Lost Art Press

Through-tenons with Texture

Posted on by Lost Art Press
Cherry chair arm with proud through-tenon

When I make chairs with an old-school feel, it’s nice to leave the through-tenons on both the arms and seat a little proud. Lots of old chairs have proud tenons, which is likely a result of things shrinking and getting worn.

For years, I shaped my proud tenons with a shallow gouge (or a chisel) and a mallet. It worked, but if I struck the mallet too hard there were times that the grain would get torn up and the tenon would be ugly-ish.

Years ago I changed my technique to what is shown here. I think it’s easier and produces better results, but I’m not the best woodworker in Covington.

Step 1: Seal the Surrounding Surface

When I use proud tenons on a chair with a clear finish, I first seal the surrounding surface with two coats of shellac to prevent glue from fouling the arm or seat. It’s a quick process. I rag two thin coats of shellac on the unassembled arm or seat. 

After the shellac is dry, I assemble the chair as usual, wedge the tenons and remove any excess glue with hot water and a toothbrush.

Sawing tenon flush to a 5mm scrap placed over the tenon
Three tenons all sawn flush.

Step 2: Saw the Tenons

After the chair is assembled, I saw the tenons so they are all 3/16” (about 5mm) proud of the arm or seat. On the seat, I just eyeball it with a saw. On the arms, I take a scrap of crap 5mm plywood and drill a 3/4” hole through the center. Place the scrap over the wedged tenon and saw it flush to the scrap.

Scorp chipping away at a proud tenon

Step 3: Shape the Tenons

Now the fun part. I tape around the tenon. The tape prevents the surface from getting dented. Then I chip away at the tenon with my scorp. I press the scorp’s cutting edge against the tenon and lever the handles up, removing a chip. I work all around the tenon until it looks like I want it to.

Then I pull up the mass of tape with care and place it over the next tenon.

When all the tenons are shaped, I decide if I need to remove the shellac. If I am adding a film finish (such as shellac or lacquer) then I leave the shellac as-is. If I am finishing the chair with an oil/wax blend, I need to remove the shellac. This is easily done by flooding the surface with alcohol and wiping it up with a rag. I do this a couple of times, then lightly sand around the tenons.

— Christopher Schwarz

Free Plan: The Saalburg Workbench

Posted on by Lost Art Press
A reproduction of the Saalburg workbench

On this day in 79 AD, Vesuvius erupted and forever changed our understanding of the early life of Romans and Greeks. The eruption caused a staggering loss of life, but it also preserved a snapshot in time at sites surrounding the volcano. 

We have learned a lot about early woodworking because of the eruption, and my book “Ingenious Mechanicks” explores the early workbenches preserved in paintings at Pompeii and Herculaneum. 

But my favorite Roman workbench from this era was preserved by water – not fire. Far north of Pompeii, the Roman fort at Saalburg (now Germany) has what I think is the oldest extant workbench, which was found in a well. I got to examine and measure it. And I reproduced it for the book.

To commemorate this important day, I am giving away the chapter on how to build the Saalburg bench.

Saalburg_WorkbenchDownload

Many people have dismissed my love of the low workbenches, but I use mine all the time in the shop and find it practical for many operations (particularly in chairmaking).

— Christopher Schwarz

‘Of Saws in General’

Posted on by fitz
Plate13.2400

Below is an excerpt from “Mechanic’s Companion,” by Peter Nicholson.

  • 45. Of Saws in general. Pl. 13. Fig. 6, 7, 8, 9, 13.

A saw is a thin plate of steel indented on the edge for cutting, by a reciprocal change in the direction of motion, pushing it from. and drawing it towards you. The cut which it makes, or the part taken away in a board, is a thin slice, contained between parallel planes, or a deep narrow groove of equal thickness. Saws are of several kinds, as the ripping saw, the half ripper, the hand saw, the panel saw, the tenon saw, the sash saw, the dove-tail saw, the compass saw, and the key-hole or turning saw. The teeth of these saws are all formed so as to contain an angle of sixty degrees, both external and internal angles, and incline more or less forward as the saw is made to cut transverse to, or in the direction of the fibres: they are also of different lengths and breadths, according to their use. The teeth of a saw are bent alternately to each side, that the plate may clear the wood.

  • 46. The Ripping Saw

Is used in dividing or slitting wood in the direction of the fibres; the teeth are very large, there being eight in three inches, and the front of the teeth stand perpendicular to the line which ranges with the points: the length of the plate is about twenty eight inches.

  • 47. The Half Ripper

Is also used in dividing wood in the direction of the fibres: the length of the plate of this is the same as the former, but there are only three teeth in the inch.

  • 48. The Hand Saw, Pl, 13. Fig. 6.

Is both used for cutting the wood in a direction of the fibres and cross cutting: for this purpose the teeth are more reclined than the two former saws: there are fifteen teeth contained in four inches. The length of the plate is twenty six inches.

  • 49. The Panel Saw

Is used for cutting very thin wood, either in a direction of, or transverse to the fibres. The length of the plate is the same as that of the hand saw, but there are only about six teeth in the inch. The plates of the hand saw and panel saw are thinner than the ripping saw.

  • 50. The Tenon Saw, Pl. 13. Fig. 7.

Is generally used for cutting wood transverse to the fibres, as the shoulders of tenons. The plate of a tenon saw is from fourteen to nineteen inches in length, and the number of teeth in an inch from eight to ten. As this saw is not intended to cut through the wood its whole breadth, and as the plate would be too thin to make a straight kerf, or to keep it from buckling, there is a thick piece of iron fixed upon the other edge for this purpose, called the back.

The opening through the handle for the fingers of this and the foregoing saws is inclosed all round; and on this account is called a double handle.

  • 51. The Sash Saw, Pl. 13. Fig. 8.

Is used by sash makers in forming the tenons of sashes: the plate is eleven inches in length. The inch contains about thirteen teeth; this saw is sometimes backed with iron, but more frequently with brass.

  • 52. The Dove-tail Saw

Is used in dove-tailing drawers. The length of the plate is about nine inches, and the inch contains about fifteen teeth. This plate is also backed with brass. The handles of the two last saws are only single.

  • 53. The Compass Saw, Pl. 13. Fig. 9.

Is for cutting the surfaces of wood into curved surfaces: for this purpose it is narrow, without a back, thicker on the cutting edge, as the teeth have no set. The plate is about an inch broad, next to the handle, and diminishes to about one quarter of an inch at the other extremity; here are about five teeth in the inch. The handle is single.

  • 54. The Key-hole, or Turning Saw

Is similar to the compass saw in the plate, but the handle is long, and perforated from end to end, so that the plate may be inserted any distance within the handle. The lower part of the handle is provided with a pad, through which is inserted a screw, for the purpose of fastening the plate in the handle: this saw is used for turning out quick curves, as key-holes, and is therefore frequently culled a key-hole saw.

Unto This Last

Posted on by Kara Uhl
Master William Opie, John Opie (1761-1807), Tate
Master William Opie, John Opie (1761-1807), Tate

Some years ago, taking a group of children round the Tate Gallery in London, I was hurrying them through one room remarking that there was nothing much there, the more interesting pictures were further on, when one child stopped suddenly. “Oh no, don’t go on. There’s a lovely picture over in that corner. Look!”

Her quick eyes had discovered the one picture of note the room contained. It was quite small, a boy’s head sensitively silhouetted against a dark background, the best thing John Opie, a fashionable portrait painter of the late eighteenth century, ever did.

We crowded around and the little girl planted herself in front of it and gazed her fill. “It’s beautiful,” she declared, stoutly and convincingly. “It’s the best picture we’ve seen to-day.” To her it would remain a lovely memory long after all the others had been forgotten. She may even have gone back to look at it as soon as she was old enough to take herself to picture galleries. It is the kind of thing we all do with our first loves among the arts. Actually some time afterwards a few of the more outstanding works of British painters in the Tate Collection were transfered to the National Gallery and, if I remember righty, this picture was among them.

In the end, everything comes round to the person. If we are to be satisfied, we ourselves have to be the doers, the makers of things, even of discoveries, although we may have the wisdom of the centuries to guide us. Every man may not be guided into the same groove, not see things with the same eyes, and it is well that it should be so, for hence comes the interest and variety of everything to which men set their hands.

— Charles Hayward, The Woodworker magazine, 1962, excerpted from Honest Labour

Stick-chair Sunday Video

Posted on by Lost Art Press

Here is the window for our stick-chair livestream. You can also watch it on Vimeo via this link. After it’s complete, we’ll clean up the livestream, add some show notes and post it for those who couldn’t join us live.

Remember: We are Lost Art Press. Not Lost Art Podcast or Lost Art Videoblog. So it’s gonna be a little agricultural.

Also, commercial content: This is the book we’re discussing: “The Stick Chair Book Early Adopter Digital Package.”

— Christopher Schwarz