traditional woodcraft

Carving Letters and Numbers

Below are some significant numbers and letters carved on the sides of the cherry and walnut hope chest.

Wooden Bowls at the Onion Tree

Thanks to Bridgit Yinger, the Onion Tree in Wichita, Kansas is now carrying some of my bowls for sale.

Tree Carving

I have begun the carving on the main front panel of a cherry and walnut hope chest. This carving is in cherry and features a shallow relief of a stylised tree.

Below is a gratuitous workshop picture with a goofy three-legged stool I turned out this week. The carved panel is held to the bench with hold-fasts.

Three Drawers

Here are a few photographs of the three drawers in the cherry and walnut hope chest currently in the shop. The faces on the drawers are walnut, while the secondary wood is white oak.

Hope Chest Drawer Case

Below is a group of photos of some details of the construction of the black walnut drawer carcass and the drawer fronts for the cherry and walnut hope chest. Please click on any of the pictures to view larger.

The lower web/ frame for the bottom of the drawer unit, it is constructed of white oak with the front (visible) rail being walnut.

The drawer case with the web installed with tongue and groove

The main chest rests upon the drawer case

Flattening walnut drawer fronts with a jointer

A forged bench hook (I learned from Peter Follansbee)

The flattened and drawer fronts ready to be marked and cut to length

The drawer fronts wedged in their spots to see how they look. Also the dividers have been installed with stopped dovetails.

Gessoed Door Panels

Over the past week, the white oak panels for the painting cabinet were gessoed using a traditional cooked recipe of rabbit skin glue, and ground calcium carbonate.

The panels dry fitted in the doors.

The panels with the masking removed.

Gessoing the panels.

The thickness of about 12 coats of gesso.

White Oak Painting Cabinet

A dovetailed painting cabinet in quarter-sawn white oak. The tree grew along the Van Horn Branch just south of Boaz, Kansas, until it’s bank gave way. The panels will be gessoed and receive an oil painting. The cabinet is only dry fitted. It will not be glued up until the panels are fully prepared. In order to eliminate the center stiles of the frame and panel doors, the inside inch and 1/2 is a full tenon into the rail, while the rest of the panel will float in the customary grooves.

Hope Chest

Pictured below is the beginings of a hope chest in cherry and walnut, primarily. The pictures depict the joinery of the upper case of the chest, which is cherry, and will lit atop a narrower walnut case with a row of drawers.