Workshop
Champion Table Build, Part 4: Base & Arc
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.
The Champion Table Build, Part 1: Compose, Scribe and Fit
the beauty of God’s edge
composing pieces
flattening black walnut with a router and jig
more looking, more composing
smoothing and shaping edges
smoothing and joining white oak
assembling white oak panels
white oak and black walnut adjusted and clamped for scribing
knife scribing every curve
the white oak panel marked and ready to cut
rough cutting on the bandsaw, staying about 1/16th to 1/8th away from the scribed line
cutting the line deeper
paring away the waste to establish a shoulder along the scribe-line
making the shoulders broad and deep
chopping and paring right up to the line
the shoulder becomes a jig to cut the rest of the piece right to the line using a pattern bit and router
after cutting a slot for a floating tenon, dry-fitting pieces
the floating tenons cut and laid out
tenons glued in
glued and clamped
joining and smoothing the new edges
on to the next step…
Go On, Bezalel
“See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills…” Exodus 31: 2 & 3.
Bezalel is kind of an early renaissance man, thousands of years before Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, or Durer. More importantly he was faithful to God’s design of him as a craftsman. He was found worthy to build the design of God concerning the tabernacle and all of its parts. As a craftsman and artist, it is hard to comprehend anything so significant to my earthly labors as to manifest on earth something that was authored in the very heart and mind of God. 
Elizabeth Duffy asked me about influences and progenitors in her interview with me last year. Here is an excerpt of my response pertaining to Bezalel: I hope, maybe, to be in the line of Bezalel, who fashioned so much for the tabernacle, making the sacred things that were part of the “technology” of worship of His God for his community. Personally, I couldn’t ask for more than that. Bezalel is valuable as a paradigm of an artisan of broad experience and skill. He could work in many trades and arts with skill worthy of God’s Tabernacle. My good friend reminds me of the value of a man of that breadth of experience and skill in contrast to a culture that places a premium on experts of high degree in a single field. When I wonder if I am hurting myself by embracing so many disciplines, I am grateful for Bezalel and his place in God’s story, and a few other men I have encountered who are champions of excellence in this way.
The drawing, an imagining of a portion of Bezalel’s tent-workshop, started two or three years ago, finally over the past two months I was able to finish it. It is composed along the lines of another drawing, Go On, Adam, Breathe. An potential series of drawings? The drawing to me feels so limited, compared to the vastness of what could be explored and depicted, as a task to learn about Bezalel, his labors, and his relationship to his God.
Place
“Rootrill” I hope that you will forgive me for posting an eleven minute song in the twenty first century. Mostly, I hope that you enjoy it.
arc contain glow
seen through scene
bois d arc meteorite
slanting even evening light
ancient bone star dust
deere ghost sheep goat add straw and mix well
cross turn
years unfurl in the eternal present
young hands dextrous
core sample of stored solar energy
made vacant for gold
quince roots herbs leg
reamed tapered tapped turned twisted sunk fitted formed around
concentrate earth line essence
absorb the sun and use it for life
pull transfer motion
dividing even unto cambium and xylem
layers and layers
learn purpose practicing discipline
stop motion
frozen movement osage root as it once reached
three forms of light
hand in hand you who once swayed
ancient releasing story
the turning of light upon the solar bank countless voices scratch and turn
golden hands once full wait for wisdom
new moon forest window
tall down cut stack turn stack down
erth-maker here we bend here we grow
establish converge into order dust scratcher
welcome the new bird and fare thee well
Ligneous
Thank you to my great friend Cody for the first photograph in this group.
Try Mend Make
Brought Low
Working for and in collaboration with my friend, Cody, we have been preparing waney-edged planks and slabs of eastern red cedar and black walnut for loft and stair railings and countertops, while making much fodder for the compost pile.
Löffel, Holzarbeiten, Schlange
walnut spoon
walnut spoon
walnut spoon
planing a line
ash
four
solution
rough earth snake (I think)
rough earth – good name
if you like the spoon you can buy it here.
A Portrait of the Workshop in April
The provision for me in my shop this past week: cutting dovetails in black walnut for a chest, some goat-milk and lime paint for the butcher block legs, and finishing up the milling of the mighty locust.
The School of the Transfer of Energy 