This weekend I’ll be in San Marcos, Texas, at the new Wortheffort school of woodworking to teach a class on building the Dutch tool chest and give a free talk at 7 p.m. Nov. 2 that is open to the public.
If you have ever wanted to harass me, heckle me or autograph you baby’s head, this is your chance.
I am not sure what my presentation will be about. Perhaps on Campaign Furniture; perhaps on the weird history of workbenches. Or maybe something else. I’ll make that decision on the airplane. Some details about the free event are here. A map and phone number to the school can be found here.
This is my last class or public appearance for 2013. Whew.
If you are in the class, this is going to be a doozy. We have to build the chest in only two days. So practice your dovetails if you can.
To celebrate the release of “To Make as Perfectly as Possible: Roubo on Marquetry,” we have created this short-sleeve T-shirt screen printed on a gray American Apparel garment.
The shirt features a detail from one of the plates from the marquetry book of two Frenchmen busy at some marquetry or inlay. The rear of the shirt features the slogan: “Getting Inlaid Since 1769.” (That was the year Roubo’s first volume was released.)
The shirts are available in sizes medium, large, XL and XXL. The shirts are 100-percent cotton and made by American Apparel in Los Angeles. The screen printing was done in Indiana (wait until you see the detail we squeezed out of this one).
The shirts are $20 plus domestic shipping. Once these shirts are gone, we will not reprint this design.
Work on “Campaign Furniture” is on pace to finish on time – Dec. 31 at midnight is the goal. I have just a few more small projects to build; about half the book is written.
One of the parts of the book I am enamored with is the translation of A.-J. Roubo’s seven pages of text on campaign furniture. While my book focuses on British forms, I wanted to include a little on the French furniture.
Michele Pagan, who translated Roubo for “To Make as Perfectly as Possible,” was happy to translate the sections on French campaign furniture for me. Today, she handed in her translation, which I am working through tonight. The description of beds is quite illuminating, as is the section on tables.
As I have been talking about Roubo’s folding stool, I thought I should give you a peek at a short section of the translation relating to that form. Note that this translation needs a little smoothing – this is the nearly raw version. Still, it is fantastic.
We make yet another type of small seat without a back, which are a very good invention for taking less space when they are folded. These seats are called “echaudés,” and are composed of three uprights of 26 thumbs in length, of a triangular form in their design, such that the three together form a bundle of 2 thumbs [in] diameter. Note that they don’t join exactly at the outer ridge, so as to facilitate their opening. Look at figure 8. These three uprights are held together by three pins made of a single piece, and positioned triangularly, which pass [through] the three uprights, outside of which they are [fastened], such that the uprights spread equally and form the seat. Look at figure 6, which represents the elevation, and figure 7, which represents the design closed as well as opened, where the ends of the uprights are lettered the same on the sides. Look also at figure 5, which represents the “echaudé” completely closed with the rivet seams of the pins, which are placed at 2 thumbs higher than the middle, so as to give more impalement to the seat. The top of this is nothing but a piece of leather or some sort of fabric attached at the end of the three uprights.
Good news everyone! The revised edition of “The Art of Joinery” by Joseph Moxon is shipping out from the printer this week. We’ll receive it in Indianapolis (look for rain clouds) and start shipping it immediately.
So if you want free shipping on this book, order now. On Nov. 4, 2013, we’ll start charging $7 a book for domestic shipping.
You can read all the details on this book and order your copy here.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. All of our retailers in the United States and overseas will be carrying this book. If you purchase our books from them, be sure to check in with their web sites.
Whenever I build a workbench, I try to work with stock that is as dry as possible. But I’ve never shied away from wood at 15 percent moisture content (MC). Thick timbers can be tough to dry, and all of the benches I’ve built with slightly damp wood have turned out fine.
Turns out, I think I might be a little too conservative on moisture in workbenches.
When we built the French oak workbenches in Barnesville, Ga., this summer, we were shocked at the moisture content of the timbers. Despite the fact that the trees had been felled for more than 13 years, the numbers on the moisture meters were alarming.
My benchtop was 30 percent MC. Other benchtops were 60 percent MC, which was off the charts for our moisture meters.
But we had only one week to build these benches, and we couldn’t wait another 10 years.
My workbench is still wet by furniture standards. Most areas of the top and legs register about 15 percent MC, and my meter reads only 3/4” deep. My suspicion is the center of my 6”-thick top is much wetter. I suspect this because my holdfasts rust immediately when left overnight in a hole in the benchtop.
Despite all this, the top has not moved significantly enough to warrant a reflattening. Today I planed a bunch of 1/2”- and 5/8”-thick panels and it was clear the top was still in spec for this high-tolerance work.
The only evidence of shrinkage or movement in the top is at one of the four joints where the legs pierce the benchtop. While three of these joints are as perfect as the day I finished the bench, the top has shrunk about 1/32” compared to the dovetail and tenon in the front right corner.
Oh, and there hasn’t been any additional checking, and the single existing check in the top hasn’t increased in length or width.
To be honest, I had experienced more wood movement on Douglas fir and cherry workbenches of the same design.
We will see how the bench fares as it makes the transition to equilibrium MC. But my suspicion is that the thick nature of the timbers and the joinery will help to make a bench that settles in gently.
Work on “Campaign Furniture” is on pace to finish on time – Dec. 31 at midnight is the goal. I have just a few more small projects to build; about half the book is written.
