The School of the Transfer of Energy
workshop studio land
Walnut Timber Mantelpiece
Posted on March 13, 2017
The six and a half inch thick, 13 foot long walnut slab filled the shop as it came from the chainsaw mill.
Beam cutter on the old worm-drive
“rough-sawn” to the max
Using the “beam-cutter” to rip the slab into a six inch square timber
Pulling the saw at the end of the cut to save the last bit of slab for the corbels
Aluminum C-channel as a guide
start of the smoothing
a jack plane with a radius set to take heavy shavings
Now the joiner
pretty obvious
chopping out for a patch over a rotten knot
the same, fitted
filing the edges of a little copper butterfly template
bench-top with tools for making butterfly templates
variety of butterfly templates
Scribing the timber for butterflies to bind the main check
Routing out the waste
chopping the rest
right up to the knife line
ready for the joining
carving the corbels (my documentation fell off for most of this process)
mating the various natural edges of the corbels to the mantel
a little further back
fitting the opposite corbel
rough-cut cove on the left corbel
both corbels with coves-cut and awaiting final shaping
apply the final touches on the ends of the timber
“C” for the covenant
installed over the fire box, and the home-owner’s sandstone work.
I look forward to seeing it with the stone work done
Carved Spoons
Posted on January 16, 2017
“JACK’S STORY” BY ISAIAH ELDRIDGE
Posted on September 11, 2016
Wood Turning – Jack’s Story from Isaiah Eldridge on Vimeo.
Isaiah Eldridge, a local film-maker and journalist, spent some time with me last week as I we both plied our trades.
Fumed White Oak
Posted on December 14, 2015
The above are eight turned pieces from a single 24″ section of a 24″ diameter white oak from Boaz, Kansas. The tree fell over and across the Van Horn Branch Creek about 10 years ago- We finally pulled the log out 2 years ago, and it has laid in my log pile since then, although I did mill a portion of it. The heart wood is still green, so these bowls were turned green and allowed to warp as they dried. Ultimately all the pieces were exposed to ammonia vapors (fumed) which reacted to the tannins in the wood, darkening the surfaces.
Champion Table Build, Part 4: Base & Arc
Posted on November 4, 2015
preparing to fit the base to the leg assembly
defining a semicircle with 3 saw cuts
3 saw cuts get refined into facets with a paring chisel
and again
then shaped with a rasp
the base of one of the leg assemblies after the 1/2 lap-tapered dado has been cut
here, mated with the white oak leg
a different piece of white oak being shaped with a rasp, one of three slats joining the top of the leg assemblies together and to the table top
the slats also receive a long bevel
the slats will rest in the notches being cut into the top of this leg section
clearing out material from the notch with a 1″ chisel
establishing the final depth with a router plane
here the slats are temporarily in place
an arsenal of shaping tools to begin sculpting the legs
shaping inside-curves of the leg assembly with an aggressive rasp
forming a radius where the legs meet the base
the preliminary drawings had a horizontal stretcher connecting the two leg assemblies at floor level. Having rough-shaped the components and taking a look, I started visualizing an arc instead. PVC pipe (already bent from a previous life in some low garden tunnels) offered a quick prototype to help see how it would look.
the arc made sense, so now setting about squaring up a white oak timber for re-sawing
re-sawn white oak and a glue-lamination form ready to make an arc
the glue lamination in the form- my 8 year old son was indispensable in this process, helping to roll glue, assemble, and clamp
rhythm is in unity to woodwork
the white oak timber, reconfigured as a messy arc
work for the jack plane
now the smoothing plane
cutting the tapers along the length of the arc at the band saw
marking the taper at the width
cutting the taper at the width
more elbow grease with the smoothing plane
shaping the many curves and facets along the arc, first with a drawknife
then with spokeshave
establishing details with knife
facets ease into curves
test fitting- some refining-shaping to go yet
setting the location of the chamfers on the leg-base
shaving away rasp markings
carving corner transitions
so many details to bring together- here the leg base is about done.
That’s it for this round- next week there will be lots of sanding, also carving and inlay work as the table finally starts to become unified. Thank you to everyone for following along, and for your encouraging comments.
