intermission

now that the dining room is nearly complete
I'm left with an overwhelming sense of absence
I no longer have something to work on
inward I turn

my bench was the first thing I made
and it has been set up backward since the beginning
I'm not a lefty
but my bench is

my future father in law had given me a pair of steel bench screws
one of which just begged to become a leg vise

I made the chop from a length of 2x6 in the corner
and the guide from a bit of walnut that happened to be the right dimensions
it creaked like the smoothly polished floor of an old house
the bench moaned as it experienced new forces never before fathomed
but the chop kept tightening, but never enough
it flexed so much I feared for its future
the top eighth of an inch no longer touched the bench

this just wasn't going to work
so I pursued alternative materials
a nice chunk of maple
some much needed revisions to the design
a good crank on the screw
and

maple's hard...

holy crap!
cranked down tight a test piece in the jaws was immobile
but peering around the side I saw the leg of my bench deflecting nearly an inch!
now I feared for my own life
I slowly backed off the screw
and headed back to the lumber yard

basically the whole contraption is now self contained

bolted to the front of my bench

and only passing through the structural members

I fear the dawning realization that I have begun the ball rolling
this will amount to a new bench in the end
till then; everything I've built has been on this bench
and it's still not over $500 yet

there's still the matter of an end vise of some sort

vortex

oh endless malestrom
bringer of sloth
so many perfect days dashed by your frigid embrace
shoveling becomes my ritual
a scant day it is when the freeze abates

gifts to others still in the works

I'm avoiding the table
of course

it's lustrous surface sheds the dust which tries to settle
I've watched it move all winter
it should do fine in the house

finally the massive lapped leg joints are cut

it's such a big joint I'm actually a bit nervous of movement
how far can I cross glue walnut before it rends itself twain

the prototype is now gone
all further work stems from this point
and this piece
these are all new angles

and new joinery I'm going to have to envision

smokin' joints

so, I cheated a little
and let me explain why

each back leg is 48 inches of 10/4 walnut
there are two graceful s-curve cuts exactly with the grain
a meat-powered bow saw cuts this material at an inch a minute when I'm fresh
for every five minutes sawing five minutes are needed for break

bow saws are a real workout!

for every half hour you just have to walk away
maybe get two and a half full hours in one day
for six legs that's 576 inches to rough the side profile
and another 576 inches for the main
at 75 inches a day we're talking almost 16 days of sawing
and in terms of full days, that's only two a week, max
now we're talking eight to ten weeks
then, add to that the front legs, about 25 inches long each

and you get the idea

I like to saw, and we all know practice makes perfect
but there's a threshold where experience becomes torture
I'd like to get these chairs done someday and get on with the table

my bandsaw took care of the side profile cuts in about three hours
lights dimming, the faint smell of hot walnut and ozone

and I could begin the joinery

a pegged Maloof joint by hand is not the trickiest task

carefull layout and a good bit and brace to get the rounds
then cut out the slot tenon

and then the rabbet

on the legs its pretty straight forward, lots of cutting and pairing

it always takes a few tries to get it to fit

the front legs are simply a through tenon, slot tenon and a bit of overlap on the outer surface

two more to go then it's on to carving

if you want more info on the initial chair build (I'm only doing three 'cause the first one's already done) please meander back through my blog and you'll find it