Below are some pictures of the carved bottom rail of frame for an oil painting. The carving, in process, features two ring necked pheasants, as well as the subject’s name, and a few other decorative elements yet to be executed.
black walnut
Walnut Spoon
Black Walnut spoon carved “E.S.”
Finished Hope Chest
Here is the finished hope chest. The primary case, and lid frame are cherry, the drawer case and lid panels are black walnut, the trim is hard maple, the secondary wood for the drawers, till, and interior structural is white oak, the floor of the chest is eastern red cedar, and the drawer pulls are ebonized black walnut. The finish is 4 coats of danish oil.
Ebonized black walnut pulls.
The white oak till.
Hammered copper brackets for the lid support.
Milling Lumber
We milled a large quantity of black walnut, red cedar, and green ash with a neighbor and his band-saw mill earlier this summer. Below are a few photos of our operation.
Some of the logs piled in the field.
Slabbing off a decent quality and sized black walnut log…
some of the boards 25″ wide…
some lead slugs from deep in one of the 100 plus year old red-cedars…
the slugs, still in the tree…
A hay loft full of lumber, almost everything was plain-sawn into boards and slabs from 4/4 up to a few 6″ slabs, all with natural edges remaining.
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.
Hope Chest’s Frame and Panel Lid
Below are a few pictures of the frame and panel lid for the cherry and walnut hope chest.
A section of the cherry frame with a piece of walnut as a test panel.
The lid, dry fit with the panels installed.
A detail showing the hard maple ogee molding – all dry fit and held with gravity and friction at this stage.
New Three Legged Stool
Pictured is a recently completed stool made from red oak and black walnut, harvested from Boaz, near Fall River.
Two Bowls
The second bowl, in ash. I counted forty growth rings in this bowl, and it represents less than half of the tree’s radius.
The ash bowl with oiled with walnut oil.
Two bowls. One in walnut and one in ash.
Hollowing the walnut bowl on the lathe
Turning a Black Walnut Bowl
Below are a series of pictures of turning a black walnut bowl on the pole lathe.
Shaping the sides with a roughing gouge.
Starting to hollow it out.
The School of the Transfer of Energy 