Welcome back to the work week. I hope everyone had a great weekend with time to relax and rejuvenate. Or, if you are like me, it was enjoyable but exhausting. Either way, Monday has snuck up on us and this means it is time to avoid real work and read the forum. Remember, if you have a question about our products, procedures in our books or anything related to Lost Art Press, the fastest way to get an answer is our forum. Check it out here.
Has Anyone Worked Extensively with Redwood?
Any ideas what you would do if you had 150 bf of tight grain quarter sawn redwood? Joshua is trying to decide what type of project would be best for the wood he acquired a few years ago. Let him know your visions here.
Boarded Bookshelf: Backboards not Attached to Rail
Michael was looking for feedback on how to attach the backboard to his bookshelf project. He has gotten a couple helpful responses so far but feel free to add how you attached yours. In the meantime, I wanted to share his picture. (at top) I love to see modifications to projects to fit individual needs and spaces.
More Questions About the Staked Worktable
Jeremy is considering make the table from “The Anarchist’s Design Book” for his younger brother to use as a computer table. However, he would like to make it a knock-down table. This has come up before so let him know if any of you have learned any tricks along the way. Has what you did help up? Have you had to make any modifications?
Bow Front Need Help
Ron’s friend has a bow-front chest and is not having any luck finding modern pulls to fit the curvature of the piece. He is curious if they can still be bought or if they need to be bent to fit. See if you can help him out here.
Mid Century Modern Console
Has anyone built a piece of furniture with hand tools that has a slider door? If so, Ron (a different Ron if you are wondering) is curious to hear how you did it. Give him some pointers here.
Finished
And, as I like to do, let’s end with a finished build. It took a year in the making but E Hilfers followed “Chairmaker’s Notebook” and finished his first windsor chair. (at right) Congrats! It turned out beautifully!
— MB
Knockdown Worktable
Using just four stakes alone may be difficult. You could make two four legged trestles and sit the table on them. Chris has shown some wonderful period images of this on his Blog. This approach was often used for take down dining tables.
Or better yet use 3 leg trestles and work on the side of the table that has the single vertical stake. Much more comfortable!
Now if you really want a break down table with 4 legs it can be done but you have to add 3 stretchers. Insert a round dowel horizontal stretcher between the stakes at each end. The stretchers are just dowels that loose fit in sockets in the stakes. Make an enclosing medial stretcher that is longer than the the distance between the end dowels. Bore dowel size holes in the enclosing stretcher and slide it to friction fit on the middle of the end dowel stretchers. No fasteners or glue is necessary anywhere.
It lacks the exquisite open geometry of the stake design but it will work forever and is easily broken down into a board and 7 sticks. Number the joints for reassembly. They are nothing but a pile of sticks
I also suggest you abandon the much too fat commercially available tapered reamers and make a tapered saw steel wooden reamer with a 6 degree included angle. Leave the saw teeth on one side of the blade. The tapered saw steel wooden reamer is found at http://www.greenwoodworking.com