Brother Stool

Below are some pictures of the second three legged stool of post oak. They are a pair but with differences. The rungs on this newest stool are in a “T” rather than forming a triangle connecting leg to leg as in the first. Also, the legs in this stool are a bit more cantankerous.

The legs dry fit with rungs.

Reaming for the legs.

The seat. I counted over 100 annual rings in this seat.

Fully assembled, and awaiting finishing touches.

Both stools together. Here you can see the difference in the rung layout, the “T” on one and the triangle on the other.

Cutting in Butterflies

Last week I cut in three walnut butterflies into the cedar table top under way in my shop.

Below are a few photos from the process. After shaping the walnut butterflies, they are scribed individually into the top, then the bulk of the waste is removed with a 1/4 ” straight bit in a router, and finally pared with a chisel to the scribed lines.

placing a butterfly

dad’s old craftsman

removing waste

all cleaned up, ready for glue

Walnut Spoon

Black Walnut spoon carved “E.S.”

Jesus The Way

Cedar Slab Table

Here are some photos as I am working on the top for a cedar table.

being glued up

the edge with the bark peeled

trimming the ends

arty saw picture

beautiful red sawdust

planning the end…

…up in the air

Spoons

Some soft maple and walnut spoons carved by the stove this winter.

The will of a 3-legged stool

The stool declared loudly by snapping every black walnut rung I made- that it must be white oak throughout. OK, says I, you win.

Still much work to be done, however, as of yet the most complete sense of a stool that has pretty much dictated itself, and made me sweat in the process, and I still have to build his hopefully less mercurial brother.

Below: shaping the underside of the seat.

Jig for Flattening Slabs

I read about this method for flattening large slabs in a publication (Woodwork I think) a year or two ago. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the article in order to reference it. As I work with irregular slabs, too large for my machines, I expect it to be a reasonable and effective method for flattening large slabs, in this case, eastern red cedar.

The router is mounted to a 4′ sled which rides across two parallel fences (jointed 2×4’s smoothed and waxed). The router has an 1-1/4″ straight cut bit, and mounted on the sled can cover the entire face of the slab, removing about 1/32″ of material per pass.