The rag rug saga continues.

My first rug on the cobbled together loom is finished. The loom needs a few minor modifications but is overall quite functional.

Read the saga and gaze upon the photos here;P

Loom update....

...can be found here.

Finally back in the woodshop

I recently took up weaving rag rugs, partner thought there were too few around the house thet were clean and available when miss muddy pawed puppy came in from outside. I have lots of scraps left over from sewing as well as lots of worn out clothes, sheets, etc. so I knocked together a very basic frame type loom and have made 3 so far. I decided though to make a better loom and headed for my woodshop. I don't want to spend any money and so am limited to scraps on hand, okay, the dowels I picked up at the rebuilding center for $.50 each, $6 spent so far.
Armed with these items and the instructions for assembling an Ashford rigid heedle loom. As well some assumptions on what the size of the assembly diagrams might be, I began building today.
(Clicking on the photos makes them larger)

So far it looks like this. There is still a lot of work to do, but I'm optimistic about the eventual outcome.

One coat of carnauba wax away...

...from finishing,but I couldn't wait to show you all.

The chair is almost finished, and finally partners penchant for going to estate sales paid off ;)

Okay, 9:00 Saturday morning, partner calls and says that there is an estate sale that I have to go to, and right away, they're selling tools. So I haul my lazy self out of my lounging mode and drive off to this "promising" sale. For once he was right, I found a few tools that I thought might be useful. (remember, clicking on the pictures makes them larger.)
3 Splitting wedges, an antique saw, 3 antique hand powered drills, abunch of drill bits and a bunch of files, most of which will need handles, we'll go into that some other time.

The one drill, a breast drill , I found quite useful today for boring the mortises for the back spindles of my chair.

And, as always, when working on a project, a bigger hammer is the answer.

The chair is now all glued together and needs only a little fine tuning and finishing.

There are two schools of thought on how many spindles there should be in the back. One says that an odd number is more asthetically pleasing. This however puts one of the spindles directly in the center, where your spine will rest. The other theory says that an even number of spindles is far more comfortable, I opted for comfort. I have sat in a chair that has a spindle right in the center, it does put pressure directly on the spine. I would really rather sit in a chair that has support on either side of the spine, which actually almost massages the muscles to either side of the spine and is so much more relaxing.

Now, for those who think the whole thing looks a little flimsy. Remember that all the pieces are hand shaved from wood that is split to follow the growth of the tree. Nothing is sawn across the grain of the trees growth. All pieces maintain the strength that a tree naturally has to resist the forces of wind, etc.
Chairs built in this fashion have lasted for over 300 years. When you sit in this chair, it flexes and accomodates you. I find chairs like these not only beautiful, but also desirable.

A beautiful day for working in the garden.

A lot of the work is done using your eye to line things up. All holes are drilled at compound angles.

Chair progress

For my birthday I got a bundle of sticks, which I shaved down to make back spindles for the chair.They are now drying in a makeshift wood kiln so that when I fit them to the chair they'll regain moisture and tighten themselves into the mortises.
The pieces I used to make the arms warped while drying so I put them in the steamer with the back comb in hopes of straightening them out a little.

Fancy steam box isn't it?
The arms are now clamped to a flat surface and the back comb is clamped to a curved surface.
My fingers are crossed. Hopefully everything will be dry enough to start fitting together over the weekend.

It's starting to look like a chair

I attached the legs this weekend.
Hopefully the hickory for the back spindles will arrive tomorrow so I can start that part.

Onkel, diene Name heisst Übelheit

Onkeln existieren ja um ihren Neffen schlechtes Wissen beizubringen, rauchen, trinken u.s.w.
Was hat mein Onkel mir Jetzt beigebracht?
Das es solche Dinge wie Holzuhren gibt.
GucktMa!
Nun gibt es noch ein Hobby die ich wirklich muss aufheben. Bad Onkel!

The Germans have a saying;

"Wo es gehobelt wird, Da fallen eben Spänne", where there's going to be planing done, there's going to be some shavings falling. The closest I can think of for american is, If you're going to make an omellette, you've got to break some eggs. or, let the chips fall where they may. I kind of prefer the German version as it's more my style.
There are shavings falling all around me. I glued the two boards together for the seat plank and planed them smooth.

That curved piece for the arms has been cut...

and now looks like this.

The legs have been shaved into rough shape and the seat has been carved out almost to completion.

I'm now using the plane to true up and taper the legs before putting them aside to dry while I work on the back spindles and leg stretchers. I'll have to get back to that tomorrow though, right now I need beer and relaxation.

It's time to build another chair.

Last year I took a windsor chair building class and built this chair. Story here.
Now, a fullyear and a week later it's time to use that knowledge, all by myself with no instructor. And starting with totally raw materials, no pre-turned legs or already split out spindle stock.
Here the draw knife, shaving horse and spokeshave that I'll be using to shape the legs and spindles.

The pieces of yellow Pine and the various tools it will take to carve the seat, bore the spindle holes, etc.

An overall view of the various raw materials and tools.

Froe, axe, splitting wedges and pounding tools for getting the raw materials to a working stage.

The approximate expected finished project.

I've got some maple, yew, cherry and holly wood. The piece of yew that is curved is what I expect to turn into the arms of my chair. I'll be using a band saw to cut these pieces
and an electric planer to do most of the smoothing of the seat blank before carving. Otherwise it will be almost entirely built with hand tools.

I'll keep you apprised of the process, progress and result. I expect it's going to take a while.

I have a froe

It didn't come with a handle though, so... to the wood pile.
The right tools for the job.

And now it has a handle.

And Maisie has something to play with.

What does Froe do? It splits wood for chair parts, and other stuff.

Los...

Stuhl bauen! Erste Tags nachricht für die Europäen wird erst am dienstag erscheinen.

Männerträume

Hier sieht man der Stuhl den ich würde nächste Woche bauen, und ja auch lernen wie man ein Stuhl baut.
Hier sieht man der wahrscheinlich sexiest Stuhl der je gebaut ist, von Hans Wegner, mein lieblings "mid century Danish modern furniture designer".

Hier sieht Ihr der stuhl von Hans Wegner das spukt die Lärschen Träume. Ich will dies Stuhl bauen. Er ist der schönster Stuhl in alle menschlicher Herkunft.

Andere Männer träumen von Autos oder Rockbands, der Lars nicht.

Sunday in the shop

If you're going to be spending your Sunday in the workshop sharpening your tools because of this,
You're going to need a hearty breakfast. Today's was ham and egg with Sourdough buttermilk pancakes garnished with sourcream and applebutter.

I have my sourdough from a work colleague, it's fairly new but still quite tasty.

The night before mix 1 cup of sourdough with 1 cup of warm buttermilk and 1 cup of flour. Never use a metal bowl for sourdough. Cover and leave sitting out overnight. Replenish the starter with 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup flour, leave this out overnight before returning to fridge.

In the morning beat 2 eggs with 1 teaspoon soda and 3 tablespoons vegetable oil. When the griddle is hot mix the egg mixture with the sourdough, ladle onto griddle and cook for 2 or 3 minutes on one side before turning. :D

Yahoo! Es wird noch geschehen!

Wie Ihr vielleicht euch erinnert es gab doch Zweifel.
Heute bekam ich diese E-mail.

"Hello Everyone, I just wanted to remind you that you are registered for:Windsor Chairmaking with Curtis Buchanan starting August 11th. It would appear that I dropped the ball in collecting balances from everyone because I wasn't sure if the class would run. So, it's happening and so now I need to collect! Please let me know if you would like me to send you a Paypal invoice for your balance (Bob E, your fine.) You can also send in a check. We don't take credit cards here at the Studio so if you want to pay that way it needs to go through Paypal.I'm attaching the tool list again. Curtis has requested that I let him know what tools students might be missing. He's planning on bringing some tools to make up for any lack but, not surprisingly, is trying to travel as light as possible. Make sure the tools you are bringing are tuned up and ready to go."

Vorher Hier erwähnt.
Windsor Chairmaking with Curtis BuchananAugust 11-15, 9AM to 4PM, Intermediate-Advanced level
The tool list for this class is available here in pdf format.
The Windsor chair is a symbol of old style American craftsmanship. Build a Continuous Arm Windsor Chair using traditional tools and methods. Learn to use a draw knife and spokeshave to shape your spindles and backs from riven green oak. The backs are bent so you’ll also get practice with steam bending techniques. Learn to carve your seat from eastern white pine using a scorp, travishers and scrapers. Legs and stretchers are pre-turned from hard maple. This course will give a wealth of traditional chairmaking techniques with one of this country’s best Windsor makers.

Der Lars freut sich so sehr!!! Ja, gerade nach er dies las holte er noch ein Bier aus dem Kuhlschrank und ging draussen ins garten und eine kippe anzundete und , TANZTE. Ach, jetzt muss ich meine Stricken beiseite legen und ins Werkstatt gehen um die Werkzeuge zu schleifen. Tut mir doch Leid... Nicht!

Diese Klasse lauft nur jede zweites Jahr in Portland, letztes Mal musste ich absagen weil so vieles für mich schieff ging, und dass dieses Jahr es gab doch die Möglichkeit das es würde nicht laufen wegen mangelnde Anmeldern war mir sehr peinlich.

Ach! Ich muss wieder tanzen, und vielleicht auch singen....ooooohhh... muss ich auch gehen mehrere Bieren und Zigarretten zu kaufen. Kann doch nicht früh schlafen gehen.

Sammstag wird Spass sein.

Ich pfeiffe auf Eure Partys und Konzerts, Ausflugen ins Wald u.s.w.
der Lars wird den Tag verbringen mit seiner Werkzeuge und ein Schleifstein.

Tool Sharpening with Jeff Zens May10, 9am to 4pm, All levels welcome

Keeping your tools sharp will change your woodworking. Learn how to turn your blunt chisels, plane irons, and carving gouges into the precise and sharp instruments you expected. They won’t come to you sharp; you have to learn how to give them a keen edge. Bring us your dull chisels, your chipped plane irons, your nicked gouges. Also bring your sharpening stones if you have them. Other materials provided. Practice your grinding and honing skills and every cut you make will be smoother, cleaner, better.

Register for Tool Sharpening

A lifelong woodworker, Jeff Zens is a current mastery student at the Studio. He subscribes to the notion that power tools are only a means to return more quickly to the bench, where a keen edge yields joints that fit and surfaces that need little sanding. He has taken a pragmatic approach to sharpening: do what works best, fastest, safest and cleanest.

Hier kann man lesen ein bischen über was ich werde in August tun, sorry es ist auf Englisch.

Success

Sie hat gesagt, " ich schlief tief und gut, das Bett ist ein Erfolg"

Projekt Bett komplett.

Die teile bereit für der Zusammenbau.
Im Garage für lackierung.

In Situ.

Wer hat dass mit die Bambu geahnt?