Editor’s note: Our Mind Upon Mind series is a nod to a 1937 Chips from the Chisel column (also featured in “Honest Labour: The Charles H. Hayward Years”), in which Hayward wrote, “The influence of mind upon mind is extraordinary.” The idea being there’s often room for improvement.To that end, we’ve asked you what else you have thought of, tried out and improved upon after building projects from our books.
Send us your own ideas! Email [email protected]. You can read more about the submission process here.
In issue 3 of The Stick Chair Journal and on the Never Sponsored Substack, Chris gives a review of and instructions for using the Stanley No. 77 Doweling Machine for creating the round tenons on long and short sticks.
He recommends using the “stock guide plate,” and shares his method for holding the stick and feeding slowly while cranking fast.
I had already been experimenting with the No. 77 for this, but even following these great instructions, including using the Woodka and a spoke pointer to cone the end, I could not get a great, centered cut.
My solution: I had a cheap machinist cross-slide vise lying around for the drill press and decided to bolt it in front of my dowel machine. I can now clamp the stick with no wobble or vibration (I use shims to set the stick height on the vise). I can center the stick perfectly and feed it at a very consistent rate with the vise crank while turning the doweling machine crank at a consistent rate. Additionally, I can stop perfectly on the scribed line for the length.
With so many sticks to do, this method allows me to sit in a comfortable position and also lets me see the work more closely. It works amazingly well, and my tenons are really nice (the ones in the photo are in cherry).
Editor’s note: Our Mind Upon Mind series is a nod to a 1937 Chips from the Chisel column (also featured in “Honest Labour: The Charles H. Hayward Years”), in which Hayward wrote, “The influence of mind upon mind is extraordinary.” The idea being there’s often room for improvement.To that end, we’ve asked you what else you have thought of, tried out and improved upon after building projects from our books.
Send us your own ideas! Email [email protected]. You can read more about the submission process here.
Today’s pick is courtesy of Rob, from Peachtree City, Georgia. Thanks, Rob!
— Kara Gebhart Uhl
This steambending tip is for kiln-dried hardwood.
I am building two staked side chairs from “The Anarchist’s Design Book” to go with our dining room table. Both are built out of kiln-dried cherry and I’m using the simple steambending jig as shown in the book.
The crests are 13/16″ thick and need to be steambent to a 15″ radius.
Typical bending failure.
I have built four of these same chairs previously, two out of ash and two out of cherry. The ash crests all came out well, but I had several failures while bending the cherry crests. Even when using straight-grained wood, cherry is prone to cracking and is a more difficult species to bend than ash or oak. This time around, I had three failures out of my first four attempts. All the failures were on the outside of the curve.
I knew a jig with a compression strap would give better results, but didn’t want to spend the time and energy to build a more complicated, albeit better, jig.
I had seen articles or videos in the past about steaming wood inside a plastic sleeve. While thinking about the best way to do this, I remembered that we have a vacuum sealer machine in our kitchen.
The crest is 18″ long and 2-1/2″ wide before steaming, so an easy size to work with the vacuum sealer. Vacuum sealing makes the bag/wood combination smaller and easier to handle and clamp, but still leaves plenty of moisture.
Here’s my process:
1. Soak the cherry for several days.
2. Put the wet wood in the bag and vacuum seal.
3. Steam for one hour.
4. Put the wood and sleeve in the bending jig together and clamp expeditiously.
5. After the crest has completely cooled and is at room temperature (4 to 6 hours), I unclamp the crest, remove the sleeve and reclamp in the same jig. This helps start the drying process, but it won’t dry very much while in the jig.
6. The next day, I remove the crest and put it in a bar clamp to dry. The wood will still be very wet and there will be some spring back. Tighten the bar clamp to match the 15″ radius of the bending form.
The sleeve retains the moisture during the steaming process, which is more efficient in conducting heat. Steaming without the sleeve heats the wood but also removes much of the moisture. The bag also helps retain heat and slows the cooling process while transferring and clamping in the jig.
If you plan on doing much steambending, my advice is to build a jig with a compression strap. In lieu of a compression strap, I think this is a good workaround.
Previous side chairs.
So far, this technique has worked well after a handful of attempts.
Any moment now, we’re expecting an email that Peter Follansbee’s new book, “17th-Century Essex County Cupboard” will be arriving at the warehouse. So here’s an excerpt from Chapter 8, on decoration.
– Fitz
The cupboard’s decoration includes integral mouldings on some of the framing parts, applied mouldings on the door, panels, drawers and around both cases, carving on one drawer front, applied turnings all over in the form of pilasters, ovals, rounds and drops, and paint. I do some of this work as I’m framing the cupboard (the integral mouldings), some ahead of time (the carved drawer fronts). The applied stuff you can work on at various stages during the project, or save them all up for after assembly. I tend to work that stock up as I go; it’s easy enough to find time between tasks to make a few runs of moulding or some turnings.
I attached all of the applied work with hide glue, with the thought that it makes repairs/replacements easier than if I were to use yellow glue. Most of the turnings and oak mouldings also have small, headless brads fastening them as well. This follows the originals. This is one case where I use machine-made cut nails, 7/8″ long. No sense having a blacksmith make such small nails that you’ll never really see. Bore pilot holes. These are smaller than any of my drill bits, so I cut the head off a wire brad and used it as a bit in an eggbeater drill. Worked fine. If you use cut nails, remove their heads too. There’s less chance of splitting something that way.
Whether both gluing and nailing are necessary is open to debate. I don’t get involved. I sometimes wonder if the brads were to hold the pieces in place while the glue sets.
Paint All of the applied turnings and most of the mouldings are painted black. I always paint the turnings before attaching them. The mouldings I’ve done every which way – painted before mitering, after attachment and other schemes too. Once I felt it was best to make the mouldings, paint them as long sticks, then cut and fit them right away. But I had a hard time seeing my marks for mitering on the black mouldings, so some were cut into individual pieces, then painted. You’ll see some painted and some unpainted being applied. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Dissolve dry pigments in oil, mix the two, then add a few drops of drier.
I mix dry pigments in linseed oil and thinner. These days, I use cold-pressed linseed oil and citrus thinner. The linseed oil is slow to dry, so I add a little Japan drier or drying medium to speed things up. I don’t measure anything; I start with the pigment, then drop in the oil/thinner and start mixing the two. Most modern pigments are fine and dissolve easily. I just use the brush I’ll be painting with to stir. Once the pigment has dissolved in the oil, I add several drops of the drier and mix it in as well. I don’t like having leftover paint, so I tend to make small batches. Depending on how many pieces I have ready for painting, I might make a couple of batches in one session.
Thin coats dry better than thicker ones, and often it takes two coats of paint to get the finish right. For this cupboard, one of my painting sessions had more than 100 pieces. I paint them, then lay them on a board to dry. Try to keep them in a warm, dry spot for a few days. Once the first coat is done, burnish the parts with steel wool, abrasive pads or even a bundle of fine, dry shavings. Then repeat the whole process.
Carved Drawer Front The carved drawer front is 4-1/4″ x 36″ wide and has a series of alternating lunettes with an abbreviated fleur-de-lis pattern. This example is not cut with a V-tool, which will make those who struggle with this tool happy. There are three blocks of the carving across the drawer front, interrupted by two blank fields that enclose the drawer pulls.
Drawer front carving pattern. This is one unit of the pattern. It repeats three times per section and there are three sections across the drawer front.
Many period carvings have painted backgrounds; this example has the foreground painted. The first time I made this cupboard, I painted it after carving. The second time around, I painted the planed drawer front, then did the layout and carving into the painted surface. Cutting out the background left the contrasting raw wood behind the painted surface.
Lay out margins top, bottom and sides, and the two areas for the pulls. Then a horizontal centerline. Use a compass to scribe the arcs that define the upper and lower lunettes. You can walk the compass along, alternating above and below the centerline. Once all the initial arcs are done, set the compass for the inner arcs. These must stem from the original center points. Pick the compass up and scribe all these inner arcs.
I used a wide, shallow gouge to step around the outer arcs, and a slightly narrower one for the inner arcs. Then I used a deeply curved small gouge to define the fleur-de-lis. This carving is shallower than most 17th-century carvings I’ve seen. Another feature of it is the recessed background; it is finished, with no large facets showing.
I lean toward painting before carving. Both approaches work. It’s easier to paint the flat board than to paint around the carving. Any carving mishaps you can usually touch up with paint after. One nice thing about painting first is that you immediately see the effects as you carve.
A year ago in the spring of ’25, while I, Kale, was still an apprentice, I ventured to Vermont to build a settee with George Sawyer at his workshop in Woodbury. This is the love child birthed from my time there. This settee takes inspiration from the “Rod Back Chair,” a chair originally designed by Dave Sawyer, that was then modified by George. This class was George’s first attempt at converting the Rod Back Chair into a settee. Built over the course of eight days, this compact settee offers loads of comfort and style.
For the first time ever, I’ll be selling a seating piece via silent auction; the details are below. The bidding price includes crating and shipping to anywhere in the continental U.S. But first, some details on the settee.
From the ground to the top of the comb, this settee is 47″ tall and about 4′ wide. The carved seat sits 16 1/2″ off the ground and is 14-1/2″ deep. Overall, the settee is made from a combination of cherry, white oak, pine and maple.
The legs, stretchers, hand and back posts are turned, while the sticks (short and long,) comb and seat are shaped by hand. Because this settee is handmade, the occasional tool mark and inconsistency may be present. The comb and sticks in particular have a true handmade feel and look, as they were riven then shaped on a shave horse.
The hand features a rounded “knuckle,” which was a personal decision. I love the flair and playfulness it adds.
Although this settee has a slight tilt, the flexible back sticks and sculptured seat invite you to lounge. Comfortable and wildly stylish, the drama of this settee never goes unnoticed.
The settee was assembled with animal glue, making any future repairs a breeze. It is finished with two coats of General Finishes “lamp black” Milk Paint (actually, an acrylic).
How to Buy the Chair
I’m selling this chair via a silent auction with a minimum bid of $800. The winning bid includes the settee, and crating and shipping to anywhere in the lower 48. If you wish to buy the chair, send an email to [email protected] before 3 p.m. (Eastern) on Wednesday, May 13th. Please use the subject line: “Settee.” In the email please include:
Your bid
U.S. shipping address
Daytime phone number (this is for the trucking quote only)
If you are the highest bidder, the chair will be shipped to your door. The price includes the crate and all shipping charges. There are no additional charges. Alternatively, the chair can be picked up at our storefront. (I’m sorry but the chair cannot be shipped outside the U.S.)
The first pass at the cover for our new pocketbook.
Our new pocketbook, “Smalls: 18 Well-designed, Easy Projects for an Afternoon in the Workshop,” is in the hands of Kara Gebhart Uhl for a copy edit. I’ll get it back from her next week, make the final changes, then upload it to the printer. After that, it’s usually about six weeks until it’s in the store.
As the title indicates, the book presents 18 projects that will make good use of all those little pieces of wood that were too good to throw away, but too small for most furniture projects. Each project includes a short explication of the steps, plus a cutlist and plans, elevations and any tricky details. Plus, you’ll find chapters on technique basics so that even if you’re new to woodworking, you’ll learn what you need to cut the rabbets, dados and grooves, how to use cut nails, how to fair curves and more. In short, the info you need to build these projects.
Here’s a project preview, a simple hanging bookcase in cherry. (And if you skip the curves, it’s simpler, still.)
This hanging bookshelf or display shelf is dead simple to make; It’s just four pieces of wood, four dados and eight nails. And because this piece is a little larger and not as delicate as some in this book, you can use 3/4″-thick stock without making it looking too bucky (a common challenge with smaller projects).
Cut all four pieces to width and length, then lay out the curves on the ends of the sides – in this case, an arc of a 2-1/8″-radius circle that starts and ends 5/8″ in from each edge. Cut and fair the curves.
The shelves are captured in 1/4″-deep dados that start 3-1/2″ in from each end. Cut the dados, then pull the shelves tight to the dado bottoms with clamps. Shift the clamps up or down as necessary so that you can drill pilot holes for cut or square-shanked nails into the center ends of the shelves, then remove the clamps and drive the nails. I used 50mm Rivierre nails, because they hold like the dickens and the prominent black nail heads look nice against the mellow cherry.
The finish is soft wax.
The hanging shelves end up being reversible up and down and front to back – so choose the best face and hang it up and out!
