Is labor a sacrament? The invitation of the Eighth Day? A sacred collaboration with the living God? I can’t help but to note that the call to labor in the garden came before the curse of toil. I am certain that labor is about more than just earning my bread. There is something deeper there, not just for the artist, but for the ditch digger and the roofer, the farmer and the nurse. “Whatever you think, it’s more than that…” ISB.
These images document a build in its early stage of a family of black walnut tables, centered around a richly grained and beautifully colored walnut tree which we salvaged from a farm near Winfield, Kansas. The tables are a collaboration between my best friend/business partner and myself, sharing designing and building tasks to create, what we hope, are some authentically good pieces of furniture in the continuing tradition of live-edge/natural-slab furniture.
These bowls are all for sale in our Etsy Store if you are interested. Thanks for looking.
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.
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.
After about five months the Champion Table is finished and in its new home outside of Chicago. The woods in this table are Kansas Black Walnut and White Oak (the base uses oak from Kansas, the top uses oak of lesser known origin, beyond my friend, the lumber man), the top features also a small amount of Ebony and sulfur. The design is original, and evolved throughout the building process. Central, is a crucifixion theme and the arc. There are other symbolic elements as well, throughout. I am deeply grateful to the Champion family for the opportunity to build a significant piece of furniture for their home and living. I am also humbled and thankful for all the encouragement I have received throughout the building process. Ultimately I am glad in my heart, laboring to make something that celebrates the goodness of God.
sanding and refining the shape of the legs
carving some details into the lower horizontal member of the leg assemblies
“C” for Champion
the lower leg joints, reinforced with screws, concealed by pegs
cut flush and sanded
the legs are finished, awaiting only final sanding immediately prior to finishing
refining the shape of the arc, the brace between the leg assemblies
one of many facet transitions and chamfers across the arc
another of those transitions, in this case, the arcs contribution to the connecting joint
adjusting the shoulder of the arc where it meets the walnut of the leg assembly
a lot of enjoyment watching the play of light and shadow
lets of test fitting of the base
my son roughing out a billet of walnut for some stubby spindles. The spindles will connect the arc to the top-central horizontal rail connecting the leg assemblies, preventing any propensity to rack along the length of the table
here are the spindles in place as well as a bit of carving on the side of the arc
another view of the arc, upside down, an enjoyable shape- part moon, part smile, part rainbow, part horns, it is one of my favorite parts of this table
beginning work on the table-top again- softening the edges with a block plane
after making paper versions, laying out some walnut shapes that will be inlayed into the table-top
re-sawing bits of highly figured walnut for all of the special details
along with the decorative inlays, being positioned here are some butterfly-keys, which help to stabilize the splits and inclusions in the walnut making up the table-top
after determining the composition and placement, all the parts get some double-sided carpet tape…
…and are then stuck in place so that they don’t shift when their outlines are being scribed into the top with a knife
after everything has been scribed, the majority of the cavity is established with a small spiral carbide bit in the electric router
the rest of the inlay cavity is cut out with sharp chisels. The scribe-line is particularly nice at this stage, giving a positive registration for the tip of the chisel
there was a place on one of the walnut planks that had a corner that couldn’t get reconciled in the flattening stages without making it too thin- the remedy was a patch of really pretty walnut
clamps were used on the top, where they could reach whatever was being inlayed
cleaning the floor and corners of one of the recesses for those butterfly keys
glue and clamp…
a little congregation of butterflies ready to be made flush with the top, the crack itself, will get filled with epoxy, after the bark has been removed
cutting out some of the inlay cavities for the central design
lots of chopping up to the line
there are a lot of pictures of me hunched over the top of this table, because I was hunched over the top of this table a lot
piece by piece, being tapped into place with my indispensable two-sided rubber mallet
planing the first round of inlays fush to the surface
glueing up some ebony for the next round of inlay work
the elements of the central design positioned and ready
a few more ebony details being cut out at the scroll saw
the slow process of accurately scribing every edge with an “Exacto” knife
clearing out as much as possible with the router, carefully to stay just shy of my lines
my life for a good portion of October
ofter hours of knife, chisel, and dental tool work, the inlay cavity for the crown of thorns is about ready for the ebony
a modified dental tool in action clearing out the acute corners of the cavities, somewhat appropriate
…still hunched over…
some of the inlay uses molten sulphur… being melted here in a spoon
molten sulphur is an eerie and beautiful thing, if not pungent to the point of being toxic
poured into carved voids it marks a lovely luminous contrast to black walnut
also very porous- not so good for a table top- an improved sulfur inlay was devised. First grinding some sulphur crystals with mortar and pestle…
the sulphur pigment is then introduced to some two-part epoxy
the resultant paste is pressed into the top layer of the earlier sulphur inlay, filling the pores and yielding a slightly tougher surface
the inlay work done and all the other voids being filled with epoxy, final sanding has begun
as the process goes, there are many flaws in my inlay work that need to be addressed. Out come the pigments and filler
it is an enjoyable process that takes me into the realms of another of my lines of work
then more sanding
this marks the end of this second to last post in the building of the Champion Table, I won’t reveal the finished piece until it’s new owners have had a chance to see it in person. Thank you all for offering your support and comments, or just following along silently. I remain immensely grateful for the kind encouragement which each represents, and I look forward to sharing the finished piece with you all as well.
surface preparation with a Stanley #80 scraper
the swirly walnut grain is difficult to plane but the scraper is able to deal with it efficiently
beginning to fit the side rails and bread-board ends
marking the end cuts with a sharp knife
then creating a shoulder along that line with a chisel assures a clean cut without tearing the grain
cutting along the shoulder with a sharp crosscut saw
a small array of saws to do this job
cutting the central breadboard tenon
coming up to the other side with a pull-saw
both ends of the table are now cut
cutting the base of the tenon “cheeks”
really no other position to accurately make this cut
cutting away the “cheeks”
the finished tenon, and a groove has been cut to receive a floating tongue to align the breadboard
laying out the positions of the mortise and tenons on the side rails and breadboards
cutting the tenon on the side rails
checking for a tight fit. the side rails are attached with glued tongue and groove joints, while the breadboards are “floating”, held in place by a tongue and groove joint and two “draw-bored” mortise and tenon joints, which will allow for expansion and contraction where the grain intersects perpendicular rather than parallel, yet holding the boards tight to the edge of the table. Two opposing corners are pinned miters and the other two are mortised. imagine the table being able to expand in width along the length of the two boards left long to see the allowance for seasonal cross grain movement.
treating the edges before the final assembly
drilling for the dowels for the pinned miter joints where the live edges come together
a brad point drill marks the center of the tenon inside
re-marking the tenon with an offset so that the dowel pin will “draw” it tight to the edge of the table. the holes will be elongated laterally to allow for joint movement.
altering geometry with violence
shaping the dowel pins by pounding the straight oak through a succession of smaller holes drilled in a steel plate until they are round and the size I need
nearly there
a batch of pins
planing a taper
the taper will allow the pin to engage the offset hole in the tenon and slowly pull it tight
pounding the pins home for the final assembly
a little help form a ratchet strap to pull the center tight
cutting away the exposed ends with a saw
a tightly pinned joint
the top all joined. there will be a considerable amount of detail work on the top yet, but first the base
The School of the Transfer of Energy 