Chair Notes

Big Man, Big Chair

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Mon, 13 May 2013 17:06:00 +0000

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.

Box Shaped People

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Wed, 08 May 2013 13:05:00 +0000

I bought a new push lawn mower the other day, and like a two year old at Christmas, I had much more fun playing with the box than with the mower.
I've spent lots of time thinking about the shaped of the spindles in the backs of chairs and because I use spindles, it's easy to get stuck thinking vertically. But the shape of the human body doesn't follow a singe vertical curve at every spot. So I started thinking about the relationships as they proceed horizontally. With the hardy cardboard, I mocked up this chair back by aligning four curves. It is surprisingly comfortable and sturdy.

Each curve is actually slightly cones shaped. It was easy and took only a half hour or so, but it confirmed a lot of what I have been doing with my spindles and encouraged me to go even further.

Here is the view of the back. I started by pinning the piece together with drywall screws and adjusting them as I saw fit.

Then I took the small blocks of plywood and spun the screws until the plywood was sucked tight to the cardboard. The single board clamped to the workbench puts the support in just the right spot so I can rest my weight on it. From there, I mapped out the spindle shapes and will be making some patterns and dummies to further test it out. We will be working with this more to design some chairs at the class that Greg Pennington and I will be teaching at Kelly Mehlers in a couple of weeks.

As you can see in the chair below, I have been highlighting similar shapes in the flat spindles of my chairs for some time now.

This is my first walnut rocker with hickory spindles. Over time, the hickory will mellow to a lovely amber and the walnut will lighten. I didn't know exactly how I would feel about the contrast, but it is striking in person and quite pleasing.

I've accentuated the chamfers on the spindles which adds a lot of interest to their blonde color.

And spring is here, so we've got some new chicks in the house!!

Ten ladies should keep the whole neighborhood in eggs. The are growing like weeds, it's almost disconcerting.
And I opened up the goat paddock into the woods so my kids could climb rocks and eat shrubs.

In case you don't see them, here they are, livin large, just like the rest of us.

Feynman

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Fri, 03 May 2013 12:16:00 +0000

I noticed that this is my 501 st posting on Chairnotes! My best days always include working out something or learning something and posting about it. I am trying to steer my activities to encourage these behaviors. Thanks for sticking around.

I'm a bit of an insomniac. But I'm not one of those toss and turn, stress about how much sleep I'm losing insomniacs. I get up, get dressed and enjoy an hour or two of peace and quiet with no phone ringing and no meaningful work. I indulge in lots of rambling thoughts in these wee hours.
Recently, I've been spending nights listening to lectures and stories by Richard Feynman. He was one of the great minds in physics of the twentieth century, and his ramblings fit perfectly with my mood. Then, over breakfast, I retell his stories. If you haven't heard Feynman speak, he sounds like my Uncle Jay from New York, but stick with it, because like Jay, his brilliance comes along unexpectedly.
This one blew my mind.

Here is one of my favorite talks, and it's about trees, so I figure it fits.

I've bought a new drawknife the other day, shocking, I know.
It's a Barton #7. Barton is one of the only makers that used a geometry that distinctly lends itself to use bevel up. I have always liked the large gap between the blade and the handles, it makes seat carving a snap.

Many of the Bartons are quite large, but this one is just right.

The steel in this knife is superb and I was so excited when I sharpened it, that Claire suggested that I name it "Feynman", and so it is.

For the Sake of Clarity

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:48:00 +0000

I've been turning my thoughts towards the class that I'll be teaching at Kelly Mehlers School in a few weeks. I thought it might be worth highlighting some recent thoughts and plans for the class.

Let's face it, there are enough chairs in the out there. I don't rush to the shop concerned that someone is lacking a place to sit. I go for the joy and challenge of making. For the most part, the chairs that I make leave my shop and I am left pondering the next chair, my tools and my process. As I assume it is with most folks, it's about exploring the limits of my tools and my ability.
And as do most folks, I've looked for help. The magazines and books guided and inspired me, but in the end, I was left guessing whether my results were hitting the mark. The funny thing is, even after all these years, the desire to get more from my tools and process has only deepened.

A case in point just pulled up as I was writing this. My friend Scott came over last week and I helped him reshape his turning tools. This time he came over for a couple of chunks of maple to try them out on. He was remarking how excited he was to get back to the lathe now that his tools were better shaped. I know well the frustration he must have felt turning before.

In a broad sense, this is what the class at Kelly's is about. We will investigate the geometry and function of tools we have and ones that we are making to get the most out of our woodworking experience.Whether it's the holding power of our shave horse or the angle of the handles of our drawknives, we'll be addressing our expectations head on.

One project that I am excited about is making adzes.
Tim Manney and I have turned our attention to designing a new adze.
Tim had great experience in Peru watching the folks use adzes and I've always made my own adzes, first for financial reasons and lately because I haven't been impressed by the ones available. And, oh yeah, did I mention financial reasons?

Grinding the Blade

We've been asking the basic question "What is a proper chairmakers adze and how does it work?" I've come up with a good prototype and Tim and I made up some variations hoping to advance the design and better understand its use. As expected, our initial efforts raised more questions than answers, but we have gotten some great results and are looking forward to the next versions. Greg is bringing along his forge and anvil to Kelly's so we can make some tools, including adzes and start at the beginning of our craft, the steel.

A Rough Prototype

On the process of chairmaking, we'll start with my basic goal as a chairmaker.
I don't want to make a chair, I want to make any chair. That means that I am not satisfied to have a single design, instead, I want a process that functions to bring to life whatever I can imagine. The Windsor technology is a perfect framework for this, as the limitations that it offers have led me to come up with some simple landmarks and techniques for connecting the dots.
Chairs can be mysterious, even to experienced makers, but I think that with a little focus on design and process, you can understand the variables and their meaning.

A Chair Near Completion

I won't ramble on any more, suffice it to say, this is going to be an exciting week and I hope to see you there.

Dialing it In

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:39:00 +0000

I successfully used the new rocker routing fixture to cut the slots in the walnut chair that I am finishing up.

I suppose that a quick word is in order about my reasons for going to the trouble of building this tool. While I enjoy doing many things with hands tools, because they give me lots of control, freedom and results that machines can't match, when it comes to rockers, I have a different priority.
Designing and building rockers is a process full of variables. To rock successfully, rockers must be oriented to each other and the chair correctly. Any variation in the process of cutting the slots and fitting the rockers can make it difficult to refine the design. Also, the references used to locate the slots can greatly affect the consistency from chair to chair.
What this fixture does, is create repeatable and consistent rocker slots based on references that allow me to focus on the other variables that go into making a rocker. For me, nailing down the relationship between the seat and the rockers is the next step towards a deeper understanding and freedom in rocking chair design.

I am going to show some photos here, and hopefully you can see that while it has some adjustable parts, the fixture is simple and does a simple job. The photo below shows one the primary advantages of the fixture, which is that the two platforms are automatically parallel to each other which insures that the slots are as well.

Here are the slots already routed. The straight edge lies dead flat against the inside of the slot on both legs.

Another variable that the fixture addresses is the different splay of the legs. You can see this in the photo below if you look closely.

The slot on the leg in the foreground is slightly tilted off the axis of the leg. You can especially notice this if you compare the half circle shaped material remaining at the bottom of the leg. The slot in the leg in the background does the same thing, but in the opposite direction. The reason for this is that the slots must be oriented to split the difference between the splay of the front and rear legs.
Most importantly, the slot is in the center of each leg at the deepest point, for strength. The jig does this automatically. I'll explain how it does this later, but for now, I just want to point out the variables.

The process follows these steps.
First, I measure the splay of the front and rear legs, in this case 13 degrees for the front and 19 for the rear, which gives me an average of 16 degrees. I pivot the central panel to 16 degrees, push the chair up against the jig and position the two platforms. Then I route the slots.
Next, I swing the pivoting panel the opposite direction (16 degrees again), with the platforms still fixed, reposition the chair, and route the other legs.
Using the fixture was a breeze and so many of the troublesome layout and fitting issues that I've always encountered were either eliminated or greatly simplified.

Above, you can see how I measure the slot angles to transfer to my rocker pattern. If all is right, there is no fiddling around or fitting and I can repeat the results on the next chair. I will be shooting video of the process, but I think that introducing the variable over a few posts might make it all more understandable.

Rocker Jig Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 23:02:00 +0000

I found a place to buy 3/4" baltic birch plywood and started working out the design of the rocker fixture. Here are the results so far.

I've eliminated the base that I used in Australia, opting to use the bench and a couple of clamps. It makes the jig much smaller and easier to store. I'll go into more of the details as it comes to fruit.
As you can see, the central panel swings both directions so that the platforms on the top can be set once in the process. If you aren't familiar with original, you might understand it once I shoot the videos.
Here are the platforms that the router runs on. If you click on the images, you can see them larger.

Just a few slots and hardware to make the platforms adjustable and I'll be ready to route. It's almost worth all the splinters... almost.

A View Inside

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:27:00 +0000

I would love to pretend that ideas and plans come out of my head like a finished Sketchup drawing, but alas, it's more like the tray on a highchair after a spaghetti dinner.

I show this to announce that I am finally building the next version of the rocker fixture that was so successful on my trip to Australia last year and to show off my new camera. That's right, I've moved out of the point and click and back into my art school photo phase. I'll be using my new camera to shoot high def video of the jig building and use. I'm very excited to have this fixture in the shop, not only will it make mounting rockers easier, but more importantly, they will be exactly consistent from chair to chair, which means that I'll be able to focus on refining them even more.

Here is the view that my wife has seen ever since I got the camera (an Olympus E-m5). Besides grunting for food, all I've talked about for 3 days is the features of this camera, charming, I'm sure.

Unambiguous

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 20:17:00 +0000

Making shapes in wood is what got me into furniture making. I recall seeing the sculptural curves in Sam Maloofs work and coveting his job. Don't worry, I won't be drawing any comparisons between what we do except to say that there is a lesson that I drew from looking at his results, and the results present in so many Windsors.
The basic idea is simple, each shape should have a geometric logic within itself and a sense of tension with the other pieces that it joins to. Without this, parts and entire pieces of furniture look "ooey gooey", like they are melting or have worn slack.
I have a few techniques that I use to help create the logic within a piece. Mostly, they involve following a series of geometric shapes as inbetween steps so that the final shape has a hidden framework that helps define it.

I was thinking about this today while shaping the curved stretchers for a rocker that I am finishing. I had some issues when bending the stretchers turned to their final shape, the tapers had too much runout and cracked. So I turned the piece at a cylinder and bent it. The bend went fine, but then it was up to me to carve the tapers.

As you can see, I shaved the round part into an octagon. Round is a time consuming and difficult shape to adjust and fair. When I have to remove a bunch of wood, I usually revert to the octagon, which makes it very simple. I just keep working on each facet until the taper of the facet is pleasing and matches the other 7. Then round is an easy step away. Note the felt on the bending form. It took a negative impression of the stretcher and left the surface of the walnut round and uncompressed.

Here is another shot of the stretcher, and yes, I can finally work outside.

Here is is inside the chair. I like the way that the stretcher "pushes" against the legs and echoes the curves of the rockers. The only issue is my every worsening reaction to the walnut, which might make this my last project with this great wood. But of course, never say never.

Port Townsend

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:19:00 +0000

I've been privileged to teach in a lot of places, but I would seriously be hard pressed to recall one as naturally beautiful and fun as Port Townsend. Obviously it isn't in my neighborhood, actually, it's almost as far as you can get in the lower 48, but I will definitely be returning.

Here are a few shots that I took while wandering around the town.

There a lots of lovely old Victorians and gardens pop up everywhere.

On clear days, you could see snow capped mountains across the Sound. But alas, my ailing camera couldn't capture them.
The school itself is located in Fort Worden State Park which has a huge array of cool old buildings that all sorts of businesses and schools.

The building that houses the school is small, but highly functional.

As a matter of fact, I found something there that I've never seen. Tim Lawson, Jim Tolpin and John Marckworth have equipped the shop with the full sets of sharpened, yes sharpened hand tools for each student. It was a pleasure to reach for a chisel or plane to find it in top working order.

And the photos above only show the shelves. Each bench has a full set of layout tools and just about everything you need. They even had an array of drawknives and spokeshaves. I wish we had talked more before I went or I wouldn't have shipped my froe out there, they had plenty.

Here is Tim warming up while we built the kiln on Sunday before the class.
And here are the students shaving away. They recently built the shavehorses and they performed beautifully. I love it when the students work on good shavehorses because the quickly come to appreciate how efficient they are.

By day 6 we had all of the chairs assembled, and I was very pleased with the quality that the students achieved.

The last item worth mentioning is the food. Everywhere I went there was a new place to get great coffee, food or beer, my kind of town. I've discussed returning with Tim and have already started plotting to get Sue out there for a well deserved vacation.

One Heck of a Link

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 12:33:00 +0000

I was reading Caleb James blog and realized that I had to post about it. Looking at his latest entries, it's easy to see the breadth of his abilities and generosity. Not only has he recently completed the plans for Curtis' comb back, which are available here, but he is offering free plans for moulding planes and sharing some brilliant shop jigs. I love watching his development and am positive that it will go on and on. Keep it up Caleb!

Curtis Buchanan's Signature Comb Back

A quick word about Curtis' videos and plans. Curtis has been a friend for many years and he greatly influenced my decision to offer my experience in an open format and so it was no surprise when he started offering his in his videos. Now that he has created a package of videos and plans, I'd encourage you to support him, knowing that he is working to find a way to balance making his living with openly offering his knowledge. A success with this effort will lead him to do more videos, which will benefit you, me and chairmaking enthusiasts for years to come.

Spring Report

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 17:27:00 +0000

From my lack of posting lately, you have probably surmised that it's been a busy couple of months. I have been working to wrap up projects, some new tools, some new techniques and of course some classes. I've been teaching weekends at the North Bennet Street school in Boston. After their initial taste of chairmaking from Dan Faia and Elia Bizzarri, some of the students decided to bring me in to teach some other designs. It's a fun place to teach with lots of talent and energy.

But as with all things in this world, choices must be made and consequences endured, so my maple syrup season has been whittled down to a couple of days of running out to the rig to check the fire, while tending to other business. It's the exact opposite of the way it is meant to be, which is an excuse to hang out outside for 8 hours tending a fire and watching the spring arrive. But, I needed to do it, even if it wasn't the ambling joy of burning wood and time together.

But that said, my efforts last season to improve my rig worked great and I was able to get more than a gallon each day that I boiled. Enough for me and my helpers.
Speaking of helpers, he are pics of Dan and Tim helping me split out parts for a class that I am teaching next week at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking in Washington state.

I am excited to go to the northwest, I haven't been there in 20 years. This is my first time teaching there and I am excited to be expanding to the west. There is one spot open if you are interested.

I forgot how much work it is to prep an entire classes worth of material. I've never missed Greg so much.

I did finally get a chance to paint the "glueless" chair. It hasn't fallen apart yet!

I have been experimenting with some new paint and new techniques and am excited to share the results. I have some more testing to do, but I think that I might be on track to the fool proof finishing that we all want (especially this fool).

I set out to paint the chair blue, and I did, but the layering, and shellac (hint) shifted the color to the green

In case you missed it, check out Jameel's blog over at Benchcrafted.

He made his "smarthead" shavehorse and made some updates and additions to the plans. It boggles my mind how pretty he makes everything. I wonder if his sock drawer is a mess.
I am getting very excited for the class at Kelly Mehler's where we will be building this project as well as forging blades, getting down and dirty with our tools and as always, having a ball.
Happy Spring!

The Connection

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 00:31:00 +0000

Moving from our New York homestead was a trying and painful process, but in the end, I can honestly say that I am content in the knowledge that it was the right move, and a move up. The one lingering pang has been the loss of my longtime connection to my sawyer. He was always helpful and reasonable when it came to getting me my logs. Since the move, I've floundered a bit on this count and scraped by with what I could find locally... until now.
Thanks to my friend Bill Doe, I've found a local logger who has the good sense to set aside the best logs for furniture making and while he generally ships them to Canada, he's graciously agreed to sell some to me. The hickory log in the picture above is a lovely example of his work.

Here is Tim Manney splitting up billets for reamers. He got 165 blanks out of 1/2 of the log!

I know that many folks out there are suffering the same problems finding green wood and my sympathy is with you. There are folks who sell splits of different species, such as Elia Bizzarri and Nick Cicchinelli and perhaps this new connection will help a local friend to start up another venue for getting the right material to the right folks. I'll keep you posted.

A Lesson from Our Flat Friends

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 16:11:00 +0000

I finally got around to completing my glueless continuous arm. I must say, assembly without glue is rather painless. Building the chair wasn't wildly different from my normal procedure, but it did shift my awareness about the joinery and push me to think a bit differently.

With most through tenons, such as the spindles, it's easy enough to slightly shoulder the tenon so that the arm can't slide down any further and then to oval the mortise at exit so that the wedge distorts the tenon and locks it in place. It's a version of the hammer eye joint, with it's hourglass shape that holds hammer heads in on their handles.
Tapered tenons, such as on the ends of the legs don't present a problem because the weight of the sitter in use keeps them tight. But the tapers at the top and bottom of the armposts have more complex stresses and the glueless chair got me to thinking about my approach to them.


http://www.woodworkings.ca/HandWork/Mortise-and-tenon-Joints.html

This is where our flat friends come in. When wedging a rectangular tenon in a through mortise, the practice is to flare the mortise and use 2 wedges close to the edges of the tenon to distort the tenon to fill the flare.

The usual approach when making a chair is to use a single wedge in the middle, which adds pressure to the fit of the joint, but doesn't create a distinct flare, at least not enough to create a "lock".
So with my glueless chair, I flared the opening where the tenon comes out of the mortise to create the hourglass shape and used two wedges to lock it in place.

You can see here that the tenon, although tapered, easily flared outward to create a "lock"
Here is the top after cutting the tenon flush.

I must say, even though time will be the real judge, I have a lot of confidence that this joint ain't goin nowhere. As I move on into glued chairs, I am definitely taking some lessons learned making this one, now where's that blue paint?

If you'd like to spend a couple of days with me on March 9th and 10th while I demonstrate building this chair, check out the website at the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking for details.

Here is a pic of Nick Clayton with his recently completed comb back. Nick lives nearby and was able to come to class periodically over a couple of months.

I think that the quality of the chair benefited from the extra time and relaxed approach we took. Either that or the kid's a natural! It's one of the nicest comb backs I've seen, well done Nick.

The Reamers are Here!

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 22:40:00 +0000

I'm very pleased to announce that we have gotten the process down for producing the adjustable 6 degree tapered reamer.

I am fortunate to be working with Tim Manney to produce these. Tim is a gifted chairmaker and has worked with some of the best woodworkers in the country. He brings a lot to the table.

He has taken the design and process and pushed them to a level far beyond my expectations. The tool not only functions better than any reamer that I've used, but it's absolutely beautiful.

Besides the precision machined parts, the key to the performance of the reamer is the adjuster screw. It's a simple mechanism that is easy to reach and can dial in a depth of cut so that you can get smoother mortises and more control over the tool, regardless of the material. When set properly, this reamer glides past the end grain, and even better, no fussing with little shims behind the blade to adjust the cut.

The top of the body is a straight cylinder for measuring with a bevel square and has a brass point for easy sighting and durability.

One unexpected benefit of our process is that the shavings don't jam between the blade and the kerf. Shavings build up in the channels like they are suppose to and fall out when you pull the tool from the hole, so you don't have to constantly remove the blade from the body to clear them.

One other feature that I wanted for personal reasons was a removable handle. I don't know about you, but I haven't met a toolbox yet that could accommodate a reamer, and with my traveling, I really wanted a simple way to mount the handle. So, being a reamer, it made perfect sense to use a taper to lock it in place.

It's a subtle little taper that works great thanks to the precise fit of the rest of the handle. A quick tap on the workbench and it's set, another tap and it slides right out.
Forgive me if I am gushing on this one, but Tim has really hit it out of the park.
We are offering these at $110 (plus $10 shipping). If you would like to get your name on the list, please contact me at peter@petergalbertchairmaker.com.
Thanks in advance for your patience.

Yeah, But it's a Dry Heat

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 19:52:00 +0000

I am not a scientist. I think that the scientific method is one of the great achievements of mankind, but, I would never claim that I'd worked it thoroughly enough to deserve the designation. But I do want to know more about what I do, so the experiments march on.

Lately I've been thinking about bending. Perhaps it was having to bend some walnut after a recent bad experience that got the juices flowing. I read literature that remarked on the moisture content of steam as it related to wood bending and the concept that steam piped into a box might be lacking moisture. Of course, heat is the primary element in bending wood, but moisture is the conductor. As I understand the concept, the moisture can drop out of suspension in the steam en route to the box and what ends up making it into the box could be heat, but not as wet as it could be.

So to see if my steam needed wetting or if there was any difference in my bends, I attached a reservoir below my steamer that the hose from the steamer runs to so that the heat must pass through water as it enters the box, ensuring that the moisture content was at it's highest.

When I start up the steamer, the steam boils the water in the jar. So far, the results have been positive enough to warrant further testing.

Here are two bends. The same wood, air dried walnut, steamed for the same amount of time, 90 minutes. The piece that bent didn't raise a single fiber even though the fibers ran out the side more dramatically than the failed bend. And yes, the only difference was that one was steamed with the reservoir and one without. Of course, the successful bend was with the reservoir, and as far as free bending walnut, it's the tightest bend that I've done.

I've done other samples and gotten similar results. One factor that interests me is how this effects long steam times. Imagine that the steam isn't adding enough moisture, this may never be an issue with green wood or short steam times, but for working air dried or even kiln dried, this could make a difference.

Like I said, I'm no scientist, and I'd love to here from you about your ideas or experience. I am planning some tests with kiln dried white oak that I'll post soon.

I was Wrong!

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 21:41:00 +0000

No, this isn't about shavehorses, let's be serious.
As I have been working on the manuscript for the book, I've been coming across all sorts of interesting things. I finally have the perfect excuse to jump down the rabbit hole on lots of topics and follow some long held assumptions to their logical end.
As I have been working through the sharpening details, I've found that I've been doing something wrong, or at least didn't know the right way, for years.

I've used diamond stones, paddles and hones for a long time. They are durable, cut fast and stay nice and flat. But I've never trusted them to finish the job, that is, remove the burr and leave a sharp edge.
What I recently learned is that I've been using them wrong.
Unlike waterstones, which have particles that break down in use and then serve to polish the edge to a higher degree, diamonds are more like sandpaper. Like sandpaper, diamonds can only take so much pressure before you are simply wasting pressure and scratching the surface up with the trapped shavings (called swarf). I found out long ago that a light touch is the key to sanding, letting the tiny edges take the cut that they were meant to and clearing the swarf often. Since I've applied the same idea to diamonds, my results are far beyond my expectations.

I don't know what it is about diamonds that made me want to bear down on them, perhaps it was the knowledge that they are so hard, or perhaps I just miss seeing the clear black marks that the steel makes on my waterstones that let's me know that they are working. Whatever it is, it took a leap of faith to use them lightly. As Greg Pennington says, use them like you are sharpening a feather.

I've been sharpening my drawknives with a new technique (teaser) that uses diamonds and the results are much improved. I still finish with a few strokes of the strop, but the burr is basically already gone.
See, admitting you are wrong isn't so hard...

I was RIGHT

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 14:47:00 +0000

No this is not about shavehorses, that's too silly to even argue.
I had Ken St. Onge from Fine Woodworking in the shop the other day shooting photos for the second installment of turning articles that we are doing. I'm happy to say that they've added a third.

Some of you may have noticed that I am decidedly left handed, which for most activities isn't so difficult to translate for instruction, but Ken was convinced that for the publication, we should shoot me turning right handed.

Now I've heard it said that if you are first learning to turn that you should practice with both hands, and it sounds great, after all, you are awkward no matter what you do, so that would be the time to become ambi capable.
I didn't.

Granted, for lots of the turning, such as the first ten beads, I simply knocked em out lefty, but for the photos, I had to turn right handed, in slow motion, stopping about four times per detail for pictures.

A while back, I read an interesting experiment that focused on "The Curse of Knowledge". This is when you forget, or can't imagine that someone can't understand or perform something that you know. In the experiment, one person tapped a tabletop with the rhythm of a song that was in their head and the other person had to guess the song. Almost no one guessed the song, to the amazement of the tapper, who assumed it was obvious.

When teaching, I always try to keep this in mind, hoping that I can both empathize with the student not knowing and going through the stress of learning and also to help come up with the best way to bring them along in understanding and doing. While turning right handed, I was thrown from a place of comfortable knowledge, back into white knuckle terror.

As I rolled a bead with the skew, stopping for photos, I tried to take my own advice and apply the motion that I've described to students so many times. To my amazement, it worked. Not the prettiest beads, but there were no major catastrophes.

So, when you see the photos, or watch the videos that Ken shot (at the end of the day!) take a closer look, and know that I've had a refresher course in what it is to learn to turn. Maybe they can photoshop some blood back into my fingers.

Oh Snap!

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 15:40:00 +0000

My pal Ray Duffy sent me this link to a blog posting.

For some reason he thinks it has something to do with me!?

In case you missed it, I am on the back and inside cover of Fine Woodworkings Shops and Tools issues. Jon Binzen also made this video slideshow of my work that my mother simply adores!

Here is the link to the video.

Thanks Jon, sorry to have led you so terribly astray with the shavehorse!

Operator Error

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 16:22:00 +0000

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Sometime you just have to keep up with the times, so I'd like to introduce my new robotic travisher maker, The Armitron.

Actually, this is what happens when I leave the shop for a few hours and a 25 year old toolmaker finds a 30 year old toy. The funny part of pulling this thing from the attic is that every male from 30 to 45 who see it shouts, ARMITRON!!

Here is a photo of Ken St. Onge, Armitron devotee and editor from Fine Woodworking. He and I have been working on a two part turning article and he took it to heart when I suggested a day at my lathe might benefit us both as we head into producing part two. Perhaps no tool requires resilience when learning such as the lathe and teaching it gives a view into the ways that each person deals with failure, largely because there is no way to learn to turn without lots of it.

Of course, there are plenty of other activities in chairmaking that require a healthy does of composure in the face of adversity.

I think that perhaps I’ve reached a tipping point where I’ve had my efforts go awry enough times to take it in stride, or at the very least, not be shocked and utterly demoralized when it happens.

One part of our woodworking literature that is sadly missing is dealing with the failure inherent in the learning process. Most of us are on our own, learning from books or trial and error. The glossy images of wisened woodworkers who’ve mastered the craft only go to rub in the fact that we are not likely to get anything right the first time.

Here are a few quotes that I always have kicking around in my head when run full speed into my limitations.

"An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a given field."

Niels Bohr

"The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas."

Linus Pauling

"I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work."

Thomas Edison

Everyone screws up sometimes. It’s a humbling process, but if you embrace your mistakes and sometimes even learn to repeat them, not only will you master the technique, but you'll forge a process and perspective for learning that will spread into the rest of the workshop, maybe even beyond.

And of course, I'm referring to mastering the Armitron.

Glueless

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 15:10:00 +0000

For years now I've thought and taught that glue should be a back up for already solid joints. It's a belt and suspenders approach. But there has always been a nagging curiosity as to how a chair would hold up without the glue.
So as I went about finishing up a chair that I started during my demonstrations in Rochester, I figured, why not give it a go. And even without knowing the long term results, I have already realized some benefits of the attempt.

In making the joints, I use air dried mortises and kiln dried tenons so that the joint benefits from the swelling of the tenons as the moisture contents equalize.
When I started to put this chair together without the glue, I found my focus on the fit of the joints slightly elevated. Not profoundly, but I suppose that driving the joints all the way home without the glue made for a different experience. The ring that wood on wood joints make when seated is very gratifying.
There is also that little space that generally has to be allotted for the thickness of the glue film, but in this case, I went for the absolute tightest joint that I could manage without blowing out the mortise.

As I turn my attention to the top of the chair, I am thinking a great deal about the joints where the short spindles pass through the thin continuous arm. Without the glue, I am definitely going to make each one a sort of "hammer eye" joint by having a subtle shoulder on the spindle so the arm can't shift down and flaring the top of the mortise so that the wedge will spread the spindle enough so that arm cannot move up.
It may seem like a silly esoteric exercise, but I am thoroughly intrigued as I think and rethink each of the joints and what it takes to count on them without glue. Of course, time will tell which joints loosen, and it will be fun to live with it, watch and learn. I think I'll paint it blue.

Lie-Nielsen Event

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 13:57:00 +0000

I recently attended a Lie-Nielsen at the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking. It was great to see some old friends like Tico Vogt and Will Neptune. It also gave me the chance to finally meet Peter Follansbee in the flesh. We have so many mutual friends and have emailed over the years, plus, I am a huge fan of his work, so it was a pleasure to finally hang out and see him in action.
Here is Will Neptune displaying some of his prodigious skill.

photo by Jeff Burks

You can see photos of the event at http://www.carpentryarchive.org/images/cvsw/cvsw_ln_12.html or at http://www.closegrain.com/2012/10/lie-nielsen-hand-tool-event-at-cvsw.html.
Thanks to Steve Branam and Jeff Burks for sharing their images and to Bob van Dyke and Lie-Nielsen for hosting us.

Here is another photo that I just couldn't pass up. It was taken by furniture maker Duncan Gowdy of his new son Carter.

Congratulations Duncan and Elizabeth!

Among the Trees

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 19:43:00 +0000

Every time that I step outside I seem to be fighting the trees. When they talk about the amazing colors of fall in New England, no one seems to mention that the clean up is worse than at Woodstock. I've been blowing leaves with abandon and clearing paths to the firewood that I split last spring.

After two eye blistering days at the computer and drawing board, I took to the woods to take down a couple of trees for next year. I know that winter is bearing down on me and I am woefully short on firewood for this year, but I still reverted to my favorite posture in the woods, playing.

I got a new hatchet at a garage sale recently and it holds an amazing edge. It's one of those blades that rings out when you tap it. So I took a few minutes and hewed one side of this ash log.

It isn't exactly a hewing axe, which would be flat on one side, but I sharpened it so that it was close to one and for a lefty too.

I got it reasonably flat. The blade held the edge and took great shavings but it would have been better with the correct geometry. It was all that I could do to keep from building a fort.

Deep Breaths

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 15:57:00 +0000

Fall is here, the leaves are everywhere and the smell of the first fires fills the air. I am loving the transition. I've been plotting and planning to wrap up my responsibilities so that I can spend my time working on my book. Hopefully about this time next year, I am going to be publishing my first book with Lost Art Press. I am writing and illustrating the book which will be a foundation book on chairmaking. This project began years ago, in collaboration with Curtis Buchanan, and has stalled and revved multiple times. Finally, Curtis and I decided to pursue separate projects (you have seen his videos, right!?) and with our different approaches to chair making and communication, I think that we both stand a better chance of seeing the projects through to completion.

So, with lots of text left to write and drawings to produce, I've got my plate full. The only tough part is of course the pull of the workshop at the other end of the house. I've been satisfying my shop needs by finishing the walnut chair that I posted about. With each coat, I see new possibilities for future work.

I am enjoying the gouge marks more than I had expected.

And this stile to crest joint has me thinking about a dining chair that I've had in mind.

I had to shake it out of my skull and into wood so that I could get back to the computer.

Later today, Jon Binzen, from Fine Woodworking, is coming by to finish up some details for the back cover that they are doing about my shop for the Tools and Shops issue that is coming out in a few weeks. I am very excited to be featured. Jon is a pleasure to work with and always makes me feel like I am far more interesting than I deserve, talk about skill!

A New Site!

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 15:32:00 +0000

Last Spring, while building my maple syrup evaporator, I had an epiphany. While there were parts that I was happy to fabricate myself, when it came to the stainless steel pan, I knew that I was out of my depth and with my limited free time, I could easily justify buying one from a quality maker.

Then I realized that some folks might feel the same about the tools that I make and have featured on Chairnotes. With increasingly busy lives, perhaps grinding drill bits or making travishers isn't as captivating as getting a chair together. I get it, and when I offered some tools to my students at a recent class, the notion was confirmed.

This also dovetails with my desire to focus on writing projects for the upcoming year. I am still building for clients and designing new work, but small scale projects like toolmaking fit the bill for keeping my hands happy and my head free.

As you may know, my travishers are already available (I am almost caught up on the backlog) and as the year proceeds, I am hoping to add some other tools to the list, such as reamers with a blade adjuster (and that don't clog!), long spur drill bits and drawknifes (tuned, refurbished and ready to go) and perhaps even an adze.

I call the site Chairnotes Tools, and my plan is to use it as a list site where I will feature the tools as they come available. Keeping tabs on new stuff will be easy by subscribing.

I've chosen to create Chairnotes Tools as a separate site so that you can still come to Chairnotes knowing what to expect, a solid dose of my workshop ramblings with the occasional goat photo.

Perhaps it's naive of me to treat this with such delicacy, most folks are probably comfortable with the realities of commerce, but I take the trust of the visitors to Chairnotes seriously, and I'd much rather err in this direction.

Thanks

Pete

The Fine Line

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Galbert) — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 13:23:00 +0000

I haven't been getting enough time lately to horse around with my chair designs, so for the last week or so, I finished up a walnut occasional chair that I started a while back. I wanted to bring it along to the meeting of the Rochester Woodworkers Society that I am speaking at this weekend.

I've learned a lot about walnut lately. It can hold a crisp visual edge just about anywhere, and I have a nasty reaction to it (sinus infection). So I donned my full face respirator and plugged in the air filter and had some fun. I can't count the number of times that I've intended to create a seat like this, but for some reason, I just couldn't let it go this time.

The walnut has all the right properties for this kind of fine detail.

It requires near perfect shaping of the facets as they flow around the seat and interact. It was tough at first until I focused on making one facet geometry fluid and then "cut" the other one up to it. The key is not to fuss about with scrapers too much, but to get the fine edge with handtools and get out fast!

The detail at the top of the back posts also seamed ripe for change, so I played around until this detail emerged, with a heavy nod to Mr. Maloof.

Here you can see that the facet on the corner is a bit concave, and full of gouge marks.

I think that the line on the seat interacts nicely with the arms, plus it lets you know where your rear is supposed to go, very inviting.

And the obligatory rear view.

I had quite a full shop recently. There is Dan working on a walnut chair for himself and in the back is Tim working on turning a reamer body and Claire making a travisher. After years of working in a solitary shop, I love the hustle and bustle of having so much going on, even though space is a bit tight.