 48”, but for some jobs I think I can bring it up to 52” or 53” and it will work just fine! The clamping rods do a great job of making the bench solid. The main benefit here is that I’m able to spokeshave chair parts in either of the vises while standing. Very ergonomic.

This workbench is just begging to get to work!

Next time, I’ll share a bit of the process from earlier this year in making the Upprätt armchair in black walnut.

Hej då!

Craig

The last bit of woodworking on the Upprätt 2 armchair involves making the arms. I like that these are the last parts to be glued up. They represent some of the most striking grain graphics for this piece. You'll notice in the photo above that the arms are cut from very straight-grained sections of the tree. This, plus setting the correct angle for the end grain, combined with sculpting the final shape, will create the surface grain graphics I am looking for.

Below, I've set up the left arm so that I measure the proper angle for cutting the compound angle at the rear end of the arm. This will only be an approximation, since the back leg is actually twisting from a rectangular profile at the seat rail to more of a diamond profile at the backrest.

Once the rear end was cut, I transferred the angles from an extra long rear tenon onto the side as well as the bottom of the arm. Then, I laid out the rear mortise and cut it on the mortiser.

With a floating tenon fitted to both the rear leg and the arm, I carefully carved the rear end of the arm with a shallow gouge. The fit at this point needs to be very close, but there will be one last change for adjustment after boring the dowel pin hole at the front end of the arm.

I located the dowel pin hole and bored it on the drill press. Now the tenon and dowel are holding the arm in its final position.

Next I traced the top and bottom templates onto the arms. Note that these templates are intended to guide the shaping of the sides of the arms which are not vertical.

I spent a bit of time with a sanity check, making sure that the top and bottom template lines were positioned correctly.

I then cut the shapes on the bandsaw.

Below, one last chance to see the mirrored end grain lines side-by-side!

The hand shaping begins.

After the sides were shaped to near final finish, I used a different type of template to trace the top and bottom surface lines onto both sides of the arms. These templates were designed to follow the contours of the curved/sloping sides of the arms, whereas the top and bottom templates used earlier represented flat surfaces projected above and below the arms onto the flat surfaces of the machined plank.

Here's where the shaping gets fun. Below is a preview of the nicely curved surface grain graphics as they emerge from the straight grained plank. I love it when a plan comes together!

I then interrupted Carol from her scarf weaving as she became my glue-up buddy to make sure all the clamping was done without incident.

Another successful glue-up. Thanks Carol! Next comes the oil and resin finish application followed by the seat and backrest wrapping with Danish cord.

Hej då!

Craig

The backrest for the Upprätt 2 armchair is simple in some respects and complicated in others. It starts out as a nice rectangular block of wood and attaches to the back legs at just two points. I had to glue up additional material due to the thickness required for the overall shape of the backrest. That's okay, since the portion containing the glue-up will be hidden within the Danish cord wrap that I'll be adding to the backrest.

I cut mortises into the backrest blank and fit the floating tenons.

Next, I routed the bearing surfaces for the backrest to attach to the back legs.

The templates were traced onto the front and the top for cutting on the bandsaw.

Cut number one.

Then, I taped the stack back together for cut number two.

Here's the rough backrest.

The dark stain is evidence of some weathering that was later covered up by new growth. In the off-cut below, you can see where some critter had burrowed through the wood. Fortunately, the waste contained all the bad stuff; the backrest just has a bit of staining that will mostly be hidden under the Danish cord wrap.

I began the hand shaping by smoothing the transition from the routed bearing surface to the underside of the backrest.

At this point, I need only to get the fit close. The final fitting will be done after the entire backrest is otherwise completely ready for glue-up. This should be good for now.

While dry fitting the backrest, I use a spacer and scribe a line indicating the desired overhang of the backrest beyond the leg profile.

I mainly used a block plane to trim the front, back and end of the square portion of each end of the backrest.

Then, in stages, I shaped the backrest to its final shape with spokeshaves.

The Danish cord wrap will be inset approximately flush with the rest of the exposed wood surface. Before cutting the inset for the wrap, I bored a series of holes to a specific depth to mark the point where the inset surface should be.

Crude, but effective.

Then it was time to remove about 1/8" of material using spokeshaves and chisels.

As the holes begin to disappear, I know I'm getting close to the target.

Shaping with a chisel.

Cleaning up the end of the inset surface.

I added some filed notches, just as I had done earlier with the seat rails; again, so that the wrap is less likely to slide downhill and loosen up.

A few areas required some carving to soften the edges.

The last bit of preparation, as I had done with the previous chair parts, is to make a couple of light passes with 800 grit and 1,000 grit sandpaper.

At this point, I went back to the chair assembly and cleaned up any issues that I found with the surfaces. Below, I'm completing the edge softening near the seat rails as planned following the previous glue-up.

Last thing before the glue-up was to do the final fitting of the backrest joinery. Then, at last, the glue-up.

Next, I'll be tackling the armrests. There's still a lot to do before the American Craft Council Saint Paul show which runs April 8 - 10, 2016, so I better keep busy. Armrests, oil/resin finish and seat wrap yet to come.

Hej då!

Craig

Following last week's glue-up of the front leg assembly for the Upprätt 2 armchair, the time has come to get back to shaping the side seat rails and stretchers. First step is to pre-drill all the holes for the seat wrap L-nails. If I counted correctly, there are a total of 105 of them in the side seat rails. Yikes! If these parts don't work out for the chair I can always turn them into cribbage boards.

I traced around the templates, cut them on the bandsaw and shaped them with hand planes and spokeshaves. Below are the two side stretchers with the inside and outside faces shaped, ready for bandsawing the curved lines of the top and bottom edges.

Okay, so now the four side parts have all been shaped, edge-softened and have received their final surface preparation. Next comes the dry-fitting. Here I need to make sure all the joints come together easily and cleanly. Below, I'm checking the alignment of the top of the front leg with the arm mortise in the back leg.

While keeping a watchful eye on retaining alignment of the key arm joinery locations, I look very closely at the dry-fit joinery to look for a proper fit. Here's a close-up view of one of the side seat rails that shows a dark line at the joint, which is evidence of a gap. These gaps are not just aesthetic concerns, they are also structural. The tighter the fit of the joinery shoulders, the greater the strength that can be built into the joint.

I closely inspect each joint, looking for telltale gaps, using a flashlight, a mirror, and of course, my bifocals and Optivisor! I don't mark the gaps. Actually, on joints where I see gaps, I mark the perimeter of the joint where it is tight. Using a pencil, the marking is done on the legs.

Here's one of the markings, ready for adjustment of the fit.

Below, after carefully honing my block plane iron, I take very fine shavings. It usually takes two or three passes of the plane to remove the graphite marks, so it's easy to control the amount of material that gets removed.

This is one of those operations that, if one moves too quickly, could easily turn into a "cat chasing his tail" type of scenario, but if I am patient, it usually only takes two or three rounds of dry fitting and planing to creep up on a good fit. For this particular stage in the chair, there are eight joints. So, I need to prepare myself for several hours of fitting. Fortunately, this time around I only needed to make three rounds before getting the fit I was looking for.

The glue-up was done in three stages. First the right rear joints were glued. A few hours later it was time for the left rear joints. Then, before nightfall, a third glue-up for the day of the four front joints.

As always, it's important to know what makes a successful glue-up. A glue-up isn't completed until it passes all the necessary checks. In this case, I'm looking for two primary things. First, the four feet are positioned on a flat surface. Second, clamping pressure is adjusted so that the tops of the front legs properly align with the mortises in the rear legs; similar to the measurement shown in the third photo in this post.

So, here it is. The glue-up is completed.

Next week, you should be able to see the chair back coming along. And, if all goes well, I should have a good start on the arms, as well.

Hej då!

Craig

After last week's preparation of the side seat rails and side stretchers for the Upprätt 2 armchair, I proceeded to fine-tune the angles at the front end of the side seat rails. This dialed-in the vertical angle of the front legs. I need to make sure that the feet sit flat on the floor, of course, but, more importantly, I need to make sure each arm will sit flat on the top of the front leg and intersect the back leg in precisely the right spot.

With that exercise completed, I cut the front seat rail and stretcher to length and laid out the joinery.

I also traced the top templates onto the parts to confirm the tenon locations. Then, I went to the table saw to cut the tenon shoulders.

The bandsaw is great for cutting the tenon cheeks.

Below, I'm trimming the bottom of the tenon.

I dry-fit the front assembly. Here, I marked the exact position of the inside face of the front seat rail and then planed that surface just slightly forward of the back face of the front legs.

With the back of the front seat rail planed, I then laid out and drilled holes for the L-nails to be used for attaching the Danish cord seat wrap.

Next, I cut the curves on the bandsaw.

After planing the curved surfaces of the front seat rail and stretcher, I traced the templates for the front and rear of the seat rail.

Below is a view of the curved front.

And the flat inside face.

I did the same thing with the front stretcher and followed that up with edge softening using the spokeshave.

On to the front legs... they are in need of surface refinement and edge softening.

After the shaping and the joinery fitting was completed, I sanded the surfaces to make the sheen of the wood more uniform. For this I used two quick, very light passes; first with 800 grit and finishing with 1,000 grit.

It felt good to do this next dry fit of the side assemblies. With the front completed, It looks like my goal of "lightening" the feel of the Upprätt armchair in this second iteration of the design seems to be working out as planned.

Next time, I'll be working on final fitting and shaping of the side seat rails and stretchers. Hopefully, we'll be looking at more glue-ups, as well. Eights joints glued up so far, with fourteen to go!

Hej då!

Craig

The work this week (and next) on the Upprätt 2 armchair is especially challenging because it involves making and fitting the side seat rails and side stretchers, which have compound angle cuts at the ends. These ends need to match up with the curved faces of the front and back leg profiles.

The first step was to determine the correct angles for the cuts, then to set up several jigs for the table saw that allow me to accurately set up each cut; one jig for the miters and four for the bevel cuts which are all different.

With the bevel-miters cut and the rails and stretchers cut to approximate length, I began cutting slot mortises for the floating tenons. Because the angle of the miter cuts is fairly extreme, a "live tenon" cut directly on the ends of the rails and stretchers would have the grain oriented in a way that produces a weak joint. The remedy for this situation is a separate floating tenon that connects opposing mortises cut in the legs and rails/stretchers.

Below, is the set-up for cutting mortises in the ends. The u-shaped trough holds the end grain face of the part perfectly vertical so that the mortise is cut perpendicular to that face and the jig is set parallel to the cutting bit.

Here's a better view of the cutting action.

The side parts are still in a bulky milled form. They'll stay this way until the front leg assembly is glued up and the final fitting of the side seat rails and stretchers has begun.

The image below shows the relationship between the traced outline of the parts and the cut mortises.

Next, I milled some of the same elm material to form floating tenons.

The fitting of the tenons, as with all hand work, requires a bit of care to achieve the proper shape and size.

One leg to go...

It's beginning to look like a chair. With the tenons fitted, I used the spokeshave and hand plane to add bevels to the front and back of the front legs.

Next is the process of making sure the angle cuts at the ends are accurate and that the parts are cut to the correct length. This requires that I be able to clamp up the assembly as if it were ready for glue-up.

Probably the most complex parts of this chair, the clamping cauls, won't even be in the finished piece. Below, you can see how the cauls are straight, curved, beveled, tapered and offset; a significant effort, but for a good fit and a seamless glue-up process it will be worth it! The best, most long-lasting joint, is one that is stress-free when it is at rest. This is one way to help achieve that. These particular cauls will allow me to apply a uniform clamping force that is axial in its relationship to the seat rails and stretchers.

Next time, I'll be making adjustments to the lengths of the side seat rails and stretchers as well as preparing the front leg assembly.

Hej då!

Craig

This week, work on the Upprätt 2 armchair began with fitting the back seat rail and back stretcher tenons into the back leg mortises. I then prepared the inside face of the back seat rail for the seat wrap nails. I laid out the nail locations now so that I could more easily pre-drill holes using the drill press, rather than waiting until the chair is completely assembled and a bit cumbersome to navigate.

Both parts were then taken to the band saw and the curves were cut. First, the inside and outside faces... then the top and bottom faces.

On this version of the Upprätt chair, I'll be making most of the part profiles a bit smaller. In the case of the seat rails, I'm also adding a curve to the outside face. First, I hand-plane a chamfer defining the lower end of the curve. Then, a chamfer down the center of the face.

From there, I continued subdividing the facets, by eye, using the hand plane. The result is a gentle curve.

Next, all the sharp edges are made soft and friendly using a block plane and spokeshave.

The seat rail needs a few notches filed into the outer edges to keep the seat wrap cord from sliding along the curve and losing its tension.

Below, you can see the spokeshave forming the initial chamfer on one of the back stretcher edges.

To further reduce the visual weight compared to the first Upprätt chair, I've incorporated bevels into the rectangular profiles of the legs... first, laid out in pencil.

Hand planing and spokeshaving reveal the new profiles. I'm adding this bevel to the front and back surfaces of all four legs.

At last, we come to our first glue-up. To play it safe, as usual, I've done the back assembly in two stages. First the left leg joinery; then the right, an hour, or so, later. This will stay clamped until tomorrow morning.

Next week, the side seat rails will be prepared, leading into work on the front leg assembly.

Hej då!

Craig

I prepared the legs for the Upprätt 2 armchair by making a final milling pass through the jointer and planer. Due to limitations of the elm plank I'm working with, I had to cut the curves in the back legs fairly close to the final shape. This limits the number of reference surfaces I can rely on for accurately locating joinery, but as you will see... there's always a way.

With the back legs machine-planed down to their final nominal thickness, I positioned the template and traced the leg outline, including the joinery. Next, it was back to the bandsaw to cut to the traced lines.

Below, I've clamped both back legs into the vice and proceeded to hand-plane the curved surfaces to the template lines.

Progress is fairly quick, so frequent checking of the template lines is always a good idea.

The concave curve of the back legs is done with a compass plane and spokeshave.

Satisfying results.

One advantage of using a computer model, even when the project is mostly handwork, is that I can create templates that represent the actual curved surface. Below, I'm transferring the template to the front surface of the back legs.

Already, you can see some of the curved grain graphics that are resulting from the added effort last week to orient the end grain angle toward this intended result.

Mortises are being cut on my Davis & Wells boring machine that I converted to cut slot mortises. Below is one of the front legs. This is a straightforward operation, since the leg stock is nicely square and straight, and in alignment with the mortises.

Things get a little more interesting with the back legs. The leg sides make nice reference surfaces, but additional work is needed to deal with the curved front and back faces.

The jig shown here holds the leg sides at 90° to the mortiser table and allows me to set the top end face of the leg at exactly 90°, as well. From there, the mortising proceeds as usual; pictured below is the mortise for the back that is attached to the top of the leg.

When it came time for the back seat rail and back stretcher mortises, I clamped both legs to a squared-up block of wood... in effect adding a new reference surface for setting up the mortising.

After completing all the leg mortises, I traced the last of the leg template shapes onto the legs and shaped the surfaces; first with the bandsaw and then with hand planes and spokeshaves.

I've got my sights set on the first glue-up of the back assembly for next week. I've begun work on the back seat rail and back stretcher. After final machine milling of the parts, I laid out the tenons on the ends.

Cut the shoulders on the table saw.

Cut the tenon cheeks on the bandsaw and traced the templates.

I'm looking forward to fitting these tenons next week and preparing the surfaces and edges for the first glue-up. Until then...

Hej då!

Craig